Shopping

Head to Rua João Gonçalves Zarco in Vila Baleira to stock up on daily necessities, and check out the local fashion shops. There’s a supermarket at the point where this street meets the coast, and further down the beach near Hotel Porto Santo is Zarco Shopping, a modest shopping mall with a hypermarket. At one time, the people of Porto Santo were known for making decorative clay figurines and dolls out of palm leaves, but this is an art that has almost disappeared. The Centro de Artesanato (Handicraft Centre), near the pier in Vila Baleira stocks what remains of the tradition, plus other seaside souvenirs.