Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel, Madeira

Pricing has risen sharply under Belmond's LVMH-era ownership, and at peak rates — €1,000+ per night — the proposition demands the bathroom and room-quality weaknesses be addressed, which they currently aren't. That said, by the standards of comparable Belmond properties (Splendido, Cipriani Venice), Reid's remains meaningfully more affordable, and the inclusions — complimentary soft drinks, a genuinely lavish breakfast in most rate codes, the shuttle, garden tours, kayaks, historical tours — add up. In shoulder season it is excellent value for a property of this caliber. In peak season the calculation tightens.

Service is the property's undisputed crown jewel and the single most consistent thread across hundreds of stays. The tone is warm rather than formal, and the hotel is staffed by an unusually tenured team — breakfast hosts, pool attendants, doormen and concierge staff who return guests name by name, sometimes after decades. Anticipation is the house skill: birthdays produce flowers and cake without being requested, dietary restrictions are carried silently from restaurant to restaurant, and housekeeping turndown is genuinely elaborate (a different small gift each evening is a signature). Where cracks appear, they tend to be operational rather than attitudinal — the pool bar can be stretched at peak volume, a reception miscommunication about a promised upgrade is handled less deftly than it should be, and a handful of interactions with less-seasoned front-office staff fall short of the standard the rest of the team sets. But these are exceptions against a pattern of service that genuinely earns its reputation.

Breakfast, served on the pool terrace, is the hotel's culinary set piece and one of the best I have encountered in Europe — a buffet-and-à-la-carte hybrid with extraordinary fruit carved daily, made-to-order eggs, and a different fresh juice each morning, accompanied by sparkling wine if you wish. The Michelin-starred William delivers a polished tasting menu with serious sommelier work, though the room itself — in the newer wing, under bright light and concrete pillars — doesn't quite match the kitchen. Villa Cipriani is the everyday workhorse and divides opinion: reliably atmospheric with a spectacular sea-facing terrace, but the kitchen's consistency wobbles and pricing is steep for what arrives. Afternoon tea on the terrace is the ritual non-residents come for, and when it runs on the main terrace it is genuinely magical; it is less convincing when relocated to the Cipriani building during refurbishment, as it has been periodically. Brisa do Mar, the seaside addition, is a welcome modernisation. Pour-by-the-glass champagne pricing is aggressive enough to have become a recurring complaint.

The atmosphere is the reason people return. Fresh flowers are replaced multiple times weekly, the gardens are horticulturally serious rather than decorative, and the public spaces — the terrace, the lobby, the old dining room, the cocktail bar when it's open rather than in refurbishment — have a genuine quiet grandeur. The pool terrace at sunrise and the cocktail bar at dusk are both among the better sensory experiences in Portuguese hospitality. The aesthetic is unapologetically historical, full of Churchill-era photographs and period detail; guests looking for anything resembling contemporary design will find this dated, but that is rather the point.

The cliff-top setting is extraordinary — a private headland above Funchal Bay with direct sea access via a lift to a seawater pool, diving platform and kayak launch. The town is a short, scenic downhill walk or a complimentary shuttle ride (the return uphill is another matter). The hotel is flanked by other high-rise properties, so it is not quite as secluded as photographs suggest, but the gardens absorb this effectively and the noise situation is essentially nil.

This is the hotel's most honest weakness. The suites and upper-category rooms are generous, elegant and well worth their premium; the standard sea-view and garden rooms are more mixed. Expect thick linens, a genuinely excellent bed, a Dyson hairdryer, a clothes steamer, a complimentary soft-drinks minibar and thoughtful touches throughout — but also bathrooms that largely remain shower-over-bath configurations, narrow and awkward to enter, with plumbing that can be noisy and occasionally temperamental. Décor in the lower-tier rooms leans more toward "tastefully preserved" than genuinely updated, and for a property at this price point that is a legitimate grievance. Book up. The signature and named suites (Churchill, George Bernard Shaw) are in a different league entirely.