Hotel Alto Lido

Just returned from 10 nights at Alto Lido (with Jet2). I'll admit we were worried having read some of the reviews but I am glad we ignored them! We had premium deluxe rooms with sea view. We were on the first floor which does pretty much look onto the road, so if you get the option go for a higher floor! The room was lovely, comfy, clean. There was a mini fridge but nothing in it - I assume they only fill it if you're not all inclusive!? We bought water and milk (there's no milk for the tea in the rooms) from the supermarket next door and kept it chilled in there. Beds were comfy, tea bags were replenished daily (there's no coffee in the rooms though). The shower could have done with a bit more water pressure but it was a nice, spacious bathroom.

Lifts are a bit of an issue, there are two one end that go up to floor 5 I think, and two the other end that go to the top (floor 15?). You can spend a long time waiting, or as we experienced, get in and press to go down to 0, but first it goes all the way up to 14 to collect whoever has pressed the button there, and then stops multiple times on the way down. You can only fit about 6 people in at a time though. I expect it could get very tiresome if you were on a high floor. We were only on the first floor, and discovered the stairs (the door looks like it's just a fire escape, but they are nice, clean stairs and plenty of other people were using them) which would definitely be the better option if you are on one of the lower floors.

The food is fine. Breakfast was good, a good selection of fruit, meats and cheeses if you want continental. Cereal, yoghurt, croissants, pastries and hot food, including an omlette station. Lunch is not great tbh, there are always burgers and hot dogs and then a small selection of other dishes that changes each day, including basic salad stuff. But there's ice cream, plenty of fresh fruit and a small selection of desserts. However, there is also a sort of buffet that appears in the pool bar around 4pm each day. We were not told about it and I have not seen it advertised anywhere. All inclusive can definitely eat from it, I don't know if you have to pay if you are BB/HB. Dinner was fine, plenty of options, freshly cooked and replenished regularly. The atmosphere in the dining room is a bit canteen like but all the staff we encountered were helpful, friendly and efficient and were always on hand to sort us a table (family of 5) even if that meant moving place settings etc.

The main bar on the ground floor has plenty of seating, including outside, and there is live music in there every evening, plus plenty of tables if you want to play cards with family whilst listening.

There are two pools, one indoor and one outdoor. Neither are huge but we enjoyed both of them and if you pick the right time they are very quiet. Plenty of loungers, especially if you take the stairs up from the pool area, there is a huge roof terrace which we never saw full. Always loungers free, and not too much sunbed hogging either, not many towels appearing at dawn and staying on unused loungers like you get in a lot of resorts. We were able to get loungers whatever time of day we went up there, even early afternoon.

The hotel is in the Lido area which is lovely, There are plenty of bars and restaurants around if you want a change from the hotel, and you can walk to a shopping centre easily and several small supermarkets. You can walk into Funchal Old Town in about 40 mins or you can get the complementary bus from the hotel (book at reception the night before) which drops off and picks up by the Ronaldo museum in the marina. If you walk the opposite direction out of the hotel there is a really cool tunnel through the rock that comes out at a stony beach with several bars, and I believe you can walk all the way around to Camara des Lobos if you fancy a longer walk.

We had a fantastic stay, admittedly there are limits to the drinks included on all inclusive but we found plenty that we were happy to drink and didn't buy anything extra. The hotel is clean (we enjoyed watching the robot vacuum :-D ), comfortable, well situated and all the staff we encountered were friendly and helpful, I would stay here again.

Good location with transport close by to get to the city. Restaurants and supermarkets close. Nice room and balcony

Great hotel, great staff, good service. Play area, spa, inside pool, book exchange. Lifts, various different rooms and locations. We were all inclusive with jet 2. All buffets were good. Salads, starters, variety, snack and various meals. Puddings, cake, fruit, ice creams. So much choice. Meat, fish, veg, cheeses. I asked for a veggie burger one lunch and got a great vegan option. Lots of gluten free provision. Lots of people just had breakfast included. The hotel had great self cater accommodation and there is a supermarket a few doors away with some take away food. Bars and restaurants near by. Great balconies and pools, and sun bathing area. The bar by reception has detailed list of all inclusive drinks .... more than we initially thought!! Afternoon snacks by pool are good too. Lidos and pebble beach near by. Walk to other beaches ... with tunnel access. We recommend booking - perhaps with trip advisor in advance- a trip round the island or boat trip to see whales etc. We took local bus to fisherman's village, and hotel bus to town. We took cable car ride! Great time, lovely area.

The location and overall look of the hotel are good, and the outdoor pool area is nice.

Booked in here as a last minute extension to our holiday. Got an exceptional room at the front overlooking the road, but was still very quiet when the door was shut (which we needed for air con!).
Strange layout of the hotel grounds which are built around a high rise apartment block! Not a problem, just made for a weird layout in a 4 star hotel. Sun terraces were plentiful and clean. Nice touch with some added extras every day in the room (biscuits/fruit/wine). On site bar/food prices very expensive although we were only b&b so ate out mostly. Worst aspect was the buffet breakfast - chaotic "canteen" style breakfast with staff who clearly didn't want to be there. Food was adequate and plentiful/replenished often.
For the area it is actually a bargain for the price if you can get a good deal.

We are extremely happy with the hotel, the service and the staff with very few complaints. The rooms are very clean. The food is so delicious and the service in the restaurant is at a high level. The same goes for the bar, except for one of the evenings when one of the waiters (the tallest) took our order but deliberately didn't serve it to us. We don't generally like to be served, but when we went to the bar on the first day, they told us to sit down and they would take care of the rest. Because they expected a tip.
This didn't stop us from having a good time. This is the first time we have used "all inclusive" which does not include any cocktails, everything is paid extra and I did not like that. The people at the reception, and the staff in general, are very polite and smiling.
The location is excellent, they have their own bus that can take you to the center of Funchal.
The indoor pool is nice, but it smells of chlorine. Maybe they should think about ventilation.
There is a live music program every night, which pleasantly surprised us because it was at a high level!

De service was goed en het is een hele nette hotel. Lieve mensen werken bij het hotel.

Дуже чисто і акуратно, чудовий сервіс, їжа і басейни)

Very friendly. The facilities were excellent.

Modern and spotlessly clean hotel, lowest priced rooms are excellent with good views and comfortable beds. Good size modern outdoor and indoor pool. Sun beds available with plenty of umbrellas at any time of day. Several lidos close by and safe cordoned areas for swimming in the sea.

Superb evening entertainment with guitar and singer. Chilled atmosphere in the bar areas indoor and outside at the front of the hotel. Lots of variety of choice for breakfast. Very good quality restaurants near to the hotel, so we didn’t eat out in central Funchal. Restaurants are along the seafront and on the same road of the hotel. Supermarket next-door to the hotel to stock up with bottled waters.

Lovely walk into Funchal along the promenade or the main road, and in the opposite direction along the promenade. Hotel provides a free shuttle coach into Central Funchal but taxis are also very cheap. Taxi rank near to the hotel and plenty of Taxi ranks in the centre.

Will definitely return if this hotel stays a reasonable price.

Lovely hotel with great amenities, would definitely come again. Wanted to specifically mention the lovely lady working at the pool bar Tamara. She was very sweet and helpful always had a smile on her face.

I don’t often write reviews but feel I should on this occasion, firstly the pros
Rooms are very spacious and kept clean we had clean towels daily and the housekeeping staff were brilliant our room was on the 15 th floor and we had an amazing side sea view and beautiful sun from 3.30pm onwards.
Now the cons the food was awful we did the all inclusive even the breakfast wasn’t up to much the food was exactly the same for breakfast lunch and dinner for the entire stay we knew exactly what we were going to have I think if you like fast food fried food then you will probably be ok, the salads were very basic and the deserts were just a small square of gateau and some vanilla mousse no jelly or rice pudding and there was ice cream. We ate out the last 2
Evenings and it was fab had a Chinese one nite and a steak the other nite .
I found hotel reception not very helpful I asked for an extra pillow on 3 occasions I was told of course we will sort that for you, in the end I gave up and used one of the bathrobes. All inclusive drinks on 2 occasions I ordered a Bailey’s and a glass of sangria it was brought to the table only to be told I had to pay as this was not included in the all inclusive, I’ve always drank this when all inclusive . We never went in the pool as it looked dark and murky the tiles at the bottom of the pool are not blue they are a dark green and it made the pool look dirty was not appealing at all, however they do have an upstairs sun terrace which was very nice with plenty of sun beds . I do read the reviews before staying in hotels but I like to make my own mind up but I’m afraid on this occasion most of them were accurate the question is would I stay here again the answer is no I think they need to make some changes it’s a shame as the rooms were amazing

Tudo incrível

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