Sal is where the plane lands. It is not where Cape Verde is.
Which island to fly into, which to save for the ferry, and what a day out costs on each. Reviews of the tours you can book across the archipelago, from the salt crater on Sal to the volcano crater on Fogo.
Five days out that decide a Cape Verde week.
One from each island most people reach. What each costs, how long it takes, and what the travellers who booked it came back saying.
01The first full dayIsland Experience Tour with a Certified Local GuideSal end to end with a guide who grew up on it. Salt pans, the blue cave and the shark shallows in one run.
02The half-day versionAll-Inclusive Salt Lake, Blue Eye and Shark Bay TourThe same three Sal landmarks without the lunch stop. Go in the middle of the day, when the light drops into Buracona.
03The day on deckAll-Inclusive Half-Day Lounge Catamaran CruiseA catamaran out of Santa Maria with shade, a ladder and the wind behind you. Book the afternoon sailing.
04The water on MindeloSão Vicente’s Enchanting Sea Turtle SnorkelingNinety minutes snorkelling over turtle ground off São Vicente. Little swell, and you are back for lunch in town.
05The one that hurtsPico do Fogo Volcano Summit HikePico do Fogó from the caldera floor, starting in the dark. Six hours up black scree, and nobody forgets it.
The Atlantic here is warm all year, and it is full.
Lemon sharks stand in knee-deep water at Shark Bay. Loggerheads nest on Boa Vista through the summer and feed off Mindelo all year. The reefs are volcanic rock, so the fish sit close in. Four kinds of day on the water, and what it takes to board each.
★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · All-Inclusive Salt Lake, Blue Eye and Shark Bay Tour
Shark Bay, on footLemon sharks circling shin-deep water. Nobody gets in a cage.
Turtle nightsLoggerheads hauling up the beach to lay, with a guide and no torches.
Reef and turtle snorkelsVolcanic rock close to shore, so the fish are on your first breath.
Catamaran afternoonsShade, a swim ladder and the trade wind doing the work.
All 180 Cape Verde reviews →
Nine inhabited islands, and no two of them are alike.
Flat and windblown in the east, green and vertical in the north, volcanic in the middle. Pick the island first and the days out arrange themselves.
Most of Sal and Boa Vista is gravel, and that is the point.
There is no coast road worth the name on either flat island. What there is: salt pans below sea level, a desert of Saharan sand that blew across and stayed, and a cave the sun drops into at midday. Buggy, quad or somebody else’s 4x4.
- 1Santiago Island Tour with Tastings and Tarrafal Beachfrom $76
- 24h SSV Buggy Island Adventure – 1000cc or 500cc
- 32h SSV Buggy Desert Adventure – 1000cc or 500cc
The most booked days out in Cape Verde.
The whole archipelago, reviewed →More travellers take these than anything else across the islands, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Island Experience Tour with a Certified Local Guide
Spend seven hours touring Sal with a local guide such as Tony, Christian, Nany, or Kiki. You will visit Shark Bay, float in Pedra de Lume’s salt crater, see Buracona’s Blue Eye, and pass through Santa Maria, Palmeira, Espargos, and Murdeira. Transport, hotel pickup, guide photos, and a natural pool swim are included. Lunch and entry fees cost extra.
From · $41
Read our review →
2
All-Inclusive Salt Lake, Blue Eye and Shark Bay Tour
from $53
3
Blu eye, Salt lake, Lemon Sharks & Palmeira
from $35
4
Guided Snorkeling and Reef Tour
from $44
5
Complete Excursion and Flight on the Zipline Cabo Verde
from $56
6
Horse Riding in Sal Island – Cabo Verde
from $60
7
All-Inclusive Half-Day Lounge Catamaran Cruise
from $81
8
Sea Turtle Watching Experience on Sal Island
from $41
Escudos, euros and what the islands really charge for a day out.
Every tour on the site grouped by price. The islands are cheaper than the resorts on them suggest, once you are off the hotel desk.
Town walks, the salt crater, short snorkel runs and the shared island loops.
The full-day standards: island tours with lunch, catamaran afternoons, turtle nights.
Private 4x4 days, the Fogo summit with a mountain guide, chartered boats.
- 12-Hour Buggy Desert Adventurefrom $170
- 2Full day Sailing yacht – Beautiful day on the Atlantic Oceanfrom $150
- 34-Hour Buggy Island Tourfrom $305
Four Cape Verde bookings that run on a season, not a whim.
Most of the archipelago can be arranged the night before from a bar in Santa Maria. These four cannot. They run on nesting seasons, ferry timetables, migration and the hour the sun clears a mountain.
- 01Sea Turtle Watching Experience on Sal IslandLoggerheads come ashore to nest through the summer and the hatchlings follow into the autumn. Outside that window a turtle night has nothing to show you.
- 02Pico do Fogo Volcano Summit HikeThe summit walk leaves the caldera floor in the dark to be off the scree before the heat, and the guide roster is small. It is arranged days ahead, not on the morning.
- 03Santo Antão Day Trip with Local GuideSanto Antão has no airport. Everything there hangs off the Mindelo ferry, which runs to a timetable and fills in the high season.
- 04Whale Watching Trip with MotoryachtHumpbacks pass through in spring on their way north. The boats only go out for them for a few weeks a year.
Three things you can only do in Cape Verde.
Beaches and boat trips belong to every warm archipelago. A salt crater you float in, a cave that turns the sea to neon at noon, and a live volcano with vineyards inside it do not.
The salt pans at Pedra de Lume
A volcanic crater on the east side of Sal was cut open in the 1800s so seawater could be let in and dried for salt. The pans are still there, below sea level, and the brine is heavy enough to hold you flat on the surface. Rinse afterwards, because the crust dries on your skin within minutes.
- 1All-Inclusive Salt Lake, Blue Eye and Shark Bay Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,033 reviews
- 2Blu eye, Salt lake, Lemon Sharks & Palmeira★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 1,003 reviews
- 3Santa Maria, Sal: All inclusive Salt Lake, Blue Eye and Shark Bay★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 311 reviews
The Blue Eye at Buracona
A hole in the lava field near Palmeira drops into a flooded chamber. For an hour either side of noon the sun comes through the gap at the right angle and the water inside turns a shade of blue that looks switched on. Earlier or later it is a dark pool, so the tour time is the whole visit.
- 1All-Inclusive Salt Lake, Blue Eye and Shark Bay Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,033 reviews
- 2Santa Maria, Sal: All inclusive Salt Lake, Blue Eye and Shark Bay★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 311 reviews
- 3Sal Island, Salinas, Buracona and lemon shark★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 34 reviews
Pico do Fogó and Chã das Caldeiras
Fogo is a single volcano rising to 2,829 metres, and people farm inside its caldera. The 2014 eruption buried two villages in lava and the survivors rebuilt on top of it. Vines and coffee grow in the ash. The summit walk starts before dawn from the caldera floor.
- 1Pico do Fogo Volcano Summit Hike★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 92 reviews
- 2Hiking Cova Volcano Crater to Ribeira Paúl★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 31 reviews
- 3A day on FOGO Island to discover VOLCAN★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 17 reviews
Cape Verde has weather, it just is not rain.
The trade wind blows hardest from December to April, which is why the kite crowd comes then and why the small boats sometimes stay in. Between January and March the harmattan can carry Saharan dust across the islands and flatten the light for days. Both have the same answer: go inland, go underground, or go where the wind is the point.
Island by island
Sal, Boa Vista, Santiago, then north to Mindelo and the hills.
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