Madeira - Pricey?

We went last May. Stayed in a lovely hotel, where we ate in quite a lot. We found eating out very reasonable at lunchtimes. In the old town there are lots of restaurants, we had grilled sardines, chips and salads plus a glass of wine for €8 a head at one restaurant and it was a huge plateful. Tapas also is easy to find and good value. A carafe of local wine good too. Lots of markets etc if you want to buy picnic ingredients . Not as cheap as mainland Portugal but comparable with prices in Spain or France.

KatyK, we went early this year, we found it to be good value everywhere, in some cases astoundingly so. There are also Chinese, Italian and British places to eat, a vast choice around the Funchal area.

that is as well as the Madeiran ones f course, we tried to vary our meals, so went to lots of different ones. Service is fast and they are very friendly too.

We went a few years ago and prices were no different from here except for taxis which were horrendous!

The only expensive thing we did in Madeira was afternoon high tea at Reids- but the setting was worth it. We managed to persuade the waiter to let us out into the garden to visit it (normally only for the Hôtel guests) - even better.

Thanks everyone. I will pass your comments on to DH!

It is a beautiful island. I just booked our flights there for next June. See you there KatyK?

Maybe you will jane although we would probably go in July

Has anyone any ideas about places to stay which are within walking distance of restaurants etc but not near night clubs and noise? I read online that parts of Funchal (which is where we are thinking of going) are
'up and coming, with locals partying until 6am at weekends' which we would like to avoid.

I didn't think there were noisy night clubs at all in Madeira! Its a strikingly quiet pleasant place. Not really a young persons place at all. Lots of lovely places to eat around central Funchal and all in walking distance. Look for places in Funchal itself rather than out of town. Quite a few timeshare places. You might get a bargain rental? Google is your friend here!

We stayed a short bus ride from Funchal ( cannot for the life of me remember what it was called) I will look it up though, as it was good, hotels there, nice walks and plenty of places to eat .I will put it in a post this evening, as grandson arriving soon from school.

Oh thank you jane and roses . I can't remember where I saw the bit about the partying locals. I will try to find it to see if I've got that right!

Right, our hotel was called The Eden Mar Hotel, if you look this up it will say what the district is called ( something Mar) right on the coast and within a short stroll of all the eating places, shops etc,We had a great time.
Worth going to Madeira for the custard tarts alone!

No partying locals, or loud music, just a nice friendly sort of area.

Thank you so much roses I will have a look.