Salinas do Porto Ingles

The salt pans at Porto Inglês were the reason ships called at Maio: English and other vessels loaded salt here from the seventeenth century, and the anchorage took its name from them. A grid of shallow basins still lies behind the beach beside the town, largely disused now, and the brackish water and mudflats have become a bird site, with flamingos, waders and terns using them. Some small-scale production continues. Salt was Maio's only export of consequence for two centuries, and the town beside the pans grew and then shrank with the trade.

What you actually see

• The pan grid - the shallow basins laid out behind the beach.
• The English connection - the salt trade that named the anchorage.
• The birds - flamingos, waders and terns using the brackish water.
• The small-scale production - the salt still worked on part of the site.

When to go

November to June is the dry season. Birds are most numerous in the winter months. Summer heat on the open pans is heavy.

Honest expectations

Most of the pans are abandoned and the site is untidy. There is no interpretation or infrastructure. Shade is absent.

Nearby

Vila do Maio is beside it, and the beaches run north.