Porto Santo

What do you want from your holiday? Year round nice weather? For example, 25 degrees Celsius in April? A beach? 9km long, with soft yellow sand? Simple living? A safe, quiet and calm location? A local feel? Undeveloped, only a handful of hotels, restaurants and cafes? If you’ve answered yes to the above questions, go to Porto Santo. An island 43km northeast of Madeira, and the two couldn’t be more different. A perfect twin centre holiday; Madeira offers the glamour, the luxury, the activities and facilities (although it also has some lovely untouched villages and scenery). Reached by a 2 hour ferry journey from Funchal, Porto Santo offers sun, sand, simplicity and sssshhhh! I went with my mother (60) and my daughter (almost 2). Each day consisted of: Morning - Wake and eat a leisurely breakfast. Walk to the local village, go to the playground. Stop for coffee/snack. Walk back to the hotel. Nap time for my daughter and balcony reading time for my Mum! Afternoon - Lunch at the hotel or a ten minute walk to the nearby seafood restaurant. Beach time. The water was a little chilly in the Atlantic in April, but we still splashed about and quite a few brave souls were swimming. Evening – Bath time for a toddler caked in sand, followed by an early evening dinner, overlooking the many shades of blue the sea provided us. Mum enjoyed her sunset walks along the beach, then tried to have a couple of evening cocktails though everything had wound down by 9pm! So that was it, for five days. A simple life and a lovely beach! Porto Santo is a wonderfully peaceful, safe and calm place to visit and I hope it stays that way. As Mark Darcy says to Bridget Jones, "I like you, very much. Just as you are.”