Local Guide:
Ponta do Sol

Every day ends with a show

There's a ritual in Ponta do Sol that never fails: late in the afternoon, the promenade slowly fills — locals, nomads, kids with ice creams — and everyone turns the same way. The town's name doesn't lie: this is where the sun says its last goodbye to Madeira, sinking into the Atlantic through every shade of orange before going out. You need nothing more to understand why so many people decide to stay.

A town with two rhythms

On one side, the Ponta do Sol of always: banana groves stepping down the hillsides, the sweet smell of ripe bananas in the warehouses, a small town of church and grocer where everyone says hello. On the other, the town the world discovered: Madeira's Digital Nomad Village was born here, and today you'll hear half a dozen languages in a sea-view café without anyone batting an eyelid.

The two rhythms get along surprisingly well — perhaps because both came for the same sun.

Buying a home in Ponta do Sol

On the property side, demand is growing on every front: Madeirans after sun and space, foreigners and nomads who never left, investors eyeing holiday lets. There are sea-view apartments in town, houses with land and banana groves, and old homes to restore in Canhas and Madalena do Mar — at prices per m² still far kinder than Funchal's, 20 minutes away.

Not to miss

• Cascata dos Anjos on the old coastal road — the waterfall that pours straight onto the car.
• The John dos Passos cultural centre, honouring the American writer with roots in the town.
• An end-of-day swim off the beach, the pebbles still warm from the sun.
• The Lugar de Baixo lagoon and walks through the banana groves to Madalena do Mar.
• The Aqui Acolá festival, when art takes over the streets of the town.

A local's tip

Don't watch the sunset from the promenade — watch it from above. Climb to the little chapel overlooking the town, five minutes on foot, and bring company and a poncha. From up there the sun drops into the sea with the whole town in the foreground, and the postcard is yours without a crowd in sight.