🇨🇻 Cape Verde
Ten volcanic islands, year-round trade winds.
Why go to Cape Verde.
An Atlantic archipelago where volcanic hiking on Fogo and Santo Antão sits beside some of the most consistent windsurf and kite conditions on earth.
- Santo Antão's ridge trails are among the best day hikes in the Atlantic.
- Fogo lets you camp inside an active volcanic caldera.
- Sal and Boa Vista deliver reliable wind sports all winter.
Conditions on the ground.
Where it sits, and how to move through it.
What to see, do and find.
- Pico do Fogo
- Santo Antão ridges
- Cidade Velha
- Mindelo
- Sal salt pans
- Cova to Paúl valley hike
- Fogo crater ascent
- Mindelo live music night
- Tarrafal beach
- Chã das Caldeiras wine
- Buracona blue eye
- Mindelo boutique hotels
- Santo Antão guesthouses
- Sal beach apartments
Explore Cape Verde before you land.
Immersive coverage for Cape Verde is not captured yet — it is on the Explorer production queue.
Open immersive modeRecreational drone flying is permitted outside airport zones; AAC notification recommended for coastal filming.
Full drone rulesDay by day through Cape Verde.
- Day 1–2São Vicente — Mindelo
The music capital. Live morna and funaná most nights; the market and the colonial waterfront by day.
- Day 3–6Santo Antão
Ferry over for the ridge hikes — Cova crater to Paúl valley, Ponta do Sol coastal path, Xô-Xô ravine.
- Day 7–8Fogo
Sleep inside the caldera at Chã das Caldeiras and climb Pico do Fogo before the heat.
- Day 9–10Santiago
Cidade Velha, the first colonial town in the tropics, and the Assomada highland market on Wednesdays.
- Day 11–12Sal or Boa Vista
Wind and kite conditions, turtle nesting in season, then the flight home.
What it takes, and what it costs.
Sal (SID) and Boa Vista (BVC) take charter and low-cost traffic; Praia (RAI) on Santiago and São Vicente (VXE) connect the culture islands. Inter-island hops run on TICV plus ferries.
CVMóvel and Unitel prepaid data is decent in the towns; the Santo Antão valleys and Fogo's crater are effectively offline.
- Inter-island flight
- €60–110
- Guesthouse / residencial
- €25–70 / night
- Guided ridge hike
- €35–60 pp
- Meals
- €12–28 / day
- Aluguer shared transport
- €2–8 per leg
Eat, behave, pack.
- Cachupa — slow-cooked corn and bean stew, best the second morning
- Grilled wahoo and tuna straight off the boat
- Pastel com diabo dentro on Santo Antão
- Grogue, the sugarcane spirit, with honey
- Kriolu is the daily language; Portuguese is official and widely spoken.
- Music is a social institution — the late set in Mindelo is the real programme.
- Time runs on 'no stress' — schedules are approximate, especially ferries.
- Tipping is modest, 5–10% and appreciated.
- Trail shoes with real grip for the cobbled ridges
- Wind shell — the islands are named for it
- Seasickness tablets for the Santo Antão ferry
- Cash escudos outside Sal and Boa Vista
- Sun protection at altitude on Fogo
What explorers ask before Cape Verde.
Santo Antão, without competition. Fogo for volcano days, Santiago for culture.
EU, UK and US passports enter visa-free; a TSA airport security fee is paid online before arrival.
Year-round. November to June is driest; August and September can bring brief rains and green valleys.
The São Vicente–Santo Antão crossing is reliable. Longer routes cancel with swell — keep a buffer day.
What the brochures leave out.
- Inter-island ferries are weather-dependent — keep buffer days.
- Hiking trails are exposed; start early.
- Cash is king outside Sal and Praia.