First impressions were good, the hotel was clean and the room modern and attractive.
However there were some "gotchas" that we found frustrating.
1) and most annoying, smoking...the room below us seemed to have people who smoked all the time and it came up into our room if we opened the balcony door...so be careful to get a room that is not close to the smokers if you have a problem with smoke.
2) ...no kettle or tea making facilities and 1.50 EUR for a tiny cup in the hotel, so if you are used to a cup of tea you will need to buy a kettle!!
3) Watch the cost of drinks, half board means only food in the eve and you have to pay high prices for a drink. Supermarket wine between 1 and 2 euros a bottle, but in the restaurant its 15 euros up! No drinks appear to be free (well perhaps tap water)
4) The hotel advertises all these things you can do (canoeing, sailing, etc) but these are just separate companies...now I hear you thinking well sailing maybe thats understandable. But they also charge for the (rather poor) pool table by the hour (5 euros)! It seems that the only things that are free are the pools (swimming), the table tennis table, and the dartboard (which nobody could find the darts for).
5) Indoor pool? Well no its not an indoor swimming pool its a plunge pool next to the sauna
6) Wifi is expensive and per day, these days its a bit poor to charge for this I think as most people keep in touch that way. Though there are free internet terminals (2) in reception which work sometimes
7) Even the advertised "safe" you have to pay extra to use!

Service was "brisk" only two of the staff seemed to smile. Food included was ok but not great, often I had just veg as the rest was not very nice...but there was plenty of food.

Sweets were good..with a good selection.

Car parking extra of course, 4 euros a day!

So generally I would say the hotel was ok for the money, but we were left feeling that the whole thing had been setup to make us spend on high priced extras (tea, coffee, drinks, wi-fi, parking, pool table...etc etc)

The room was generally very clean and in good conditions though, so just be prepared...buy wine in the shop across from the hotel and drink it on your balcony (which hopefully is not directly above chain smokers!)

There was free entertainment in the bar every night. While not the best I have seen it was ok and free!

We stayed from 7th to 21st January this year, and a lot of what I was going to say, has already been covered by "mothersday". I would add that another problem arising from the cliff repair and the road closure, is that several small cafes and restaurants along there are closed, so there is no alternative to the hotel for eating within a short walking distance. These works are due to go on for 3 months, and I believe that booked guests shoukld have been advised in advance, but as I did get a very nice room upgrade I felt I got a good deal.

We took B&B, and dined in the a-la-carte restaurant. This was a very friendly, quiet, waitered place which we found to be much nicer than the main (buffet) dining room for dinner. It does in fact offer a set 3 course meal (limited choice of 2 items (changed daily)per course) for 12 euros, as well as pizzas and more ambitious, but not hugely expensive, food.

Calheta being a bit out of the way, you may feel, as we do, that a car would be useful. Madeira, with its scenic routes, is very rewarding for drivers, but its often very steep, narrow and winding roads make it a demanding drive; not for the faint hearted! Signeage is particularly erratic. In particular, access points to the east-west expressway when returning from Funchal, are not always marked; twice we completely missed them and found ourselves driving into the heartland. We found it best to explore gradually, as the natural road hazards (not excessive, I must stress) are compounded if you have just realised you have lost your way.

We stayed in Calheta Beach Hotel for two weeks from 11 to 25 January this year. The hotel is hard to fault; clean comfortable rooms with little sound from other rooms; plentyful, delicious food; pleasant, helpful staff; most enjoyable sauna , Turkish bath and indoor swimming pool; large clean towels for swimming. I could go on.

The hotel provides free outings to local vllages 3 times a week and trips to Funchal costing 15 euros 4 times a week. This is necessary as there is very limited public transport from Calheta. If you want to explore the island or do serious walking on the levadas a car is probably needed.

The major disadvantage while we were there was the noise from 3 separate work sites. The sea defences were being improved in front of the hotel which involved a crane, diggers and many heavy lorries. This was however quite interesting to watch. I understand that this work will finish in the next week or so. More significant is the stablisation of the cliff which involves considerable drilling and will go on for some months. Also further along a section of the cliff seemed to be being removed and this made a considerable noise.

The stabilisation work also closed the road which goes under it and thus restricts the the amount of walking you can do from the hotel.

All said, we enjoyed our holiday and would happily return to the hotel having first checked that all work had been completed.

we had never been to Madeira before,we didn't know what to expect.
It took us 40 minutes to get from Funchal Airport.
we were upgraded to an apartment overlooking the marina.
we enjoyed staying in this hotel very much.
we would give it full 5 rating but:
1) we could not enjoy the indoor pool as it was very cold.
2) the WiFi is limited only to the lobby at cost of 5 euros for 6 hours use.(there are two free internet terminals that always busy when not broken).
the hotel has a lovely outdoor swimming pool (could not use it being Janurary)
dry sauna, Turkish steam room, nice beach.
this hotel is ideal for a relaxing holiday.
full cooked breakfast buffet, and fantastic buffet dinner, the staff are superb and very polite.
the hotel is not located near to any town centre. Across the road you have a supermarket and coffee bar.
you will need a car to commute,it is possible to book the hotel shuttle service to funchal for 15 euros a person, or day trips to nearby attractions.
every evening you have live entertainment.