Our luxuriously appointed holiday townhouse in Vila Baleira, Porto Santo, Madeira Islands, Portugal. The house is very close to the town square in the centre of Vila Baleira, the islands capital. There are lots of shops bars and restaurants close to the house and the islands stunning 9km golden sandy beach is only a short walk. Click on the play button below to see a video of porto santo.

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2009 Madeira & Porto Santo Events Calendar

Carnivale (Mardi Gras) - Funchal
21st -24th february 2009

The Carnival, or Mardi Gras, celebrations in Madeira take the form of a great parade of floats the Saturday before Shrove Tuesday and remain an essentially folk festival.

Groups with thousands of participants flood the main streets of Funchal with music and contagious enjoyment.

This is a week of healthy madness that invades the hotels, bars and clubs, turning them into permanent parties. In an atmosphere of effusive revelry there are surprising examples of creativity and imagination and there is no shortage of daring caricatures in the Cortejo Trapalhão costume parade on Shrove Tuesday.

3rd Porto Santo Colombo Marathon - Porto Santo Island
7th March 2009

The third edition of the Colombo Marathon at Porto Santo shall take place on 7 March. This event shall be held over a simply breathtaking course, on an island of rare beauty, and shall provide a healthy and alluring week as well as the possibility to take part in a great sporting event.

In addition to the marathon, which is run over 2 laps for a total of 42,195 meters, there shall also be a Half Marathon, with a course over 21,097 meters and which has been organized for 10 years now, a Mini Marathon run over 7,5 km and, for those just wishing to take part and have some fun, a Walking Event - the Health March - run over 4 km, with participation open to all.


These events are organized by the Athletics Association of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, and enrolments are open until 28 February. For further information, especially as to prices for participation and special travel packages that include a boat trip and a hotel stay, please check out the site: www.porto-santo-marathon.com or the official website of the Association, which is www.atletismomadeira.pt

Madeira Islands 2009 Golf Open @ Porto Santo Golfe
19th to 22nd March 2009

The 2009 edition of the Madeira Islands Golf Open, which is part of the main PGA European Tour, will be held at Porto Santo Golfe at the end of March. The Madeira Island Golf Open is on the European calendar and every year attracts the best players to fight for victory hole by hole. There will be 144 participants from the PGA European Tour in 2009.

According to the regulations, the last two days of each tournament are played only by the 70 best contestants from the first two days.

If you are a golfer, come to Madeira Islands that week and see for yourself the excellent golfing conditions that Madeira and Porto Santo islands have to offer.

This year’s prize money is EUR 700.000.

Madeira Flower Festival - Funchal
26 & 26 April 2009

Every April, Madeira’s flower festival fills the main streets of Funchal. It is a breathtaking festival with a street parade and floats, through the streets of Funchal, exhibiting and perfuming the air with a multiplicity of floral species of the island.

The day before the parade, thousands of children gather in Praça do Município to lay a flower to build the so-called “Wall of Hope”.

There are also other activities in Funchal at the same time, like making carpets of flowers in the streets, performances by folklore groups, flower shows, classical music concerts and variety shows.

Festival Of The Atlantic - Funchal
1st to 30th June 2009

The Festival of the Atlantic is an important event that combines entertainment and culture. It has three components: the Madeira Music Festival, the International Fireworks Competition and performances by philharmonic bands in the city centre.

During this festival classical music performances are held at important sites in the region, such as Teatro Municipal Balthazar Dias, Casa das Mudas and several churches.

It has been further enhanced by the recent introduction of the International Fireworks Competition in which contestants organise firework displays to accompany the music on Saturdays.

Madeira Classic Car Rally - Porto Santo Island
9th to 12th June 2009

The Madeira Classic Car Club this year, and for the 22nd time running, is organising the Tour of Madeira Classic Rally, which will take place between 9th and 12th June.

The Tour of Madeira in Classic Cars is an event that is limited to Classic and Vintage Cars, enrolled in the “FIA Historic Regularity Rallies" and included in the FIVA (International Federation of Vintage Vehicles) calendar, Category A, in which participation is limited to the standards of this Federation and simultaneously to those of the International Automotive Federation (FIA) and must be in original working order.

This event takes place over four days and covers around 400 km through beautiful and often winding Madeiran roads, competing in a way that allows competitors to experience the breathtaking landscapes of this beautiful island.

St Johns Day Celebrations - Porto Santo Island
21st to 24th June 2009

The celebration of St. John’s day marks the beginning of the summer festivities in Porto Santo. There are lots of interesting events including traditional parades.

 The festivities take place all over the island, but the main events are in the centre of Vila Baleira.

On the eve of St. John’s day, 23 June, there is a traditional parade of groups representing different places on the island. After that, you can try jumping over a bonfire or watching the balloons being released by the quay.

There are food and drink stalls all over the city and the celebrations last every day and night during the Festas de São João.

Madeira Wine Rally - Madeira
30th July to 1st August 2009

The 2007 Madeira Wine Rally, the largest automobile event in the Region will be held from 30 July to 1 August. Famous names from the world of motor racing and their cars will come to this major event which will bring together around 90 competitors.

Monte Festival - Monte (Madeira)
14th to 15th August 2009

This is considered the main religious folk festival in the region and it is also commemorated wherever in the world Madeiran immigrants are to be found.

The Church “Igreja da Nossa Senhora do Monte”, (Our Lady of the Mount), patron saint of Madeira, is also very popular with pilgrims who come here to pray or fulfil vows by the tomb of Emperor Karl I of Austria. Karl I died in 1922 at Quinta do Monte, now called Quinta Jardins do Imperador or Quinta of the Emperor’s Gardens.

It is a lively celebration lasting two days and transforms the romantic, picturesque parish of Monte into one of the busiest places in Madeira, full of traditional food and drink stalls and plenty of music.

Madeira Wine Festival - Madeira
3rd to 6th September 2009

Recalling the social and economic importance of Madeira wine, the Madeira Wine Festival is held in September during the grape harvest, going back to the population’s old customs since the island was first settled.

In Câmara de Lobos (7kms outside funchal) the festival begins with the live grape harvest. The picking of the grapes, the pickers’ parade, treading the grapes and the whole ritual of a typical Madeira folk celebration are enjoyed by all. In the centre of Funchal there are light, sound and folk shows connected to traditional wine-making.

Columbus Festival - Porto Santo Island
10th to 12th September 2009

Vila Baleira devotes three days to the mariner Christopher Columbus, who lived several years of his life in Porto Santo. Columbus’s first contact with Madeira was in 1478, when Funchal was a centre for the sugar trade. However, his closest ties to the archipelago are the result of his marriage to Filipa Moniz, daughter of the first donee of Porto Santo.

Columbus lived in the archipelago in the last quarter of the 15th century and his first child, Diogo, was born in Porto Santo. This festival harks back to the discoverer’s life in the Madeira Archipelago, his voyages to the Americas and the height of the Ages of Discoveries.

The event includes a number of initiatives alluding to life on the island at the time, with lots of music, street shows and exhibitions. The high point of this event is the re-enactment of the arrival of Columbus and his party at the city’s quay.