Itinerary · 8 days · 34 places
8 Days in Cape Verde
Three days on Sal for the salt crater, lava pools and the long beach of Santa Maria, then by plane and ferry via Mindelo to Santo Antão, where you hike the green Paul valley and the cliff paths to Fontainhas.
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Photo: Petr Ganaj · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arriving in Santa Maria
Arrival in Sal
Hotel check-in
Santa Maria on the southern tip is a flat fishing village with sandy tracks between the hotels, and everything is within walking distance.
Praia de Santa Maria
Eight kilometres of pale sand with turquoise, gently shelving water — in the late afternoon the fishermen bring tuna and wahoo back to the beach.
Evening: Rua 1 de Junho
Santa Maria's main street with open bars, street music and souvenir stalls late into the night.
Day 2Santa Maria: pier, Sinó and kite bay
Santa Maria Pier
On the wooden pier the catch is cut up right on deck, while nurse sharks and stingrays wait below for the scraps.
Ponta do Sinó
Sal's southernmost point with a small lighthouse, black lava cliffs and surf crashing into the rock crevices.
Kite Beach
On windy afternoons dozens of kites fill the air above the bay north of town, while the World Cup spot of Ponta Preta lies on the other side of town.
Shark Bay
In the shallow bay near Costa Fragata, young lemon sharks swim past in knee-deep water by the shore; bring water shoes because of the sharp lava slabs.
Evening: Praça Marcelo Leitão
Santa Maria's village square fills after sunset with families, ice-cream stalls and live morna from the surrounding bars.
Day 3Salt crater and Blue Eye
Espargos
The island's capital in the interior, whose market and colourful apartment blocks show everyday life away from the hotel zone.
Pedra de Lume
The old salt works lie inside an extinct crater — you swim in brine so dense that you float effortlessly.
Buracona
In a hole in the lava field the seawater glows deep blue around midday, when the sun shines straight down into the cave.
Palmeira
This harbour town with rows of pastel houses is Sal's supply port; colourful fishing boats lie at anchor by the pier.
Evening: Santa Maria beach promenade
The path between the edge of town and the sand is lit up in the evening, and funaná plays at the beach bars until midnight.
Day 4Mindelo: music town by the sea
Onward to Mindelo
Hotel check-in
Praça Nova
The town garden with its bandstand, shaded by Indian laurel figs, is Mindelo's living room, surrounded by Portuguese colonial façades.
Mindelo Municipal Market
Papayas, cassava and beans are piled high in the two-storey market hall, and upstairs women sell fabrics and grogue.
Torre de Belém in Mindelo
The tower on the harbour quay is a scaled-down copy of the Lisbon original, now a museum with views over the bay.
Fortim d'El-Rei
From the old Portuguese fort on the hill you overlook the whole bay as far as Monte Cara, the face in the rock opposite.
Praia da Laginha
The town beach with pale sand blown over from the Sahara lies five minutes' walk from the centre; in the afternoon half of Mindelo plays football here.
Evening: Rua de Lisboa
Mindelo's nightlife street with live music behind every other door — morna and coladeira play here until late.
Day 5Over the mountain road to Ribeira Grande
Onward to Santo Antão
Hotel check-in
Cova de Paúl
The old cobbled Estrada da Corda climbs to 1170 metres to the rim of an extinct crater, where sugar cane and yams are grown on the crater floor.
Ribeira Grande
The island's largest town is wedged between two ravine walls; the old bridge leads into the Povoação quarter with its market and church.
Sinagoga
On the coast road stand the ruins of a leper station from 1929, next to a natural swimming pool enclosed by lava rocks.
Evening: Ribeira Grande square
Neighbours sit together in the evening on the square in front of the church, while small bars on the corners pour grogue and ponche.
Day 6The green valley of Paul
Cabo da Ribeira
At the head of the valley at 700 metres the descent through the Paul valley begins, surrounded by terraces of mango, papaya and coffee trees.
Trapiche in the Ribeira do Paul
In one of the small distilleries, sugar cane is still pressed with an ox-driven mill and distilled into grogue — tasted straight from the barrel.
Passagem
The hamlet halfway down lies among irrigation channels and sugar cane fields, with views of the whole valley down to the sea.
Vila das Pombas
The valley's main village lies on a black pebble bay; grogue shops and small cafés line the waterfront road.
Evening: grogue bar in Vila das Pombas
In the bars along the waterfront you compare the grogues of the neighbouring valleys in the evening, with music playing over the speakers.
Day 7Fontainhas and the cliff paths
Fontainhas
The village clings to a ridge between two ravines — from the road above you get the most famous view in Cape Verde.
Corvo
The neighbouring hamlet beyond Fontainhas lies at the end of a mule track, home to a few families who grow beans and maize on the slope.
Coastal path to Ponta do Sol
The path hewn into the rock leads high above the surf back to the coast — narrow, but no climbing required.
Ponta do Sol
The island's northernmost town has a disused airstrip on the cliff edge, colourful houses and a breakwater where the waves crash high.
Evening: Ponta do Sol waterfront
Fishermen sit on the breakwater in the evening, and in the bars behind it there's often impromptu playing on guitar and cavaquinho.
Day 8Porto Novo and departure
Porto Novo Market
In the morning, women farmers from the valleys sell coffee, goat's cheese and sweet potatoes in the small hall near the main street.
Porto Novo harbour promenade
On a clear day you can see from the quay across the channel to Monte Cara on São Vicente, with the windswept pebble beach behind.
Departure from Santo Antão
Make it your trip
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