Things to do in Porto Santo - Madeira Archipelago

The Golden Island and its charms

Porto Santo belongs to the Madeira Archipelago and should be included in your trip to this paradise! The landscapes are incredible and complement the little corner of heaven that is Madeira. But what to do in Porto Santo? There are many attractions! I'm going to mention some of the ones I've done, and I can tell you I want to go back and enjoy the sun in this beautiful place!

Before I tell you what to do in Porto Santo, I'll give you a little background on the history and formation of the island.

History and discoveries

Porto Santo Island was discovered in 1418 by João Gonçalvez Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeixa and was given this name because it was a shelter for sailors facing a terrible storm, appearing almost as an answer to prayers as Porto Santo. Bartolomeu Perestrelo was appointed the island's captain at the behest of Prince Henry the Navigator. It was also on this island that Christopher Columbus lived for a while; he married Bartolomeu Perestrelo's daughter around 1479. Remember that both the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus and the discovery of Brazil by Pedro Alvares Cabral took place more or less 20 years after this event.

Volcanic origin

Porto Santo, like Madeira Island, had volcanic origins, where violent eruptions caused this little paradise to grow and be born from the middle of the sea. However, despite being just over 50 kilometers away from Madeira Island, the two are totally different. While one is known as the island of flowers, with its exuberant greenery, the other is predominantly golden in color, with a vast expanse of sand and almost no vegetation.

I see one island almost as a complement to the other, click here and see what to do on Madeira Island

Porto Santo is much flatter than Madeira Island, with Pico do Facho (517m) being the highest point on the island. Its waters are rich in calcium, iodine and magnesium. Just by taking a dip, or burying myself in the sand, I felt better, recovering some of those salts that stress and fatigue had taken from me.

Well, enough talking and let's get to know this Portuguese wonder! After all, what to do in

Porto Santo? How to get to Porto Santo

There are two ways: Plane -> We went from Madeira Island to Porto Santo by plane and it only took about 15 minutes, it's very fast

Boat -> The ferry boat The ferry from Funchal, on Madeira Island, makes this journey every day and is a cheaper option, although it takes an average of two and a half hours to get between the two islands. It's worth remembering that on days when the sea is rough, this trip is not made.

Viewpoints

The island is beautiful, surrounded by islets that frame its landscape, and it is at the viewpoints that we can get the best view.

Flower Viewpoint

It was the first viewpoint we went to, with a huge islet in front of us, known as Ilhéu da Cal, with Madeira Island in the background. In fact, that's why this viewpoint was given its name, since for those who live in Porto Santo, Madeira Island is known as the Island of Flowers, due to its lush greenery and the many species of flowers present.

Mirante dos Morenos

Although Porto Santo was born out of volcanic activity, today it no longer has any active volcanoes, they're all extinct, that's right, they're not dormant or anything, they're actually extinct! And you can get a full idea of this at the Morenos viewpoint, where you can see one of these extinct volcanoes, with the lava marked on the rocks that have melted to this day. It's majestic and beautiful to be able to observe something like this up close, especially knowing that these marks happened many millions of years ago.

Mirante do Furado North

Shortly afterwards, very close to the Moreno viewpoint, we found the Furado Norte viewpoint, also with an islet in front of us, but smaller than the first, but no less beautiful. The whole region is incredible with its unique landscape. It's nice to know that millions of years ago, each of these islets was part of the island and Porto Santo's territory was approximately four times larger; today Porto Santo has an area of 42.17 km².

Ponta da Calheta viewpoint

At the foot of Ponta da Calheta beach, it's a lookout point where you can see the sea up close and personal.

It was the last viewpoint we visited, and from there we stayed in a nearby restaurant and then rushed back to the sea to enjoy the rest of the day we had in Porto Santo.

Portela Mills

Almost opposite the Mirante da Portela are the Portela windmills. Unfortunately, it was raining heavily at the time, so we only drove past, but we were able to get a good look at these windmills, which could be moved to take better advantage of the wind direction.

Ponta da Calheta Beach

Of course, talking about what to do in Porto Santo and not including the beaches is impossible! The beaches, with their multi-colored blue and green waters, are crystal clear! But what really steals the show are the sands, which, as well as being golden, long and fine, also have health benefits! Exactly, as I said above, the sands are rich in calcium, iodine and magnesium and the sand in direct contact with the skin brings us immense benefits! Emmanuel and I took advantage of this and played a lot with rubbing sand all over our bodies, laughs.

Quinta das Palmeiras

It's a botanical garden and mini-zoo, covering 5,380m². Peacocks parade through the trees while we see other animals such as swans, turtles, fish, parrots and even ostriches.

There is a sand area with toys for the little ones and a bar for parents to relax while the kids play

Pico Ana Ferreira

The island of Porto Santo was born from volcanic eruptions while it was still immersed in the ocean, and this has generated incredible geological formations!!! You can see precisely how the lava gradually cooled into incredible prismatic columns

Porto das Salemas

Unfortunately, we only saw this paradise from above. These are incredible natural pools that only appear at low tide! We were enchanted by the beauty of this place, but at this time the weather didn't help and it was raining a lot, so we couldn't enjoy it, leaving it as the main spot for a future trip.

Mountain House

You can learn a little more about the culture and tradition of Porto Santo Island, find old photos to illustrate your imagination and even see the house set up with a wood-burning stove, old furniture and everything just the way it was, you can immerse yourself and better understand how people used to live there, but the best part is yet to come! At the end there are tastings of local wines, completely organic, accompanied by delicious typical biscuits.

Desert

Did you ever imagine that on an island like Porto Santo there could be a desert? Well, I was impressed too, but this desert reveals secrets kept by time, from a time when the island was still part of the ocean floor! It's an area full of coral fossils, and if you look carefully you'll see many of them stuck in the sand. Even in the heavy rain, we didn't hold back and went out to see this spectacle up close.

Ponta da Calheta Restaurant

As we were only on the island for one day, we only had one meal and of course it was in a very strategic location! On the beachfront with a beautiful view of the Ilhéu da Cal! The specialty of the house is fish, but as we were in low season, there were only quick snacks or prego on the plate, so we opted for the prego on the plate with a delicious Poncha.

What there is to do in Porto Santo apart from what we've done:

→ Vila Baleira, capital of Porto Santo

→ House of Columbus

→Castle Peak

→ Pico Branco and Terra Chã Trail

→Zimbralinho Beach

→Sand Fountain

→ Boat trip

→ Diving

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