Savoy Palace - The Leading Hotels of the World - Savoy Signature

A Wave-Shaped Landmark on the Site of Madeira's Original Savoy

Savoy Palace opened in 2019 on the site of the Savoy Classic, a hotel that had drawn aristocrats to Funchal's seafront since 1912, and the new building was designed by RH+ with a curved, wave-like façade that nods directly to the ocean in front of it. Rather than lean on the old hotel's name alone, the project handed its interiors to Nini Andrade Silva, a Funchal-born designer, who worked a Belle Époque sensibility through distinctly local references: metal banisters patterned after local embroidery, and a lobby chandelier that runs the better part of ten metres. At 360 rooms, it is one of the largest hotels on the island, built to carry that scale with craft rather than let it read as a conference block.

Why It Works

Few hotels on the island pair this much scale with this much specificity: a locally trained designer rather than an imported template, gardens holding more than 250 Madeiran botanical species, and five separate restaurants instead of one buffet room stretched across every meal. A 9.30 out of 10 score across 1,518 reviews is a genuinely large sample for a hotel this size, and it holds at a level most boutique properties only manage with a fraction of the guest count. The rooftop alone, two infinity pools and a restaurant built around astronomy, gives the hotel a signature that photographs and travel coverage keep returning to.

Why This Location

Savoy Palace sits on Avenida do Infante, Funchal's seafront promenade in the Sé district, within walking distance of the old town, the cathedral and the marina, and close to the Lido seafront walkway that runs along the coast. It suits a traveller who wants resort-scale amenities without leaving the city, rather than the isolation of a clifftop estate further along the Estrada Monumental. The promenade setting means sea views from much of the building, and an easy walk into central Funchal for dinner or shopping without needing a taxi.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxe

• Vibe: grand, contemporary, Belle Époque revival

• Rooms: 360, suites with sea views, terraces and walk-in wardrobes

• Best For: travellers who want a landmark hotel with resort-scale amenities in the city

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: Galáxia Skyfood, the sixteenth-floor restaurant built around astronomy with 360-degree views

• Dining: five restaurants, including Hibiscus for Madeiran dishes and the open-air Alameda

• Amenities: two rooftop infinity pools, Laurea Spa, gardens with 250+ botanical species

• Attractions: Avenida do Infante promenade, Funchal old town, the cathedral, the marina

Two Infinity Pools and an Astronomy-Themed Restaurant on the Sixteenth Floor

The rooftop is where Savoy Palace stops behaving like a conventional city hotel: two infinity pools look out over the sea and sky, and Galáxia Skyfood, perched on the sixteenth floor, pairs 360-degree views with astronomy-inspired decor, a theme carried through enough detail that it reads as a concept rather than a gimmick. One floor down, the Jacaranda pool and restaurant are reserved for suite guests, a quieter counterpart to the open rooftop above. Ground level adds the Alameda, an open-air restaurant set beside a large green-tiled pool, so the hotel's water features alone cover three distinct registers, rooftop spectacle, suite-only calm and poolside ease, depending on which floor a guest chooses.

Five Restaurants, a Forest-Inspired Spa, and 250 Botanical Species

Breakfast runs through Orchidaceae Atelier, dinner through Hibiscus and its Madeiran menu, and the hotel's five restaurants in total mean guests are rarely working around a single sitting. Below the public floors, Laurea Spa takes its name and its design cues from Madeira's Laurissilva Forest, a UNESCO-listed laurel woodland unique to the island, and runs to eleven treatment rooms, a wet area with baths, pools and saunas, a halotherapy room and ice showers. Outside, the terraced gardens hold more than 250 Madeiran botanical species, including hibiscus and orchids, a detail that turns a walk between the lobby and the pool into something closer to a botanical circuit than a corridor.