Casa Velha do Palheiro — Relais & Châteaux

Casa Velha do Palheiro is Madeira's only Relais & Châteaux address — a country house set inside the 150-hectare Palheiro Nature Estate, in the hills east of Funchal. Built in 1804 as a hunting lodge for the Conde de Carvalhal, it was restored into a manor of 37 rooms where fires are lit on cool evenings and the only sound is the estate's own gardens.

The Palheiro Gardens — among Europe's finest — surround the house; guests walk from their rooms into camellia avenues and the Casa de Chá tea house. Palheiro Golf, the island's championship course, begins at the estate gate.

Dining is a destination in itself: the hotel's dining room for candlelit dinners, and Oxalis — the estate's Michelin-recommended restaurant — steps away. The Palheiro Spa, heated indoor pool, sauna and tennis court complete a stay that feels less like a hotel than a private estate with a butler's discretion.