Cape Verde

Sal's Santa Maria beach stretches two kilometres of golden sand with kitesurfing schools, watersports operators and beachfront restaurants. Ponta Preta and Kite Beach deliver world-class conditions with consistent 15-25 knot trade winds. The salt pans of Pedra de Lume, inside a volcanic crater, let you float in brine denser than the Dead Sea. Boa Vista has longer, emptier beaches — Praia de Chaves and Santa Monica — where loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) nest from July to October; guided night excursions observe egg-laying under conservation protocols. The Viana Desert on Boa Vista and the shipwreck of the Cabo Santa Maria add variety beyond the sand.

Santo Antao offers the best trekking in Cape Verde and some of the finest in the Macaronesian archipelagos. The Paul Valley descends through terraced sugar cane, banana groves and grogue (local rum) distilleries. The Cova crater — an extinct volcanic bowl turned agricultural patchwork — marks the start of trails dropping to Ribeira Grande on colonial cobblestone paths. Ponta do Sol connects to Fontainhas, a village clinging to sea cliffs above the Atlantic — one of the most photographed settlements in Cape Verde. Walks of three to seven hours, guide recommended. Access by one-hour ferry from Mindelo (Sao Vicente).

Pico do Fogo (2,829 metres) is an active stratovolcano whose near-perfect cone dominates the island. The five-to-six-hour return ascent (mandatory guide) crosses a moonscape of lava flows and scoria to a crater rim with views across the entire archipelago. Inside the caldera, the village of Cha das Caldeiras was partially buried by the 2014-2015 eruption — residents returned to rebuild among the lava and continue cultivating grapes, coffee and apples at 1,700 metres on volcanic soil. Fogo wine, produced in tiny quantities from this otherworldly vineyard, is one of the rarest and most unusual wines in the Atlantic. Sao Filipe, the island capital, has quiet colonial charm.

Mindelo on Sao Vicente is the birthplace of sodade — the Cape Verdean longing expressed through morna music, brought to the world by Cesaria Evora. Bars like Cafe Musique and Casa da Morna host live music every night: morna, coladeira, funana and batuku. The Mindelo Carnival (February-March) is the most spectacular festival in the archipelago — costumed troupes, percussion and dancing through streets that feel like a pocket-sized Rio. The Baia das Gatas Festival in August brings international musicians to a beachside stage. Music is not a tourist performance in Cape Verde — it is the social fabric.

Santiago is the largest, most populated and most African of the islands. Cidade Velha (UNESCO World Heritage), fifteen minutes from Praia, was the first permanent European settlement in the tropics (1462) and a key node in the transatlantic slave trade — the pelourinho (pillory), the Fortaleza Real de Sao Filipe and the church of Nossa Senhora do Rosario bear witness. Praia's Sucupira Market overflows with fabric, spices and music. Batuku — percussive singing and dancing by Santiago women — is a pre-colonial cultural expression that remains vibrantly alive.