Cape Verde Travel Forum

i have heard good things about cape verde but know nothing about it.
i am keen to take a holiday there in late november from london
can anyone advise me for a quiet relaxing place?
also....does anyone have any good travel agents for holidays there?????
advice is much appreciated

Hey!
Cape Verde for sure is a great place. If you really want to go to a quiet place I'd recommend Sâo Nicolau or Santo Antão. They offer both beautiful mountains, small villages and clean lonely beaches. Boavista might be an option too - it's covered by sand dunes.
Sal is too spoilt by tourism already and expensive also. Santiago is the most populated and therefore rather busy. Fogo is all about a big volcano. São Vicente hosts the 2nd biggest city Mindelo and has some fine beaches and mountains too. Maio is a bit like Sal and Boavista - saaandy. And Brava is a bit tricky to reach - you'd need at least 3-4 weeks in total.
Don't know about travel agents in the UK. There is plenty of information available on the internet though. You might just book a flight - it's easy to find a place to stay on the islands.
Get back to me for more information if you need some.
Cheers

I an also intersted in travelling to CV. BY my research so far i doesn;t lookeasy to move between the islands. Do you always have to fly? Looks like we would arrive in Sal but would prefer some time on Santiago or Sau Vicente Any advice on moving around? Also is it easy to find decent budget acommodaton
Thanks
Boo

bookmark.... (we may travel to CV next December)

Moving between the islands by ferry is not that easy. If you land in Sal it is highly advisable to book a flight to go to Santiago or Saõ Vicente. There is a ferry from Sal to the other two, but it does not have a really fixed schedule and you can hardly find out about the present schedule from here. You need to go to the local office and ask there and it's changing quite often. For example festivals are a trigger for the ferries and they adjust their journey around that sometimes.
Between Santiago and Saõ Vicente there are two ships, so twice weekly connections. The boats' names are "Praia d'Aguada" (bigger and more comfortable) which used to leave Santiago on Thursday and São Vicente on Monday last year. And there is the "Tarrafal" (older ship). They have agencies in Mindelo and Praia, but don't expect to easily find them, there is no obvious agency sign in front of the office - so ask your way around.
I would only advise you to organise these things locally (AND ferries cannot be booked/organised from here!)IF you speak Portuguese. As I said - schedules are changing, problems occur often, agency location is not obvious and the staff does not speak English or any language other than Portuguese.
I took different ferries several times when I was living in CV. It is well possible to use them if you have plenty of time and speak the language. If you have tighter restrictions it's a bit tricky. When I went to CV as a tourist first, I was waiting for the above mentionned "Tarrafal" on Sâo Nicolau for 3 weeks... They had some issues with the engine or whatever. In the end I had to convince a fisherman to take me to Sal in order not to miss my flight back home.