Porto Santo is the beach that Madeira does not have: nine kilometres of golden sand along the south coast, with almost every hotel on that strip or in Vila Baleira, the only town – six of them worth your time. The part people underestimate is getting there: the ferry sails once a day and takes about 2 hours 30 minutes each way, or you fly in 15 minutes, so plan on at least one night.
Compare 6 hotels
Nightly rates from €100. Check live prices, or tap a name for our review.
- Pestana Porto Santo
ExcellentBeachfrontAll-inclusive beach
from€190a night
Our review - Hotel Porto Santo & Spa
Very goodBeachfrontBeach + spa
from€160a night
Our review - Pestana Colombos
Very goodBeach, quiet endAdults-focused AI
from€200a night
Our review - Vila Baleira
Very goodBeach + townThalasso spa
from€150a night
Our review - Torre Praia
Very goodTown + pierLocation + value
from€130a night
Our review - Quinta do Serrado
Very goodInland hillsQuiet + cheapest
from€100a night
Our review
Which Porto Santo hotel should you book?
Book Pestana Porto Santo. It is the island's all-inclusive default for a reason: around 295 rooms, three outdoor pools and three restaurants, directly on the sand, and enough on site to carry a full week without a car. Check Pestana Porto Santo availability before comparing the rest.
Three other clear cases. Arriving by ferry without a car? Torre Praia, by the town and the pier. Want the thalassotherapy spa and the town on your doorstep? Vila Baleira. Want the cheapest quiet stay and happy to drive to the sand? Quinta do Serrado.
Pestana Porto Santo
The biggest hotel on the island and the one most people mean by a Porto Santo holiday: around 295 rooms, three outdoor pools, three restaurants, a spa, and the golden sand directly outside. It holds Green Key certification for its environmental management.
Its full current name is Pestana Porto Santo Beach Resort & Spa. Book it for the settle-in all-inclusive week where nothing needs organising, which is what this island is for. It also has the most indoor space and the arcade room if the weather turns. Check Pestana Porto Santo rates.
Hotel Porto Santo Spa
A long-standing beachfront hotel with pools, gardens and a spa running hammam and massage treatments, set directly on the sand. One correction worth having before you book: the island's dedicated thalassotherapy centre is at Vila Baleira, not here, despite what several guides claim.
It is the middle option, with more character and a better beach position than the budget end and less scale than the Pestana pair. A sensible beach-and-spa week without resort prices. Check Hotel Porto Santo & Spa rates.
Pestana Colombos
Pestana Colombos Premium Club All Inclusive, towards the quieter end of the beach, away from the busier middle stretch. Premium all-inclusive, adults-focused, with pools and gardens and a calmer tone than its sister resort.
Choose it over Pestana Porto Santo if you want the same convenience with fewer children around it. This is the couples' version of the all-inclusive beach week, and it prices slightly above the bigger resort for that. Check Pestana Colombos rates.
Vila Baleira
Full name Vila Baleira – Hotel Resort & Thalasso Spa: a 4-star of around 256 rooms with direct beach access, an all-inclusive option, three restaurants, a kids' club, a dive centre and a golf course next door.
The distinguishing feature is the Baleira Talassa thalassotherapy spa, the island's dedicated one, working with Porto Santo's seawater and sand. The sand itself has a long-standing reputation for therapeutic properties and is used locally in sand-burial treatments.
It also sits closest to the town, so you get shops and restaurants as well as the beach. Check Vila Baleira rates.
Torre Praia
Sixty-six rooms beside the town and the pier, which makes it the easiest base if you arrive by ferry and travel without a car. There is a pool, a sauna and bikes to borrow, at a gentler rate than the resorts along the beach.
One thing to plan around, and the reason older guides mislead people: Torre Praia closes from 1 November to 31 March. If your dates fall in winter it is not an option, whatever a listing tells you. Check Torre Praia rates.
Quinta do Serrado
The cheapest and quietest on the list: 22 rooms in the hills near the airport, built in traditional stone, with a pool, a children's pool, a sauna and horse riding on site. It is not beachfront – the sand is about a five-minute drive away.
Take it for calm, character and the lowest rate here, provided you have a hire car or are content with taxis. Without either, it is the wrong choice on an island whose entire point is the beach. Check Quinta do Serrado rates.
Getting to Porto Santo
- Ferry: the Porto Santo Line's Lobo Marinho sails once a day, leaving Funchal around 08:00 and returning from Porto Santo around 19:00, about 2 hours 30 minutes each way. A tourist-class return runs roughly €68 to €81, first class with food about €98 to €110, and taking a car about €123 each way. Book ahead in summer and check current fares.
- Flight: about 15 minutes on a small turboprop, with several a day. It costs more per person than the ferry but saves most of a day at each end.
- Day trip: possible on that timetable, roughly 08:00 to 19:00, but tight once you add the walk to the beach. An overnight or a beach week is what makes the crossing worth making.
Most visitors sail out and back and stay at least two nights. If you are coming for a full beach week, the crossing stops mattering after the first morning, and the ferry itself is a pleasant enough ride in settled weather.
When to book for 2026
August is the peak, because Madeirans take their own holidays here, and the beach hotels fill months ahead. The sea is at its warmest from late summer into October, around 23 to 25°C, which makes September and early October the best-value window of the year.
The stock is the constraint. Six hotels and a few hundred rooms between them means summer dates go early and rates do not soften as the date approaches. Take a refundable rate now if your dates are fixed.
If you are combining the two islands, the where to stay in Madeira guide covers a Funchal base, the all-inclusive round-up includes the Porto Santo resorts, and the best beaches guide explains why the main island cannot match this one for sand.
Where should you stay in Porto Santo?
Along the nine-kilometre beach on the south coast, where five of the island's six hotels sit, or in Vila Baleira, the only town, if you want shops and restaurants on foot. Pestana Porto Santo is the all-inclusive default; Torre Praia is the pick for arriving by ferry without a car.
How do you get to Porto Santo?
By the Porto Santo Line ferry from Funchal, which sails once a day, leaves around 08:00, returns around 19:00 and takes about 2 hours 30 minutes each way, with a tourist-class return of roughly €68 to €81. There is also a flight of about 15 minutes, several times a day.
Are there all-inclusive hotels in Porto Santo?
Yes. Pestana Porto Santo and Pestana Colombos Premium Club both run all-inclusive on the beach, and Vila Baleira offers an all-inclusive option too. Colombos is the adults-focused one at the quieter end of the sand, so it suits couples rather than families.
Is Porto Santo worth staying overnight?
Yes. The ferry timetable gives a day tripper roughly 08:00 to 19:00, which is tight for a nine-kilometre beach. An overnight, or better a few nights, is what justifies a crossing of two and a half hours each way and lets you use the sand properly.
When is the best time to visit Porto Santo?
Late summer into October, when the sea is warmest at around 23 to 25°C. August is the busiest month, since Madeirans holiday here, so it books out first and costs the most. September and early October give the same sea with fewer people.
How much do hotels in Porto Santo cost?
Indicatively from around €100 a night for the quiet inland option up to €200 or more for the all-inclusive beach resorts in peak summer. Rates climb sharply in August, and the island's small room stock means late booking rarely finds a bargain.
Photo: Nuno Capelo Caldeira / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0
