Porto Santo
With a mild climate and wide golden beaches, it’s no wonder that Madeira’s smaller sister island Porto Santo is stealing the limelight.
“He’s about my age and I remember him partying on the beach every year. He even came last year,” says my tour guide Sofia excitedly, as we look down on Porto Santo’s nine-kilometre banana-yellow sweep of beach. She is talking about Cristiano Ronaldo, the Manchester United winger who hails from Madeira, Porto Santo’s sister island, just 25 miles away, and who has become one of the island’s stars.
We’re standing on a cliff at the very end of the island, looking back along this unspoilt, tiny island some 900 miles off the coast of Portugal. The waters glint shades of turquoise and emerald that could rival any Caribbean sea and the sand is literally golden. But we’re not just admiring the view and gossiping about the holiday-habits of Premier League footballers. Sofia is pointing out the cluster of dunes that Ronaldo has bought, together with fellow footballer Luis Figo, and plans to open as a five-star hotel on the beach.
Madeirans have long kept Porto Santo to themselves, hopping over on the ferry in summer to enjoy the empty beaches and warm, calm sea - it’s Portugal’s best-kept secret. An unbroken nine kilometre stretch of golden sand boasting therapeutic properties – just in case you need another excuse to lie on it all day – as well as countless other hidden beaches and bays with natural swimming pools make it heaven for beach bums, while the pleasant climate (an average 26c in summer and 19c in winter) and same time zone as the UK make it ideal an ideal holiday destination.
What’s more, this tranquil idyll, just 9km by 6km, has the kind of sleepy south European charm that can’t help but make you feel relaxed. Laid back cafes and restaurants are dotted along the beach, the main village is a patchwork of low-lying whitewashed houses that cling to the steep, long-extinct volcanic mountain, and locals travel around by bicycle or jeep. There are just six hotels on this quiet fishing island that attract savvy travellers from Italy, France, Portugal and a trickle of visitors from the UK.
But all that is about to change. Like a bloodhound picking up the scent of an unsuspecting young deer, Atlantic Holidays has realised the tourist potential of Porto Santo and last week the first direct charter flight took off from London Gatwick, bringing the island within three hours' reach of the UK and some 200 tourists onto the island each week.
Meanwhile, quick to capitalise on the opportunity, the Portuguese hotel chain Pestana has just opened a large 275-bedroom beach resort, complete with spa, two swimming pools, kids club and boardwalk onto the sand. This autumn, Starwood Hotels is set to raise the bar and draw a well-heeled crowd when Colombo’s Beach and Spa Resort, part of its Luxury Collection brand opens. And even one of the oldest hotels on the island, the elegant modernist 1960s Hotel Porto Santo, is raising its game with a sleek new spa, specialising in restorative therapies that use the island’s natural therapeutic sand.
But what exactly can you do on an island the size of a small village – there are just 5,000 inhabitants – with a largely barren and inhospitable volcanic landscape? Sure, there aren’t really any attractions, nor the stunning botanical gardens of Madeira, but it’s the hitherto complete lack of commercialism, the “shopping mall” boasts just four shops, that makes Porto Santo so alluring.
Its capital Vila Baleira is a cluster of houses, casual bars and cafes, with a pretty church at its centre and a museum – the island’s only real cultural attraction – that pays homage to Porto Santo’s most famous visitor. And no, it’s not Ronaldo. The navigator and explorer Christopher Columbus married the governor of Porto Santo’s daughter Filipa Moniz in 1479 and they lived on the island for three years, before setting sail and discovering America. A stroll around this quiet village makes a pleasant alternative to so many holiday resorts: there are no tourist tat shops, souvenir stalls or garish English bars serving bacon and eggs here, and no beer-bellied tourists bearing Manchester United shirts. Yet.
Golfers won’t be disappointed, as a treacherous-looking 18-hole Seve Ballesteros course, the 13th hole tees off from the edge of a cliff along the spit of a peninsula, is sure to challenge, and a second course is soon to be constructed, for those that make it round the first without losing all of their golf balls to the Atlantic.
The sparkling ocean is as clear as Evian water and the many hidden volcanic coves and bays are a dream for scuba divers and snorkellers, while deep sea fishing from the north coast of the island makes for the most satisfying barbecue you could imagine.
The more active might want to try horse-riding, kite-surfing, canoeing or take to one of the many waymarked walking trails, while nature buffs can explore wind-carved ancient sand dunes that look like a scene from Star Wars, or watch eagles and exotic colourful hoopoes fly overhead.
But the real draw is the movie-set perfect beach – and its therapeutic sand. The natural volcanic rock that created Porto Santo 8 million years ago now makes up the brightly coloured biogenic carbonate sand, which is said to benefit people suffering from rheumatic, and orthopaedic ailments. You’ll often spot people on the beach, covering themselves with the hot sand, allowing its minerals to absorb into the body. I can’t claim that the 30 minutes I spent lying on the beach did anything for my bad back, but experts say you need to wallow in the warm sand at least twice a day for two weeks. Which is just the excuse I need to go back.
Right now Porto Santo is a relaxed and unspoilt gem sitting in the Atlantic, but it’s about to be discovered. Go, but go soon before it loses its naïve charm.
Getting there
Atlantic Holidays (+44 1452 381 188) is offering introductory rates of seven nights at the Pestana Porto Santo (+ 351 291 144 000) including flights from £349pp until October 2008.
Useful links
Atlantic Holidays
Pestana Porto Santo
Added 2008/06/03 @ 14:13:57
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