Baia Do Sol Hotel

After initial confusion and mess ups from Hotelsbooked.com the holiday was a total success. Much much better than expected.

The hotel rooms are Large, comfortable, clean (cleaned daily although carpet was stained and marked it was cleaned) with lovely bathrooms and pleasant furniture.

All rooms have a sea view and Oh Boy!!! what a view. Right over the Atlantic sea, on days we had the Tall ships pass by, fishing boats and working boats.

The hotel and restaurant and reception all looked fantastic. We were promised a balxony room but got a "Juliet" balcony which was a steel hip high fence in fron to french windows, but no way outside of the room. It didn't spoil the holiday at all but as the beach had no sand it would have been nice to sit out on our own balcony to chill and relax in the sun.

The staff were more than helpful and most spoke passable english and smiled. thjis makes a great deal of difference to the feel of the holiday.

The food was more than adequate but I found them extremely "Samey". It was all reasonably well cooked, well presented but very limited. After having an "All Inclusive" in the Dominican with 5 themed restaurants, food and snacks available all day and a drinks bar that never shuts (Although I am teetotal) it was a bit weird to find only 2 or 3 choices of food, limited or no specific option for vegetarian (but lots of lovely fresh salad and fruit), awful "squidgy" puddings and being charged for a cup of coffee from the bar as this not included. I feel they have a bit to learn about all inclusive.

As for the pool, it was small, a bit chilly but looked gorgeous. there is also a sauna there. There is a gym there but this I would call a total death trap. The running machine had exposed electric buttons and when you finally got it up to a reasonable speed it would stick and stall and try and throw you off the back. The bike was terrible, the seat un-adjustable and the peddle straps were snapped. This became a danger as it also jerked when you peddled harder.

All this said. If you want a quiet, relaxed, comfortable, pleasant, happy and gorgeous place to stay. I would recommend this hotel to any one. Just ask for a balcony room.

The location for the hotel is wonderful. Hire a car to get about and see the Island, A bus does run from front of Hotel. The lagoon in front of hotel keeps water a bit warmer but the fish love to swim in there, take a Snorkel set as they not easily available on island. The beach is rocky/stoney and a little difficult to get to water so take rock shoes (Flip flops, crocs etc...) Calheta is only 10k away and it is a stunning man made sandy beach which is gently sloping for swimming.

After utter chaos with hotelsbooked, just returned from 3rd choice hotel Baia do Sol.

Hotel very good value - food more than adequate - staff good fun - but what made the trip memorable were the lovely bunch of hotelsbooked survivors - thank you all for a happy & relaxing week. We all got excellent value from the included drinks!!

This hotel is better than Moniz Sol - much better atmosphere. Also Porto Moniz is much colder & windier & it rains a lot there.

Gaivota looked run-down - new wing still has cement mixers in foyer. On our day trip north I wanted to swim in the rock pools, but it was far too windy. Drove back to Ponta do Sol & had a lovely warm swim in the sea.

Beach is rocky so take some reef shoes if you want to swim - better still take the bus (1.45 euro) to Calheta - there is a lovely golden sandy beach - very safe bathing.

Holiday was far better than expected (no thanks to hotelsbooked).

Go with a positive mood & you'll have a good time

We stayed at this hotel two weeks ago and overall it was clean and the service was good.BUT this was not the hotel we book originally through Hotel.com which was a complete fiasco from start to finish - we were given this hotel because the one we were booked at was not up and running yet and we did not find out until the day before we traveled.

We were booked as all inclusive - which this hotel had no concept - the food was very bad not much choice and the bar closed at 10.30 and at one point it ran out of Gin for two days but this was very watery.

There was no entertainment and no outside pool or anywhere to sit except on the stoney beech on a wooden pallet.

I would not recoment this hotel unless you have B&B so you can eat out.

What a gem! We were moved to this hotel due to our original one not being ready. Hotelsbooked were very helpful and gave us a great deal. I had fantastic time and the weather was lovely and sunny.

The rooms are large, ultra modern with excellent sea views, we got the free upgrade with a balcony as well.. The beach was nice for sunbathing although it is a shingle beach and it was very quiet as well.

The staff are very friendly and helpful and arranged car hire for us, which I would advise if you like going out and about.

We were allocated this hotel through Hotels Booked, because original hotel booked was not available. When we arrived no room had been booked but staff really helpful, gave us a room with lovely balcony and all rooms have sea view, The food (we went on AI was good especially good choice for breakfast) and well cooked evening meals were limited but tasty. As with most Madeiran resorts no beaches as such, pebbly with lagoon but can hire sunbeds, also top of hotel has sun terrace with beds. Overall we had a very good holiday and would return. Free minibus into Funchal and some bus services to other places.

Weather hot and sunny with stunning sunsets. If you just want to chill and price is right stay here, or hire car to explore island as it is beautiful.

I have just stayed at this hotel after booking an alternative hotel in Madeira through HOTELSBOOKED.COM

DO NOT BOOK THROUGH THIS AGENT as they changed our original hotel upon our arrival in Madeira, without informing us- our booked hotel was infact not completely booked.

This hotel suits the german market for food, the beach is not reflective of the picture, and is located in the middle of know where! the hotel is supposidly 4 star - but not against english standards.

I have never stayed in a hotel where the initial impression is so good - friendly reception, clean modern look, spacious room overlooking the sea, well-insulated for sound - and the food so bad that we would never go there again!

It is possible to gather a reasonable (buffet) breakfast as long as you aren't wedded to your usual routine. Fresh fruit make an occasional appearance. There is one machine dispensing hot drinks which had a permanent queue of at least three people at busy times! A table, laid and ready for use, had a collection of ants on the - obviously unclean - mats! I pointed this out, and the ants were simply brushed off and mats replaced. One wonders about other insects...

Evening meal is another buffet affair; our experience on the first evening sent us elsewhere for the rest of our stay. Soup good, salad available where vegetarians (we aren't) can pick out something. Main course marginally tolerable as long as you don't count the overcooked, tasteless and soggy veg. Desserts are just a collection of variously coloured wobbly things, all tasting of soap. Ack!

We have just returned from a holiday at this hotel in Madeira. The hotel itself is modern, clean and to a good standard. The only problem with it is the food - and everyone we spoke to said the same thing.

Fortunately there is a snack bar and also a restaurant within a couple of minutes walk of the hotel. Both serve good, home cooked, fresh food at reasonable prices.

The hotel is in a beautiful location, approx 25 mins by car from Funchal or 90 mins by service bus along the coast road.

At the present time, I'm afraid I wouldn't recommend this hotel but if the standard of food served was to improve, then I'd have no hesitation in sending fellow travellers there.

We arrived at this hotel in this lovely quiet bay of Ponta Do Sol and were very impressed. It is only 5 years old and is furnished minuscule!

The indoor swimming pool is great. The hotel is almost right on the beach but as with all of Madeira, it is stony with wooden boards for you to sit and walk on. The food is adequate and you definitely need a car if you don't like walking or catching buses, which are not very frequent anyway.

When we arrived, the manager Maria gave us the option of going to another hotel as there was going to be an all night disco Friday and Saturday due to the music festival. We thought about it and decided to accept. Maria took us to another lovely hotel up in Santa da Serra for two days.

We thoroughly enjoyed both hotels and would like to go back next year. It is entirely different to Funchal.

The Hotel was everything you would expect of a four star hotel with good rooms, good service, fantastic views and good amenities. the only thing to let it down was the food. We went on Half Board, Breakfast reasonable the evening meal was to say the least a disappointment. We had booked the Hotel because my wife was a vegetarian and the hotel claimed to cater for Vegetarians. The Vegetarian meals were poor little choice and on one occasion I asked the Manager what was the vegetarian option and was told bluntly Salad. We later found out that they had no Chef. The food for non vegetarians was bland lacking in taste. The Hotel is a SAGA destination and the menus are catered for them but they were not happy either.

With better food I would have rated this hotel one grade higher. The only other drawback was a lack of an english news channel. plenty of tv for other europeans but only CNN world news for english speakers