19 May The Bespoke Guide to Belmond Reid’s Palace& The Wild Madeira No One Tells You About
Let me be honest about something before you read another word, Luxury travel in Madeira was something i associated with Madeira but I was wrong about that. Belmond Reid’s Palace is not for everyone. It is not for those who need an infinity pool and rooftop bars with DJs, or those who prefer anonymity over ceremony. It is for people who understand that being somewhere truly grand changes how you feel inside your own skin – at least for a few days. If that sounds like you, then yes, it is absolutely worth it. And if you are wondering about the best time to visit Madeira, stop wondering: it is May. The wisteria is still in flower, the Flower Festival crowds have thinned, and the temperature sits at a steady 19 to 22°C – warm enough for the terrace, cool enough for the mountains. I would not do it any other way.
CHAPTER ONE
The Arrival
The car pulls up to the entrance, and the porters are already moving toward you before the door is fully open – dressed in immaculate uniforms that manage to feel both formal and genuinely welcoming, not costumed. You walk through the lobby – regal, quietly elegant, not shouting at you – and then someone leads you out to the terrace. The sea is below you. The sky is that particular shade of blue that Madeira does better than anywhere else I have been. A glass of champagne appears. The air is crisp and fresh, carrying something faintly floral. That is the moment. That exhale – that feeling of having arrived somewhere worthy of the word.
When people ask where to stay in Madeira, this is the Belmond Reid’s Palace review I give them: it is the finest address on the island, but it earns the title. As a comparison, Cliff Bay is polished and contemporary and genuinely excellent. Savoy Palace is dramatic and architecturally bold in the heart of Funchal. Reid’s Palace is something older and more particular. It has history in its walls. Winston Churchill stayed here in 1950. George Bernard Shaw learned to dance the tango here. Gregory Peck walked these corridors. The hotel has its own quiet mythology – there is even a chair on the west lawn they say was Churchill’s, looking out over the same view he painted. That kind of weight does something to a place.
What it costs: Sea View Suite from €650 per night. Garden View from €420. Breakfast €38 per person if not included in your rate — and it is worth every cent of it, which I will come to. There are more accessible rooms, and there are ways to experience the property without staying (afternoon tea being the obvious one).
CHAPTER TWO
The Table
On our first evening we were taken to the Ristorante Villa Cipriani. A table set for eight, which sounds formal and potentially stiff, but felt entirely the opposite. We had cocktails on the terrace as the sun dropped into the Atlantic — that slow, golden Madeiran sunset that takes its time. I ordered a fillet steak with truffled potato cream, sautéed mushrooms, and a gravy jus. The meat cut like soft butter. I could not finish it, not because it was disappointing but because it was enormous and too good to rush. That is a particular kind of problem I am happy to have.
"It felt like I had been whisked off to Italy — just for a couple of hours."
The following morning I had the eggs Benedict at breakfast. I am not someone who usually notices eggs Benedict. But I noticed these. The yolks were precisely that — yolks, not rubber — and the hollandaise had a brightness to it. Small detail. Stayed with me.
On the question of dress code: during the day, smart casual is entirely appropriate. For dinner at the main restaurant you will want a jacket. On the terrace, smart jeans are fine. No one will turn you away, but you will feel more at ease with your surroundings if you dress to meet the room.
Afternoon tea at Reid’s Funchal is €65 per person. Go on the terrace so you are as close to the sea as possible. It is one of those experiences that justifies itself entirely in the memory it creates – the kind you describe to people six months later.
CHAPTER THREE
Leaving the Palace Gates
Madeira is not a place to stay poolside for a week. The island will pull you away from the hotel if you let it, and you should let it.
We did a walking tour of Funchal – and I mean the real Funchal, not the sanitised version. Streets that were clean but genuinely bustling. Buildings with azulejo tiles and the particular Madeiran habit of planting flowers absolutely everywhere. On the same tour, we visited a tea house and learned about the island’s tea traditions, then stopped at Uacaú for handmade chocolate. A banana chocolate was put in front of me, and I was expecting to tolerate it – I ended up buying more to bring home for the kids. These are the kinds of surprises that never make it onto any itinerary I have seen.
We also stopped for local food – salted fish and espetadas, the hanging beef kebab that is as much theatre as it is food. If you want to understand what Madeirans eat before you arrive at Reid’s lavish buffet, find a padaria (bakery) and order bolo do caco — a soft flat bread made with sweet potato — with garlic butter, or a bifana, a simple pork roll. Wash it down with a galão, the Portuguese answer to a latte. A coffee and a roll in a local café costs almost nothing.
We also took a jeep tour with Adventureland Madeira — a Land Rover Discovery, proper off-road, up above the clouds to Paúl da Serra. The plateau up there has a quality I was not prepared for: vast, almost silent, and then the mist rolls in, and you cannot see more than a few metres. For levada walking, Madeira is deservedly famous, but the forest paths of the Fanal forest are something else entirely – ancient laurel trees draped in moss, older than almost anything you will encounter in a European city. Bring shoes with grip. I overpacked for rain and ended up in brilliant sunshine, but the Fanal can change its mind in minutes.
CHAPTER FOUR
What I Stole for You
f a client has 48 hours and asks me to build something honest and non-negotiable: dinner at Ristorante Villa Cipriani on night one, and one long unhurried afternoon on the lower terrace of Reid’s with nothing scheduled. That is the 48-hour version of a bespoke holiday Madeira genuinely rewards.
For how many nights to stay in Madeira: I would suggest five, structured roughly as follows — three nights at Reid’s Palace for the ritual and the restoration, then two nights on the north coast at Quinta do Furao, which sits on a wine estate above the sea and gives you a completely different island. The north is wilder, the cliffs more dramatic, the light different. The contrast makes both experiences better.
On the Azores versus Madeira question — I get asked this constantly. The honest answer is that they are almost separate propositions. Madeira is easier to navigate, warmer, and better suited to luxury stays and accessible hiking with a private guide on the levadas. The cliff pools at Porto Moniz, the volcanic drama of Pico do Arieiro, the ancient paths of the Laurissilva forest — these are world-class experiences with proper infrastructure around them. The Azores are rawer, less polished, and extraordinary for whale watching and for travellers who want to feel genuinely off the map. Fewer tourists, wilder landscapes, a different kind of solitude. Madeira for luxury and warmth and ease. Azores for those who want to feel slightly untethered from the modern world.
I brought back chocolate from Uacaú, a bag of local Madeiran tea, and a serious and inconvenient craving for Portuguese barbecue steak. I also brought back a certainty that I need to return — this time with my wife, because it is one of the most genuinely romantic places I have ever stayed. I say that not as a sales line but as a fact.
One thing I would do differently: I would not try to compress it. Reid’s Palace rewards slowness. Four days feels right — not three, not a quick weekend. It is the kind of place where you finally stop noticing the time, which is rarer than it should be.
So: is Belmond Reid’s Palace worth it? It is, if you understand what you are paying for — not square footage or a swim-up bar, but a particular quality of experience, a staff who have chosen this as a vocation, and a hotel that has been earning its reputation for over 130 years. What to pack for a Madeira walking holiday: lightweight layers, one smart dinner outfit, proper walking shoes, and less than you think you need. The island provides most of what matters. If you are planning a trip and want a bespoke itinerary built around your pace and interests — including access to a private guide on the Madeira levadas — I would love to help you design it.
Get in touch to start planning your Madeira trip
