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Beach guide

Cachalote pools, Porto Moniz

A second set of lava pools a few minutes along the same seafront, free to enter — and absent from the portaria, so this document confirms neither a season nor lifeguard service for them.

Checked against the portaria and the municipality’s own pages on July 26, 2026.

A white wave bursting over a black lava ridge into a rock pool at Porto Moniz under broken cloud, with the flat-topped Ilhéu Mole islet standing offshore.
The free pools along the same seafront, with the Ilhéu Mole behind. The Atlantic decides the swimming here.Photo by Landsmann (opens in a new tab) · Pexels License (opens in a new tab)

What it actually is

Surface
Lava rock pools
Municipality
Porto Moniz

The same coast, the same black rock, and no turnstile. Almost nothing written in English mentions them, which is why people queue at the paid complex with the free pools in sight along the promenade.

No Blue Flag for 2026. A flag is an application as much as an award, so a beach without one has not necessarily failed anything.

What the state says about it

It is not named in Annex IV of Portaria n.º 204-A/2026/1 at all. No bathing season, no lifeguard designation, and no water quality sampling published under that regime.

It does not appear in the “praia de banhos” column. The annex’s own footnote says that means assistance to bathers is not assured. The documentation does not confirm lifeguard service for this water.

Even where the documentation lists lifeguard service, this does not confirm a lifeguard is present when you visit. Always check on arrival.

Portaria n.º 204-A/2026/1 · Diário da República, 1.ª série, n.º 84, Suplemento · Anexo IV

What it costs

Free. There is no entry charge.

All fourteen beaches, compared

Getting there

It sits in the concelho of Porto Moniz, which is how the portaria files it.

MadeiraBus publishes a direct route from Funchal to this destination: 380 · 340.

Getting around without a car

Complete your plan

Madeira with children, planned around the day you actually have

Choose by age, weather and how much moving between places your family can manage. These options say what is there and what to check, without guessing which activity suits a particular child.

Affordable Madeira days with the optional costs made clear

Build a day from places with free entry, then decide separately what to spend on transport, food or an indoor attraction. Free admission does not mean the whole outing costs nothing.