Casa Colombo – Museu do Porto Santo e dos Descobrimentos Portugueses

• Indoors
• From 6
• Children from 3 €
• Just turn up

The house Columbus is said to have lived in, with ship models, period maps, navigation instruments and finds from the Slot ter Hooge wreck - Porto Santo's one real museum.

On an island whose whole proposition is nine kilometres of sand, this is the answer to rain and to midday heat: small, air-conditioned, an hour at most. The Columbus name gives a child something to hang the visit on, though the claim that he lived in this particular house is presented far more firmly than the evidence supports. Signage leans Portuguese.

Worth knowing: Closed Sunday, which is the day a lot of families come over on the ferry. It also shuts from 12:30 to 14:00 on weekdays and at 13:00 on Saturday, so it fits the start of a beach day and not the middle of one.

Opening hours

Mon

10:00-12:30, 14:00-17:30

Tue

10:00-12:30, 14:00-17:30

Wed

10:00-12:30, 14:00-17:30

Thu

10:00-12:30, 14:00-17:30

Fri

10:00-12:30, 14:00-17:30

Sat

10:00-13:00

Sun

closed

Prices

Youth 13-25 3 €, adult 26-64 6 €, over-65s 3 €, groups of six or more 4 € a head. Family ticket - at least one adult and one child - 10 €. No under-13 rate is published; children are clearly admitted, so ask at the desk.

Getting there

Prices and opening times change without notice, and on this island they change often. Everything here carries the date it was checked in our research notes; if a place has moved or closed, tell us and we will fix it.