Musa D'Ajuda

Very very bad hotel, I don't know where the four stars will be found😳. In the middle of August without air conditioning all week, an oven in the rooms and dining room. We had a room facing the road and we had to ask for a change, it was impossible to sleep with the noise (and heat). The cleaning is poor, the hallways look like something out of a horror movie, the carpet can't have any more stains and it smells horrible, one day we found a huge cockroach. In the dining room it was impossible to have breakfast because of the heat. I don't recommend it but it's not even close to a bad vacation.

Great hotel with wonderful, welcoming and obliging staff. Nothing is too much trouble for them. The outdoor pool is COLD. Don't exchange cash at CAXIA GERAL banks. There is an unadvertised 10% surcharge

We stayed at the Ajuda Madeira for two weeks in September and on arrival we were greeted with a very friendly receptionist who gave us a map of the area and other useful information. On entering our room, we found a fantastic view of the sea (we were on the third floor) and a nice marble bathroom. The downside to this was that the carpet in our room was bald in places and had large pieces missing from it. We could have changed rooms but opted not to do this as our sea view was so good. Breakfast is buffet style with the usual breads, cheeses, cereal, cake and champagne! There was also a cooked option but the food was the same every day. Staff at the hotel were very pleasant; especially the pool man who would do his best to ensure that the area was clean at all times. There were always plenty of available sunbeds and the main pool was usually free since this tends to be a hotel for couples, not groups of teenagers. The hotel location was good, nice and quiet but a 40 minute walk to the centre of Funchal. There is, however, a courtesy bus service which runs from outside the hotel into town but beware: there is no service into Funchal between 11.30am and 3pm due to siesta-style working hours. This was a lovely, spotless hotel; the rooms are cleaned every day and it was very good value for money. There is a panoramic bar on the 6th floor which affords a fantasic view of the sea but the bar closed in June which is a terrible shame as we would have used it regularly. Overall, the Ajuda is very good value for money but not suitable for those with walking difficulties as it is situated on quite a steep hill. On the downside, we seemed to be the only Brits in the hotel since most of the guests were German, French or Portugese. If you go out for a meal in the area, I would avoid the Summertime restaurant on the main strip as the service is terrible, the food is awful (try eating fish that hasn't been scaled or gutted) and we were charged 15 euros for a bottle of wine that we were given when our first choice was not available. We later saw the same bottle of wine in a local supermarket priced at 1 euro 50! Avoid this place!!