There are no problems spending your holidays in Cape de Verde islands with children. My daughter is 8 years old and we had a fun holiday in Cape de Verde Islands. We lived in a small and cheap holiday hotel in Cape de Verde / Sal, in central Santa Maria, with breakfast included. For lunch we had some fruits or a pizza at the beach restaurant. For dinner we went to some of the restaurants in Santa Maria. Santa Maria is a small town, but it has everything you need. The supermarkets are small and a bit primitive, but for buying some water, candy, cookies or juice, it works just fine. If your child has special needs with the food, it might get hard to find exactly what you need in Cape de Verde islands. The restaurants in Cape de Verde and Sal serve simple dishes and fast food such as chicken or fish with rice or french fries, pasta dishes or meat. Dinner cost about 7-12 euros/p. Stay away from salad and only eat fruits with peel to avoid holiday stomach problems in Cape de Verde. This is west Africa after all. There is also a small emergency room / hospital not far from Santa Maria center (out west).

There are a lot of stray dogs in Cape de Verde. They are friendly but I wouldn’t let my daughter play with them.

Finding activities for the children was not to hard in Cape de Verde islands. There is horseback riding on the southwest coast of Sal, at walking distance from Santa Maria. Towards Ponta Preta is also some great sand dunes, and people are surfing there. Water sports or surfing might be a good holiday activity for children if they are 12-16 years old. We went to the Santa Maria beach during the daytime, playing in the water. Use high sunscreen since there is no shade on this beach. There are quite big waves at the Santa Maria beach but you can cool of not going in to far. There is also a small jetty breaking the waves to the east of the beach, no waves here. Perfect for smaller children.

Another great holiday tip: Walk southeast about 20 minutes from Santa Maria, to a deserted small cape “Praia Afonso”, with a mini beach. No waves here but some coral, and also a small pond where your children can snorkel and play. Water is only 0,5m high turquoise & crystal clear, filled with tropical fish. Perfect and cheap holiday activity for the children! You might need to use beach shoes since there might be some glass in the sand, nothing much. Rarely any people here at all. Bring water and food.

On the pier in Santa Maria, fisherman are cleaning the fish, and people sell shells and other souvenirs. There is also a yellow submarine type boat called Neptunus. At the bottom of this boat are windows to let you see the fish down below (adults 30 euros/p, children 15 euros/p). In November and December the loggerhead turtles lay their eggs at night on the beaches around Sal, and the small turtles hatch some weeks later. Trips are organized to see this. Great fun for children.

One or two holiday weeks in Cape de Verde and Sal is nice, but a longer stay could get boring in the long run, specially for the children. The town of Santa Maria in Sal is very small but charming. It’s always windy, so bring a warm sweater for chilly evenings. Some places in Cape de Verde and Sal are not clean and there is garbage everywhere, and the locals just outside the center of Santa Maria are very poor and live in bad conditions. Most of the people in Cape de Verde islands seem to live in poverty. I hope the growing tourism will help them. Cape de Verde islands is a relaxed holiday destination and the locals are very friendly.

// Maria & Paula, Spain