Pestana Grand Premium Ocean Resort

The resort and its setting

Pestana Grand Premium Ocean Resort sits on a cliff-top site in São Martinho, a quiet residential pocket of Funchal just west of the city centre. The address — Rua da Ponta da Cruz 23 — puts it close to the Lido promenade, with the Atlantic stretching out below the balconies that come with the guest rooms. Google reviewers rate it 4.6 out of 5 from nearly 3,000 ratings, summed up neatly by one reviewer as stylish rooms with balconies in a smart cliff-side hotel offering pools, four restaurants and a spa. The resort is run along hotel lines, with the kind of upkeep and service that comes with dining, lodging and spa facilities all on site — typical of Madeira's better coastal resorts — so owners and renters alike get hotel-grade service alongside the self-catering or room-based accommodation that comes with their week.

Funchal and the south coast: what there is to do

Funchal is Madeira's capital and the island's main hub for restaurants, shopping and transport links, yet São Martinho itself stays residential and relatively calm compared with the hotel strip further east. From the resort it's an easy trip into the old town for the Mercado dos Lavradores (the covered produce and flower market), the cathedral quarter, and the cable car up to Monte. The Lido seafront walkway, with its natural and man-made sea-bathing areas, is within walking distance for anyone who wants sun without a beach of fine sand — Madeira's coastline is mostly rock and lava platforms rather than soft sand, so lidos and pools do a lot of the work here. Levada walks into the hills, boat trips to spot dolphins and whales, and wine tastings at a Madeira wine lodge are all popular half-day outings from this part of the island.

Selling or renting a week here

If you own a week at Pestana Grand Premium Ocean Resort and want to sell or rent it out, BidMyTimeshare.com works as a private owner-to-owner marketplace: you list the week yourself, set your own asking price or rental rate, and buyers or renters contact you directly through the platform. There's no commission taken on the sale or rental — sellers simply pay a one-off listing fee to get the week in front of interested buyers.

Pestana operates this resort rather than it being sold through an independent owners' association, so any resale transfer runs through Pestana's own process. Before you agree a price with a buyer, both sides should confirm directly with Pestana what the current transfer fee is and whether the brand holds any right of first refusal on the sale — these figures can change, so always check at the time of sale rather than relying on an old contract. Ask Pestana, too, how long a transfer typically takes to process once a sale is agreed, so you can set realistic expectations with your buyer. A resale buyer should expect to receive the usage week itself along with the obligation to pay the ongoing annual maintenance fee going forward — be clear with buyers that any fee figures need to come from Pestana directly, since these change over time and aren't something we can quote on your listing.

Practical notes for buyers and renters

Renters searching for a week here are typically looking for the balcony-and-ocean-view setup, the spa, the choice of four restaurants, and the pools — all useful selling points to spell out clearly in your listing description, along with the exact week number, unit size and any view category you hold. Photos of the balcony view and pool areas tend to help a listing stand out. For both buyers and renters, Funchal's airport connections make Madeira a realistic short-break destination from the UK and mainland Europe, which keeps interest in well-located south-coast resorts like this one fairly steady throughout the year.

Getting there and around

Madeira Airport (Funchal) is the island's only airport, with a taxi or transfer journey into São Martinho taking well under an hour in normal traffic. Once at the resort, central Funchal, its restaurants and the cable car are all reachable by local bus, taxi or a short drive, and many owners find a hire car useful if they want to explore the levadas and villages further along the coast.