Hello! I am traveling to Sal and Santiago soon and I’m finding it a bit hard to plan transport and activities. I don’t want to rent a vehicle full time in either place, but I also don’t want to end up getting stranded or not seeing much if I can’t find a taxi at times.

Main questions:

For Sal, should I rent an ATV for the day or do a group tour? I’m very interested in Shark Bay but pretty flexible aside from that. Starting from Santa Maria area. I don’t really want to be rushed through the stops and I’m most interested in ocean activities, so I thought my own transport may be better, but not sure…

For Santiago, I need to secure transport to and from Praia/Tarrafal, and a hiace sounds like my best bet. But I’m wondering if I should do a tour on my way over so I can see some viewpoints since it may be hard to get transportation to hike there. And then not take the second half of the tour back to Praia if they agree to that.

Also, is card reliable or do I need to bring cash? And if so, will it be easy to find ATMs or should I bring the full amount I may need?

Thoughts? ☺️

Hello!

I'm planning my first Cape Verde trip as a solo traveler. I'm into hiking and local culture, with a few beach days at the end to wind down.

Planned route: Fly Amsterdam → Sal (direct, easyJet), same day domestic flight to São Vicente for 2–3 nights in Mindelo, then ferry to Santo Antão for 6 nights of hiking. Ferry back to São Vicente, domestic flight to Sal for 3 relaxed beach days before flying home.

Does this route make sense, or would you change anything? I'm also struggling with the domestic flights — the Cabo Verde Airlines website only shows Praia as a destination from Sal, not São Vicente directly. Is that normal, and how do you usually book these? And how far in advance would you recommend booking for January/February?

Any tips welcome! 🙏

I'm curious which Cape Verdean songs you love most? Morna, coladeira, funaná, batuku, old or new, anything goes, except the famous ones like Sodade 😉 Looking for some hidden gems...

Hi, we are a couple of guys on holiday in the beautiful Cabo Verde. We enjoyed your run during the WC very much! As football fans we like to collect jerseys of local teams of places we have been to. That's why we have been looking for a jersey of one of the local teams, but with no luck so far. Does anyone know where we could try to get a local jersey? Your help is much appreciated!

Hey Community,

My Partner and I are planning to visit Cape Verde for roughly 12 Nights during new years Eve.

Our Plan is currently something like:
We arrive in Sal, have some relaxed days at the Beach, celebrate there new years Eve. Then we fly to sao Vicente and from there we Take the Ferry to sao antao for at least 2 days of hiking. Then back to sao Vicente and maybe fly to boa Vista or directly to sal and spend at least 1 Night before the international flight is at sal to be on the Safe side for delays.

This is our plan at the moment. I would Like to hear your advise on the itinerary.
1) new years Eve in Sal is a good idea? Or rather fly earlier to Sao Vicente or any other place? We Both like to Party and meet people if that helps.
Is there a specific Event/Place to go on These Island for it?
2) how many days would you spend on sao vicente and sao antao.
I assume if we Take a morning Ferry between the Island I could still do Like the hike from the Vulcano to the value Same day? I definitely want to do the coastal hike as well.
3) what’s your opinion on Doing boa Vista, is it worth it to do the extra stop or is quite similar to Sal and it’s makes more sense for Beach just go directly back to Sal as our flight is from there?

And of course any other recommendations is very much welcome!

Many thanks

In São Vicente Kriol, how should I say the final /t/ sound, such as in words like bsôt, dóte, móde?

(Being an English speaker, my brain is always confused with T and R sounds, because there are so many of them and they don't always map to the same letters. There's no choosing "the obvious one" for me.)

Greetings from CV! Fish from the BBQ and Strela 🥰

hello! as i will be visiting Sal alone for 5 days, i was looking at a cheap but cool place to stay. i found a super nice apartment in Rua Ilha do Sal, it seems pretty close to the main areas in Santa Maria, do you think this will be a good spot or do you suggest something else? thanks a lot

Hi all!! We are a family of 4 a 6 year old and a one year old have booked to come to Cabo verde in November, flying to Sal is the cheapest from cork in Ireland so that’s our arrival and starting point.
We really would love to relax, watch sunsets swim and explore aswell.. the kids are well travelled and used of ferry and buses.
My thoughts is we relax around sal and enjoy the music and vibe at night as my 6 year old loves watching entertainment. And possibly tie in sai Vicente and sai antao? We will have two weeks in total.
Is it possible to get ferries? I see lots of blogs where they had no issues.
Also, eating in local places what should we expect to pay roughly?
Any input would be fab! I’ve watched every video at this point
Thanks
Helena

Hi! i’m a 30yo male from Italy and this will be my first solo trip.
since i’m a bit worried i won’t be able to enjoy it properly alone, it would be a good thing to link up here if someone is going solo in the same days

Sorry, another of these posts 🙈. But I appreciate all the input from folks here.

Cabo Verde has been on my list for a long time (even before CV rightfully got all the love at the World Cup, I swear). Now I realise that Easyjet connections from Europe are quite reasonable, I'm tempted to try and get out there during the Northern European winter.

I speak fluent (Brazilian) Portuguese so hoping that helps me get around ok (might be a fun challenge to try a couple of words of Kriolu). Would love any tips on an itinerary.

From here I see the easiest flight options are to Sal. Given the high number of package holiday flights from TUI etc to Sal, is the island pretty much full of big tourist resorts? Worth sticking around there, or getting to other islands?

My girlfriend and I would be more into: staying in smaller more chill bed and breakfasts (thinking of the pousada vibe from Brazil), enjoying the local cuisine, some gentle hikes (so likely not Sal), bit of beach and a swim in the sea (but don't need to stay there all day), culture (looks like Cabo Verde has a proud revolutionary history).

Even if Jan/Feb isn't the warmest time of the year, it'll still be nicer than here :). I hear it's windy, and I've never kite surfed in my life.

Which other islands should I read up on? As the islands are pretty far apart, I'm assuming domestic flights instead of ferries will be the move.

Big fan of 'open jaw' flights so I can cover more ground without doubling back. So far I can't figure out a cheap option to get me home from Boa Vista or São Vicente without an overnight in Portugal (not a terrible option)

Obrigadu!

Just as a warning to others, I was robbed/pickpocketed yesterday in Funana, a guy I met maybe an hour prior and danced with stole my wallet out of my hand and ran away with it.

Please be careful. I lost my bank card and the cash I had in the wallet. After 3 trips to Santa Maria maybe I got too relaxed and was not careful enough.

I read that Bestfly is recommended but I can't seem to find booking information or schedules on their site. I also looked at Cape Verde airlines but it seems that they have so much flights. I am curious about Santiago to São Vincente. Any insight is appreciated!

— Looking to meet some girls!

I’m 28, from Madrid, and I’ll be spending October 20–29 in Sal, Cape Verde!
I’ve visited the island before and completely fallen in love with it, so I’m coming back for a little solo adventure! 🌴☀️
I’d love to meet some like-minded girls around my age to hang out with!
I’m into beach days, cute brunch spots, fitness, animals and nature, exploring hidden gems, good conversations and just enjoying life with fun, positive people. ✨
I’d love to connect with other solo female travelers or girls living on the island who are up for making new friends and sharing some good memories!
Anyone going to be around those dates? Let’s connect!

Hello, I'm an American Artist, and I went to make a Christmas drawing from Cape Verde. The best to draw this to learn has much about Cape Verde's Traditions, but I struggle to find resources. So my for my questions? What christmas traditions do the locals have? It could be any from christmas folktales to parades to street markets, etcs. Which day has the bigger celebrate the 24th, 25th, or a different day. Which island is the best place to celebrates to your opinion? Finally what do you eat for the holidays?

Thank you in advances

I recently found out that I’m half Cape Verdean from my fathers side and have reconnected with him (thanks 23andMe!) and it has been fantastic learning about a huge family I never knew existed but I’m finding it difficult to communicate with him as his English isn’t great.

I’d like to learn Kriolu to be able to have deeper conversations but I can’t find any good resources and it’s not available to learn on Duolingo. Would I be better off learning Portuguese instead? Which language would be easier to pick up?

Thank you 🙏🏾

Hi everyone!
I’m currently staying in Santa Maria, Sal, and it’s my last full day here. It’s started raining this morning, and my weather app is now predicting rain for the next 5 days.
I’ve always heard that Sal is extremely dry and that it barely ever rains, and one of our tour guides even told us that they’d had hardly any rain last year.
My weather app has also been really inaccurate throughout this holiday. It’ll predict thick cloud and overcast skies all day, but then we’ll end up having beautiful blue skies and sunshine for hours. The forecast also seems to change constantly.
So I’m wondering, is 5 days of continuous rain actually normal for Sal at this time of year, or is my weather app likely to be wrong?
For anyone who lives in Sal or has visited around this time of year, how accurate have you found the weather forecasts to be? Does the rain usually come in short showers with sunshine in between, or can it genuinely rain all day for several days in a row?
I’d really appreciate any insight, especially as it’s my last full day here and I’d love to make the most of it!
Thanks!

Looking an alternative for Morabeza hotel! I don’t like all inclusive resorts, any recommendations?

Hello everyone! I'm travelling to Santo Antão in November, the full trip is gonna be 14 days. I think it will give me space to explore everything in my own pace, so I will not ask you if this plan full of huge hikes. But I would like you to ask if it makes sense to have 3 bases on the island:

1. Mindelo - 2 nights

2. Paúl - 5 nights

3. Porta do Sol - 3 nights

4. Tarrafal - 2 nights

5. Back to Mindelo - 2 nights

My main focus is to be able to access hiking trails easily and have some peace for the days I don't feel like doing a huge hike. And I want to spend the most time in the greener areas, as you can see.

It's my first solo trip outside of Europe and I get a little anxious that I have to plan everything perfectly...

Hello, I'm from Morocco, I just want to ask: if the online pre-registration is mandatory because i couldn't pay the security fees online idk why

Also what Cash currency to bring Dollar or Euro

Thanks!

I have an allergy / intolerance to standard cooking oils like sunflower oil and rapeseed oil. I predominantly rely on butter to cook my foods.

Would I be able to find typical cows (or goat, etc) butter in Cape Verde supermarkets?

If so, would it only be on select islands or all of them?

Then what sort of meats are available in Cape Verde? Beef? Steak? Lamb? Or is it only chicken and pork as I don't believe they could actually rear cows on the islands. However the Canaries import their meat from mainland Spain, I'm unsure whether Cape Verde would import from elsewhere?

I'm eager to visit, but slightly concerned that I may struggle to find the appropriate foods for myself.

Any input welcome, thanks :)