Hotel Orca Praia

Lisa M10 months ago

Lovely welcome on arrival, staff friendly & helpful. Our room was spacious with the most amazing views over the ocean.|Teamaking facilities in the room but no milk provided. You need to buy some but there isn't a supermarket local to the hotel, there is a small fridge in the room should you purchase some.||We knew there was no air conditioning in the room but never expected the rooms to be so hot! We had no choice but to have the doors open over night to let air circulate, unfortunately this led to mosquitos coming in & were bitten over & over again. I've never known such persistent mozzies, they continue to bite even when repellent has been applied.||Pool area is lovely, peaceful & very clean, there were always plenty of beds & umbrellas available. There are steps & slopes to climb on your way back to the hotel but no where as bad as I expected given previous reviews I'd read.|The food is very good in the snack/pool bar.||We had bed & breakfast & I did find the food a little disappointing. I was looking forward to a choice of fresh fruits but it was mainly melon & slices of orange, other days pineapple was available. The breads were fresh but the toaster often broke & one day actually caught fire!|We did try the buffet evening meal & were pleasantly surprised, the variety of foods was good. It was 25 euros pp which was good value for three courses.||If you want to eat out you have a couple restaurants close to the hotel, otherwise you have to walk about 30 minutes into the next village which gives a bit more choice. Depending on your fitness levels, you could walk into Funchal or catch the bus at the top of the drive. There is a courtesy bus but this gets booked up very quickly & we soon found out that other guests booked it for everyday regardless of whether they used it or not.||This really is a lovely place to stay, not sure I would return but this is simply down the lack of air conditioning & lack of amenities local to the hotel.