Reid's Palace, A Belmond Hotel, Madeira

By George Bernard Shaw's own account, the only man who ever taught him anything was the dance instructor at Reid's Palace, who gave him tango lessons over the winter of 1924 and 1925. William Reid, a Scottish crofter's son, had come to Madeira in 1836 at fourteen and made a living letting quintas to wealthy invalids; he died before his hotel was finished, and his sons opened it in 1891. It stands pink under terracotta roofs on a cliff west of Funchal Bay, the rock below it dark and split into columns, with ten acres of subtropical garden, palms and tall pines, between the building and the drop. A sea-facing bedroom is done in the English country manner: sea holly printed on the headboard and curtains, and a wicker chair on the balcony, turned to the Atlantic over the treetops.

Recommended for families who want a grand hotel that has thought about children, and for couples happy to share it. The kids' club is included, has its own pool and keeps three- to twelve-year-olds from half past nine to half past five, which leaves parents most of the day. Below the gardens a lift drops down the cliff to the hotel's own platform at sea level: a narrow pool along the black rock, and a diving board out over the Atlantic. Afternoon tea on the terrace over the bay is the house tradition; dinner is at William, which holds a Michelin star, behind windows filled with sea. Churchill had less time than Shaw. He came to paint in January 1950, set up his easel above the fishing harbour at Câmara de Lobos, and nine days later, with Attlee calling a general election, flew home with one oil painting.