Porto Mare

A very enjoyable stay at this hotel, very good choice for breakfast and good quality, efficient friendly staff. Room was comfortable and spacious, with a reasonable sea view. Reception staff were always friendly and helpful answering our few local questions. Walked into Funchal in about 25 minutes, usually bussed back. Downsides for us would be a lack of enough shade and umbrellas in the pool areas at times. Also there was music entertainment on a few nights which was too loud for us on a balcony or trying to sleep at gone 11pm etc. Overall a good stay though.

Having previously enjoyed another PortoBay resort, I expected the same standard at Porto Mare. While the staff were outstanding, the rooms were quiet and comfortable, and the spa treatment was excellent, the overall experience was disappointing. Too many facilities required extra payment, the buffet offered poor value, and customer communication—particularly regarding the wine package—could have been much better. The indoor pool was affected by maintenance issues, and the lack of modern in-room TV features was frustrating. Overall, the stay felt more focused on upselling than providing a relaxing, premium holiday experience worthy of the PortoBay name.

Just returned from a 10 day stay at the Porto Mare. Our first visit to Madeira. We booked direct with the hotel for a superior sea view room and requested a high floor. On arrival we were pleased to find we had one of the best rooms on the 5th floor with a gorgeous view over the pool, grounds and sea. Good size balcony with table and two chairs and a hanging drier for swimwear. It was my husband’s birthday while we were there and although we didn’t say anything they obviously noted the date from his passport and on the day they left a bottle of wine in ice with a nice note. We thought this was a very nice touch. It was also our anniversary a few days later but we again didn’t mention it as it would look like we wanted more wine! The beds were really comfortable and the linen good quality and spotlessly clean. An amenity kit in the bathroom had useful items in and the hairdryer was a good Bosch one. Rituals hand wash, lotion and shower gel, again lovely. Maid service every day did a good job. Breakfast for me was fine as I only really had cereal, fruit and toast. The toaster was a bit temperamental, sometimes ok after one go through other times it took 3. As we went to breakfast a bit later there wasn’t a queue so could stand there putting the bread through without holding anyone else up. My husband was disappointed with the hot stuff as he didn’t like the sausages and the bacon was often cold. I feel the hotel let its self down with the state of the carpets, specially outside the portofino bar, it was badly stained. The grounds are kept in a lovely condition however. We didn’t use the pool until late afternoon as we would go out exploring after breakfast but we always found sun beds, not necessarily where we would like (in the shade) but could usually move around later on. I would say that not every member of staff were friendly in fact some were quite brusque but this didn’t spoil the holiday as we usually just laughed to ourselves. The local pingo doce had some exceptionally rude staff which did annoy us tho as we greeted everyone in a friendly manner to start with but gave up after a couple of days. The hotel is in a good location with lots of really good restaurants around, never judge a book by its cover as some didn’t look much from outside but served very good food. Anyway we had a good first visit, unfortunately didn’t do as much as we had planned due to a couple of days illness so maybe we will return one day!