Palmeira harbour and the old salt pans

Palmeira is where goods land and where the island still looks like a port rather than a resort. The salt pans nearby are the reason the island is called Sal. They are not a theme park. Walk the edge, look, and leave them as you found them.

A short circuit

Taxi from Santa Maria or Espargos. Half a day is enough, with Pedra de Lume if you want the crater salt pool on the same ticket. Espargos itself is the airport town: useful for a cash machine and a plate of food, dull if you expected a second Santa Maria.

Stay on the south coast for the beach. Use Palmeira as the reminder that the island works for a living.