Planning a Family Stay in Madeira? Inside a Month-Long Wellness Escape for a Saudi Family

Glimpses of this months stay.

Seven guests, two children, no TV and a month of discovering a different way to experience Madeira.

When I was asked to create and host a month-long family stay in Madeira for seven guests from Saudi Arabia, I was excited.

They were a well-travelled family who had experienced plenty of different destinations, so this wasn't simply about giving them a list of things to do in Madeira. The brief was to create something more personal: a month where the family could slow down, spend time together, move more, eat well and properly disconnect.

What I quickly discovered was that seven people naturally means different personalities, interests and ideas about the perfect holiday, which, of course, was part of what made creating the stay so interesting.

Then there were the two children.

Their mum had very specifically booked this trip as an opportunity for the family to disconnect. Less internet. Less time on phones. No television.

Which, as you can imagine, was an interesting concept for the younger members of the family.

So, with the family's goal of properly disconnecting in mind, the television was removed and the board games came out.

And that's when things got interesting.

Turning a villa into something a little more than a villa

This wasn't going to be a typical arrive, sit by the pool and occasionally go out for dinner kind of holiday.

The family wanted to use their time in Madeira to reconnect, move more, spend time together and generally come away feeling healthier than when they arrived.

So I adapted the stay around that.

I converted one of the rooms into a private studio for yoga, fitness and massages. We added a sauna, made the most of the pool and created a space where wellness could become part of everyday life rather than something squeezed in between sightseeing.

I also worked with a private chef to create meals with less refined sugar, dairy and gluten, focusing instead on fresh, nourishing food that suited the family's preferences, and kept it as local as possible.

And somewhere along the way, I appear to have accidentally become their bootcamp instructor.

There were mornings when I was encouraging people to get up and move.

Let's just say that not everyone was equally enthusiastic before their first coffee.

Somewhere along the way, we created our own little hotel

Seven people. One month. Twenty-two suitcases.

At that point, I realised we weren't simply checking guests into a villa. We were practically moving an entire household to Madeira.

And, unsurprisingly, with that came an impressive amount of laundry.

Actually, impressive is probably the wrong word.

It was immense.

So alongside everything else, we had a dedicated housekeeper helping to keep on top of the villa and what felt like a never-ending cycle of towels, clothes and bed linen.

By this point, we had a private chef, yoga and fitness sessions, massages, a sauna, a pool, a dedicated housekeeper and a room that had been transformed into a wellness studio.

Somewhere along the way, the villa had quietly become our own little private hotel, just without the reception desk and with everything tailored around one family.

The idea was to create all the comfort and facilities you might expect from a five-star stay, but with the privacy and flexibility of having an entire home to yourselves.

And, of course, with everything adapted around the family rather than asking the family to adapt around a hotel.

Moving Together.

One of the things I loved most about this stay was seeing the family actually do things together.

Not just sit around the same table at dinner, although there was plenty of that too, but properly experience things together.

Yoga became a family activity.

So did fitness.

And Madeira, with its mountains, forests and endless trails, gave us plenty of opportunities to get everyone out and exploring.

Some mornings required more enthusiasm than others, but it was genuinely inspiring to watch family members encouraging each other, working out together and, at times, discovering that they were perhaps more competitive than they had realised.

There is something quite special about seeing parents and children doing yoga together or completing a hike as a family. It feels different to everyone disappearing off to do their own thing.

And after a while, it became part of the rhythm of the stay.

Move. Eat. Explore. Massage. Repeat. Not a bad routine, really.

The horn that announced every meal

At some point during the month, I found an old bike horn in the laundry room.

Naturally, this became our official call for every meal.

Breakfast? Honk. Lunch? Honk. Dinner?

You get the idea.

The only slight problem was that this was not a discreet little bicycle bell.

It was loud.

Very loud.

The villa sits on the edge of a cliff and the sound echoed so well that I could hear it all the way from my own house.

By the end of the month, the horn had become part of the routine.

A slightly ridiculous but surprisingly effective way of gathering seven people from various corners of the villa and gardens.

And honestly, after spending a month together, I think every long family stay should probably come with one.

Meanwhile, I had an exploring partner

While much of the family was busy hiking their way around Madeira, I had a rather lovely exploring partner of my own.

The grandmother wasn't able to join the hikes, so instead, she and I spent a lot of time exploring the island together.

And I have to say, she was probably one of the most curious people in the family.

Almost every day, we would head out somewhere new. A different village, a viewpoint, a little drive along the coast or simply somewhere I thought she might enjoy seeing. And occasionally, we would stop for a tea and take in wherever we happened to be.

She wanted to know about the island. She was curious about the places we visited, loved the food prepared by our private chef and fully embraced the yoga sessions too.

While the rest of the family were busy completing hikes, she was having her own version of a Madeira adventure.

And I think that's what I enjoyed most about the month.

The stay didn't have to look the same for everyone.

The children had their activities. Some family members wanted to hike and work out. Others enjoyed slower days. And for her, exploring Madeira at a gentler pace became a big part of the experience.

She was a wonderful reminder that you don't need to climb a mountain to properly experience the island.

Sometimes you just need a comfortable car, a cup of tea and enough curiosity to keep asking, “Where are we going tomorrow?”

And then there was a birthday

Halfway through the month, we also had a rather important occasion to celebrate.

One of the boys turned ten.

So, of course, we couldn't let that pass without doing something special.

We created a birthday lunch for him, complete with balloons and a birthday cake made especially by our private chef. Keeping with the family's approach to healthier eating, this wasn't your standard sugar-filled birthday cake, but a healthier version created around their dietary preferences.

It was a lovely reminder that when a family stays for a month, you're not simply organising a holiday.

Life still happens.

Birthdays still happen.

And being able to make those moments feel special, even when you're thousands of miles from home, is part of what makes a longer stay feel so personal.

I think this may also have been the only occasion during the month when I was fully supportive of everyone sitting down and doing absolutely nothing active.

Well, almost.

The children survived without Netflix

I feel this deserves its own section.

Taking away the TV and limiting screen time for a month was always going to be interesting.

But the pool helped.

So did the board games.

And Madeira is actually quite good at keeping people busy when you make the effort to get out and explore it.

There were hikes, days out, family activities and, occasionally, the simple novelty of having to entertain yourself.

Which, despite what children may tell you, is probably quite good for all of us.

And there was something genuinely lovely about watching the family spend more time together without everyone automatically disappearing behind a screen.

A month of looking after seven different people

This was probably the biggest challenge, and also what made the stay so rewarding.

Creating a personalised trip for a couple is one thing.

Creating one for seven people, for an entire month, is something else entirely.

There are different energy levels. Different interests. Different ideas about how active a holiday should be.

And, of course, those days where some people are ready to explore while others would quite happily stay by the pool with a book.

The key wasn't trying to make everyone do everything.

It was creating enough flexibility for everyone to enjoy the trip in their own way, while still creating experiences that brought the family together.

Some days were more active, Some were slower, Some involved getting everyone out early, Others involved absolutely no rushing whatsoever.

And that, for me, is what a truly personalised family stay should be, Not a rigid itinerary, Not every hour planned.

But having the right things in place so that everyone can enjoy the experience in their own way.

And because I am apparently keeping score...

By the end of the month, the family had completed 20 hikes, 20 yoga sessions, 12 fitness sessions, 2 Pilates sessions and an impressive 53 massages.

I'm not entirely sure whether that qualifies as a holiday or an extreme wellness programme.

Probably somewhere in between.

What impressed me most, though, was how wholeheartedly the family embraced the experience.

They are incredibly well travelled and had come to Madeira with a genuine desire to experience something different. Despite the early mornings, and perhaps a few moments when a lie-in may have been preferred, they really embraced the month.

It was genuinely inspiring to watch.

There is something quite special about seeing a family spend that amount of time together, particularly when everyday life normally gets in the way.

Less screen time.

More time outside.

More movement.

More shared experiences.

And, apparently, quite a lot of massages.

Why I love creating stays like this

This stay was a little different for me.

I had hosted the mum before, and on another occasion, one of her daughters, so there was already a familiarity there. But bringing more of the family together, seven people, for an entire month, was something completely different.

And I think that's one of the things I enjoyed most.

I already had an idea of what the mum enjoyed, how she liked to travel and what mattered to her. But getting to know the rest of the family, and then working out how to create a stay that worked for everyone, was another challenge altogether.

Because when seven people travel together, nobody wants exactly the same thing.

Some want to be up and out exploring. Some are happier taking things slowly. Some want to hike, while others would rather explore the island at a gentler pace, preferably with a cup of tea involved.

The challenge wasn't simply finding things for everyone to do. It was finding the right balance.

Creating moments they could enjoy together, while still giving everyone space to experience Madeira in their own way.

And that's really why I love creating stays like this.

Finding a beautiful villa is only the beginning. The more personal part comes afterwards, getting to know the people staying, understanding what they enjoy and then building the experience around them.

This particular month became a mixture of wellness, adventure, family time, good food, plenty of exploring and, admittedly, a little bit of me encouraging everyone to get moving.

It was fun.

It was challenging at times.

It involved a lot of organisation.

And by the end of it, I felt like I had become part concierge, part activities manager, part wellness coordinator and part unofficial family bootcamp instructor.

Would I do it again?

Absolutely.

Although next time, I might give everyone five more minutes in bed.

Maybe.

Planning a family stay in Madeira?

Every family travels differently.

Some want to spend their days exploring the island. Others are happiest with nowhere to be, a pool nearby and a long lunch ahead. Most, in my experience, want a little of both.

At Madeira in Style, I work with a carefully selected collection of homes that I know work beautifully for families, whether you're travelling with young children, teenagers, grandparents or several generations together.

But the home is only the starting point.

From there, I help shape the stay around the people travelling. That might mean private dining, wellness and fitness, family adventures, celebrations, slower days or simply having the right things in place so you can arrive and enjoy your time together.

No two families are the same, so I don't believe their holidays should be either.

If you're planning a family stay in Madeira, get in touch and let's create something around your family.

Because the best trips aren't necessarily the ones with the most carefully packed itinerary.

They're the ones where everyone goes home with their own favourite memory.

And, occasionally, a newfound appreciation for yoga, hiking… and the sound of a very loud bike horn.