How do you choose the hotels in these guides?

Never by price alone, which is what the booking sites already do and the reason their pages are interchangeable. Each guide picks eight to twelve properties that between them cover the real traveller types for that city, then says plainly which traveller each one is wrong for. A hotel that is perfect for a couple and hopeless for a family should be described that way rather than given a score out of ten.

Are the walking distances real?

Yes, and that is deliberate. Every walking time is a routed pedestrian path to a named landmark in that city, not a straight line and not an estimate copied from a listing. Where a city has serious gradients we publish the height difference too, because in a place like Funchal a ten-minute walk can involve seventy metres of climb and the map will never tell you that.

Why do you show price bands instead of prices?

Because hotels do not publish fixed nightly rates. They all run live booking engines, so any number printed on a page like this is out of date almost immediately. Each guide states the date its rate check was run, what was actually measured, and what each band means, so you can judge the guide rather than trust it.

How far in advance should I book a hotel?

It depends far more on the city's event calendar than on any general rule. Somewhere with a flat climate and one huge annual event needs early booking for that week and very little notice the rest of the year. Each guide has a booking-window section that gives the reason rather than a generic instruction to book early.

Best Hotels, City by City

Booking sites rank hotels by price and star rating, which tells you nothing about whether a place suits the way you travel. These guides do the opposite: every pick names the one traveller it is wrong for, and every walking distance is measured.

Emma - Hotels and neighbourhoods

Published July 29, 2026

In Brief

What makes these hotel guides different?

Each one names the traveller every pick is wrong for, measures the walk to a real landmark rather than estimating it, and shows price bands with the date they were checked. The aim is that you book once and do not second-guess it.

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Funchal's seafront hotels lit up above the Atlantic at sunset, seen from the Lido viewpoint

Best hotels in Funchal

10 hotels compared · best all-round: Castanheiro Boutique Hotel

How these guides work

What goes into a pick, and what does not.

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Best Hotels, City by City

What makes these hotel guides different?

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What makes these hotel guides different?

Choose a city

How these guides work

How do you choose the hotels in these guides?expand_more

Are the walking distances real?expand_more

Why do you show price bands instead of prices?expand_more

How far in advance should I book a hotel?expand_more

Continue Planning Your Trip

Things to Do

Where to Stay

Car Rental

Airport Transfers

All-Inclusive Guides

Best Time to Visit

Cheapest Places to Travel

Route Finder

Hotel Finder

AI Trip Planner

Budget Calculator