The Ultimate Travel Guide to Cape Verde’s Volcanic Islands
Cape Verde is an archipelago of ten volcanic islands in the Atlantic Ocean, about 600 km from the west coast of Africa.
The islands are split into two main groups: the Ilhas do Barlavento, which includes the northernmost Boa Vista, Sal, Santo Anto, So Nicolau, So Vicente, and the uninhabited Santa Luzia; and the Ilhas do Sotavento, which includes the southernmost Maio, Santiago, Fogo, and Brava.
We are about 16°N in latitude, which puts us in the warm belt of the world. This is shown by the fact that the weather is nice all year long.
Before a few decades, most people didn’t know about the beauty of the Cabo Verde Islands, which is what they are called in Portuguese.
Yet, the long, white sand beaches washed by the turquoise ocean, the historical mystery of the colonial towns, the wide variety of landscapes with a harsh volcanic look, and the intense green of the lush vegetation give the islands an old and mysterious charm.
History
When the Portuguese came to these islands for the first time in 1456, they found land that was empty. The event was a good reason to invite the first people to move there. They did so a few years later and built the city of Ribeira Grande, which is now called Cidade Velha, on the island of Santiago.
As was common at the time, slaves from Africa were brought in to work in the farms, and Cape Verde became a hub for the slave trade to the Americas. The ups and downs of history and the work of intellectuals like Amilcar Cabral led the local population, which is now made up of people from different ethnic groups, to move toward freedom. When the dictatorship in Portugal fell in 1974, the path to freedom became clearer, and Portugal became independent a year later, in 1975.
Since the end of the 1990s, when Cape Verde’s tourism industry started to grow, many people from all over the world have visited the archipelago.
Cape Verde: What to do and see
There’s no question that a lot of European tourists go to Cape Verde to get some heat when it’s not summer. They spend their vacations there and can choose from a huge number of the most beautiful beaches in the country. Also, some islands are great for diving and, because the wind is always blowing, for sailing and kitesurfing, especially on the north-eastern sides of the islands, which are more open to the trade winds.
In this way, Sal and Boa Vista are among the best, especially since the beaches are so beautiful because they are near deserts. But let’s do it this way.
Boa Vista
With its sand dunes and miles of clean beaches, charming Boa Vista looks like a branch of the nearby Sahara Desert.
The beautiful Praia de Chaves and Praia da Santa Mónica are two of the most famous. The island also has a lot of other places of interest that are attracting more resorts and places to stay.
Off-road vehicle trips into the desert’s backcountry to see the dunes and empty plains are especially interesting. You can also visit the abandoned town of Curral Velho or the wreck of an old ship, the Santa Maria, on a beach on the northern coast.
Sal
At first glance, it doesn’t look very attractive because it is flat and pretty empty. Sal, on the other hand, is the island that tourists visit the most, possibly because it has an international airport. Tourists still choose to stop near the beach of Santa Maria, which is a long strip of sand washed by a sea that looks very blue in this area. The ancient volcanic crater of Pedra de Lume is another great thing to see on the Ilha do Sal that has nothing to do with the beach. When sea water collects in the crater, it creates really amazing natural salt pans. The island gets its name from the fact that it has so much salt on it.
Santo Antao
There are islands with pearls waiting to be found. For example, Santo Anto is the second largest island in Cape Verde, but it is also the northernmost and westernmost of the group. Because of this, its western end is thought to be the most western point of Africa. It is possibly the greenest of the Cape Verde Islands, thanks in part to the narrow valleys that create very humid places where many plants grow. The gorges, canyons, and very high cliffs of Santo Anto that look out over the sea are a real hiking paradise. Hikers can choose from different ways on the paths that go through the local plantations or go into the rocks.
Fogo
The looming shape of the volcano on Fogo, which is 2829 meters above sea level, is what makes this circular-shaped island stand out. So many people come down here because they want to climb to the old crater of the volcano, called Ch das Caldeiras, and “conquer” the top. Fogo also has a pretty town on its western side called So Filipe. The town is on top of a cliff that overlooks the coast, and at the bottom of the cliff is a beautiful black sand beach.
Santiago
History buffs can spend a lot of time in Santiago and the nearby Cidade Velha, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site and takes visitors back to the time of colonial rule and the slave market. But there are plenty of beaches and green valleys, and Praia, the biggest city and the capital of Cape Verde, is a great place to live.
Sao Vicente
On the small island of So Vicente, which looks rough and hilly, the town of Mindelo is the most popular tourist destination because of its lively Mardi Gras Carnival and the Festival de Musica, which happens every August. It is a well-known fact that neighboring countries like Senegal or Brazil, on the other side of the Atlantic, have had an effect on the culture of Cape Verde. Portugal, which has ruled this region with its own laws for hundreds of years, has also had an effect. The music, which is always a part of life in the area, shows how these different people came together to make something beautiful.
Brava
Ilha Brava, on the other hand, is the smallest populated island in Cape Verde, and it is also the most southern. With only 64 km2 of land and a slow pace that permeates the environment and the people who live there, the few tourists who come here mostly come to enjoy the wild nature and go on trips into the interior, like the path that leads to the top of Monte Fontainhas. Tourists don’t come because there are no flights between it and the other islands. The only way to get there is to take a boat across the rough sea between it and Fogo, which is close by.
Sao Nicolau
In some ways, the situation is the same on the island of So Nicolau, which is bigger than Brava but has a mostly hilly landscape that makes it hard to get to large parts of its land. The most well-known beach is the volcanic one at Tarrafal, but most people love to visit the island because of how wild it looks and because they can go hiking in its narrow slopes. So Nicolau’s native way of life is also shown by the local dialect, which is a form of the Cape Verdean Creole language that is spoken on all the islands along with Portuguese.
Maio
The Sotavento Islands’ easternmost island, Ilha do Maio, doesn’t get many tourists either. Maio is often flat, which is different from the others. There are some beautiful desert beaches with turquoise water that are never too busy. Maio is mostly empty, even though there are acacia trees here. In the southwest corner of the island is where the largest town, Vila do Maio, is.
Santa Lucia
Lastly, Santa Luzia is the only one of Cape Verde’s big islands (excluding rocks and islets) that no one lives on, which gives it a special charm. Even though some farmers used to live there, Santa Luzia is now a nature reserve with animals that are only found there. Its sea is full of fish and has a beautiful coral reef. The only way to get to the island is with permission from the Port Maritime Agency of Cape Verde.
Official language
The official language in Cape Verde is Portuguese, but the people’s first language is Cape Verdean Creole, which is a mix of Portuguese and words and phrases from Africa. There are also different languages on the different islands, but English is also very common among people who work with tourists.
The money and the time zone
The Cape Verdean Escudo is the country’s modern currency. It is worth about 0.009 euro cents (1 euro = 110 escudos).
When daylight saving time is in effect in Europe, the time difference between the islands and Italy is two hours.
Cuisine
There are some Portuguese influences in the food, but there are also some favorites from the area. One of these is the “pastel com diablo inside,” which is like an empanada made with onions, tomatoes, and fresh tuna wrapped in a potato and flour paste and then fried and served hot. The local soups, like “caldo de peixe” with spiced veggies, are also very tasty.
Climate. How do I know when to go to Cape Verde?
Cape Verde has a dry, tropical climate with normal temperatures around 24°C and highs that rarely go above 30°C. The best time to come is from November to July, which is the dry season. During these months, the trade winds blow hard and beat the islands. If you want to swim in January or February, when it is cooler, you may want to wear a protective jacket. But people who don’t like the cold should know that January and February are not the best times to go to the beach. Between June and December, when the underground currents are not as strong, the water is clearer for people who like to go scuba diving.
Most of the time, pond season is from August to October.
During these months, the trade winds are weaker. Because of this, it’s not a great time to go to the beach because the sky is often cloudy, the heat is more annoying, and it rains more. During this time, there is also a chance of tropical storms, especially on the southernmost islands of the archipelago, but that doesn’t mean it will rain every day like it does in other warm places.
Which island in Cape Verde has less wind?
We’ve said that the trade winds are strongest and most steady in the winter. When making a list of the places with the least wind, the following things must be taken into account: The easternmost islands are mostly flat, and because they don’t have any big hills, there aren’t any places where the trade winds can’t reach. The wind blows more on the northern side of islands with a higher rise than on the southern side, especially in the south-western part of the island. Still, the leeward islands (Maio, Santiago, Fogo, and Brava) get less wind on average than the leeward islands (Santo Anto, So Vicente, Santa Luzia, So Nicolau, Ilha do Sal, and Boa Vista), which are the windiest islands in the archipelago, with the strongest peaks in winter and spring.
Advice and health and safety
People can only get into the country if they have a legal passport and a visa. As of December 31, 2018, tourists who stay less than 30 days do not need a visa. We suggest reading our article on customs rules and safety in Cape Verde for all the information and paperwork.
There are no needed vaccinations. If you are coming from a place where yellow fever is very common, you have to get vaccinated.
There have been cases of the Zika virus, which is a virus that is spread by mosquitoes. These same mosquitoes also spread dengue and chikungunya, so it is best to avoid getting bitten by them.
For the rest, the usual advice for travelers applies: drink only bottled water without ice, don’t eat raw vegetables, bring common medicines with you, and get health insurance before your trip that covers not only medical costs but also an emergency air medical repatriation if you need it.