The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Madeira’s big moment
After months of uncertainty, the Portuguese island can finally look ahead to an exciting summer, says Mary Lussiana
The Portuguese island of Madeira seems to have endured as many twists and turns, fouls and penalties as its favourite son Cristiano Ronaldo has performed in the current Euro 2020. While the top scorer added two more goals to his record in Wednesday’s game, Madeira, like the national team in that match, has had more of a draw than a win, finding itself in the strange position of being on the new green “watchlist” (see page 17 for more information), having been whisked off the proper green list at the start of this month.
Digesting the news will be patrons of the Sports Bar (featuring an outdoor terrace with two large screens) at Pestana CR7 (pestanacr7.com), the Madeiran outpost of the pioneering lifestyle brand that brings together Pestana’s hotelier expertise and Ronaldo’s lifestyle, in a heady millennialfocused, football-themed fusion. While the latest in the brand has just opened in Madrid, this one sits on the waterfront in Funchal, just 10 minutes’ walk from the city centre. Its rooftop deck, overlooking ocean and mountains, includes a glass-fronted sauna and bold red-tiled swimming pool.
Pestana manager Fernando Carrico says: “We are so looking forward to welcoming back UK guests. Following a very difficult year, our hotel just reopened, on June 11, in time for the European Championship.”
Over at the grand dame of the island, Belmond Reid’s Palace (belmond.com), hopes had been high for Madeira to be placed on the full, original green list, which general manager Ciriaco Campus said would have been “fantastic for the island and for our hotel”. We were badly hit after Madeira came off the green list a few weeks ago, with as many cancellations as we’d had book
ings. There are still people who can afford to quarantine when they return from holidaying with us, but others can’t put their life on hold for that long. So we are looking forward to welcoming all our British friends who deserve a holiday here.”
Those who head to Madeira may well find a much more vibrant holiday-scape than they had expected. Any sedate image of the island is long outdated, with opportunities for soft adventure combined with its impressive handling of the pandemic having made it popular with digital nomads. Accommodation is constantly evolving too, from the latest sleek, contemporary Les Suites at Cliff
Bay (portobay.com), perched on the edge of the ocean, to the recently opened Okulus villa from Funchal Cottages (funchalcottages.co.uk), whose rooftop terrace is alone worth the journey.
To experience Madeira on a plate, local dishes from black scabbard fish with the island’s bananas and passion fruit to limpets with garlic butter and the flat bolo do caco bread, are all local favourites and should be tried. Treat yourself to these and other culinary landmarks at Il Gallo d’Oro, Madeira’s two-Michelin-star restaurant at the above-mentioned Cliff Bay, in Funchal, where you can raise a glass as the sun comes down over the sea in front of you.