Enotel Lido

Where do I start.... Anyone who thinks this hotel is a 5 star has clearly never stayed in a 5 star hotel. Hotel.... Rooms are a good size and cleaned daily as in bins emptied and beds made. If you have the misfortune of dropping anything under the bed, make sure you are in your pool gear to retrieve it. You will come out covered in dust and someone else's hair. All rooms to what I can see come with a balcony with sea views. Your room comes with a water bottle per person. Do not throw these away as you personally have to refill them and bring them back to your room. Food.... For the size of the hotel, it comes with the smallest buffet dining room. Repetitive food and mostly for guests that are happy eating tasteless stuff because its free of charge. Breakfast consists of a adequate fry up. Fruit. Continental and pastries. I only viewed the lunches and walked out disappointed. I never ate any evening meals as my holidays are worth more than what was on offer. Plus side.... there are plenty of good resturants near by with first class dinning experiences and food on offer. Pool bar/ restaurant A selection of pizza frozen burgers and hot dogs, salad and deserts. 1 choice of beer served out of a vending machine type tap along with the fizzy soft drinks. Entertainment.... If you have small children as I have your doomed. This place caters for the shall I say people in the very later years. Drinks..... If you like to drink plenty of the same free tasteless lager then you have scored a good watering hole. I however like a choice. This place has none. I had to resort to going the local spar and filling my tiny fridge in my room. The bar by the pool even told me when I asked for a jd and coke to go upstairs and ask them as this bar hadnt ordered an jd.... wow 5 star treatment. I cant put this across enough.... THIS IS A HALF DECENT 3 STAR. 100% NOT A 5 STAR. Do your research and go somewhere else unless your 75 and above. No offense to those, I saw plenty of you dancing. There is zero kids Entertainment and zero for kids to do other than sunbathing and swimming. I am not a mardy disgruntled parent. I have had some amazing holidays for more and less money. This place is severely over represented on trip advisor. MADERIA on the other hand is a beautiful place.

Just back from one week on this beautiful island. The hotel was generally very good with friendly and mostly helpful staff. The pool beds were far too close together although the pool area was extremely clean. It would have been good to be able to eat late night snacks somewhere. The early morning continental breakfast for early flight leavers was terrible and needs urgent attention. However the Asian and Maderian restaurants were excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed both. The outside pool states no inflatables but this rule was not enforced, which made swimming difficult at times. Very pleasant hotel but didn’t quite match the 5 star rating.

We travelled at the start of the school summer holidays as a family of four (two boys aged 7 and 9) for 10 nights. All of us thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Enotel Lido. We booked two rooms and emailed ahead to request connecting rooms which they managed to accommodate (the staff were very helpful and responsive on email). The rooms were modern and spacious with great views from the balconies. All of us slept really well and the sound proofing is good. For the last few years we've done all inclusive in large resorts in Greece/ Turkey (on site water slides / beach etc) so we weren't sure how the kids would enjoy a slightly different type of holiday. However we needn't have worried and the kids were incredibly sad to leave Enotel Lido (and Madeira in general) at the end of our holiday. We hired a car to explore the island and this hotel is the perfect base for that. The secure underground parking is a brilliant feature but the hotel is also on a bus route and within easy walking distance of loads of amenities. The facilities at the hotel are great, with a couple of swimming pools, along with snooker and pool tables plus evening entertainment. Drinks and food are varied and plentiful (the self service wine, beer and soft drinks by the pool is a great feature) and we never struggled to get a table at either the main buffet or the speciality restaurants despite the hotel being full. We particularly enjoyed the Madeiran restaurant and the Tepenyaki. Even our fussy 7 year old never struggled to find something to eat and the hotel catered for his nut allergies. They also give you a bag to create your own packed lunches which were great for our Levada walks. The hotel employs an eagle to deter pigeons and seagulls from the outdoor restaurant areas, and the kids loved meeting "India" the eagle. Near the pool is a gate giving access to the promenade and this is a lovely place to take a stroll along the coast and gives access to loads of swimming places (free and paid). Our kids had a great time jumping off the walls into the sea with the locals at the nearby free lido which is also great for snorkeling (but note there is no life guard at the free swimming spots so it's only for confident swimmers). All of the staff at the hotel are incredibly helpful, friendly and attentive. Madeira in general is simply stunning. The landscapes are breathtaking and we will definitely be back in the future (and wouldn't hesitate to stay at Enotel Lido again).