Praia do Porto Santo

• Outdoors
• Any age
• Children free
• Just turn up

Nine kilometres of soft sand where a parent can walk a child fifty metres out and still be standing - the one beach in the archipelago that needs no excuses.

The shelf is long and flat and the water is warmer than Madeira's, noticeably so in September and October, and outside August families spread out rather than compete for a patch of sand. The two things it lacks are shade - essentially none along the whole nine kilometres - and supervision away from town: lifeguards, showers and the accessible entries all cluster at the Vila Baleira end, and the western kilometres towards Ponta da Calheta have nothing at any time of year.

Worth knowing: Keep small children at the Vila Baleira end, and reckon on the wind: it gets up most afternoons and blows sand, which ends a toddler's day faster than the sun does.

Opening hours

The operator publishes no opening hours. Phone before you drive.

Prices

Free. Sunbeds, parasols and watersports are paid concessions in season, on the town stretch only.

Season

Swimmable later into the autumn than anywhere on Madeira, but the lifeguards, sunbed concessions and most beach bars are summer only. The ferry most families arrive on takes about two and a quarter hours each way and is cancelled in heavy swell.

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.