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Experiences blog
Stories from the ten islands — then pick a place and go deeper. Been there? Send a post for the editor to review.
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Cape Verde
Santo Antão
6 experiences to read and rate
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6 guides
Cape Verde
São Vicente
6 experiences to read and rate
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6 guides
Cape Verde
Santa Luzia
6 experiences to read and rate
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6 guides
Cape Verde
São Nicolau
6 experiences to read and rate
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6 guides
Cape Verde
Sal
6 experiences to read and rate
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6 guides
Cape Verde
Boa Vista
6 experiences to read and rate
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6 guides
Cape Verde
Maio
6 experiences to read and rate
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6 guides
Cape Verde
Santiago
6 experiences to read and rate
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6 guides
Cape Verde
Fogo
6 experiences to read and rate
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6 guides
Cape Verde
Brava
6 experiences to read and rate
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6 guides
Latest posts
Brava · Hiking
Walking between Brava’s villages
Short distances, serious hills, and flowered lanes from Nova Sintra toward the ridges.
Brava · Towns
Furna, where the boat comes in
Brava’s harbour village — steep, small, and the first or last thing you see of the island.
Fogo · Towns
Mosteiros and the north coast
The greener side of Fogo, a long drive from São Filipe, with a black beach and a different pace.
Fogo · Food
Wine inside the caldera
Cooperatives and family vines at Chã das Caldeiras, on the floor of the volcano.
Santiago · Food
Assomada market day
The island’s busiest market town, in the hills between Praia and Tarrafal.
Santiago · Hiking
Serra Malagueta on a clear morning
The green mountains north of Praia — pines, a park and a view back to the capital.
Maio · Towns
A day in Vila do Maio
The small capital: a square, a church, a market morning and the pier.
Maio · Beach
Maio’s beaches without the Sal crowds
Long pale sand near Vila do Maio, and quieter stretches if you have a way to leave town.
Boa Vista · Villages
The north villages and an empty road
João Galego, Fundo das Figueiras and the long sand tracks between them.
Boa Vista · Towns
Sal Rei: pier, wreck and the town beach
The island’s real town — a harbour, a wreck on the reef, and dinners that are not in a resort buffet.
Sal · Towns
Palmeira harbour and the old salt pans
The working port on the west coast, and the flats that gave the island its name.
Sal · Nature
Buracona and the west-coast bays
The Blue Eye, a rough lava coast, and the bays people swim with lemon sharks.
São Nicolau · Hiking
A day in the Ribeira Brava hinterland
Terraces, a quiet town and paths that stay in the green instead of the crater road.
São Nicolau · Beach
Fajã and the north-coast road
A small bay under the mountains, reached by a road that is the day as much as the swim.
Santa Luzia · Wildlife
Birds and an empty shore
Why biologists talk about Santa Luzia, and why a visitor should stay quiet if they are ever allowed ashore.
Santa Luzia · Slow travel
Seeing Santa Luzia from the São Vicente channel
The realistic visit: a boat or a viewpoint, weather first, no promise of a landing.
Santa Luzia · Nature
Santa Luzia is a reserve, not a resort
No village, no rooms, no casual landing. The island is protected, and that is the experience.
São Vicente · Nature
Monte Verde above the channel
The green top of a brown island, with Santo Antão across the water.
São Vicente · Villages
São Pedro, the airport road and a fish lunch
The fishing village west of Mindelo, with the runway on one side and boats on the sand.
Santo Antão · Slow travel
Porto Novo and the morning ferry
The south-coast port is not the point of the island. It is how you arrive, and how you leave without missing the boat.
Santo Antão · Towns
Ponta do Sol: harbour, swim and the evening road
The north-coast town most people use as a base — a black-pebble harbour and a short swim when the swell allows.
Brava · Slow travel
Reaching Brava — and staying put
The crossing from Fogo is short and can be ugly. Build slack into the plan.
Brava · Hiking
Walks to Fajã de Água
Trails drop from Nova Sintra to a narrow coastal strip and a tiny harbour.
Brava · Towns
Nova Sintra, the flower capital
Hydrangeas, colonial houses, a bandstand — Cape Verde’s smallest inhabited island.
Fogo · Towns
São Filipe and the sobrado houses
The graceful west-coast town — cobbles, merchants’ houses, black sand below.
Fogo · Hiking
Climbing Pico do Fogo
2,829 m — start in the dark with a guide.
Fogo · Volcano
Chã das Caldeiras, the village in the crater
People still live inside the volcano that erupted in 2014. Lava wine, ash, stars.
Santiago · Hiking
Tarrafal bay and Serra Malagueta
A pine-fringed north-coast bay, a prison-camp museum, and mountain walks inland.
Santiago · City
Praia: Sucupira, Plateau and Palmarejo
The capital that runs the country — markets, ministries, where expats actually live.
Santiago · History
Cidade Velha, the first colonial city
UNESCO Ribeira Grande — ruined cathedral, fort, a pebble beach 15 minutes from Praia.
Maio · Slow travel
A slow week on Maio
No big attraction — that is the attraction.
Maio · Nature
Salinas and wetland birds
Working salt flats and flamingos in season.
Maio · Beach
Vila do Maio and the town beach
A capital that still feels like a village — fort, salt pan, evening paseo.
Boa Vista · Nature
Viana desert and the dunes
An interior dune field — a 4x4 morning from Sal Rei.
Boa Vista · Wildlife
Loggerhead turtles on Boa Vista
Night nesting roughly June to October — licensed guides only.
Boa Vista · Beach
Santa Mónica beach
Kilometres of pale sand on the south — often almost empty.
Sal · Nature
Pedra de Lume salt crater
Float in brine in an old salt crater near Espargos.
Sal · Water sports
Kitesurfing on Sal
Kite beach east of Santa Maria — world-class winter wind.
Sal · Beach
Santa Maria beach and the pier
The easiest Cape Verde beach week — pale sand, the pier, grilled fish.
São Nicolau · Towns
A day in Ribeira Brava
The valley capital — market, seminary and the road into the hills.
São Nicolau · Beach
Tarrafal de São Nicolau
A black-sand fishing village on the west — tuna, a simple beach, few rooms.
São Nicolau · Hiking
Monte Gordo and the dragon trees
Ridge walks above Ribeira Brava in the island’s natural park.
Santa Luzia · Wildlife
Wildlife on the empty island
Loggerheads, goats that should not be there, and the Raso lark from the boat.
Santa Luzia · Nature
Santa Luzia day boat from Mindelo
The empty reserve island — dunes, a landing beach, no café.
São Vicente · Culture
Mindelo Carnival
The archipelago’s serious Carnival — parades, drums and no spare rooms.
São Vicente · Beach
Laginha beach and Baía das Gatas
Town swim at Laginha; a calmer bay and August festival at Baía das Gatas.
São Vicente · Culture
Mindelo after dark: morna and the harbour
Cape Verde’s cultural capital — live music that is not a hotel show.
Santo Antão · Food
Paúl valley: coffee, grogue and cachupa
The green northeast — sugar cane, grogue stills and a long lunch.
Santo Antão · Villages
Fontainhas and the ridge to Cruzinha
The yellow-and-blue ridge village and the exposed track beyond Ponta do Sol.
Santo Antão · Hiking
Ribeira trails from Cova crater
The cobbled descent from the crater rim into Ribeira da Torre or Ribeira Grande.
Brava · Guide
Brava: the flower island at the end of the line
Cape Verde’s smallest inhabited island — Nova Sintra, hydrangeas, and a ferry that argues with the sea.
Fogo · Guide
Fogo: the volcano you can walk into
A black cone in the sea — Chã das Caldeiras, lava wine, and São Filipe’s sobrado houses.
Santiago · Guide
Santiago: Praia, history and the island that runs the country
The largest island — capital Praia, Cidade Velha, mountains, and the real urban Cape Verde.
Maio · Guide
Maio: the slow Sotavento
Salt flats, quiet beaches and a capital that still feels like a village — Vila do Maio.
Boa Vista · Guide
Boa Vista: dunes, turtles and long empty sand
The eastern desert island — Santa Mónica beach, turtle nesting, and a small capital at Sal Rei.
Sal · Guide
Sal: beaches, wind and the easiest island to land on
Santa Maria, kitesurf, salt pans and the international airport — Cape Verde’s front door.
São Nicolau · Guide
São Nicolau: ridges, villages and the quiet middle
A forgotten Barlavento island of dragon trees, mountain roads and Ribeira Brava.
Santa Luzia · Guide
Santa Luzia: the empty island
An uninhabited nature reserve between São Vicente and São Nicolau — day trips only.
São Vicente · Guide
São Vicente: Mindelo, music and the harbour city
Cape Verde’s cultural capital — Carnival, Cesária’s city, and the ferry to Santo Antão.
Santo Antão · Guide
Santo Antão: hiking, grogue and the green north
Cape Verde’s mountain island — ribeiras, cobbled trails and the ferry from Mindelo.