The travel guide to Sal: The best tips!
The best tips for Sal in Cape Verde
Cape Verde is one of the most accessible places in Africa for tourists. Many holidaymakers, windsurfers and beach lovers come here. Sal is the most famous island and attracts the most tourists of all the islands. My wife, son and I have been traveling around the world for a month or two when we settled in Cape Verde. My opinion about this country is really very positive, because so little of the island is built on. The island is also not too big, so you can travel around the island in a short time. There is plenty to do both in and around the water and on land! I have listed all the tips for your holiday in Sal.
Also watch the video with even more tips for your holiday!
Read all the tips for your holiday in this travel blog, but did you know that there is also a video travel guide online about Sal, Cape Verde? So take a look Sal, Cape Verde: Video with all highlights.
The beach of Santa Maria with the pier seen from above.
Rent a car on Sal
Renting a car in Sal is not a difficult task. You can get a car for one or more days through any hotel or tour company. Because the island is not very large and the sights can be visited in a few days, you will not need it for your entire stay. I strongly advise you to rent a 4×4, because the island of Sal only has one real paved main road. There are also many dirt roads or you can even cycle completely off-road through the sandy landscape. You can get a small 4×4 for about fifty euros a day and they will simply bring it to you and pick it up at your hotel.
Our Suzuki Jimny looks robust, but nothing could be further from the truth. On roads like these, every part of this car rattles. The suspension broke down somewhere around the turn of the century and the tires can only last one lap. It doesn’t matter, because we have plenty of time and we quietly bump from mountain to bush. In this photo you can see that Cape Verde really is Africa!
We cross the island with this little Suzuki Jimny.
Where to stay on Sal in Cape Verde
I would like to give you some tips about where to stay during your holiday on Sal. Sal actually has all the accommodations in and around the seaside resort of Santa Maria. There are resorts, hotels and smaller bed and breakfasts along an endless stretch of the most beautiful beaches, but all restaurants and bars can also be found here.
Porto Antigo
We stay on Sal in a beautiful apartment in a complex called Porto Antigo. It looks like a small village to the west of the city of Santa Maria. Furthermore, this part of the city is worth a visit for music, atmosphere, good food and just strolling around. Local culture and tourism are completely intertwined here. The people are friendly and quick-witted. Before you know it you are talking to people for fifteen minutes, about football or music or whatever. We have an apartment with a swimming pool and a kind of swimming pool in the sea, as shown in the photo below. We can cool off under the African sun! A Dutch family we came into contact with rents out apartments under the name Bobby Was Here and this is a gem where we would like to visit.
The living room of our ‘house by the sea’ has an African touch. The house has the atmosphere we like. Eating out in Cape Verde is very cheap, just like the drinks. We sometimes just eat here at home, just because we have our own kitchen here. Then our son Jens also gets some vegetables! From our lovely balcony we look out over the swimming pool. The first days we are half here and half at the pool, recovering a bit from our world trip.
The African decor of our beautiful apartment.
Moradias
Another fantastic place to stay is Moradias, a little further east from Santa Maria. Staying here is fairly cheap and there are many options. Moradias consists of four large blocks with colored apartments. All apartments have enough space and their own kitchen. Moreover, you are within walking distance of all restaurants in Santa Maria and the pleasant pier.
We are in Moradias Verde, the green color. The pool is large and quiet.
The statue of Christ under water
Santa Maria has traditionally been an ordinary fishing village, before all the tourists and hotels came here. A special piece of culture from the past can still be seen under water. In Santa Maria there is a statue of Christ on the seabed off the coast. This was put in place to protect fishermen on the water from the force of the sea. You can swim to it, about fifty meters in front of the Porto Antigo hotel, where we happen to be staying. Bring your snorkel and a GoPro, but make sure the waves allow it! The wind can be strong on Sal and that makes swimming there a bit more difficult sometimes.
Santa Maria, the seaside resort with beautiful beaches
On the streets of Santa Maria, where we stay, I can enjoy the locals. Tourism has become an important part of these islands, but that seems to go very well with the culture. No stress is the motto of this island and that is what the locals often say to you when you walk by. The lady in the photo walks past all the shops with her colorful wheelbarrow to sell fruit. At the Santa Maria pier it’s all about fish. Everyone has their own task. We see the boxes of fish coming in from the boats and this boy immediately goes to work with it. As soon as it is ready, the tunas are transported back to the restaurants. Really lovely to walk around here.
The Salinas of the island of Sal
The island of Sal is named after two large salt lakes that occupy a large part of the island. Sal is the Portuguese word for salt. As far as I’m concerned, you could safely call the island ‘Sand’, because that’s about the other 80%. We visit Salina Pedra de Lume, literally translated: the salt lake of Flint.
Salina Pedra de Lume is located between the mountains in a beautiful valley. We walk through a long tunnel reminiscent of a mine and arrive at this view. From the air with the drone I can clearly understand how they got this name. What beautiful colours!
Just like in the Dead Sea, you can float around and float on the salty water. And believe me: I have also been to the Dead Sea and it seemed even saltier. Jens didn’t like it with his scrapes on his knees! The salt made the water really hot.
From above we see the beautiful colors of Salina de Pedra Lume.
Touching sharks in the shallow water of Shark Bay
Another one of the best tips for your holiday on Sal and a highlight of Cape Verde, in our opinion, is Shark Bay. This is located just south of Pedra Lume and in this bay you can see lemon sharks swimming. This may sound very scary, but it is not at all. Lemon sharks can grow up to three meters in length, but are harmless to humans. You can book a tour to Shark Bay, but my tip is to go yourself. There are always local guides available and even if you go alone you will see the guides luring the sharks with some bait in a container. Water shoes are recommended, or else just walk through the water with shoes, because there are sea urchins in this bay.
The sharks sometimes literally touch my legs, very exciting to experience!
Olho Azul at Buracona
In the northwest of Sal lies another special natural phenomenon. Near Buracona there is a cave called Olho Azul, the blue eye. It’s a big hole in the lava rocks, but when the sunlight shines in it’s a beautiful blue underground pool. The light can only be seen this way around twelve o’clock in the afternoon and in fact these three disaster tourists were staring down through this hole at exactly twelve o’clock. You would almost think we are organized!
At Olho Azul you can also swim in this beautiful natural pool. The waves are broken by the rocks and in this pool the water is suddenly completely still. A unique piece of nature in Cape Verde. In the photo below you can see it from the air. The small black spot on the right is ‘the eye’ and next to it are the rugged bay and the natural swimming pool.
The capital of Sal: Espargos
While Sal is hardly built-up and there are mainly hotels and restaurants in the south, there is a real city in the center of the island: Espargos. We thought it was definitely worth a visit, because you can see a little more of Cape Verdean culture here. There is a mountain in the middle of the city, from where you have the most beautiful view of all the colored houses.
We also stop along the road in Espargos for a very beautiful mural, because this is Cape Verde in a nutshell. Certainly African, but the culture is a bit like that of Hawaii, a real island culture. I saw that somewhat in this painting.
This mural is typical of the colorful town of Espargos.
Learn to kitesurf on the island of Sal
Sal is the place in Cape Verde and perhaps the whole world to learn kitesurfing. The island has already produced many world champions. This is the place for both beginners and experienced kite surfers, because the wind here is always good to practice the sport. That is why one of the best tips on your holiday in Sal is to get acquainted with this. On Kite Beach you will find many kitesurfing schools where you can book a lesson for a day, several days or even a whole week. If you already have experience with kitesurfing, you can rent the equipment here. Mitu Monteiro’s kite school called Mitu & Djo is highly recommended. He is a world champion from the island of Sal and became a legend by visiting all the islands of Cape Verde by kitesurfing. The kitesurfing season runs approximately from September to March and the wind is strongest in February.
My first kitesurfing lesson was on the beach, because mastering the kite is step 1.
Whale watching
In April and May whales, humpback whales to be precise, swim from Scandinavia to the bay of the island of Boa Vista. Many tours are also offered on Sal where you can spot whales. They pass by during mating or to give birth to their calves. You can also see dolphins along the way, because they are also common among the islands of Cape Verde.
The best place to spot them is the island of Boa Vista and it is definitely a tip to visit this island too! Also read our blog about the island of Boa Vista, Cape Verde.
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