Skip to content
Visit Porto Santo
🤿 Adventure2 days

Northern cliffs, western seabed

PS PR1 · Cotrim · wreck dive · bike · Zimbralinho · Piano

At a glance

Day 1: the Pico Branco mule path cut into the Rocha Quebrada, snorkelling at Cotrim, then the bay's wrecks at 30 m. Day 2: the cycle path, a kayak to Ilhéu da Cal, the drop to Zimbralinho and the Piano columns before sunset at the western tip.

Difficulty
Hard · steep trail + dive + cove on foot
Best season
Bathing season 1 May – 31 October; water around 18 °C in March, 24–25 °C in high summer.

🎒 Packing list

  • Trail shoes
  • Closed shoes for the coves
  • Mask, snorkel, rash vest
  • Dive log if you dive
  • Water 1.5 L and snacks
  • SIMplifica trail booking

Day by day

Day 1 · Pico Branco, Cotrim and the wrecks7

📍 ER 120 → Terra Chã → Serra de Fora → bay · ⏰ 06:30 · 🚗 ~35 min

  1. 07:00 → 08:30Visitby car · 15 min

    PS PR1 — Pico Branco and Terra Chã

    An old 2.7 km mule path (1:30 one way, back the same way, 184 to 450 m): cut into the Rocha Quebrada, it squeezes through the Cabeço do Caranguejo fissure and enters the cypresses planted in the early 20th century. At the fork, Terra Chã right, Pico Branco left.

    💡 Insider tip — Start on the regional road ER 111.

  2. 08:30 → 09:00Photo

    Terra Chã, the native flora

    End of the PR1, a Natura 2000 site: the spot on the island with the most well-preserved native flora, a stone house used as a base for reintroductions, "urzela" lichens on the rocks and, all around, Vila Baleira, Ilhéu de Cima and Pico Branco (450 m).

    📍 Miradouro Terra Chã
  3. 10:30 → 12:00Visitby car · 10 min

    Snorkelling at Porto dos Frades (Cotrim)

    East coast, Serra de Fora: a beach carved by sea and wind, sand and stones in very clear emerald water, often deserted. Old salt pans and a lime kiln to see; no facilities and no lifeguards.

    📍 Praia do Cotrim (Porto dos Frades)
  4. 12:45 → 14:00Mealby car · 15 min

    Bolo do caco & espetada — O Forno

    The town-centre bolo do caco specialist: Porto Santo's version, taller and wider and without sweet potato, baked on basalt stone and served with an espetada.

  5. 15:00 → 17:30Visiton foot · 10 min

    Wreck dive

    Porto Santo ranks among Europe's best dive spots: the ferry Madeirense (sunk in 2000) and the corvette General Pereira d'Eça (2016) lie at about 30 m, visibility up to 40 m, groupers and amberjacks around them; Cabeço do Poio off Ilhéu de Cima at 15–28 m.

    📍 Ilhéu de Cima

    💡 Insider tip — Dive centres: Activities tab.

  6. 18:30 → 19:15Photoon foot · 15 min

    Evening at Miradouro das Lombas

    Very close to the centre, a small lookout over Vila Baleira as far as the old pier, the bay and the beach, with an old wooden windmill as a landmark and a nearby restaurant of regional dishes — the evening viewpoint without a car.

    📍 Miradouro das Lombas
  7. 20:00Mealon foot · 15 min

    Grandmother's cooking — Casa d'Avó

    Recipes handed down through the generations: açorda, seafood rice, passion-fruit flan. Simple and sincere, a step from the beach — dinner from 6.30 pm.

🌧️ Rainy-day alternative — The IFCN asks you to give up the trails in heavy rain or strong wind: Casa Colombo, church and Centro Cultural, or a car loop of the island by the viewpoints.

🎒 What to bring — Closed shoes for the coastal paths, water, hat, sunscreen, mask and snorkel, a picnic.

  • PS PR trails: since 1 January 2026 you book a 30-minute slot on SIMplifica — €4.50, free for residents and children up to 12. Yellow-and-red waymarks.
  • Water: at least 1.5 L per person — there are no fountains on the trails, and the IFCN asks you to carry spare water and food.
  • IFCN rules: don't walk alone, tell someone your route, finish before dark and turn back in heavy rain or strong wind. Emergencies 112.
  • Swimming: lifeguards are guaranteed only at Fontinha, Ribeiro Salgado and Cabeço da Ponta in season; elsewhere follow the flags, and never go into the water to rescue someone — call 112.
Day 2 · Bike, kayak, Zimbralinho and the Piano8

📍 Ribeiro Cochino → Calheta → Zimbralinho → Ana Ferreira → Canavieira · ⏰ 07:30 · 🚗 ~30 min

  1. 08:00 → 08:30Visitby bike · 10 min

    Cycle path Ribeiro Cochino → Calheta

    4,565 m of red resin, almost flat, beside the ER 111, opened in 2004, beach on one side and dunes on the other — Cabeço da Ponta, then Calheta at the end. City, mountain or electric bikes hired in town.

    📍 Praia do Porto Santo
  2. 09:00 → 10:30Visitby bike · 15 min

    Kayak to Ilhéu da Cal

    From Ponta da Calheta the islet is only about 500 m away: calm turquoise water all year, a large cave opening in its flanks and the 19th-century lime galleries. No landing — it is a no-entry zone.

    📍 Ilhéu da Cal

    💡 Insider tip — Equipment hired from the tourist-entertainment companies.

  3. 11:00 → 13:00Visitby car · 15 min

    Down to Zimbralinho cove

    From the Miradouro das Flores junction a road and then a steep path (930 m from the tarmac) drop to a pebble beach squeezed between cliffs: the island's finest pillow lavas and renowned snorkelling in calm seas. Sunny in the morning; in shade in the afternoon.

    📍 Zimbralinho

    💡 Insider tip — Look for the snail fossils in the rock on the way down.

  4. 13:15 → 14:00Mealby car · 10 min

    Picnic at Morenos

    Tables, straw shelters and barbecues amid typical vegetation at the western tip; the Morenos geosite shows volcanic dykes and dune sandstones with root casts some 30,000 years old.

    📍 Miradouro da Ponta da Canavieira
  5. 16:00 → 16:20Visitby car · 15 min

    São Pedro chapel and its caravel

    On the slopes of Pico de Ana Ferreira at Campo de Baixo: Baroque and Mannerist, gilded altarpiece, painted vault, a holy-water font decorated with shells and, on the pebble forecourt, a caravel for the patron of sailors. A footpath leaves from here to the Piano columns.

    📍 Capela de São Pedro

    💡 Insider tip — 29 June: procession from Ribeiro Salgado beach, then the fish auction.

  6. 16:20 → 17:15Photoon foot · 25 min

    The "Piano" of Pico de Ana Ferreira

    Light-grey prismatic columns of lava, born of the contraction of magma cooling slowly inside a volcanic conduit and exposed by a former quarry: geosite, geological heritage of regional value. Best seen from the Miradouro da Pedreira, 144 m from the road.

    📍 Pico de Ana Ferreira
  7. 18:30 → 19:30Photoby car · 15 min

    Sunset at Ponta da Canavieira

    The island's western tip, all dark basalt and cliffs: Ilhéu de Ferro ahead, Pico de Ana Ferreira behind and, in good visibility, Madeira's north coast — the sun sinks into the ocean right in front of you.

    📍 Miradouro da Ponta da Canavieira
  8. 20:00Mealby car · 10 min

    Island wines — Adega das Levadas

    Home cooking and Porto Santo wines: Listrão, the "queen of the white grapes", and Caracol, grown on calcareous sand behind croché dry-stone walls — a tasting before the nearby Calheta sunset.

    💡 Insider tip — Late August: Festa das Vindimas, public press and tastings in the town centre.

🌧️ Rainy-day alternative — The IFCN asks you to give up the trails in heavy rain or strong wind: Casa Colombo, church and Centro Cultural, or a car loop of the island by the viewpoints.

🎒 What to bring — Closed shoes for the coastal paths, water, hat, sunscreen, mask and snorkel, a picnic.

  • ER 111 cycle path: 4,565 m of red resin, almost flat, from Ribeiro Cochino to Praia da Calheta; city, mountain and electric bikes for hire in town.
  • Islets: no-entry zones (Natura 2000, marine reserve) — no landing without IFCN authorisation; admire them from the sea or the shore.
  • Closed shoes are a must for Zimbralinho and Porto das Salemas: steep paths with loose stones and no services on site.
  • Sun: the National Maritime Authority advises avoiding the sun between 11 am and 4 pm and drinking regularly — hence beach time early and late in the day.

📱 Plan my day

Want this plan in your pocket, with the map, the weather and your favourites? The app is on its way.

Get the app