Car seats for taxi transfer in Madeira?

[giantkatestacks]

We are going to Madeira in July on a family holiday with the ILs - they all normally use a certain taxi firm for the transfers but they dont have carseats - we will have a 5 year old and a 1 year old with us.

We cant take the car seats with us so what does everyone else do - are there taxi firms out there with car seats - will these need to be booked beforehand or does everyone just ignore it for the 20min transfer

ahem I have just googled and found a taxi company that says it has free baby seats... while I'm here though has anyone done wither the whale watching or the waterpark/other 5 year old activities on madeira?

We were in Madeira with our 5 year old last year. He enjoyed the cable car up to the top of the hill/mountain (scared the life out of me!) and the children's play parks - we found three or four different ones. Apart from that, he loved the hotel pool and just tagging along with us around the old town, or looking at the huge cruise ships in the marina, or watching helicopter tours come in and go out (also at the marina), and going out for lunches and so on.

The taxis are so cheap in Madeira that we used them all the time. The drivers drove very carefully we felt. I'm usually paranoid about making sure he has a proper car seat, but we felt ok to let DS just use an adult belt.

Didn't do the waterpark or whale watching so can't help you out there, sorry.

I love Madeira. Not loads to do, but most hotels have fab facilities. I am very .

thanks nonickname - am not so fussed about the 5 year old and the seat belts but the 1 year old is different. Thanks for the tips about the marina and the cable car - are there parks in the middle of funchal?

As its a family holiday - 20 ILs going but the only kids are ours and the hotel isnt very family friendly so we will have to plan to be out quite a lot i reckon...

Are the restaurants good value/family friendly?

sorry roomforthree

My dh says I'm confusing Madeira with Murcia - sorry!

There is one park in Funchal that we went to, apparently. There's a gardens (Parque de Santa Catarina) very near to the marina/harbour - the part of it where the big cruise ships come in - behind the marina is the gardens, and at the back of those is the playground.

The restaurants are very family friendly. We took ds out to eat every night, mainly in the old town area, and they were lovely with him. I dont recall any children's menus as such, but we just asked for small portions and they often offered other dishes that weren't on their menus. Madeira is very much an oldies island - lots of British OAPs - and ds was one of only about three tourist chilren we saw in the week we were there (it was half term too) - so they loved him all the more, I think. They were fairly inexpensive too - but again, the exchange rate has changed so much and I think things will be different. With any luck, they may have reduced prices to encourage trade as there are loads of British tourists.

The restaurants we particularly liked were: Portao (old town); Riso (risotto restaurant, a bit behind the old town, going out of Funchal - lovely views); O Jango (back streets of old town; super friendly staff who doted on ds); Mare Azul (a seafood restaurant in the main part of the marina - we only had lunch here, not dinner, but it had a tank with lobster in, which we sat next to and which kept ds occupied a bit)

Other things to do:

• this webcam is great if you want to arrange a time to wave to people back home!

• Monte Palace Gardens - at the top of the cable car ride - formal gardens, laid out on a hillside - nice for a wander and for ds to run around a bit

• take the toboggans back down the hill - didn't fancy them myself (scared) - and they only take two people, so no good for us, but you may want to try them

• Câmara de Lobos is a cab drive away - can't recall how far, but about half an hour perhaps - the taxi was cheap last year, but the Euro will be more expensive now - there are some fountains that come straight out of the ground (near to the "Coral" restaurant) which ds loved playing about in; there's also a tiny, tiny church that was nice to see

Wow thanks for all that nonickname... am frantically copying out the restaurant names...

on the way there, we got a minibus transfer ( not sure if it was hotel or other) - they knew we had requested a baby seat ( dd was 14 mo i think) and had put one in the back but it wasnt attached and we couldnt work out how to do it, no one helped us. when we were going home, we asked th hotel to phone a taxi compnay and tell them we'd need a dseat, which they did; the man installed it (he had kids!) and it was fine.
sorry, not much help, but worth asking your hotel to arrange for you maybe?
where are you staying?

um I dont know if I should say - actually they can tell who I am anyway lets face it...the regency palace - its mostly a timeshare thing I think and quite a long way out of funchal...we've got a 2 bed apartment with a kitchen...

The Electricity Museum (seriously) was actually kinda interesting, and the cable car and wander through the park at the top is also worth it. There is a great playground about half-way on the walk into town from the hotel area (which are all clustered together) but I don't know where it is in relation to where you'll be...

hmm thanks kiwinyc will check it out...

You'll be near to the Lido, which has water activities and a children's play area.

The local restaurants are lovely. Our favourite is just next to the Monumental Lido. The staff are great with the dc . I can't recall the name just now.

There is a pizzeria in the area too, if you want less formal dining, as well as chinese and indian restaurants.

Hope you have a lovely time.

wow that sounds great roomforthree - thanks so much