The five-star hotel The Cliff Bay in Funchal, Madeira offers understated luxury. Set on a promontory, The Cliff Bay offers direct sea access, scubadiving, pools, gym, tennis, massage and beauty treatments.
Currently (early October 2020), the 2* Michelin restaurant Il Gallo d’Oro of Chef Benoît Sinthon is closed, but you can enjoy dinner at The Rose Garden, the hotel’s restaurant specializing in fish and sea food. Furthermore, The Cliff Bay is directly connected to the new Portobay Hotel Les Suites, which opened its doors in October 2019. At their already very popular Avista restaurant, you can enjoy Mediterranean cusine for lunch and dinner as well as your afternoon tea. In addition, on Fridays and Saturdays, Avista offers Asian food. Chef Luísa Castro is a specialist of Japanese raw food, sushi and sashimi.
At The Cliff Bay, they know how to receive return visitors. Upon my arrival, after a covid-test at the airport, which makes Madeira an extremely safe island with no death related to the current pandemic, The Cliff Bay welcomed me with a bottle of Altaneiro, Vinho Spumante Bruto with 11.5% alcohol as well as a fresh fruit basked every day. I fondly remember the ultra-comfortable bed. As for the airport covid-test made around 16:00, the (negative) result arrived in my inbox the same evening at 23:20. In Funchal, they are more efficient than in Berlin, where it took the lab 2.5 days to post my (negative) result online.
The Cliff Bay & Porto Bay Group and their histories
If Reid’s Palace is the Grand Old Lady among Madeira’s luxury hotels, The Cliff Bay, opened in October 1994, is the Grand Young Lady.
In fact, the history of the two hotels is intertwined since the Blandy family, which owns the famous wine company of the same name, was involved in both hotels. The Blandy’s owned Reid’s Palace from 1937 until 1996, when they sold it to Orient-Express Hotels. The Blandy’s decided to get rid of their old flagship, which was loosing money at the time, in order to focus on their new, money-making The Cliff Bay.
At least in 2012, during my first stay at the hotel, The Cliff Bay was owned by the Porto Bay Group, which is controlled by two Madeiran groups: The Ocean Islands Group and the Blandy Group each hold 45% of the share capital, with the remaining 10% held by local businessmen. The German tour operator Thomas Cook AG holds 15% of the shares of the management company.
The Porto Bay Group opened its first hotel in 1988, Suite Hotel Eden Mar. The Cliff Bay, its five-star luxury flagship, opened six years later. In 2010, Porto Bay CEO António Trinidade was distinguished “Tourism Personality of the Year” by the Association of Portuguese Tourism Journalists.
The Cliff Bay is situated next to its rival, Reid’s Palace, on a promontory overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and the city of Funchal. At the end of 2008, The Cliff Bay’s gastronomic restaurant, Il Gallo d’Oro of Chef Benoît Sinthon, was awarded Madeira’s first Michelin star.
All rooms at the Cliff Bay feature a balcony with a table and two chairs to relax in the sun, with most rooms facing the Atlantic; just 12 garden rooms are facing the mountains, overlooking the hotel entrance. All bathrooms in the hotel feature both a bath tub and a separate shower.
In 2012, I stayed in the Top Floor Room 624. This year, 2020, my home was the Superior Funchal Bay View Room 606. Those rooms offer a fresh design by Alexandra Graff.
The wood used in some rooms is wengué, in other rooms it’s oak. All doors as well as the cupboards and other furniture in the more traditional rooms are made of the Portuguese carvalho wood.
Almost all bathrooms, including mine, are made of a combination of a mocca-cream marble from Portugal and a polished stone, with the floors being in a black greis stone from Portugal.
All rooms have a coffee and tea making facility and, in addition to flat screen TVs, a DVD player; movies and CDs are available from the hotel free of charge.
I liked the Rituals (The Ritual of Happy Buddha: sweet orange & cedar wood) shower gel and shampoo in my room. 300 ml each. I’m still using them [added on October 11, 2020].
The Cliff Bay is a peaceful hotel facing the Atlantic Ocean
As during my ealier stays in 2012 and 2015 (German review of my 2015 dinner at Il Gallo d’Oro), The Cliff Bay made an excellent impression. Among the 200 rooms and suites, go for one like mine (624 or 606): It’s just you and the Atlantic Ocean!
A hotel such as The Cliff Bay attracts the rich and famous, including politicians and artists, among whom one notes Lawrence “Larry” Joseph Mullen from U2, the group UB40 and politicians such as the former Portuguese president Dr. Jorge Sampaio and the former prime minister of Portugal and current United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Dr. António Guterres.
In September 2020, Front Office Manager Mr. Diamantino told me the story of a couple of regular guests who, for the 50th birthday of the husband, wanted to share their positive experience with their family and friends. They chartered a plane for 146 guests and booked some 50 rooms in their favorite hotel on their favorite island. There stay included not only The Cliff Bay and its 2* Michelin star restaurant, but also many excursions, visits to restaurants with traditional, local food and more.
Don’t got to The Cliff Bay because of famous guests, but because of its location on a cliff, its peaceful and tranquil lifestyle, its restaurants, its spa, pools (indoor, outdoor and on the sea level) and pier providing direct sea access, its table tennis facility, tennis court, Jacuzzi, steam bath, gym and sauna. Relax!
So far, the Madeiran authorities have not recorded a single covid19-related death. The Cliff Bay has just been awarded a special, international covid19-certification, a first on the island. In Funchal, you are as safe as it gets.
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All photos copyright The Cliff Bay, Portobay Hotels & Resorts. Hotel review + photos added on October 2, 2020 at 18:10 Madeira time. Detail added on October 11, 2020.
