The Reserve, Madeira – a private sixteenth floor above the Atlantic

On Funchal's oceanfront Avenida do Infante, Savoy Palace stands as Madeira's largest hotel, its curved concrete flanks built on the site of the old Savoy Classic that first opened to aristocratic guests in 1912 and reborn in its present wave-like form in 2019, designed by the architecture firm RH+. The Reserve is the hotel inside that hotel: a 43-room address carved from the uppermost six floors, with every window facing the ocean and the finest views kept for the top, reached by a private lift from street level. The MICHELIN Guide awards it Two Keys, describing an exceptional stay built on a simple idea — the scale and six restaurants of a grand resort, condensed into a boutique address with a dedicated Guest Experience Personal Assistant on call around the clock. Guests check in through their own entrance and lobby on the 16th floor before being shown to a private lounge that is theirs alone, with the rest of Savoy Palace's pools, bars and dining rooms available but never required.

01The house

Savoy Palace's history stretches back further than its glassy present suggests. The original Savoy Classic opened its doors in 1912 as a favourite of travelling aristocrats, and its successor, built on the same plot, has been a fixture of the Funchal skyline since 2019, its undulating facade drawn up by the architecture firm RH+ in direct response to the sea it overlooks, while Funchal-born designer Nini Andrade Silva shaped interiors in a Belle Époque register throughout the wider hotel.

The Reserve opened within that building in January 2024, occupying a self-contained sanctuary on the upper floors with its own check-in. Guests arrive through a separate ground-floor entrance and are taken up by lift to the 16th floor, where the rooms themselves were redesigned by the Madeira-based practice RH+ Arquitectos in a quieter register of padded fabric walls, plush furnishings and generously sized bathrooms.

02Rooms and suites

The Reserve's 43 rooms and suites are arranged like a run of private apartments rather than hotel rooms, finished in white and ivory tones with distinct living areas, marble bathrooms and furnished outdoor space looking out over the Atlantic. Categories run from the Deluxe Room and Deluxe Suite through to the Corner Suite, whose wraparound balconies catch the light from two directions, and the Pool Suite, where a turquoise-tiled plunge pool sits on a private terrace; two- and three-bedroom suites and a top category called The Retreat cater to longer, larger stays.

Insider tip

Walking distance to the Marina, CR7 Museum and Funchal Old Town; around 20 minutes from the airport.

Every stay comes with a Guest Experience Personal Assistant reachable day and night, who will unpack a case, book the table at Nikkei or arrange a spa appointment without being asked twice. Turndown brings a small, specific gesture: a bottle of Madeira wine and a slice of traditional honey cake left on the pillow, a nod to the island the hotel is named for.

03Where to eat

Nikkei is The Reserve's own restaurant, a small, high dining room led by Chef Bruno Borges that sets contemporary Asian technique against Madeiran ingredients and sits open only Tuesday to Saturday evenings, the kitchen running to half past ten. Guests of The Reserve also have the Jacarandá Club, an all-day lounge and restaurant built around snacks, lunch and dinner, set beside a palm-dotted sun deck rather than a dining room proper.

Beyond its own two addresses, The Reserve's guests can walk down into Savoy Palace itself and its further restaurants and bars, drawing on a resort that counts six dining venues across the wider property without ever needing to queue for a table.

04The bar

Jacarandá Club doubles as The Reserve's bar, a lounge that spills onto the sun deck beside its own infinity pool, built specifically so guests never have to compete with the rest of Savoy Palace's clientele for a sunlounger or a cocktail in the shade.

05Spa and wellbeing

The Reserve keeps half of Savoy Palace's rooftop, on the 17th floor, entirely for its own guests: an infinity-edge pool, jacuzzi and solarium with uninterrupted sea views, distinct from the main hotel's pools below. For treatments, guests cross into the Laurea Spa, an interior landscape drawn from Madeira's ancient Laurissilva forest, a UNESCO-listed laurel woodland that also lends its planting and pattern language to the spa's design.

06The neighbourhood

The address sits directly on Funchal's waterfront Avenida do Infante, within walking distance of the Marina, the CR7 Museum and the lanes of the Old Town, with the Museum of Modern Art of Madeira only minutes further on foot. Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport is roughly a twenty-minute drive, some 18 kilometres away, close enough for an easy transfer without feeling like part of the same stretch of coast as the hotel's quiet upper floors.

07Making the most of a stay

Beyond its own facilities, a stay at The Reserve unlocks the full scale of Savoy Palace next door — further pools, gardens and restaurants that a 43-room address could never offer alone. The hotel's concierge team can also arrange a private yacht outing or a big-game fishing trip out on the Atlantic, and will put together sunrise hikes into Madeira's hills, often finished with breakfast, or a rum and cigars masterclass for an evening that stays closer to home.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.