Orca Praia

There’s a €50 deposit for the mini bar and they don’t take credit cards. There’s also a €10 per beach towel deposit.

The hotel is literally miles outside of Funchal and it’s about €15-20 for a taxi in to the centre. There are maybe two bars along the walk way from the hotel but one is pretty poor with truly disgusting toilets.

The hotel itself is on a steep cliff and the walk back up from the pool is a killer.

The pool bar serves food until 3pm but the service is slow and the menu prices out of date. You won’t see much change from €30 for a club sandwich and a couple of beers.

The breakfast is ok but nothing special. The restaurant is pretty small for the number of people crammed in there and there’s no terrace but it has cracking views.

The only other bar in the hotel is tiny, over priced and again there is nowhere to sit outside.

The entertainment leaves a lot to be desired. If you’re hoping the kids can runabout safely whilst you relax with a drink don’t. There’s a mobile DJ two nights a week at the pool but it’s not well attended and lacks atmosphere.

Do yourself a favour and stay in town. Save on taxis and soak up the vibe of Funchal.

We read the reviews before booking, and the rude replies from the owner!, and usually we write off some of the more damning ones as difficult guests but we should have believed them. The owner clearly shouldn’t be in the tourism business and doesn’t really care about addressing the concerns of unhappy guests. Perhaps his staff are miserable because he has no regard for them either - who knows!! We are well travelled, well educated, pretty laid back and respectful people but there were just too many issues with this hotel to not write a review and warn other people.

The long walk into Funchal along the coastal path provided wonderful views, tunnels going through the cliffs are a surprise. In the opposite direction along the coastal path is the fishing village Camara de Lobos takes 20mins walk its quiet and relaxing in the.day and livelier atmosphere at night we loved it lots of local people. Near the hotels are beachfront bars serving a range of foods. The swimming pool is very relaxed overlooking the sea , lots of sunbeds , the pool bar is reasonable, food is good, access to the beach is a bonus which has its own bar that belongs to the hotel. The dinning room and public areas are all Covid safe , temperatures taken,hand sanitiser, masks are worn and regular cleaning can be seen. Breakfast was good very well organised. The bedroom was spotless , cleaned daily and the views were fantastic overlooking the bay. we slept.with the balcony door.open so we could hear the sea so relaxing. I had massage in the Spa ,again very professional and cleaning in between was to a high standard and Covid rules were followed. There are lots of steps and a very steep long slope down to the swimming pool which could be struggle. If you want to book a Covid test and you don't receive a reply from the madeira safe app , give them a ring , so helpful a booking was made very quickly at the local hospital it was free and we.only had to wait a few minutes . You can get free tests in some chemists in Funchal but you need to book your slot as soon as you can. I was nervous about my first trip abroad during Covid but from LBA airport, Jet 2 holidays and the Orca Praira, you made it perfect, so relaxing. Thank you.

As we were eating she walked passed and slapped the bill on the table before we had even fished our mains! Anyway it gets worse.. the morning after we go for breakfast and 3 members of staff followed me around looking what I was picking up… we come to our room and the house keeping knocks on the door… we said we don’t need it cleaning but she proceeded to barge in the room with or baby fast asleep, opened the mini fridge and removed our items (baby milk, water and my insulin as I’m type one diabetic) slams it shut and locks it?? We asked the reason at reception and they tell us there was an incident the previous day! We have never in our life been treated this way. To make matters worse they wouldn’t help us book our covid test to fly back to the uk so we had to ring around hospitals to sort it our self. We had the fridge open as we had to make a huge complaint and ask what the problem was. We had said we are going to write a review and this didn’t like this so they really opens the fridge but still continue to look at us like we are some prison thugs! If your are young parents with a baby I don’t recommend this hotel as they assume your doing to steal drinks. I wish to think they up their game with manners as I said at the start the hotel is beautiful. Just a shame about the rude staff!