Hotel Do Centro

Pros +

• Fantastic location!! Great staff
• Excellent central location and very reasonable comfort for 3* property - so, a bit of surprised about clearly lacklustre reviews from many of the visitors. The location - can hardly be any better than what it is, unless you want to rely on rental car. Ok, the most of the reviewers seem to well agree on this point. Still, a warning for non-initiated - have never before seen something so challenging as Funchal's terrain, 1.5+km uphill is likely to be a nightmare (and being comfortable with somewhat hilly Greek islands does not give a right idea about the expectations here). The level of comfort (size of room, bed, pillows, bathroom) - very consistent with what could be expected fro 3 star hotel. The room was larger than we actually expected, the beds were quite comfy (the pillows included) - and we are picky about this, well equipped and spacey bathroom. The price/value - ok, not really a bargain here. Initially we assumed that this is due to exorbitant New Year's Eve prices (stayed there for three nights, the New Year's Eve included), but, just out of curiosity, when rechecking their "low season prices", realised that the high season extra has been quite sensible - around 30% or so, so nothing really to complain about. Funchal simply seems to be exorbitantly overpriced in any season - ok, in quieter times there might be better availability to choose from. So generally we are quite satisfied with the location, overall comfort and price value ratio, and would consider staying there again.

Cons -

• No kettle in the room.
• The breakfast - ok, we agree that no eggs or any kind of hot dishes for a 3 star hotel is cheap. Still, if you need just some calories to get you going for the first half of day, you can make decent cheese and ham sandwiches that will do the job, Admittedly, we are not too enthusiastic about any type of hotel breakfasts (unless moving in an upper 4 star range) - so tried them just once, when had no time for better arrangements. What, of course, one could wish, would be a booking option without the included breakfast, and, accordingly, for a reduced price.