Tips & Tricks
Santa Maria Festival (Santa Maria beach, Sal Island) —this musical event is held every Fall season at this popular beach town. Various Cape Verdean and international artists perform at this outdoor beachside concert. Musical genres highlighted there range from youth-oriented, fast-moving rhythms like Kizomba and kuduro, to fado and even reggae.
Morna Fest (Praça Dom Luis, Mindelo, São Vicente) – held every December, this musical event brings together local and Portuguese artists who perform the soulful morna songs that these islands are famous for. Along with the live performances, there are also workshops, forums and lectures held in various parts of Mindelo dedicated to the advancement […]
São Vicente Creole Carnival (Mindelo, São Vicente) – these festivities, held in February, are undoubtedly influenced by the famed carnivals held in Brazil (given the bright and extravagantly costumed locals that are often seen there). Although revelers can be found throughout the island, the largest gatherings are easily found in the island’s main city of […]
Shopping options anywhere in Cape Verde (be it Sal, Mindelo in São Vicente, Santiago, and elsewhere), are very limited, centering on make-shift open-air shopping strips that are hard to miss when one passes through the center of major towns. The closer one is to a tourist-friendly area, the more likely one will run into street […]
Fishing (Mindelo, São Vicente) – the excursion outfit “Billfish-Club Cabo Verde” organizes sports fishing trips from Mindelo harbor (www.capeverde-fishing.com). Billfish-Club had the distinction of catching one of the biggest marlin anywhere in the globe (weighing 1,093 lbs.) – astonishing, considering that the average marlin weighs in between 200-350 lbs. Billfish-Club also won the prestigious “AFTCO […]
Fogo Volcano tours – the active Pico do Fogo volcano – standing at a height of 2829 meters, inevitably attracts tourists interested in this unique site. With the original name of this island being São Filipe, it’s no surprise that locals changed its name to “fogo” (fire). Its last major eruption was in 1675 – […]