Rate this holiday to Madeira

[ColinJ]

Check Leeds/Bradford or Cork for gusty landings.

I am not a fan of flying but coped with uneventful flights between Manchester and Alicante. I don't fancy gusty landings though! I might check those airports out later.

Mind you, I will probably never fly again now so it isn't something that I need to worry about.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Yikes...



PASS!!!

Piece of cake when compared to driving up Accy High Street.

 

[Gwylan]

Went to Madeira about 40 years ago. It was pretty, simple. Assume it's come on a bit though.

Arriving the local passengers clapped as the plane landed.
The runway was short and taking off was challenging. This was done with only enough fuel to get to Lisbon was a bit of a leap of faith.
Several friends wintered there.
I always wanted to sail there, but lacked the balls

 

[Accy cyclist]

Yikes...



PASS!!!

That looked a pretty smooth landing to me.🤔 I've experienced worse landings at Manchester airport, on wet and windy October evenings.🙄

 

[Alex321]

but a 2* is a bit of a red flag normally

and wouldn;t be inhabited by people with your sense of style

It isn't 2* it is 4* - Colin was pointing out that it is 2 times £425, not saying the hotel is 2* (I rea it the same as you initially though)

 

[a.twiddler]

Can be quite windy. Outside the main tourist centres many people only speak Portugese. The airport is quite an experience. In former times flying boats used to land in the bay near Funchal.

Then a runway was built on an adjacent island and passengers had to travel to Funchal by boat. The current airport is near the small town of Santa Cruz, a few miles from Funchal due to the scarcity of flat sites. It is actually built on a slope and was extended over the sea on stilts to accommodate larger aircraft. Larger in this case still means not very large, about airbus A320 or Boeing 737 size. We had an apartment a few miles from the airport and could walk down the road and look down on aircraft taking off and landing.

When they arrive they fly up the coast parallel to the airport then turn inland to the right in a steep turn, then level out and drop steeply down to the runway. On taking off they have to climb very steeply then make a sharp right turn as there is a range of hills across the flight path. The captain apologised in advance for this, though for many of the passengers it was an extra treat at the end of their holiday.

Probably best to have a hotel in Funchal or one of the major centres. We were a bit out in the sticks with no transport and catching a local bus with no Portuguese was sometimes a bit tricky. We weren't sure we'd always end up where we intended to go.

 

[Alex321]

We went about 12 years ago and stayed in Funchal in the old town. We loved it. We used the buses a lot but getting around the island can be a problem. One side of the island is poor weather but the Funchal side is usually good. Weather pretty decent all year I believe. Amazing mountains, bananas growing everywhere and hardly a piece of flat ground anywhere. You're either going up or going down. Funchal is flatish though. No beaches that I ever saw but if you can get there I believe there are a few a long way from Funchal. If you're not a keen flyer then give it a miss. It has a seriously scary runway built on stilts over the sea. Worth digging around on YouTube to see what I mean.

There are several beaches on the opposite coast, but the weather tends to be worse over there. We did get to one of them on one of the days we hired a car.

But all the seafront hotels near Funchal just have bathing platforms.

That seems fairly pricey for B&B, we didn't pay much more for half board (though that was about 9 years ago) - we paid £1059 for the two of us, including flights and transfers.

 

[ColinJ]

It isn't 2* it is 4* - Colin was pointing out that it is 2 times £425, not saying the hotel is 2* (I rea it the same as you initially though)

Oh, I see - yes! I am used to using '*' rather 'x' for multiplication on computers.

 

[Accy cyclist]

Oh, I see - yes! I am used to using '*' rather 'x' for multiplication on computers.

So does it mean that the holiday is £850, but if shared by 2 it works out at the advertised £425 each? If so I could still take it but pay £850, not £425 for 7 nights. I knew it was too good to be true.

 

[Alex321]

So does it mean that the holiday is £850, but if shared by 2 it works out at the advertised £425 each? If so I could still take it but pay £850, not £425 for 7 nights. I knew it was too good to be true.

Advertised holiday prices are normally Per Person, but with the expectation that there will be two people.

The price for one (if available) will not usually be double the price, but there will normally be a single supplement, which can be a fair amount, but you do occasionally get holidays with no single supplement.

You need to ask them what the price for a solo traveller will be - it could possibly be anywhere between 425 and 850. Very unlikely to be quite as much as £850, because while the room may be the full charge, you won't be using a 2nd air ticket or 2nd breakfast.

 

[ColinJ]

So does it mean that the holiday is £850, but if shared by 2 it works out at the advertised £425 each? If so I could still take it but pay £850, not £425 for 7 nights. I knew it was too good to be true.

The £425 is a low price to grab your attention but it does say PER PERSON, and in the small print - based on 2 people sharing.

 

[MadMalx]

I found Madiera dissapointing.
Good weather in winter, dramatic scenery & mountains, very good walks on the llevadas. Often needs excursion buses, taxis or hire cars, some buses. Much too steep for cycling near Funchal. Plants were great but almost completely devoid of birdlife, even in the rainforest (there are a few unique bird species, which I did spot).
Biggest dissapointment was the food - in my budget range the standard restaurant food had a very limited range. Sardines great, but other fish choices wre surprisingly limited. The local speciality, scabard fish (very bland) with bananas, was grim in the place I tried it. Few vegetables or veg dishes (almost everying is imported).

 

[Paulus]

I went to Madeira a few years back and found it a lovely place. The restaurants served great food and there is plenty to see and experience.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Lots of end of season hols around in Nov. Tenerife here:

https://www.britishairways.com/trav...TCI&departure=LON&duration=7&cabin=M&month=11

 

[sungod]

'strewth, i'm older than accy! i hadn't expected that