Hotel Girassol - Suite Hotel

We had room 1101, wow beautiful views and lovely rooms, bedroom, lounge, bathroom and big balcony. The hotel is great, food good and always hot. Staff are lovely. The only thing I found disappointing was the bar area on floor 1 had a lack of comfortable seating. The settees were past their best and there were only two. Sort the seating and this hotel would easily get 5*s from me.

We are staying here as a group of 9, just 1 day left. I have to say I've been pleasantly surprised. I strongly recommend staying B&B as the breakfast is great, but there is so much around to visit (restaurants and bars). The rooms are spacious and clean, the beds are very comfy, showers are powerful and hot. The whole hotel is well kept and jist like Madeira itself, its very clean. The food in the pool bar area is very nice and a good selection of drinks. A massive shout out to Claudia, she's extremely lovely and makes a great pimms. This hotel is a very pleasant surprise.

Clean hotel , excellent location. Staff friendly. Lovely pool areas. Breakfast, standard dishes, Room on top floor ( noisy exhaust chimney above room) noisy at night. Main gripe. Safe keys are tiny, we lost ours and were charged 75 euros. ( Don't think it would cost that much to replace a small barrel) Ridiculous.

A wonderful pre Christmas trip to see the lights . This was our 5th visit to the Girassol and we had yet another fabulous time . The rooms are spotlessly clean and spacious with a sitting room and a proper bathroom , with a tub and shower. The hotel was well heated ( it gets very chilly in the evenings in December) the beds are comfortable with good linen, changed twice a week and decent towels , changed whenever you need them changing . Pool towels are provided. The food , served in the restaurant at breakfast and dinner time and by the pool at lunchtime is good quality, well cooked and hot. With a good selection of meat and fish as well as a vegetarian option. The staff are all lovely. In the evening you have a choice of two bars plus an outside terrace . The all inclusive drinks are a good range although I’m not too keen on the white wine ( the rose is much nicer ) . There are three pools outside , a large injected pool and a children’s pool next to it plus a heated adults only pool. The is also a very nice spa but you pay to use that. The hotel is set in well kept and pretty gardens , in a fantastic location near the famous Lido and beautiful promenade . The are plenty of cafes , bars and restaurants within a few minutes walk. It’s about 35 minutes easy amble into the centre of Funchal and we walked there most days and got the local bus back . It’s also a good idea to download the Bolt app as you can use their taxis wherever you are . It cost us €6.50 to go to Churchills Bay so they are much more affordable than the UK. Christmas in Funchal is magical so a visit in December is well worth it to see the Christmas market and stunning lights . The daytime temps are about 19c -22c but you will need a jacket and scarf for the evenings . There is an excellent hairdresser at the hotel too! We are already looking to go back for the 6th time in 2025.

Whilst this is shown as a 4 star hotel; I would give it a 3-star rating. Overall the hotel is good, but there is certainly areas of vast improvement required. You only get complimentary (x2 of each) Tea / coffee sachets, milk, sugar when you check in. You have to purchase additional ones. Also water too! We stayed in the Jnr Suite and had the basics, but for those that like a TV in the bed room - this WASNT the case. The bathroom was very basic; the shower performed as it should, which is reassuring. Sadly, the Seventy restaurant had some unwanted visitors - Ants. I pointed this out to the staff who were aware and advised they're dealing with it; but when you see a few on the table, it does put you off. Food though was very good - but could do with Vegetarian options; other than fish. Also, having stayed as half-board; I'd have thought soft drinks would have been included as part of the meal plan, but sadly doesnt. Also, use of the Spa facilities (Sunna, jacuzzi) and gym is also additional payment. Staff were friendly.