Take a taxi to Monte and get on the sky ride that takes you over Funchal down to the centre by the market.
Try the basket sledge rides, not too fast and a great laugh.
Take a car and get up into the mountains, see the wonderful and unique houses that are only found on Madiera.
Visit some of the beaches, yes there are beaches but they are not sandy.
Go in April/May when the purple flowers on the Jacuranda trees are out. See Hydrangers growing wild along the roads, this is called the garden island, after all.
Visit some of the Tea houses on the Levader walks, we went in one and had tea and scones.
The weather is always warm and anytime to go is a good time.
A bus stops at the Hotel every hour to take you to the Madiera shopping centre, where there is a large supermarket, lots of shops and a food hall that has Burger King, Macdonalds and KFC, with lots of other kinds of food too. The bus brings you back via other hotels and is free.

We enjoyed exploring Funchal, although it is more of a working town than a resort, without a beach, so some of the rating was difficult.

Exploring the rest of the Island was very good, Madeira is certainly different from the usual holiday places.

As there are no beaches in Madiera I can only refer to the lido in the resort. It was kept nice and clean always and had no complaints there. They would need a few ideas on the entertainment arrangements really. We made our own way to different events on the island.

Madeira is a fantastic place we loved wondering around Funchal deciding where to stop for lunch while shopping , its not really geared up for children , but some hotels have kiddies clubs .
The island tours are great , dont bother with a car, as the tours take you to most places and road in places are narrow to say the least , but good fun when your not driving , and you get to sample more local drinks.

This was our first trip to Madeira/Funchal and found the whole island spotless with no rubbish any were, Funchal is a small town great for walking around, from our hotel it was a nice walk down hill to the town with a nice park to the right hand side with a cafe and duck pond very nice to sit in on the way back up the hill.
If you went the other way from the hotel to the lido you pass all the other hotels in the hotel zone with a few cafes/bars and restaurants, back down the hill was the start of the main shopping area and the harbour to the right, there are some good shops to look round a Se (cathedral of st James) well worth a look,the Toyota showroom with decorated tiles of Madeiran scenes,the Municpal square with its old buildings and black and white stone pavement like thoughs in Lisbon.
There is a old fortress by the harbour but you cannot go in for a look round, the harbour has all the boats you wish you could afford but only dream of there are some nice cafes and restaurants around the side and boat trip sellers also here is a boat that the Beatles owned once.
Back in the town the local market is a good place to see all the local fowers but the best bit is the fishmongers part were they have great big tuna fish and black skined scabbard fish with big eyes.
If you wonder behind the market you come to the part that was once were the fishermen used to live that is now full of restaurants and further on is a forttresss you can have a look round but why they painted it yellow, also in this part of town is the bus station and the best bit the chair lift up to the Monte you ether get a return or just go up and come down on a tobggen, at the top is a fine church and puplic garden.
Last of all as we were there for new year I have to mention the fireworks they put on one of the best shows I have ever seen and would I go back YES this island has it all for me safe, nice food,great hotel and I may even try a Lavada walk next time.
I would like to point out that Portland Direct who we traveled with for this holiday have put up the same holiday this year by £150 so its back to Malta this new year.