Porto Moniz is one of the oldest civil parishes in the north of Madeira, and one of the most visited ones, greatly due to the natural pools it offers.

Historians believe that the settlement began around the 15th century. Francisco Moniz, from the Algarve, is believed to have been one of Porto Moniz’s oldest settlers. He erected the chapel of Nossa Senhora da Conceição.
The creation of this ecclesiastic parish took place around 1574.
After 1533, already as a civil parish, the old Ponta do Tristão, became Porto Moniz, in honour of Francisco Moniz, who was married with one of Gonçalves Zarco’s granddaughters, to whom the place was donated.
Only after World War II, Porto Moniz ceased being isolated from the rest of the Island, when the emblematic road between Porto Moniz and São Vicente was built. This road was literally dug on the hillside, and where you frequently find waterfalls crossing it towards the sea.
Nevertheless, it still crosses the most emblematic locations of the road.