Albatroz Beach & Yacht Club

The Albatroz Beach & Yacht Club is set in what used to be a doctor’s private villa, and the luxury hotel still has the intimate feel of a country residence, with modest but immaculate decoration. In the hotel’s high-ceilinged lobby is an impressive mosaic floor and fireplace, while in the lounge, there are rustic terra-cotta flooring, a great Persian rug, bookcases, and grandfather clock. A nautical theme pervades throughout, as seen in numerous sailboats and ocean-themed artwork. The restaurant is a charming space with a great sloping ceiling clad in varnished pine, and enormous ferns hanging down from high planters. 

Outside, paved paths run through a clifftop garden filled with giant rhododendron bushes and sculpted lawns, gnarled trees, and desert succulents. The standouts, though, are the two pools -- one larger one up at the top of the cliff, and one at its foot, sunken into a jetty accessible down a flight of stairs carved into the rock, which makes guests feel as though they are immersed in the Atlantic. The hotel tends to attract a well-heeled and more mature clientele, who look for seclusion and don't mind occasionally plane noise.

Although the hotel sits next to Madeira Airport, the hotel picks up much less noise than one might expect, as it is well below the runway, down a steep cliff. Plane noise is rare, but it can still be heard at times. The secluded hotel is a 15-minute walk away from the sleepy town of Santa Cruz along a pretty coastal path, and a 20-minute drive from the more lively city of Funchal. Transfers to Madeira Airport take less than five minutes.

The Albatroz Beach & Yacht Club has just 15 rooms, all of which are large and attractively decorated in a traditional but elegant style. Even the smallest rooms are spacious enough to fit a couch and a coffee table, and more importantly, they all have furnished balconies or terraces with sea views. Rooms have terra-cotta floors, slim wood furniture, and white walls decorated with paintings and hand-painted ceramic mosaics. Standard and Superior Rooms are much the same., with either two single beds or a double, a comfy couch, a coffee table and a dining table with two wicker chairs, and a flat-screen TV on a desk.

Suites, meanwhile, have separate sitting areas with a couch and two deep armchairs, and a dining room table that seats four. Bathrooms are decorated in a peach marble and have dual sinks, bidets, and shower/tub combos with plastic curtains. Toiletries, hairdryers, and robes are also provided across the board. All rooms have flat-screen TVs, safes, minibars, free Wi-Fi, and tea- and coffee-making facilities. Guests staying in the suites get a free fruit basket too. 

For a hotel at this end of the market, the Albatroz Beach and Yacht Club is somewhat light on amenities, but what is on offer is excellent. Easily the most impressive thing about the hotel is its swimming pools: There is one on a sunny terrace at the top of the cliff, along with a separate, shallow pool for kids to splash about in, while down a flight of stairs carved into the cliff is a saltwater pool sunken into a concrete jetty surrounded by the ocean, where guests can feel as though they are immersed in the Atlantic. 

There is no fully equipped spa, but massage rooms are on-site for guests to book treatments. An ill-equipped gym has just a few machines, though outside is a nice grass tennis court. Meals at the hotel are served either buffet-style or a la carte depending on how many guests are staying there, but regardless of how it’s served, guests enthuse about the food. All rates include a free breakfast with hot and cold options. Free Wi-Fi is available throughout the hotel.