✨ Discovery5 days

Immersion: the whole island in five days

Town · three trails · two coasts · islets · hot sand · wines · sunsets

At a glance

Nothing is repeated: the town and its history on arrival, the eastern summits and the Graça chapel, Pico Branco, Cotrim and the casas de salão, Fonte da Areia, Salemas, Zimbralinho and the western tip, then the Levada on the last morning, the islets by boat in the afternoon and a farewell dinner facing Ilhéu da Cal.

Difficulty: Moderate · at most one trail a day · island pace
Best season: Bathing season 1 May – 31 October; water around 18 °C in March, 24–25 °C in high summer.

🎒 Packing list

Walking shoes
Water, 1.5 L per person per outing
Windbreaker and hat
Sunscreen
SIMplifica trail booking (€4.50)
Swimsuit for the evening swim

Day by day

Day 1 · Arrival: the town, its history, its beach10

📍 Largo do Pelourinho → Casa Colombo → Cais Velho → Fontinha → Lombas · ⏰ 09:00

10:30 → 11:00Visit
Largo do Pelourinho
The triangular square at the heart of the town: palms, bougainvillea and dragon trees whose resin, "dragon's blood", was used in dyes and remedies; the 16th-century old town hall, the Mannerist Misericórdia chapel a step away and the Columbus Festival stages in September.
📍 Largo do Pelourinho
11:00 → 11:30Visiton foot · 1 min
Nossa Senhora da Piedade church
The mother church, on the site of the island's first chapel: built between 1430 and 1446, pillaged by French corsairs in 1566, rebuilt in 1667; the Gothic Morgada chapel, a rocaille ceiling and paintings by Conrado and Römer. Its patron is celebrated on the last weekend of August.
📍 Igreja Nossa Senhora da Piedade
11:30 → 12:30Visiton foot · 2 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
12:45 → 14:15Mealon 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.
14:15 → 14:45Breakon foot · 3 min
Lambecas ice cream
More than fifty years of history and the archipelago's most iconic ice cream: passion fruit, banana, mango — the afternoon ritual, in the shade, at the hours when you avoid the sun.
📍 Lambecas
16:00 → 16:15Visiton foot · 5 min
Columbus bust and Padrão
Ricardo Veloza's bust (1989) in the Avenida Infante D. Henrique garden recalls Columbus's marriage to Filipa Moniz (1479 or 1480) and his return in 1498; beside it, the 1960 Padrão dos Descobrimentos opens the seafront promenade.
📍 Statue de Christophe Colomb
16:15 → 16:45Photoon foot · 5 min
Cais Velho promenade
The historic 1929 pier (102 m) marks the start of the seafront and of Fontinha beach; in the evening you stroll towards the 1960 Padrão dos Descobrimentos, the "Pau de Sabão", with low light over the bay.
📍 Cais Velho
16:45 → 18:00Breakon foot · 1 min
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
18:30 → 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
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.
Casa Colombo: open weekdays 10–12.30 and 2–5.30 pm, Sunday 10 am–1 pm, closed Mondays and holidays — check before you go.
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 · Eastern summits and the Graça chapel9

📍 Moledo → Castelo → Facho → Portela → Casinhas · ⏰ 07:00 · 🚗 ~30 min

08:00 → 10:15Visitby 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.
10:15 → 11:45Photoon 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.
12:00 → 12:45Mealon foot · 40 min
Picnic at Pico do Castelo
Picnic area and lookout at 437 m under the conifers planted in the 1920s: the bay, Vila Baleira, Ilhéu da Cal and Ilhéu de Cima below — welcome shade in the hot hours.
📍 Pico do Castelo
16:00 → 16:30Breakby car · 15 min
Hot-sand bath (psammotherapy)
The beach's calcareous sand, born of crushed shells, corals and algae, heats to 65 °C at the surface and stays around 40 °C at 10 cm: buried for twenty minutes, it releases calcium, magnesium and strontium into sweat. An island tradition — head in the shade, water within reach.
📍 Praia do Porto Santo
💡 Insider tip — Three therapeutic sands in the world: Porto Santo, Guarapari (Brazil) and Beppu/Ibusuki (Japan).
16:30 → 17:30Break
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
18:00 → 18:30Photoby car · 10 min
Miradouro da Portela
The island's classic, accessible lookout at the eastern tip: Vila Baleira in the middle of the south coast, the beach and turquoise sea, the harbour and marina, Pico de Baixo and Ilhéu de Cima — the windmills and the Graça chapel staircase are minutes away.
📍 Miradouro da Portela
18:30 → 18:50Photoon foot · 5 min
The three Portela windmills
Emblems of the island, restored and inaugurated on 14 October 2023 on their original site; Porto Santo's first windmill is said to date from 1794. With the basalt-paved lanes, fountains, wells and waterwheels, they tell of an island that made the most of the wind and of every drop of water.
📍 Moinhos de Vento da Portela
18:55 → 19:20Visiton foot · 10 min
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.
19:45Mealby 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 — 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.
IFCN rules: don't walk alone, tell someone your route, finish before dark and turn back in heavy rain or strong wind. Emergencies 112.

🔗 Book a trail slot (SIMplifica)

Day 3 · Pico Branco, Cotrim and the casas de salão8

📍 ER 120 → Terra Chã → Serra de Fora → Serra de Dentro · ⏰ 07:00 · 🚗 ~35 min

08:00 → 09:30Visitby 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.
09:30 → 10:15Photo
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
10:15 → 10:30Photo
Reading the landscape: the Biosphere Reserve
Since 2020 the island, its six islets and the shelf down to 100 m depth have formed a 27,310 ha UNESCO Biosphere Reserve: terrestrial cores at Pico Branco and on the islets, a marine core around Ilhéu da Cal and Ilhéu de Cima — all of it in view from here.
📍 Réserve de Biosphère UNESCO
12:00 → 13:30Visitby 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)
14:00 → 14:45Visitby car · 10 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 »
15:15 → 15:45Visitby car · 10 min
Casa de Salão
An ex-libris of the island's heritage: a low house roofed with salão, the sandy clay of Serra de Dentro, which cracks in summer to let air through and swells in winter to become watertight; reed partitions, an oven and a stone chimney.
📍 Casa de Salão
16:45 → 18:00Breakby car · 15 min
Ribeiro Salgado by the boardwalks
Wooden walkways across the dune ridge, Blue Flag 2026 and the island's longest supervised season (1 May – 31 October); a panoramic terrace and sand recommended for rheumatic complaints.
📍 Praia do Porto Santo
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.
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.
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 4 · Fonte da Areia, Salemas, Zimbralinho and the west8

📍 North coast → Zimbralinho → Morenos → Canavieira · ⏰ 07:30 · 🚗 ~45 min

08:30 → 09:15Visitby car · 15 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
09:15 → 11:30Visiton 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
11:30 → 12:15Meal
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
13:30 → 14:30Visitby car · 25 min
Quinta das Palmeiras, parrots and palms
An unexpected oasis west of the airport at Linhares: on more than 5,000 m², a mini-zoo and botanical garden where palms, roses, candelabra aloes and hibiscus shelter parrots, macaws, ducks and swans — the children's shady afternoon.
📍 Quinta das Palmeiras
💡 Insider tip — Hours and admission on site.
15:30 → 17:30Visitby 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.
18:00 → 18:30Photoby car · 10 min
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
18:30 → 19:30Photo
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
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.

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.
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 5 · The Levada, the islets and farewell7

📍 Camacha → Graça → harbour → islets → Calheta · ⏰ 07:00 · 🚗 ~35 min

08:00 → 09:45Visitby 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.
09:45 → 10:15Visit
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.
12:00 → 13:15Mealby car · 20 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.
14:00 → 17:00Visiton foot · 15 min
Boat trip: islets and caves
Boat trips run along the islets and their sea caves, places of geological interest, with cetaceans regularly sighted on the way; a morning outing is best — the water is calm almost all year.
📍 Ilhéu da Cal
17:30 → 18:00Breakon foot · 10 min
Poncha at the Boutique da Poncha
Sugar-cane spirit, honey or sugar and lemon whisked with the mexelote: the "Poncha da Madeira" geographical indication (2014) is reserved for Madeira and Porto Santo. Passion-fruit or tangerine variants, with a dentinho.
18:45 → 19:45Photoby car · 15 min
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)
19:45Mealon foot · 2 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).

🌧️ Rainy-day alternative — A tub sand bath at the Hotel Porto Santo geomedicine centre (medical advice), then Casa Colombo.

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

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