Casa Velha do Palheiro

The Conde de Carvalhal built this as a hunting lodge and summer residence in 1804, and in the same year brought in a French landscape architect to lay out the grounds, complete with an irrigation system and hundreds of exotic trees shipped from Brazil. Through the 19th century the estate was the centre of social life on the island, receiving Princess Leopoldina of Austria, the future King Luís, and King Carlos and Queen Amélia. The Count's mark survives inside as frescoes of acorns.

The estate declined and in 1885 was bought by John Burden Blandy, of the family whose name has been attached to Madeira wine for two centuries. The Blandys still own it. Successive generations moved the business from farming to leisure, and the house was restored in 1996 and opened as a hotel on 1 May 1997.

What you get is a country house rather than a resort. The lounges are panelled, with deep armchairs, bookshelves and fireplaces, and read as an elegant British house in the Atlantic rather than a Portuguese hotel. There are 37 rooms and suites across three buildings, the oldest of which was restored again in 2022. Several suites are named for people connected to the place: the John Burden Blandy suite, and two named for Frank Dillon and Andrew Pickens, English painters who made topographical views of Madeira in the 1840s, hung with their work.

The setting is the 150-hectare Palheiro Nature Estate. The Palheiro Gardens are among the finest in Portugal, famous for camellias, and the par-72 championship golf course runs through the property. There are over 20 kilometres of walking trails, a spa with heated indoor and outdoor pools, a Turkish bath and sauna, tennis, croquet and a tea house.

Oxalis is the fine-dining room, with a second restaurant at the golf clubhouse.

It is the only Relais & Châteaux property on Madeira. Funchal is downhill, about fifteen minutes by car.