Venue & Accommodation

The Meeting venue is Reid's Palace (www. reidspalace.orient-express.com) reservations@reidspalace.com
on the beautiful island of Madeira with the air of a secluded retreat so conducive to a Meeting of this kind. This famous hotel is reputed to have been Sir Winston Churchill’s favourite holiday home, and is one of the foremost hotels in the world. Situated on a cliff amidst sub-tropical gardens, Reid’s offers views over the Bay of Funchal and the Atlantic ocean. The hotel’s outstanding service and unique ambiance is unrivalled. Reid’s is part of “Orient Express Hotels, Trains and Cruises” and a member of “The Leading Hotels of the World” and is one of the most favourite hotels in Europe of discerning travellers. Reid's is located just outside the centre of Funchal by the sea, about 25 minutes from the airport. There are 130 rooms and 34 suites, decorated in a traditional style. Each room has air conditioning, marble bathroom, safe, cable TV, video, balcony or terrace, complimentary mini-bar, and complimentary shoe-shine service. Facilities: 5 restaurants, 2 bars and the famous terrace where afternoon “high tea” is served, 3 swimming pools (2 are heated), health centre with sauna, beauty centre with La Praire products, 2 tennis courts, lift to beach, horseriding, and a variety of other activities.

Conference hotel room rates (euros):

Single room 180 (limited number of rooms). (Normal rate: 245 on a room only basis).

Double room 240 (single or double occupancy). (Normal rate: 335 on a room only basis).

Complete Buffet breakfast 21.

For an extended stay, this special rate applies to delegates up to 3 days before and 3 days after the Meeting.

It is a requirement that recipients of a grant make a reservation at Reid's Palace before 24th May 2007 to ensure the excellent discount on the costs of the conference facilities, rooms, meals, social events, etc.

The hotel's ocean view meeting rooms are exceptional for a Meeting of this kind. Adjacent outdoor terraces offer beautiful waterfront settings for the Meeting Welcome Reception and Conversazione, Cocktail parties at sunset, and Gala Reception and Banquet, and for other social gatherings.

 

Madeira offers the perfect, year round destination for discerning travellers. Summer temperatures rarely rise over 27 °C with rain falling less than six days a month. Back in 1887, Reid began to plan his dream hotel, commissioning the architect George Somers Clarke. Apart from superb accommodation, first class service, and cuisine, the hotel is surrounded by ten acres of beautiful sub-tropical gardens of fertile land created out of the barren rock displaying a colourful array of plants, shrubs, and trees. Ever since Orient Express took over Reid’s Hotel, renamed it Reid’s Palace Hotel and completely refurbished the legendary mansion that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean, it is now once again the Grand Dame on the Bay of Funchal. Perched upon the cliff’s edge, the magnificent exotic gardens overflow with breathtaking colour. Two heated swimming pools, the larger with seawater and the smaller with freshwater, and a sea-level pool with direct access to the sea, provide guests with the choice of swimming in either fresh or salt water.

For culinary delights, there is Ristorante Villa Cipriani, and the kitchen creates the mouthwatering regional Italian specialties the Cipriani name invokes. Les Faunes serves French creative cuisine. The chocolate soufflé served at Les Faunes will be the best soufflé you have ever tasted. The Pool Terrace offers an extensive hot and cold lunch buffet. To make sure that nobody misses Funchal’s other attractions, there is a courtesy bus to downtown. Visit some of the “wine lodges” as the local wineries are known. The dryer wines such as Sercial and Verdelho are delicious as chilled aperitifs. The sweeter, Boal should be served with dessert and the sweetest and richest wine, the Malmsey, is an outstanding after-dinner drink.

Madeira is famous for its levadas, encircling the mountains at many heights in order to provide irrigation on the south facing slopes.  There are towpaths running alongside the levadas, built for towing barges in Victorian times, and these are now used for walking – with fantastic views.  Those wanting to walk the levadas, might want to bring walking shoes, and flashlights since some of the tunnels encountered are long.