Savoy Palace
Savoy Palace is a five-star superior hotel on the Lido clifftop in Funchal, the capital of Madeira, Portugal's mild Atlantic island west of the mainland. It's a contemporary tower run by the Madeira-based Savoy Signature group and a member of both Leading Hotels of the World and Virtuoso, with ocean-view rooms, a giant ground-floor pool, a rooftop bar and one of Portugal's largest spas. Families come for the mild year-round climate, the pools and the short walk into Funchal.
On this page
Is it worth it?
Who this Funchal five-star suits, who it doesn't and the facts to skim before the detail.
The Savoy Palace is more a city-break base with a family bent than a self-contained beach resort. It opened in 2019, so it's new and well finished, and it packs a lot into one tower: six restaurants and three bars, a giant outdoor pool and a children's pool on the ground floor, a rooftop infinity pool and cocktail bar, a heated indoor pool and one of Portugal's largest spas. It sits on the Lido clifftop about 10 to 15 minutes' walk from the centre of Funchal, so a lot of the holiday can happen on foot. What it doesn't have is a beach of its own or a supervised kids' club, and its most photographed feature, the rooftop pool, is adults-only. It suits families who want a warm-weather base with good food and pools and are happy to spend on childcare or use the spa in shifts, more than those who want a sandy beach and drop-off childcare in the price.
Best for
You want a new, five-star base with ocean views, a big pool and six restaurants, a short walk from Funchal and Madeira's mild weather most of the year.
Maybe not for
You want a sandy beach at the door, drop-off childcare in the price, or an all-inclusive where everything is one payment.
Best ages
Babies and young children who are happy with pool days. There's no minimum age, but no supervised club to leave them at either.
What stands out
The Laurea Spa, one of Portugal's largest, the rooftop pool and bar, plus six restaurants for a hotel this size.
What to check
The board basis, whether a cot comes with your room and that the rooftop pool and spa are adults-only.
Where is it?
On the Lido strip in western Funchal, Madeira, about 25 to 35 minutes from the island's airport.
Quick facts for families
What the resort is like
Where the hotel sits, how it's laid out over the floors and what getting around is really like with a pushchair.
Savoy Palace is a single contemporary tower on the western side of Funchal, in the Lido strip, also called Estrada Monumental after the road it stands on, in the São Martinho parish. This is the main hotel corridor for Funchal's four and five-star properties, strung along a coastal clifftop road with Atlantic views. It opened in June 2019, so it's a new build rather than a long-established resort, with interiors by the noted Portuguese designer Nini Andrade Silva and a modern take on Madeiran style. The group calls it a "Tribute Cosmopolitan Resort", which in practice means a city hotel that stacks its facilities up through the building rather than spreading them across grounds.
Because everything is under one roof, the layout is easy to picture by floor. The ground floor holds the main outdoor pool, the children's pool, the poolside Alameda restaurant and the Hibiscus breakfast room. The 17th floor is the rooftop, with the adults-only Skypool, the Galáxia Skybar and the Galáxia Skyfood restaurant. Floor -1 has the Laurea Spa, a heated indoor pool and the underground guest car park, open to guests around the clock. Parking is €10 a day, valet parking also €10 a day, or €20 a day for both together, with EV charging points on floor -1 and on the public floor -3 car park (last checked June 2026). Two more restaurants, Terreiro and Pau de Lume, sit in an adjacent building a few steps away, reachable from inside the hotel. There's no estate to cross and no golf buggies; a modern lift takes you between floors, and moving a pushchair around inside is straightforward.
The hotel has no beach and no direct sea access of its own. Guests reach the water at the neighbouring Royal Savoy, the group's sister hotel, five minutes away across an internal bridge so you never step onto the street, and the two hotels share facilities on your room key. The public Funchal Lido complex, a clifftop sea-bath with seawater pools and sun terraces, is about five minutes' walk away. The Lido strip itself is a flat, easy walk lined with restaurants, cafés and shops, and the hotel has a step-free main entrance, though the streets up into central Funchal are steeper. For the island as a whole, its coasts and when to go, see our Madeira guide.
Every restaurant and bar
All six restaurants and three bars, which suit young children and how the booking actually works.
The hotel isn't all-inclusive, so you pay for meals as you go unless you're on a half or full-board rate. There are six restaurants and three bars, spread from the ground-floor pool to the 17th-floor rooftop, and they range from a casual poolside room to a dress-code fine-diner. The ones that suit young children best are the ground-floor and adjacent-building rooms; the rooftop is aimed at adults.
Hibiscus is the main breakfast room, serving a wide buffet daily from 7am to 11am with plenty of vegetarian and vegan choice and a barista area, plus outdoor tables by the pool. The buffet format is the easiest way to feed a toddler, since you pick freely rather than order from a set menu. Guests on a bed and breakfast, half or full-board rate can also take breakfast at the Armada restaurant in the sister Royal Savoy, by reservation a day ahead.
Alameda is the poolside Mediterranean restaurant on the ground floor, open midday to 10pm (12:00 to 22:00), with daily specials, artisan pizzas, an ice-cream counter and afternoon live music. It's the most practical room for a family lunch or an early supper by the pool, and there's no dress code.
Terreiro is the contemporary Portuguese restaurant in the adjacent building, serving petiscos, the Portuguese equivalent of tapas, in a relaxed, share-plate style from late morning to late evening. It's the most overtly family-minded of the dinner options, and it runs a Family Sundays lunch, roughly 12:30 to 3pm, where children are entertained with games and activities by dedicated hosts while the adults eat. Check whether the children's entertainment costs extra when you book a Sunday table.
Pau de Lume is the grill in the same adjacent building, cooking over a live-fire Josper oven with in-house dry-aged meats, open 11:00 to 23:00. It works for a family lunch; the evening leans more grown-up. Orchidaceae Atelier is a small Italian pop-up serving dinner only on variable nights, so it's one for the adults and worth ringing to check it's open before you plan around it.
Galáxia Skyfood is the rooftop fine-dining restaurant on the 17th floor, open for dinner only, Tuesday to Sunday, with a Smart Elegant dress code (no sportswear, beachwear or open-toe shoes) and a no-show fee of €50 a person if you don't cancel (last checked June 2026). It sits within the adults-only rooftop zone alongside the Skypool. Between the late-only dinner, the dress code and the adult setting, it's impractical with young children, though it's an option for a night off. For the record, the hotel is listed in the Michelin Guide's hotel selection, which is a nod to the hotel itself and not a restaurant Michelin star; no restaurant here holds one.
The three bars
The Lobby Lounge and Bar at the main entrance is the most family-accessible, open from 9am to midnight with a snack menu all day, afternoon tea from 3pm to 6pm and no dress code. The Galáxia Skybar is the rooftop cocktail bar beside the adults-only Skypool, with live jazz and DJ sets and the same Smart Elegant dress code, so it isn't one for young children. Vimes is an evening bar, open daily 15:30 to midnight, with live music, billiards, darts, board games and a cigar lounge, again geared to adults after dark.
How restaurant booking works
Dinner reservations are required at every restaurant, and lunch needs one only at Terreiro. Walk-ins for dinner aren't guaranteed, so book your dinner tables before you travel or as soon as you arrive, and pick the earlier sittings if you have young children, since those go first. Restaurant reservations are on +351 969 882 020. You can charge food and drink from any outlet across the two hotels to your room.
Rooms and suites
Every room and suite with its official size, the pools and which the children can use, and how you reach the water.
There are nine room and suite types, and most look out over the ocean, so for the suites the choice is mainly about space and layout. The table lists every category with its official size and how many it sleeps; children in the occupancy figures means ages 2 to 12, and the guidance after the table is which rooms suit a family with a baby or toddler, and why. There may be further premium categories through the booking engine, but these nine are the ones the hotel lists.
| Room or suite | Size | Sleeps | View |
|---|---|---|---|
| Avenue Room | From 41 m² | 2 adults | City avenue, no extra bed |
| Garden Room | From 47 m² | 2 adults, or 2 + 1 child | Garden and pool |
| Ocean Room | From 41 m² | 2 adults, or 2 + 1 child | Ocean |
| Superior Ocean Room | From 41 m² | 2 adults, or 2 + 1 child | Ocean and city, higher floor |
| Bay Suite | From 66 m² | 3 adults, or 2 + 2 children | Bay and city, terrace, lounge with dining area |
| Ocean Junior Suite | From 57 m² | 3 adults, or 2 + 2 children | Ocean, balcony |
| Ocean Suite | From 77 m² | 3 adults, or 2 + 2 children | Ocean and city, lounge with dining area |
| Superior Ocean Suite | From 66 m² | 3 adults + 1 child, or 2 + 2 children | Ocean and city, terrace, lounge with dining area |
| Two Bedroom Family Suite | From 110 m² | 5 adults, or 4 adults + 2 children | Ocean, two bedrooms, lounge with dining area, kitchenette |
For a family, the real question is whether you want a door to close on a sleeping baby. The clearest choice for two parents with a baby or toddler is the Two Bedroom Family Suite at 110 m²: two separate bedrooms mean naps and early bedtimes without the adults sitting in the dark, its own lounge with a dining area gives you somewhere to eat once a child is down, and its kitchenette lets you warm a bottle or put together simple toddler food. The hotel publishes a downloadable floor plan for the suite, worth a look before you book. Among the standard rooms, the Garden Room at 47 m² is the roomiest and takes an extra bed for one child. The Ocean and Superior Ocean Rooms also take an extra bed for a child, and some Superior Ocean Rooms have a double bathroom, useful when one parent is showering and the other is with a baby. The Avenue Room takes no extra bed and is excluded from the family promotional rate, so it isn't one for families travelling with children. If you're bringing a dog, note that only the Superior Ocean Suite is pet-friendly.
Every room has adjustable air conditioning, a king bed that can be split into twins, a walk-in shower, a bathrobe and slippers, a safe, a minibar and tea and coffee making, with a Nespresso machine in the standard rooms. The suites step up to a 55 or 65 inch television, against 49 inches in the standard rooms, and, in some, a bathtub alongside the shower.
Pools
The centrepiece is The Solarium, a giant outdoor pool on the ground floor, open 8am to 7pm, with a pool menu through the day and Bali beds to hire. It's the main family pool, and beside it is a separate children's pool, also on the ground floor and free for all guests, a splash-and-paddle pool for little ones. Both of these outdoor pools are unheated, so their temperature follows the weather.
For cooler or wetter days there's a heated indoor pool on floor -1, open 7am to 8pm and to all guests with no age limit, kept between 23 and 26°C, which makes it the reliable warm-water option outside high summer. Keep it separate in your mind from the Laurea Spa pool on the same level, which is a different pool, adults-only from 16, and needs paid spa access at €45 a day for hotel guests or €65 for non-guests (last checked June 2026). Up on the 17th floor, the Galáxia Skypool is an adults-only infinity pool with a Funchal panorama, one the children can't use. In short, the two ground-floor pools and the indoor pool are for families; the rooftop and spa pools are for adults.
The sea and nearby beaches
Savoy Palace has no beach. Sea access is at the neighbouring Royal Savoy, reached in five minutes across the internal bridge, where a concrete maritime platform has steps and ladders into the Atlantic, open 10am to 6pm. It's the typical Madeiran way to swim in the sea, fine for adults and confident swimmers but not somewhere to let a baby or toddler paddle. The public Funchal Lido, about five minutes' walk away, is a paid clifftop complex of seawater pools and sea-access steps if you want more time by the water.
There's no natural sandy beach in Funchal, which sits on a rocky coast, so Blue Flag beach status doesn't apply here. For sand you head out of the city: Calheta, about 45 minutes' drive west, has a man-made sandy beach that does hold a Blue Flag, alongside the group's sister hotel, Calheta Beach. Porto Santo, the neighbouring island, has 9 km of natural sand and is reachable by a roughly two to two-and-a-half-hour ferry or a 15-minute flight, which makes it a long day out or an overnight for families set on a proper beach.
Babies and toddlers
The Playroom and what it is and isn't, the costs for children, the spa, everything else to do and the days out beyond the door.
The key thing to understand before you book is the Children's Playroom, because it isn't a supervised kids' club in the usual resort sense. It's a room full of games, toys and activities, open daily 10am to 8pm, with a timetable that runs to colouring, movie time, a mini disco, karaoke, group games and yoga. A parent or guardian has to stay with the child the whole time; the hotel only provides its own supervision at some busy times of the year. So it's a good indoor space to spend an hour with a young child, but not somewhere to leave them while you use the spa. Families who need daily supervised childcare will find it at other Funchal hotels, covered in the comparison below.
On costs, under-2s stay free. Children aged 2 to 12 normally add a per-night extra-bed charge of €35, rising to €70 a night for a child aged 12 or over, unless you book the Holidays with Kids promotional rate, which includes children of that age free in most rooms (the Avenue Room is the exception) (last checked June 2026). Children aged 12 and under are exempt from Madeira's tourist tax, which adults pay at €2 a night, capped at seven nights (last checked June 2026). Confirm what comes with the room for a baby, such as a cot and linen, with reservations when you book, especially for the Family Suite. Its kitchenette helps with bottle-warming and simple food, and the buffet breakfast at Hibiscus, with its wide and vegetarian choice, lets you pick toddler-friendly food. Check-in is from 2pm and check-out until noon, though an earlier check-in or later check-out may be possible subject to availability and sometimes a fee. 24-hour room service, including the breakfast menu, is handy for an early-waking baby before the restaurants open.
One of Portugal's largestThe spa
The Laurea Spa on floor -1 runs to 3,100 m², open daily 10am to 8pm, which the hotel puts forward as the largest in Portugal, with 13 treatment rooms and a long list of facilities: sauna, jacuzzi, steam room, an ice fountain, sensorial showers, a halotherapy salt room, a relaxation room, a heated indoor pool, a beauty salon and a dry-float therapy that lets you float without undressing. It has won World Spa Awards as Portugal's Best Hotel Spa in 2021, 2024 and 2025. Day access to the thermal areas is €45 a day for hotel guests or €65 for non-guests, or free with a treatment of an hour or more (last checked June 2026), and its treatments and thermal areas are adults-only from age 16, which is worth planning around, since it means the two parents take turns rather than going together while one minds the children. There's a fitness centre within the spa, with personal training on request for a charge.
Things to do
Beyond the pools and spa, the hotel runs a programme of experiences, most of them aimed at adults and older children. On the food side there's wine tasting, a guided Madeira wine tasting with a sommelier, a sushi masterclass, cooking masterclasses, afternoon tea, a local-food workshop and, on summer evenings, an open-fire dining event on the Terreiro terrace. A Chocolate Day of sculpture and workshops is billed for all ages, so it's one of the few that welcomes younger children. Wellness classes at the spa include yoga, held Thursdays at 10am at the spa reception, open to hotel guests only, pre-booked, in groups of two to ten; Pilates; tai chi and chi kung; a full Detox Day; and a Relaxation Day Spa for a day of guided unwinding. The hotel can also arrange island excursions through reception, from a sunrise drive up Pico do Areeiro to full-day tours. In the evenings there's live music at Vimes and jazz and DJ sets at the rooftop Skybar, and a quiet library within the hotel. The group runs a loyalty programme, the Leaders Club; the hotel can explain its current benefits.
Around Funchal and across MadeiraThe area and days out
The Lido strip around the hotel is lined with restaurants, cafés and shops, so you don't have to go far for a meal or a coffee. Central Funchal is about 10 to 15 minutes' walk or a couple of minutes by car, and although the city is hilly, the seafront and the market are flat. Worth a visit with children are the Mercado dos Lavradores, a covered market of fruit, flowers and fish, the Old Town with its painted doors, the botanic gardens, reachable by cable car from the city, and the seafront and cruise terminal.
The Teleférico do Funchal cable car climbs from near the seafront up to Monte in about five minutes and takes a pushchair; at the top are the Monte Palace Tropical Garden and the traditional wicker toboggan run, where a child rides on an adult's lap. The cable-car base is about 15 to 20 minutes' walk from the hotel or a short taxi. For a big view, Pico do Areeiro, at 1,818 m, is about 45 minutes' drive and sits above the clouds on a clear morning, doable with a baby carrier rather than a pram. Madeira's levada walks, which follow the island's old irrigation channels through the forest, have shorter, flatter sections that suit families, and the hotel can arrange guided walks. Further afield, the Madeira Theme Park at Santana is about 40 minutes north, and the natural volcanic seawater pools at Porto Moniz are a scenic drive of about an hour and a half to the northwest.
There's no major water park in the Funchal area, so the hotel pools and the public Lido are the main places to splash. For everyday supplies, the Lido strip has convenience stores, and Funchal has full supermarkets such as Modelo and Continente, along with pharmacies. UK families should carry a GHIC for healthcare.
Loves and gripes
What guests rate and what they flag, how it compares with its Funchal rivals, the journey in and the weather by month.
The hotel has won TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice and HolidayCheck guest-satisfaction awards, which point to broad satisfaction. First-hand family reviews are thin on the ground, but the few sources we found suggest the themes below.
What families like
- The pools, with the giant ground-floor Solarium and the rooftop infinity pool both singled out.
- The walkable Lido location, close to restaurants, shops and central Funchal.
- How new and well kept the hotel feels, having opened in 2019.
- The award-winning Laurea Spa.
- Being able to use the sister Royal Savoy's facilities on the same room key.
- The spread of restaurants for a single hotel.
What to weigh up
- No supervised kids' club, so the Playroom needs a parent present.
- The rooftop infinity pool being adults-only.
- No beach at the hotel, and sea access being a platform rather than sand.
- Children aged 2 to 12 costing extra outside the promotional rate.
- Dress codes on the rooftop restaurant and bar.
- The most family-friendly dinner restaurant, Terreiro, being in a separate building.
How it compares
Weighed against the other Funchal hotels that families shortlist, this is a researched view rather than a first-hand one. Where the Savoy Palace loses ground is childcare and, for some, the lack of a beach. Belmond Reid's Palace runs a staffed holiday kids' club for ages 3 to 9 with its own paddling pool, and carries more historic prestige, while the Savoy Palace is newer, with more varied dining and a bigger, more awarded spa. VidaMar has the only daily, year-round supervised kids' club among these hotels, from age 3, plus a free-play area, so it's the clearer choice if supervised childcare is your priority; the Savoy Palace wins on rooms, spa, dining and prestige. The group's own Calheta Beach is the only one of these next to an actual sandy beach, with a supervised club for ages 4 to 12 and an all-inclusive option, where the Savoy Palace offers a bigger spa, more restaurants, a central location and the Leading Hotels of the World and Virtuoso memberships. The adjacent Royal Savoy, the original and more classic sister hotel, has the direct sea access the two share; the Savoy Palace is the newer, larger property with the rooftop pools and fine dining.
The journey in, and the seasonGetting there and when to go
Madeira's airport, Funchal (FNC), takes direct flights from several UK airports, among them Gatwick, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham, on airlines including TAP, easyJet, Ryanair, TUI and Jet2. The flight is about three and a half to three and three-quarter hours from the south of England, and UK visitors need no visa for stays of up to 90 days. The airport is about 11 to 12 miles (17 to 20 km) from the hotel, 25 to 35 minutes by road. The hotel's private transfer has to be pre-booked through reception; it isn't laid on automatically, so if you'd rather not arrange one ahead, an airport taxi runs the same route without booking. There's no minimum stay, so book the dates you want.
On board basis, the hotel offers room only through to full board, and booking direct through the hotel's own Preferred Rate adds a food-and-drink credit worth €20 for a one or two-night stay, €40 for three or four nights or €80 for five nights or more, plus a welcome glass of sparkling wine and fruit and water in the room (last checked June 2026). Breakfast is typically included in the standard rate, but confirm your board basis when you book. For young children, the warmest, driest and best pool and sea weather is July to September, when the sea reaches about 22 to 24°C. April and May are a pleasant, quieter shoulder with the gardens in bloom, and although November to February bring more rain, the days stay mild and the heated indoor pool covers a wet afternoon.
Month by monthWeather
Funchal sits on Madeira's south coast, the sheltered, sunnier side of the island, and the figures below are for that coast, where the hotel is. Madeira is one of Europe's mildest places year-round: never truly cold at sea level in winter and never extreme in summer. The rain falls mostly from October to March, and in June a morning cloud layer, known locally as the "capacete", often forms over Funchal and thins out by midday.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 20° | 14.5° | 99 mm | 9 | 19° |
| February | 20° | 14° | 95 mm | 8 | 19° |
| March | 20.5° | 14.5° | 83 mm | 10 | 19° |
| April | 21° | 15° | 62 mm | 7 | 19° |
| May | 22° | 16.5° | 44 mm | 5 | 20° |
| June | 24° | 18.5° | 17 mm | 2 | 21° |
| July | 25.5° | 20° | 4 mm | 1 | 23° |
| August | 27° | 21° | 4 mm | 1 | 24° |
| September | 26.5° | 20.5° | 45 mm | 5 | 24° |
| October | 25° | 19.5° | 118 mm | 10 | 24° |
| November | 22.5° | 17° | 112 mm | 10 | 22° |
| December | 21° | 15.5° | 135 mm | 12 | 21° |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. Sea temperature is the open-water figure, so a sheltered bay can feel a degree or two warmer. The hotel is open year-round.
Entry and health
Passports and healthcare, the hotel's green credentials, then the questions families ask most.
Madeira is part of Portugal and covered by the same Foreign Office advice, which as of writing carries no warning against travel there; Madeira is milder than the mainland, where summer heat warnings can apply. UK visitors need no visa for stays of up to 90 days, and your passport must have been issued less than 10 years before you travel and have at least three months left beyond your departure date. For healthcare, carry a valid GHIC and take travel insurance; provision is on a par with the rest of the EU.
A green hotelSustainability and awards
The hotel holds a set of sustainability and standards certifications, including Green Key, Travelife Gold for accommodation sustainability, a food-safety gold standard and GBAC STAR for cleaning and disinfection. Alongside those, it has taken TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice and HolidayCheck guest-satisfaction awards, its Laurea Spa has been named Portugal's Best Hotel Spa at the World Spa Awards more than once, and it appears in the Michelin Guide's hotel selection, an endorsement of the hotel rather than a restaurant star.
The questions parents askQuestions
Do we need to book the restaurants before we arrive?
Yes. Dinner needs a reservation at all of the restaurants, and Terreiro needs one for lunch as well. Since the earliest sittings fill first, and those are the ones that suit young children, it pays to book as far ahead as you can.
Is the Children's Playroom somewhere we can leave our child?
No. A parent or guardian has to stay in the Playroom the whole time, so it isn't drop-off childcare during a normal stay. The hotel only lays on supervision at certain busy times of the year. If you want daily supervised childcare so you can use the spa, VidaMar and Reid's Palace in Funchal run staffed kids' clubs and the sister Calheta Beach does too.
Can our children stay for free?
Under-2s stay free. From age 2 to 12 there's normally a per-night extra-bed charge, waived only on the Holidays with Kids rate, which puts children free in most rooms though not the Avenue Room. Check which rate you're booking.
Will there be a cot for our baby?
Under-2s stay free. Email reservations to confirm a cot or travel cot for your room, and whether linen is included, particularly if you're booking the Two Bedroom Family Suite.
Is there a pool the children can use in winter?
Yes. The floor -1 indoor pool is heated to between 23 and 26°C and open to all ages, so it works whatever the weather. The outdoor Solarium and children's pool aren't heated, and both the rooftop Skypool and the separate spa pool are adults-only.
How do we get from the airport to the hotel?
The hotel's private transfer isn't automatic: you have to pre-book it through reception before you travel. An airport taxi takes about the same time, 25 to 35 minutes, and needs no booking, so it's the walk-up alternative if you haven't arranged a transfer.
How long is the flight, and do we need a hire car?
Direct flights from several UK airports take about three and a half to three and three-quarter hours. You don't need a car to reach the hotel or to walk into Funchal, but you'll want one, or the hotel's organised tours, to see the rest of the island.
See more Savoy Palace photos
Open the Savoy Palace photo gallery →Useful links
- Savoy Palace: the hotel's own site for rooms, the restaurants, the spa and the children's facilities.
- GOV.UK Portugal travel advice: entry rules and safety updates before you travel.
- Madeira with little ones: our guide to the island, its coast and when to go.
Last updated 17 July 2026.
