Cape Verde Travelogue

I came back from two weeks in Cape Verde and saw that there is almost no information in Hebrew about the country, so I'm leaving a bit of information here hoping it will help someone in the future. Also during the trip we didn't meet a single Israeli and the locals were quite surprised every time we said we were from Israel, so it seems it really is a destination that hasn't quite reached Israelis yet.

We traveled as 3 friends in September 2026, something between backpacking and a vacation. We stayed in apartments/hotels through Booking, traveled by local transport, and at the end planned to finish with a few days at a resort in Sal.

Overall, I think Cape Verde is a really interesting destination for anyone wanting something that is a bit Africa and a bit Europe. The architecture and influence are Portuguese, the food and pace are more African.. they are also famous for their local music which is very unique. What's cool is the variety of the islands – they have 10 islands and each island has a completely different character and landscape. If you want to fly to a place with landscape diversity, Cape Verde is totally it.

We arrived because we were looking for a destination where during the holidays it is still warm and pleasant to swim in the water, with beautiful beaches, and that isn't Thailand. I have traveled a lot in Africa, but for my friends it was their first time on the continent and we wanted something relatively accessible and Westernized. In hindsight, it was a great compromise.

A bit of background because in my opinion that's also part of what makes the country interesting: the islands were uninhabited before the Portuguese arrived in the 15th century, and later became a significant point in the Atlantic slave trade. So the culture that developed there is from the start a mix of African and Portuguese and not quite similar to other countries I've traveled to in Africa.

Our itinerary:

1. Boa Vista - 3 days

2. Sal - 1 day transit

3. São Vicente - about 5 days

4. Santo Antão - 3 days

5. Sal again - 2 nights that were supposed to be 4.

In hindsight, I would add time to Boa Vista, skip Sal completely unless you want a resort (though there are also some in Boa Vista), and maybe try to include Fogo, which is a volcanic island we heard good things about.

If I have to summarize each island in one sentence:

Boa Vista - Come for quiet and beaches.

São Vicente - Come for the local culture.

Santo Antão - Come for hiking and nature.

Sal - Come if you need a transit stop, or if your goal is a resort.

Season:

We were there in September and it was nicely warm, pleasant to get into the water, and at night there is sometimes a nice breeze. In terms of weather, I would come again during this period.
We did happen to hit a relatively unusual storm event in Sal (Storm Gonzalez). The island was flooded to the point that in some places we walked in knee-deep water, roads and infrastructure were damaged, and many resorts were destroyed. There was nothing that felt life-threatening to us, the island just pretty much stopped functioning, and because of that we shortened the trip by two days and flew back to London earlier.

Arrival:
We flew via London. From London there are flights by TUI and EasyJet and you can find really good prices. For us it came out around $100 one way per person because we were set on specific dates, but we also saw flights around $60 from England and other places in Europe.
You need to get an ETA before arrival. We did it about a week in advance and it was approved immediately. Among other things, you need accommodation for the first night.

Inter-island transfers:
This is probably one of the things most worth understanding before arriving because transfers between the islands are not always intuitive.
You can move between the islands by flights or ferries. There isn't always a direct connection between two islands you want, and sometimes you have to go through another island or even spend a night there, so I would definitely build at least the skeleton of the route in advance.
We booked domestic flights through CVSky, the local airline. Its flights do not appear on Skyscanner/Google Flights, so it's worth checking directly on their website. It's important to note that their website and payment system are not amazing, to say the least. We had an issue with Israeli cards, and at some point there wasn't even an option to select Israel as an address. We called the airline and they sent us a different link for payment and it was resolved.
The flights themselves are short. From Boa Vista to Sal the flight was less than ten minutes even though it said half an hour, and from Sal to São Vicente about an hour. For us they cost around 200-300 NIS per person per flight.

We booked ferries through CV Interilhas. Some of the ferries depart at night due to sea conditions, and on Sundays there are fewer options (if any), which is also why we flew from Boa Vista to Sal instead of taking a ferry.
We heard before arriving that the ferries are unreliable and get cancelled a lot due to weather, but we were actually there during a storm and nothing was cancelled for us, and locals told us that cancellations are not that common. We even booked a day in advance. We did have trouble booking online, so in São Vicente we simply physically went to the office.
The ferry between São Vicente and Santo Antão departs from Mindelo, takes about an hour, and cost us around 15 euros.

Getting around and transportation:

We got around either by taxi or by Aluguer, which is basically a colectivo (local minibus) that waits for people and departs when full or when the driver decides he's tired of waiting. We happened to sit inside one for almost an hour waiting for it to leave.

It's really cheap; certain rides cost us around 150 escudos, something like a euro and a half. You pay the driver at the end. We didn't feel like they were trying to rip off tourists with prices, and prices were pretty consistent for everyone.
*In Santo Antao it's important to know that alugueres are sometimes synchronized with the ferries. If you get off the ferry and want one, don't stall too much because if you miss it you might wait a long time or need to take a private taxi.

Money:
The currency is Cape Verdean Escudo. Basically many places also accept euros and usually calculate in a simple way of roughly 1 euro = 100 escudos, but it's not certain that this is always the most profitable rate for you.
I would arrive with euros and at the same time withdraw local money from an ATM. For transport, villages, and small things you need cash. In restaurants and tourist places you can usually pay by credit card. Cash withdrawal cost us a small fee of about a dollar.

SIM:
We got an eSIM from Unitel T+ even before landing. Something around 10 euros for 10GB. Worked great. In Santo Antao and on treks there are places without reception, so I recommend downloading an offline map in advance.
Language:
The language is Portuguese and local Creole. In many places we managed in English, a friend who was with us speaks French and that also helped quite a bit (they learn French in school as a second language), and in places where we couldn't manage, Google Translate solved the problem. I didn't feel that Portuguese was mandatory to travel there.

Prices:
Our accommodation averaged about 50 euros per night for three people. We booked on the go through Booking and had no special problem finding places.
Food and other things are cheaper than in Israel, but not significantly. In tourist places like Sal, a meal can easily cost 40-50 shekels per person.

Food:

Food-wise, they have Cachupa which is the famous local dish, a lot of fish, goat cheeses, and another dish they call couscous, but it's more like a corn polenta style. For me personally, the food was not the highlight of the trip (to put it mildly), at some point we aimed to cook for ourselves.
There is also local alcohol called grogue, which is a type of sugarcane rum if I'm not mistaken, which is pretty harsh. There is also ponche, which is a more diluted version with different flavors; we tasted the passion fruit. We weren't blown away, but nice to try. There is also wine produced on the volcanic island of Fogo.

*Pay attention to water and ice. Tap water is not recommended to drink, and sometimes the ice served is not necessarily made from filtered water. A friend of ours got severe food poisoning, so it's worth being vigilant about this topic.

As far as we were concerned, it felt really safe. We walked around freely, even in cities, and there wasn't a place where we felt uncomfortable or had to think twice.

Also in terms of prices and dealing with locals, we didn't feel that vibe that exists in some African countries where they are constantly trying to get more money out of you (maybe only in markets when bargaining). We had a few isolated less pleasant experiences, but as a rule, prices are pretty fixed, people don't bargain too much, and people are very nice and talkative.
Already on the first day in Boa Vista, a waiter at a restaurant simply sat with us on his own initiative and helped us plan the order of the islands and recommended that we go to São Vicente and Santo Antão, which in the end is exactly what we did.

Travelers:
We didn't meet Israelis at all. The locals were also really surprised when they heard we were from Israel.
There is tourism, even more than I expected. Most of the tourists we met were British, Portuguese, Spanish, and French. In Sal and Boa Vista, there are many European resort tourists, including many couples and older people. In Santo Antão, there are much more backpackers because of the treks.
We didn't stay in hostels, so I don't know how the destination is for a solo traveler socially.

In retrospect, I would have stayed here longer.

We were in the Sal Rei area for three days and barely explored the rest of the island. The beach there is really one of the most beautiful and pleasant beaches I've been to. White sand, calm water because of the lagoon, quiet, and nobody bothers you or tries to sell you something every five minutes.
And the coolest part is that you just walk along the beach and see baby sharks in the water. We saw hammerhead and blacktip sharks, and we understood there are also lemon sharks in the area, but we didn't see those.

I really recommend bringing a snorkel in advance. It took us a long time to find where to buy one and in the end we found one in one of the Chinese shops for an exorbitant price of 18 euros.

We also did an organized snorkeling tour and weren't crazy about it, especially compared to the fact that you can just walk along the beach and see sharks.
If I were to return I would stay here a few more days, do a tour of the island and the dunes, and mainly relax on the beaches. The place is very calm and quiet, but doesn't feel deserted.

It is important to mention that Boa Vista is also quite a touristy island, and a local we spoke with said there isn't a lot of local culture or local population compared to other islands.

We arrived in Boa Vista on a flight from London (+- 5 hours) and took a taxi from the airport to the apartment we booked, and it cost us 15,000 cve (15 euros).

Personally, I would skip it.
We were in Santa Maria and it felt very touristy to us, crowded with resorts, expensive, and simply less interesting than the rest of the islands.
We managed to be there before the storm as well, so this conclusion does not stem only from the flooding. Simply put, if you want a resort vacation then it is probably a great place, but if you want to travel around Cape Verde I would invest the time in the other islands.
We were supposed to end our trip there with four nights of vacation, but in practice, we cut it short to two because of the storm.

Here we already felt Cape Verde itself much more.

We stayed in Mindelo, which is a large and lively city with many locals. We mostly walked around on foot. There is a beach, markets, streets, and houses with colorful Portuguese architecture, shops, and souvenirs. It's simply nice to walk around the city and soak it in.

There is also a mountain you can go up for a viewpoint, but we didn't do it.
One of the coolest things we did was swimming with sea turtles in São Pedro. We went to the transport area near the market in Mindelo and some local just asked us if we were on our way to see the turtles. We said yes and he connected us with his friend.

We took an aluguer to São Pedro, which is a beach near the airport, and there the locals gave us snorkels and took us to swim with the turtles for 15 euros or something like that. It was really nice and you don't necessarily need to book fancy attractions in advance. You can just arrive at the area and someone will probably offer it to you.

For me, this is the island of nature and trekking, and it is one of the highlights of the trip.

The island is insanely green, with mountains, valleys that are almost jungle, agricultural terraces, cliffs, and small villages. Really different from Boa Vista and Sal.

You can do lots of treks, day trips, and somewhat more serious journeys. Basically, the island has a pretty informative website about it. There are also people who rent cars there.

We left our big backpacks at the place where we knew we would sleep on the last night near the port in the city of Porto Novo (where the ferry arrives) and set off for a few days with a small bag. I really recommend doing this if you are taking a similar route.

On the first day, we wanted to take an aluguer from the ferry, but we missed it and had to take a private taxi to Cova. So again, if you want local transport after the ferry, don't waste time.

From there we did the route Cova -> Paul Valley.
You start from the top in the crater area and descend into the valley. The views are insane and the path is relatively clear and marked. In my opinion, you don't need a guide, but I would download an offline navigation app just to be safe because there is no reception everywhere.
It took us about 4 hours. In terms of difficulty, I would say easy-moderate, but it involves a lot of downhill walking and at a certain point, your knees scream for help.

There is an option to keep walking right up to the coastline, to the town called Paul. The official trail ends at the first village where transport reaches; we got tired from the descent so we caught an aluguer from the area and continued towards Cruzinha.

We stayed at a place called Questel BronQ, which I highly recommend. It's isolated, has a pool, amazing view, and an adjacent black sand beach that looks like something out of a movie. The whole area is surrounded by mountains and agricultural terraces and it's just a really beautiful place to be. We also stayed there an extra day to rest because our legs were exhausted from the previous day's descents..

We saw that in the area there are quite a few similar isolated resorts, with insane views and high-standard facilities.

However, on the beaches in this area, I wouldn't just jump into the sea. The sea is dangerous with waves and currents, and there are also Portuguese man o' war in the area. We personally didn't see any, but travelers who were with us said they saw them on the beach the day before, so it's worth checking before going in (it is super dangerous and can even be fatal to humans).

From there we did the Cruzinha -> Ponta do Sol trek.
This is probably the trek I liked most on the trip. About 5 hours, I would rate it moderate-difficult. There are a lot of ascents and descents, and at one point a pretty significant steep climb, but the views are totally worth it.
The route follows an ancient path along the cliffs of the northern coast and passes through small villages that have no vehicle access at all.
We did this trail independently as well. The path is relatively intuitive and there are trail markers, but again, download offline navigation.
There are villages along the way where you can sometimes buy a Cola, a banana, or a small snack—cash only, of course—but I wouldn't count on it. Bring enough water and snacks.
At the end, you reach Ponta do Sol, which is the northern town in the area. In hindsight, I would have loved to spend more time there, but we had time constraints.

It's also cool and surprising that there is some Jewish history there—in the 19th century, Sephardic Jews came to Cape Verde mainly from Morocco and Gibraltar and settled, among other places, in Santo Antão. In Ponta do Sol, there is a small Jewish cemetery with a few graves that was renovated in recent years and features a nice Menorah mosaic, and there is even a town in the area named Sinagoga whose name is connected to the synagogue that once stood in the area (today only ruins remain of it).

From there we took transport back to Porto Novo, where we had left our bags, and spent the night until the morning ferry back to Mindelo.

In hindsight, I'm really glad we came to Cape Verde and I would return, especially since I saw that it can be an interesting stopover with direct flights and accessibility to distant destinations like Brazil. I would probably just divide the time a bit differently with more time in Boa Vista and almost none in Sal, and maybe try to include Fogo or another island we didn't make it to. It's a really cool destination for anyone looking for something diverse and a bit different, with an interesting blend of Africa and Europe.