Cape Verde Travel Guide

We go to Cape Verde for winter sun without the long-haul slog, and keep finding more than the beach. This Cape Verde travel guide runs through the ten islands, which to pick, what it costs, when to come and how to get in, from VayCay Couple, who have island-hopped here rather than sat on one resort beach. It is about a six-hour flight from the UK, the weather is warm all year, and Cape Verde holidays can be a cheap package or a proper adventure. The prices here are in euros and were current in September 2026.

Where is Cape Verde, and why go?

Cape Verde, or Cabo Verde, is a group of ten volcanic islands in the Atlantic off the west coast of Africa, about 500km from Senegal. Portuguese is the official language, Kriolu the everyday one, and enough English is spoken in the resorts to get by. Nine are inhabited and each is different, so the Cape Verde islands range from flat, sandy Sal to the green hiking trails of Santo Antao and the live volcano on Fogo. The draw is reliable sun at 22 to 30 degrees all year, short domestic hops between islands, and a Creole culture of music and easy warmth the locals call morabeza. The currency is the escudo, pegged to the euro at about 110 to 1, and euros are taken almost everywhere.

Which Cape Verde island should you choose?

This is the first decision, as the islands are a flight or ferry apart. Most first-timers land on Sal Cape Verde’s flattest and most developed island, all-inclusive resorts and watersports around Santa Maria. Boa Vista Cape Verde’s second resort island is quieter, with big dunes and turtle beaches. For culture and hiking you go further, to Santiago, Fogo and Santo Antao. The four you rarely hear about, Brava, Sao Nicolau, Maio and uninhabited Santa Luzia, are for travellers who want empty beaches and no resorts at all. The table sorts the main ones by what they are best for and how long to stay.

Cape Verde travel guide, the best things to do

Beyond the beach, the islands pack in a lot. On Fogo you can climb Pico do Fogo, a 2,829m volcano that last erupted in 2014, and taste the wine grown in its black ash at Cha das Caldeiras. On Sal you float in the Pedra de Lume salt crater, saltier than the Dead Sea, wade with harmless lemon sharks in Shark Bay, and kitesurf the steady trade winds. Boa Vista does quad trips into the Viana Desert and guided night turtle patrols in nesting season. Santo Antao is the hiking island, all terraced valleys and cloud-forest trails. On Santiago, the old capital of Cidade Velha is the oldest European town in the tropics and a UNESCO listed site and the oldest European town in the tropics. Over in Mindelo on Sao Vicente, the bars fill with live morna and funana most nights, and a February trip catches the islands’ biggest carnival.

What is Cape Verde’s best season?

The best time to visit Cape Verde is the dry season, November to June, when it barely rains, the trade winds are steady for kitesurfing and the hiking views are clear. July to October is warmer and more humid with the odd short shower, which greens up Santo Antao and warms the sea, and it is turtle-nesting season on Boa Vista and Maio. Humpback whales pass between March and May, and the wind is strongest between December and March, the peak for kitesurfers. It stays warm all year, so there is no bad time, just trade-offs between wind, rain and wildlife.

Food, music and morabeza

Eating here is simple and cheap. Cachupa is the national dish, a slow stew of corn, beans and whatever meat or fish is going, and the breakfast version, cachupa refogada, is fried up with an egg on top. Grogue, the local sugarcane rum, turns up neat or in a caipirinha-style ponche. Music is the second half of the culture, the mournful morna made famous by Cesaria Evora and the faster, accordion-led funana, both easy to catch live in Mindelo. Learn one word before you go, morabeza, the Creole idea of warmth and welcome you will meet everywhere.

Getting there and around

Direct flights from the UK reach Sal and Boa Vista in about six hours, mostly on package charters, with Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham among the airports running them on TUI and easyJet. There is no visa for a stay of up to 30 days, but you must register on the EASE system at least five days before you fly and pay the airport security tax of about 31 euros a head. From 1 July 2026 that fee doubles to around 64 euros if you turn up without registering, so do it in advance. Between islands you either fly on the domestic airlines or take a ferry, and the 12-day island-hopping island-hopping route we wrote up shows how the hops link together. On the ground, shared aluguer vans are the cheap local option.

How long should you go for?

A week suits one or two islands, a fortnight lets you really island-hop. Our usual plan is a few days on Sal or Boa Vista to land and swim, then a flight to Santiago for Cidade Velha and the drumming at Tarrafal, on to Fogo for the volcano climb and a night in the crater, and finally Sao Vicente and Santo Antao for Mindelo’s music and the best hiking in the country. If you only have a week, pick Sal or Boa Vista for the beach and add one culture or hiking island by a short flight. Ten days covers three or four islands at a steady pace. Do not try to see all nine, as the flights and ferries eat the time and the point is to slow down.

Where should you stay?

It depends on the island. On Sal, Santa Maria is the resort town with the beach, bars and dive shops on the doorstep. On Boa Vista, the hotels cluster near Sal Rei and along Praia de Chaves. For culture, base in Praia or the old town of Cidade Velha on Santiago. On Santo Antao, small guesthouses in the Paul Valley put you among the trails, and in Mindelo you stay in town for the music. Budget about 40 to 70 euros a night for a simple guesthouse, and more for the all-inclusive resorts on Sal and Boa Vista.

What does a trip cost?

Cape Verde can be a budget package or a mid-range adventure. A week on Sal or Boa Vista all-inclusive is often the cheapest way in, booked as a deal. Island-hopping costs more because of the internal flights. Roughly, a mid-range 10-day island-hopping trip runs about 1,400 euros a head, covering guesthouses with a couple of resort nights, four internal flights, ferries, food and activities like the volcano climb and a kitesurf lesson. A beer or a plate of cachupa costs a euro or two, so day-to-day spending stays low even when the flights between islands do not. Backpackers can do it for half that total, and resort-only luxury for double.

Is Cape Verde safe?

Yes, Cape Verde is safe for tourists, with low levels of violent crime and a relaxed feel on the resort islands. The main risk is petty theft, so watch bags and phones after dark in the capital, Praia, on Santiago, and use licensed taxis at night. The islands are calm and welcoming, politically stable and among Africa’s safest, which is part of why tourism has grown so fast, and solo travellers and couples report few problems. Stick to bottled water, as tap water is not reliable for drinking, and bring reef-safe sunscreen for the turtle beaches.

Pick one or two islands, register on EASE before you fly and leave room for the volcano or a turtle night. Our Boa Vista guide goes deeper on the dune-and-turtle island if that is where you land. Boa viagem.

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