Sal to Santo Antão: escudos pegged to the euro, inter-island flights, aluguers, morna, and data that changes with each island.
Secure, effective and private eSIMs across the globe
Cape Verde is nine inhabited islands and they are not variations on one beach. Sal and Boa Vista sell wind, salt flats and resort strips. Santiago holds the capital, Praia, and Cidade Velha's early colonial stone. São Vicente is Mindelo: music, a harbour, and Carnival energy. Santo Antão is terraces, cobbled roads and hikes that start after a ferry from Mindelo.
You island-hop by small plane more than by ferry, except that Santo Antão crossing, which is part of the point. An aluguer is a shared minibus that leaves when it is full. Crioulo is what you hear. Portuguese is what signs and officials use. The escudo is pegged to the euro; cards work on Sal and fail you on a mountain road in Paul.
The wind is not a metaphor on the eastern islands. Cachupa is the stew you eat twice. Music is a reason to stay up in Mindelo, not a playlist. August rain on the green islands is a different trip from a February week on a Sal sunbed. Do not book four islands in eight days unless you enjoy airports.
Essentials
Traveler tips
Real advice from people who have been to Cape Verde, curated by our team with links to the original sources.
Sal plus a Santo Antão hike week is a trip. Sal–Santiago–São Vicente–Boa Vista in ten days is a baggage carousel.
Book it, watch the swell forecast, and do not treat the mountain island as a half-day from a Mindelo brunch. The terraces need walking hours.
There is no app. Ask the destination, wait, and enjoy the music from the phone taped to the dash. A private aluguer costs more and saves a day.
Santa Maria will take a card for dinner. A ridge village on Santo Antão will not. Withdraw in town before the hike.
Go for the fort and the pillory square with a driver or aluguer, and read a page of history first. It is small and it is not Sal.
TripAdvisor Forums
The classic Santo Antão walks are linear: start high at Cova and drop into Vale do Paul, or walk the coast from Cruzinha toward Ponta do Sol. An aluguer to the ridge and a different one from the valley floor beats parking and retracing. Charter the minibus only when you need a private timetable.
View sourceTripAdvisor Forums
The ferry dumps you in Porto Novo, which is a port, not the hiking island. Ribeira Grande and Ponta do Sol put you on the aluguer lines and near the valley heads. Remote family rooms exist; hitchhiking does not, because the shared vans are the habit.
View sourceFAQ
Pick two islands, not four. Fly the hop, ferry only to Santo Antão from Mindelo. The airline app is why you want data at Sal or Praia — wind moves the timetable.
They leave when full; there is no app. Data helps you find the stand and message a guesthouse. A private aluguer is a conversation, not a pin drop.
Resort kiosks exist. An eSIM means the next inter-island boarding pass is already on the phone when the wind shifts.
Mindelo and the ferry terminal are fine. Paul Valley switchbacks are not a promise. Download offline maps before you sail.
Yes, if it is a Cape Verde plan. You are still in the same country. The gap is coverage on small islands, not a border.
eSIM plans
Inter-island flights move when the wind allows, and the airline app is how you find out. A Cape Verde eSIM is online at Sal or Praia so the next hop and the aluguer pin are not a hunt for café Wi-Fi.
Install it before you fly. Town 4G on Sal and in Mindelo is fine. Screenshot boarding passes and download Santo Antão maps before the ferry — the valleys do not owe you a bar of signal.