The hotel is set on the hillside just a few moments drive from `Sao Vicente. A rural setting looking out over the valley and up to the Paul Serra the 1500 metre mountain range. The drive from Funchal airport takes about one hour and is stunning especially once you start to drive up the pass to Boca da Encumeada. We booked through Thomson (Simply Travel) and the instructions for the drive to the Hotel supplied by the local rep Licinia where perfect and precise. She also followed up with a call on the following morning checking we where happy and arrived OK.
We where warmly greeted by one of Fernandina's staff and shown to our room. The room was immaculate with fantastic views. It is a breakfast only Hotel, this was varied and the choice and quantity was very good, added to this the supply of wonderful cakes and fresh fruit added to the experience.
There is a very relaxing lounge with honesty bar with a supply local wines and beer's and other spirits whiskey, brandy, etc, charges for these very reasonable. Coffee, tea, free of charge and always available. There is also internet access from a computer in the lounge, very handy for checking on the ash cloud situation!
The whole experience of this hotel added to the total enjoyment of our first visit to Madeira, Fernandina and her husband's effort and love shows in this establishment and the attention that is evident is wonderful, not over done but you know they are there if required. The hotel has an indoor pool with a gym and sauna, there is a charge if you require a sauna, but everything else is free. The local area has many eating places, and you will not want for a good place to eat.
The hotel is an excellent place to use as a base to explore the island, and a great haven of peace to come back to or just chill out all day if you require. We would certainly go back next time we visit this wonderful island.

The guesthouse lies on the relaxing northern part of the island. The whole island is laid back and the northern part more so. The town can be very tranquil especially outside high season. The whole place is lovely with a nice indoor pool and a beautiful garden.

You'll need a car to get there, but if driving the place is ideal to discover the north coast.

Solar da Bica is a unique privately-owned small hotel located in a very beautiful part of Madeira in the mountains close to the Nothern part of the island and Sao Vicente - a small town on the sea front. It has been constructed to a very high standard with use of natural materials under the supervision of the owners. Views from our room window were spectacular to the valley below and high volcanic-rock mountains above.
Service was very friendly and unobtrusive. At the time we visited only B&B was available and no evening meal which meant we had to take the car to eat out - mostly at Sao Vicente - a distance of around 5km - on the seafront with a choice of mostly OK restaurants. Lunch usually averaged about €7 each. Evening meals were rarely more than €10-12 each. A car is essential to be able to tour around or go walking on the levadas or mountain tracks. There is public transport but it appears to be infrequent and we did not use it. We chose to tour around the west of the island and would book a separate holiday to explore Funchal more. Funchal has the major attractions but there are many beautiful small towns scattered round the more rural parts and the wild but spectacular Paul da Serra plain at around 1000m.

Car access to the property is "interesting" and a fairly steep and winding climb leads to a modern church and the entrance to the hotel lane opposite. The entrance is very narrow and some care is needed evidenced by the amount and depth of scrape marks at the sides, but taking it slowly is OK. The car park opposite the hotel is also on a gradient and care is needed to avoid the car nearest its entrance. The grounds are well-kept and pleasant and a small garden with 4 tables with chairs and parasols. We chose to eat there one evening and borrowed a couple of plates and knives from the owner who was happy to oblige. We would not eat in the bedroom due to the cream coloured carpets and light upholstery! (The furniture, fittings and decor were all of a very good standard). There is free internet access at a PC in the lounge which was very useful for personal and business emails and flight purposes. Breakfast was buffet style - simple and typically European - geared more for German or Dutch holidaymakers.

Note there is no air-conditioning in the rooms, which we found too hot the first couple of days. In fact there was a wall storage heater which had been left on and I had to unplug it and request that it not be switched back on!

This is a location where you need to find something to do unless you want to use the small pool or sit in the garden, hence a car and a plan are essential. There were only a couple of children evident and there is not much for them to do locally.

Liked most - the friendly service, the beautiful location and the quality build and fittings of the hotel itself, the pool and garden. Warm sunny climate (nearer the South and lower down).
Liked least - no air conditioning! Dodgy entrance and car park at an upwards angle. "Free" car hire (arranged via Thomson.co.uk/Simply Travel) where we paid €171 for an extra driver and to cover the €500 excess and a fuel deposit - no warning of this but added a considerable cost (europcar were the hire firm) . Not Solar da Bica's fault but will be raised with thomson.co.uk separately. The car supplied had been well used at 65,000km, one headlight did not work and it had not been cleaned properly or at all - a poor show from Europcar.

I went to Solar da Bica in July 2009, following two good stays in 2005 and 2006.

Our last stay was extremely disappointing and so bad.

Actually, it was a three days fiesta in the area and it was absolutely impossible to sleep during the night up to 6 AM! I did sleep only from 6 AM to 9 AM. The reason is that the music of the fiesta was extremely powerfull even with windows fully closed, and Solar da Bica is very close to the main source of music/ noise.

The owner imformed us briefly that it will be noisy the day before - but we didn t get this crucial information during our booking in May and we didn t get the explanation that it was impossible to sleep.

After this terrible night, we check out - as planned - and we didn t get any discount. We were asked to pay the full price for not sleeping . 83 Euro per night including the fee of the booking by Madeira Rural:

We did not get any excuse and we were told by the owner that they did not sleep also.

It seems that the owner have missed the fact that we are regular customers and we are making their wages...we just get the bill - similar to a supermarket cashier!

So thanks for this stay and I would personnally recommend to the readers to investigate any other alternatives before a booking to Solar da Bica:

I hope it helps to avoid terrible hollydays and save your money!