Cape Verde (official name Cabo Verde) consists of 10 inhabited islands but most holidays are concentrated on two of them.
Most visitors come back from their holidays on these islands (Ilha do Sal and Boa Vista) with the impression that Cape Verde mostly offers warm weather and nice beaches. The Cape Verde islands have so much more to offer !
Combining a stay on two islands in particular, Sao Vicente and Santo Antao gives the flavour of the true, authentic Cape Verde.
These island offer so many things to do and to see (and hear).
The music in the city of Mindelo in Sao Vicente, the hikes in Santo Antao ……
More ideas and practical information about Sao Vicente (and Santo Antao) is given below.
The weather in Sao Vicente (and Cabo Verde in general) is comfortable all year except for the rainy season (August – October).
During November – June, the day temperature ranges from 24C to 25C with night-time temperatures dropping by 4C.
Sea temperatures range from 22C to 24C so all you need is a shorty.
The windy season start at the end of October and ends at the end of June with winds of >4 BFT more than 90% of days, blowing all day mostly at 16-18 knots.
Weather conditions are perfect for sports fishing during April – June and for diving, during July – October. If you want to enjoy Santo Antao when it is still green, the best period is October – February.
Read more about the weather and activities for each month ….
Finding convenient flights to Sao Vicente at a reasonable price is a major challenge.
Here are a number of tips to make it easier for you to find the best flights into Sao Vicente:
- Be prepared to fly in and out on a particular day of the week (for instance, if you insist on looking for leaving on Friday you may only have bad flight options)
- Look for flights with TAP (& Star Alliance flights) with a connection in Lisbon
- Look for 2 separate flights: one flying into Amsterdam or Paris, connecting with a TACV flight into Sao Vicente
- If time is important to you, avoid taking a charter (low-cost) airline into Sal to connect with a local flight into Sao Vicente.
- If you can fly from Paris, consider the direct flight by TACV.
- If you can fly from Amsterdam, consider the direct flight by Transavia during October – April.
Read more…..
The huge bonus that Sao Vicente offers over nice beaches and great kitesurf conditions are the many other things to do and to see.
Mindelo is the cultural capital of the Cape Verde marked by colonial buildings and famous for it’s music.
For breathtaking views, steep mountains with green vegetation (and even little waterfalls): Santo Antao is worth the 1 hour ferry trip from Sao Vicente.
Discovering the country-side of Sao Vicente is rewarding with mountain views over beaches.
For those who like the water: surfing, windsurfing , diving and sport fishing are some of the options.
Read more about things to do in Sao Vicente and other Cape Verde islands…
How do I find the road to the kitesurf spot at Salamansa (shown on the right)?
Where is the island of Sao Vicente?
Moreover: where are the Cape Verde islands?
Let’s start with the Cape Verde islands. From Europe, straight down South, past the Canary Islands. The flight time from Paris, London, Amsterdam is close to 6 hours.
To get a sense of how far down south the islands are: they are on the line drawn between Senegal and the Caribbean Islands.
Sao Vicente and Santo Antao are the islands that are furthest to the North-West, catching most of the trade winds and the big ocean swells in the winter (Santo Antao) and summer (Sao Vicente).
Salamansa, the main kitesurf spot is about 10km to the East of the capital Mindelo. A 30 minute route that takes you over the mountains of Sao Vicente.
We have become more conscious about safety as terrorist attacks, kidnappings and disease outbreaks (such as ebola) are reported in the press.
Cape Verde is a peaceful, democratic country. The vast majority of the population is devout Catholic.
The general attitude of locals is to stay relaxed (no stress). Greetings such as “Tut cool” and “Tut tranquil” are commonplace.
For infectious diseases such as Hepatitis, HIV, Malaria, and ebola, Cabo Verde is considered as safe as the home countries in Europe. Vaccination before you travel is not required.
For land based insects and animals: there are no dangerous ones.
On the contrary, in the water, there are sharks and sometimes even baracuda. Over the many years of monitoring, one case of a shark attack has been recorded (a tourist asking local fisherman to dump cut up fresh fish in the ocean at an island known to be the breading area for sharks).
