🤿 Adventure5 days

Five days outdoors

Every trail · wrecks · islets · coves · wind · karting

At a glance

Each day its own ground: the town and the pier to get into the water, the eastern summits and a kayak, diving and dolphins, the north coast on foot, then the Levada, Zimbralinho and the western tip. All three classified trails, once each.

Difficulty: Hard · five sporty days · recovery on the sand
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 · Arrival: into the water from the pier8

📍 Vila Baleira → Cais Velho → Fontinha → Lombas · ⏰ 09:00

10:30 → 11:00Meal
Coffee on Largo do Pelourinho
The heart of Vila Baleira at its quiet hour: terrace cafés under palms and dragon trees, between the 16th-century old town hall and the mother church. Everything starts here on foot.
📍 Largo do Pelourinho
11:00 → 11:30Visiton foot · 5 min
Jump off the Cais Velho
A monument and a place of leisure, the old pier is the beach's favourite diving board: start the day with a jump into Fontinha's water, supervised in season.
📍 Cais Velho
12:30 → 13:45Mealon foot · 5 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.
14:00 → 15:00Visiton foot · 5 min
Casa Colombo — museum
The house where, by oral tradition, Columbus lived after marrying Filipa Moniz: early-16th-century Gothic windows, a museum opened in 1989 and redesigned in 2004, treasure from the Slot ter Hooge wrecked in 1724. Open weekday mornings and afternoons, closed Mondays.
📍 Casa Museu Cristóvão Colombo
16:30 → 17:30Visiton foot · 10 min
Early-morning stand-up paddle
Standing on the board in calm warm water along the 9 km of sand: quick to learn, all ages, and the best light before the sun climbs.
📍 Praia do Porto Santo
17:30 → 18:30Break
Late afternoon at Fontinha
Back on the town beach as the sun drops: showers, lockers and a first-aid post at hand, guaranteed surveillance in season. Everything is on foot from the centre.
📍 Praia da Fontinha
18:45 → 19:30Photoon 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
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 — Casa Colombo (museum), Nossa Senhora da Piedade church, then cinema or an exhibition at the Centro Cultural e de Congressos.

🎒 What to bring — Parasol or hat, sunscreen, water, towel, mask and snorkel; cash for the stalls.

Porto Santo Line ferry: book the round trip ahead in July–August (often full); the day's sailings are on the company's site.
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.
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.

Day 2 · PS PR2, the Facho and Ilhéu da Cal6

📍 Moledo → Facho → Calheta · ⏰ 06:30 · 🚗 ~35 min

07:00 → 09:00Visitby car · 10 min
PS PR2 — Vereda do Pico do Castelo
The island's forest trail, graded easy, from Moledo: 3.2 km round the north of Pico do Facho (1:30) or 4.6 km round the south (2:15), under Aleppo pines and dragon trees, up to the 16th-century fort and its cannons. Early, before the heat, on a booked slot.
💡 Insider tip — The forest gives shade, but carry water.
09:00 → 10:15Photoon foot · 50 min
Pico do Facho, the roof of the island
No road reaches the highest point: you climb on foot along the unmarked vereda that starts at Pico do Castelo. Here burned the "fachos" that warned of pirate ships; the whole island, the beach and the islets lie below.
📍 Pico do Facho
💡 Insider tip — A windy summit: windbreaker even in fine weather.
12:30 → 13:45Mealby car · 25 min
Grilled lapas at Calheta
The restaurant on Praia da Calheta is known for grilled lapas served with garlic-butter bolo do caco, facing Ilhéu da Cal and its lime galleries.
📍 Praia da Calheta (Porto Santo)
💡 Insider tip — Lapas outside the closed season (1 Dec – 31 Mar).
15:30 → 17:00Visiton foot · 5 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.
18:30 → 19:30Photo
Sunset at Calheta
For the tourist board, THE Porto Santo photo: the sun drops behind Ilhéu da Cal (179 m) and, on clear days, Madeira's outline shows on the horizon. Terminus of the SIGA "Centro – Calheta" bus.
📍 Praia da Calheta (Porto Santo)
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 — Walking shoes, 1.5 L of water per person, snacks, hat, sunscreen, windbreaker — the peaks are windy even in fine weather.

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.
Islets: no-entry zones (Natura 2000, marine reserve) — no landing without IFCN authorisation; admire them from the sea or the shore.
For the tourist board, the one photo to bring home is the Calheta sunset: arrive half an hour early, with Ilhéu da Cal in silhouette across the water.

🔗 Book a trail slot (SIMplifica)

Day 3 · Wrecks, dolphins and Cotrim5

📍 Bay → islets → Serra de Fora · ⏰ 07:30 · 🚗 ~20 min

08:30 → 11:30Visiton 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.
12:30 → 13:45Mealon foot · 15 min
Lunch with your feet in the sand — Pé na Água
A terrace on the beach facing the Atlantic: grilled fish of the day, garlic-butter lapas and homemade bolo do caco — the hour to leave the sand, as the Maritime Authority advises.
💡 Insider tip — Booking recommended in July–August.
14:30 → 17:00Visiton foot · 15 min
Dolphins and seabirds by boat
Dolphins, whales, turtles and seabirds can be seen all year on quiet trips that call at near-untouched spots such as Ilhéu da Cal or Ilhéu de Ferro; Ilhéu de Cima carries the lighthouse lit in 1901.
📍 Ilhéu de Cima
17:30 → 18:45Visitby car · 15 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)
19:30Mealby car · 10 min
Wood-fire espetada — Teodorico
An institution of the island's interior: marinated beef skewers grilled over bay branches, generous portions — the dinner that rewards a day on the peaks.

🌧️ Rainy-day alternative — Casa Colombo (museum), Nossa Senhora da Piedade church, then cinema or an exhibition at the Centro Cultural e de Congressos.

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

Boat trips: the water is calm almost all year; in a swell the operator's programme prevails.
Islets: no-entry zones (Natura 2000, marine reserve) — no landing without IFCN authorisation; admire them from the sea or the shore.
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.

🔗 IFCN — trail status & rules

Day 4 · The north coast on foot8

📍 ER 120 → Pico Branco → Serra de Dentro → Fonte da Areia → Salemas · ⏰ 06:30 · 🚗 ~40 min

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.
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
10:00 → 10:30Visitby car · 15 min
Serra de Dentro, the green clays
In the north-east, a landscape of gullies in shades of green: "salão", clays formed by the alteration of undersea volcanic rocks and crossed by dark basaltic dykes — unique in Portugal, they once roofed the casas de salão. Geosite beside the road.
📍 Serra de Dentro — argiles « salão »
10:45 → 11:15Visitby car · 10 min
Fonte da Areia, the spring and the sandstones
The island's historic spring (18th-century fountain) among pale sandstone cliffs carved by the wind: dune sandstones about 31,000 years old, four units separated by palaeosols, root casts and fossil snails. 25 m from the road; view over Ilhéu da Fonte da Areia and the north coast.
📍 Fonte da Areia
11:15 → 13:00Visiton foot · 20 min
Natural pools of Porto das Salemas
At low tide the sea pulls back to reveal a multitude of turquoise pools, some sandy-bottomed, in a cove on the north coast. Access on foot only from Fonte da Areia: a track, then a steep path with loose stones.
📍 Porto das Salemas
13:00 → 13:45Meal
Picnic at Porto das Salemas
Straw shelters, tables and fireplaces above the natural pools of the north coast — lunch happens here; there is nothing else on site.
📍 Porto das Salemas
16:30 → 18:00Breakby car · 20 min
Pedras Pretas, the locals' beach
Fontinha's westward continuation, 200 m past the Hotel Torre Praia: straw umbrellas, showers beside the terrace bar, a neighbourhood mood — a quiet afternoon away from the crowds of the centre.
📍 Praia das Pedras Pretas
19:30Mealby car · 5 min
Dinner with feet in the sand — Pé na Água
A beach restaurant whose terrace sits on the sand, facing the Atlantic: grilled fish of the day, limpets with garlic, caldeirada and homemade bolo do caco. Booking recommended in July and August.

🌧️ 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.
Porto das Salemas: the natural pools only show at low tide — check the tide time before you go (link below). No lifeguards; keep away from the foot of the cliffs.
Closed shoes are a must for Zimbralinho and Porto das Salemas: steep paths with loose stones and no services on site.
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.

Day 5 · Levada, Zimbralinho, Piano and karting8

📍 Camacha → Graça → Zimbralinho → Ana Ferreira → kart track · ⏰ 06:30 · 🚗 ~50 min

07:00 → 08:45Visitby car · 10 min
PS PR3 — Levada do Pico do Castelo
Dug in the first half of the 20th century to collect rainwater, the Levada links Camacha to the Graça chapel along the southern foot of Pico do Castelo (80 to 210 m): endemic heather, white poplars and views over the coast and Ilhéu de Baixo. Only this section is passable; the 530 m tunnel is closed.
💡 Insider tip — Little shade: water and sun protection.
08:45 → 09:15Visit
Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Graça
Alone on the slope of Pico do Castelo, reached by a staircase from Casinhas: founded in 1533, destroyed in 1812 and rebuilt by the islanders in the 20th century with materials from Serra de Fora, it holds a 16th-century Flemish Virgin and served as a refuge during pirate raids.
📍 Capela de Nossa Senhora da Graça
💡 Insider tip — Feast on 14–16 August: mass on the 15th, then an arraial.
10:00 → 12:00Visitby car · 25 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.
12:15 → 13:00Mealby 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
13:00 → 13:30Photo
Ponta da Canavieira and Morenos
The western tip facing Ilhéu de Ferro and its "Furna que Berra" that roars beneath the swell; on the way, the Morenos area — typical vegetation, tables and straw shelters — and its geosite of volcanic dykes and 30,000-year-old fossil roots.
📍 Miradouro da Ponta da Canavieira
16:00 → 16:45Photoby car · 15 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
17:30 → 19:30Visitby car · 15 min
Karting and cocktails at the kart track
The island's kart track reopened before Easter 2023; Dune adds cocktails and evening events — the sporty end of the day once the sun has stopped burning.
💡 Insider tip — Hours and rentals: ask the operator.
20:00Mealby car · 10 min
Polvo à lagareira — Vila Alencastre
A Campo de Baixo terrace favoured by residents: octopus with olive oil and garlic, local catch — the evening table closest to the western beaches.

🌧️ 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.
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.

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