Porto Santo Island From Madeira

Ferry Fares Without The Resident Discount

These are the price list figures without the Social Mobility Allowance, which is what a visitor pays. All of them exclude the monthly fuel surcharge, which the price list does not quantify. Children 0 to 4 travel free but still need a ticket, and bicycles travel free with a passenger, though a bicycle ticket is required.

Car category A is the standard car rate.

The Timetable Pattern

The September timetable published by Porto Santo Line sets the pattern shown below. The times are departures from each port, and the operator says this timetable might be changed. On Fridays there is no morning sailing from Funchal.

One Friday in the published month left at 18:00 instead of 19:00, so confirm your own date on the operator's booking pages.

The 3h15 Warning

Porto Santo Line warns on its own home page that, due to technical reasons, crossings are expected to take 3 hours and 15 minutes. It publishes no shorter normal time on the pages we read, so we do not print one. Our sum: 6 hours 30 minutes of sailing in a same-day round trip, which shapes everything you can do on the island.

Why You Saw €47.02

If you landed on Porto Santo Line's home page you probably saw a round trip advertised at €47.02. That is the price with the immediate Social Mobility Allowance discount, which is for Madeira residents registered on SIMplifica. It is not a promotion open to visitors.

A visitor pays the price list figures in the table above. The ship itself, the Lobo Marinho, has run this route since June 2003. It is 112 m long, carries 1,153 passengers and 145 vehicles, has stabilizers and a 21 knot maximum speed, and offers a cinema, restaurants, a children's room, a first class lounge and a sun deck on deck 8.

Customer service is on (+351) 291 210 300 and WhatsApp (+351) 962 025 500, Monday-Friday 09:00-19:00, weekends 10:00-15:00 and 15:30-18:00, closed on public holidays.

What The Route Page Says

Binter's route page promises daily flights in the morning and the afternoon, a flight of only 25 minutes, and hand and hold baggage included. Online check-in is offered. That is the whole commercial pitch, and it is genuinely useful if you want more hours on the island.

The Small Print On The Price

The route page shows from €36.25, but that figure sits next to the Social Mobility subsidy text. It is the fixed price for Porto Santo residents, and students from Porto Santo pay €31.25. Binter publishes no visitor fare and no seasonal timetable on that page, so the only honest advice is to check binter.com for your own date and see what the fare comes out at.

Madeira airport links to our Madeira airport page if you are flying in and connecting straight onward.

Your Day, Hour By Hour

These arrival times are our sum from the stated 3 hours and 15 minutes, not times the operator prints. On a normal sailing day you would leave Funchal at 08:00 and reach Porto Santo at about 11:15. The 19:00 return puts you back in Funchal at about 22:15.

On Sundays the boat leaves Porto Santo at 20:00, so you would be back around 23:15. On Fridays there is no day trip at all, because the ferry leaves Funchal at 19:00.

• About 11:15 in Porto Santo after the 08:00 sailing, our sum.
• About 8 hours on the island on a most-days sailing, about 9 on a Sunday, our sum.
• No Friday day trip. The ferry leaves Funchal at 19:00 and returns at 22:30.
• The operator says the timetable might be changed, so confirm before planning a day around it.

One Day Cruise Add-Ons

Porto Santo Line sells the same-day trip as a One Day Cruise product with optional add-ons. The prices below are the April-September adult tourist class rates from the operator's own price list. Our sum: the plain ferry ticket and the ferry-only One Day Cruise are the same $82.70 (€72.02) in summer, so the product only earns its keep when you want the extras.

All prices exclude the fuel surcharge.

A Guided 4x4 Alternative

A lunch add-on at a hotel restaurant costs $30.30 (€26.40) April-September. Beyond the operator's own packages, the Porto Santo Island Highlights 4x4 tour is an independent option at $57.00 for 7 hours, with pickup at a hotel or the cruise terminal on Porto Santo. Our sum for a summer day trip with it comes to $139.70 before the fuel surcharge.

Two checks before booking: the tour listing's 7 hours are the listing's own figure, and you must confirm the pickup time fits the roughly 11:15 arrival, which is our estimate from the stated crossing time.

The Nine Kilometre Beach

Visit Madeira describes a nine kilometre sandy beach with a turquoise sea of mild temperatures, and the operator describes the sea as 18 to 20 degrees. If beaches are your priority, our beaches page covers the Madeiran alternatives too.

Golf And Water Sports

The island has an 18-hole golf course of 6,434 m, designed by Severiano Ballesteros, according to Porto Santo Line. Visit Madeira also lists diving on artificial reefs, boat trips, horse riding, whale watching, kayaking, stand up paddle and windsurfing as activities on the island.

The Trails, With One Closed

Three classified trails on Porto Santo are on the IFCN register. PR1 Vereda do Pico Branco e Terra Chã runs 2.7 km with a 2.7 km return and is open. PR2 Vereda do Pico do Castelo runs 3.2 km or 4.6 km depending on the route and is open.

PR3 Levada do Pico Castelo, 4.1 km, is closed. The classified trail booking and the $5.17 (€4.50) fee apply to IFCN trails, which our trail fees page explains. IFCN publishes no durations or difficulty grades for these routes.

On a day trip with roughly 8 hours ashore, our estimate is that one open trail plus beach time is the realistic maximum.

The Case For Staying Over

With a crossing of 3h15 each way, our sum is 6 hours 30 minutes at sea for a day tripper. Stay one or two nights and the island opens up. You can walk an open trail, swim and eat in Vila Baleira without watching the clock.

Flights of 25 minutes also make an overnight trip easy in both directions, once you have a fare from binter.com for your date.

The Friday Pattern

On Fridays the ferry leaves Funchal at 19:00 and returns from Porto Santo at 22:30. If your only free day is a Friday, either fly or plan an overnight. Our where to stay page covers the options across the region, and our day trips hub lists what else is reachable from Funchal.

For a first visit in summer, our pick is the One Day Cruise with transfers, and for anything longer, book the plain ferry and a bed.

Most visitors arrive knowing only the beach. These five facts come straight from the operator, the tourism board and the forestry institute.

• The ferry Lobo Marinho has been running the route since June 2003, is 112 m long and has a cinema and a sun deck on deck 8 (Porto Santo Line ship page).
• The island has an 18-hole golf course of 6,434 m designed by Severiano Ballesteros, and the One Day Cruise sells a golf add-on at $137.00 (€119.30) in summer (Porto Santo Line).
• Porto Santo has 5,173 inhabitants according to the ferry operator, and it is the smallest inhabited island of the archipelago (Porto Santo Line, Visit Madeira).
• One of its three classified trails, PR3 Levada do Pico Castelo, is closed in the IFCN register, so check before planning a levada walk (IFCN).
• Bicycles travel free on the ferry with a passenger, needing only a bicycle ticket, and the One Day Cruise bicycle package is $99.50 (€86.70) with a $28.70 (€25) deposit (Porto Santo Line price list).

On a most-days sailing you are up early for the 08:00 departure from Funchal and back at about 22:15, our sum from the stated crossing time. That gives roughly 8 hours ashore: a short open trail such as PR1 Vereda do Pico Branco e Terra Chã, lunch in Vila Baleira, an afternoon on the sand, then the 19:00 ferry home. If the schedule is too tight, our Madeira in 3 days itinerary shows how to weight your time on Madeira itself instead.