Travel Guide & Itinerary for Porto Santo, Portugal

Welcome to Wild Meadow Studio’s Travel Blog, where we “Focus on the Journey” from first stages of planning to the last flight home and everything in-between! We’re excited to share our Travel Guide, including, Top things to do and our 1-day itinerary to this beautiful hidden-gem of an Island! Porto Santo makes a great day trip from Funchal by ferry or if you have the time, you could stay for a few days, relax on the beach and enjoy all that the island has to offer!

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Table of contents:

1. Things to do on the Island.
2. 1-Day Itinerary
3. Ferry Ticket Tips
4. References
5. The Wrap up

1. Things to do on the Island:

1. The Beautiful Sandy Beach:

The beach in Porto Santo is undeniably beautiful and definitely a big draw for tourism. There is a population on the island of 5,000, but in the summer months, especially August, the population grows to 27,000. The beach is a destination all on its own, with 9kms of it to explore, there are cafés, change huts and resorts all the way along it. In the middle of town there is a long pier jutting out into the ocean, giving you sweeping views of the beach and the town of Vila Baleira. A must-see in Porto Santo!

2. Vila Baleira, Porto Santo’s Capital City:

The capital city of Vila Baleira is relatively small, making it easy to explore on foot. It’s full of history, restaurants, seaside cafes, museums, and has a stunning view of the ocean. The city’s main square has pergolas with climbing flowers and just east of the square is the main church, Nossa Senhora da Piedade. This church was originally built in 1446, by the first settlers, but destroyed by pirates and rebuilt in 1667. The tile work on the walkways are beautiful, as it is in most of Portugal, seems very time consuming, but unique, I just love it! I also loved exploring the side streets looking at the architecture and red tiled roof houses, the views of the roofs with the ocean in the background are amazing. Also in Vila Baleira is the Christopher Columbus house, believed to be where he lived with his wife and young son while on the island, it’s now a museum dedicated to him. From town you can also rent scooters or e-bikes to explore the island or grab a taxi to take you anywhere you need to go. There is a tourist information office on the main street near the Pingo Doce grocery store if you have any questions. Here you could also inquire about other actives available on the island like golf, kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving and other water sports.

3. Praia da Calheta:

Calheta beach is located on the southwest side of the island and at one end of the 9km stretch of beach, so you could walk along the beach from Vila Baleira to get here. This beach has rugged rock formations close to shore and views of the rough and rocky Baixo ou da Cal Island. The scenery here is impressive. There is a seafood restaurant with ocean views right at the beach, called Ponta da Calheta, which looked nice and has very good reviews. Could be a great spot for lunch.

4. Miradouro da Portela:

This lookout is closer to the east side of the island up above the port and has stunning views over Vila Baleira, the beach and ocean. We were taken up here on our guided tour of the island. These views were definitely one of our highlights!

5. Guided or Self-Guided Island Tour:

We opted for the guided tour of the island, which was booked when we got our ferry tickets. The guide was waiting for us at the port when we arrived, which ended up being a private tour as the other people that booked didn’t show up, so that worked out well for us. Our guide was born and raised on the island, very knowledgeable and friendly, we had a great time. We started out at the Miradouro da Portela, which gave you sweeping views of the port, the peninsula on the east side of the island and amazing views of Vila Baleira and the long 9km stretch of beach. We then followed the road north along the east side of the island and stopped at a northeast lookout called Miradouro do Pedregal. From here we had entirely different views of the rugged cliffs of the north that drop into the ocean, (pictured above on the left). Our next stop was Quinta das Palmeira, the mini botanical garden and zoo. There is an entrance fee of a few euros each, but that was included in the price of our tour. This is a very small but nice garden with palm trees, succulent type plants and more. They also have birds from all over the world. Some were wandering around the grounds and ponds, and some were in cages, which I’m not a fan of personally, but they were beautiful to see. There is a little café inside as well, so you could have a drink and snack while you listen to the birds. The garden itself almost looks like a mirage on your way to it, as there isn’t a lot of trees in the area besides this, so it really stands out. Next up was Praia da Calheta, which is a beautiful beach with rugged rocks, a lookout with great views and a seafood restaurant. At the end of our 2-hour tour, we were dropped off in town to explore on our own.

2. 1-Day Itinerary for Porto Santo:

Our 1-day Porto Santo day trip starts off early as you would have to be at the ferry dock by 7:30am. The Ferry sets sail at 8:00am and arrives into Porto Santo at 10:30am. We are suggesting starting your day off with a tour so you can get a feel for the island. So, either you would have a prebooked tour (info on that below) or you could hire a taxi from the dock to tour you around, or walk into town, which is approx. 2.2kms of mainly flat, street and beach walking. Once in town (Vila Baleira) there are a few stores renting e-bikes and scooters, one being BikNic rentals located at R. Jose S. S. Moura Caldeira 1. It’s open 9:30am to 1:00pm and 4:00pm to 7:00pm every day but closed on Tuesdays. (*Please note: a lot of businesses close for an extended lunch, so keep that in mind). If you do the tour that we did and are suggesting it will be about 2hrs and you will get dropped off in town, which would be approx. 1:00pm, perfect time for lunch. If you opted to rent bikes or scooters, head east on R120, turn left onto Estrada Jose da Gloria, then at the roundabout take the first exit onto R260, that road will take you all the way around the loop road, which turns back into R120 and brings you back into town. Stop along the way at some of the lookouts, like Miradouro da Portela and Miradouro do Pedregal, for stunning views. You’ll pass by the airport on your right as you get closer to town, it was built in 1960, the first one on the archipelago. At this point you could visit the Quinta das Palmeiras, botanical garden, if interested. Depending on how long you’ve rented the bikes for, you could head west on R120 along the coast to Praia da Calheta beach and spend some time there before heading back to Vila Baleira.

Once back in town, choose from one of the many restaurants, some with sea views. We choose Marcado Velha as it was recommended by or tour guide as a less touristy place. There we enjoyed a chourico a Bombeira, a flamed grilled chourico that they douse with alcohol and set on fire, then bring to your table, once the flames are out it’s ready to enjoy. We also had Prego Especial, which is basically a meat, cheese, and veggie sandwich, but made using the delicious, warmed Bolo do Caco flat bread. All in all a great meal and reasonably priced. This restaurant is located on the north side of the main Street (R120), and on the east side of the main roundabout, (kitty-corner to the taxi stand).

After lunch, spend an hour or so exploring the town, you could check out the Christopher Columbus Museum, the church, main square, the little side streets, souvenir shops, all at a relaxed pace. Once you’re finished wandering, head to the beach, depending on the weather, you could go for a swim, sunbath, take a walk down the pier or just stroll the beach. We would suggest leaving a few hours for this, as it is a beautiful beach.

Keep in mind that you must be back at the port to catch the ferry by 5:30pm, if you did the tour, your guide should have made arrangements for pick up. If you’re planning on taking a taxi back, you can catch one from the main taxi stand in town, it’s about a 5 mins drive, but make sure you give you self a little extra time as the taxis may be in higher demand with others making their way to the port. Alternatively, you could walk back, but give yourself at least 35 mins.

Once on the ship, we’d suggest checking out one of the dining rooms to see if you need a reservation. It’s a nice option to spend some time relaxing with a good meal on your return trip. If it’s high season, we’d suggest that on your morning trip to Porto Santo, go to the reception desk and see if you can make dinner reservations at that time, in case things get booked. Alternatively, there is also a cafeteria on board, or you could pick something up in town to bring with you. You should get back to Funchal by approx. 8:30pm. If you opted for the tour, a shuttle bus will be waiting for you at the dock.

3. Ferry Ticket Tips:

We booked our ferry tickets through the Porto Santo Ferry office in Funchal, which is located in the hotel district at Estrada Monumental 175, the staff where very helpful and friendly, we were happy we found them, as it made things easy and stress-free. The ferry tickets were about 69 euros each return fare, then we opted in for the guided tour of the island for an extra 30 euros each, which included hotel pick up and drop off in Funchal. There are several numbered Porto Santo Ferry Line shuttle bus stops along Estrada Monumental, you are told which one to wait at (depending on your hotel location) and what time to be there, it was easy and convenient. When you got off the ferry in Porto Santo there was a ferry line representative that met us at the dock and brought us to the van for our guided tour. After our tour we were dropped off in town to explore on our own and then, when it was time to head back to the ferry, we were pick up again by the same guide and brought back to the port in good time. Once on the ferry we made our way to one of the dining rooms and made reservations for dinner. We had a table with a window and great views of the ocean and Madeira once we got closer. Our reservations were for 6:30pm, we had a great seafood dinner with a bottle of wine, the service was very good, and we were able to stay there in this intimate dining room for the rest of our journey, as it wasn’t overly busy. The ferry leaves Funchal at 8:00am, so you must be at the dock by 7:30am, it’s a 2.5-hour long trip and it leaves Porto Santo on its return at 6:00pm getting back to Funchal at 8:30pm. There are a few exceptions, on Fridays there is only one trip to Porto Santo from Funchal, and it doesn’t leave until 7:00pm and on Sunday, the ferry leaves Funchal at the same time, but instead of leaving Porto Santo at 6:00pm it leaves at 8:00pm. This allows for people from Funchal to make the most of a weekend trip.

4. References:

All this information, research and suggestions came from our own experiences we had while exploring this unique, beautiful island in April 2025.  As well, we spent countless hours reading travel books, like DK Eyewitness, Portugaland DK Eyewitness Top 10 Madeira, Walking on Madeira, a great hiking book, and the Lonely Planet Portuguese Phrasebook and Dictionary. I also read multiple Travel blogs and Portugal/Madeira tourism websites like, Visit Madeira and Visit Portugal

5. The Wrap up:

 I hope you enjoy this exciting day trip from Funchal and our suggested itinerary for this beautiful sandy beached island, as much as we did and find this information helpful. I have added links to some of our top sights so you can check them out and see what piques your interest. If you have any questions, ask away. Feel free to comment, give advice, join our mailing list, follow, like, pin, share with friends, anything goes. Let’s talk Travel!

Thank you,

From, Wild Meadow Studio

Where we, Focus on the Journey,

www.wildmeadowstudio.com

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