Search hotels on Sal, Cape Verde

The beach was fine golden sand, the sea was warm. The sun shone right full our time there. The town is quite noisy at night, its ok if you sleep heavily or great if like to party till late. The restaurants are quite varied. You can get lunch for 3 euros plus the cost of a drink at many places. Some have wine starting at 21 euros a bottle without the high standard you would expect with this sort of price. Choose carefully, price and quality are not closely connected. The half day island tours are well worth taking, the salt mines and baby sharks are great. The sailing trips are also really nice. The street vendors can be a real pain, they never stop trying to sell you things and they will come up with all sorts of stories and may try to charge outrageous prices for tourist tat. A simple no thank you is needed as soon as they approach you offering free items, or 'come and see this'.

Santa Maria is a sleepy little town with not much to do but eat, drink wine, and lie on the beach. Every cafe offers really fresh tuna and decent pizza's...and not much else. On Sal island: do the guided island round-trip, and rent a bike or 2 person electric scooter from Alessandro's Electric Garage in Santa Maria to go exploring on your own- older kids are allowed to drive these once out of town limits- this was the high point of the trip for our kids. Ponta Preta beach is empty and large, which we preferred to Santa Maria beach (too many souvenir sellers) and Kite beach (too many cool surfers falling over each other). I could not find a single book store, but there is a traveller's library at the hotel Ojo d'agua. Kite surfing, diving and fishing are very popular. We hoped to go diving but found it too cold in Dec. to spend extended time in the water. In Dec. The day temp was around 22C, and it was windy, mostly cloudy and quite dusty. 3 to 4 days here would have been enough.

We loved Sal Beach Club , food and drink were about the best priced, all football shown,. Londres was great to start with but staff are not very attentive loved to chat among themselves. Columbus restaurant was lovely for a romantic evening. The town square is being rejuvenated but was still nice and busy. Ocean club is buzzing. Taxis are so very cheap and plentiful so no problem getting around. Salt Lake is a must to visit (cheaper getting a taxi than an organised trip). The beaches are beautiful and most young people go surfing etc. We just enjoyed beach bars and cafes to people watch. Please don't expect a sophisticated town, it's certainly not that but it has such a lot of character you'll fall in love with it. Been in May and now in Dec/Jan weather beautiful each time and will come again.WATCH OUT FOR MOZZIES.

Great place to relax and do nothing. Beautiful and very large beach. Fantastic climate when we visited during March. Unless you are into water and wind sports however, there is very little to do or see on the island. So just be prepared to take it easy: "No stress" as the notorious Cape Verdean saying goes. As several people have asked let me just confirm: - there are mosquitos on Sal Island/Santa Maria. Perhaps not huge swarms, but spending an evening on the balcony will inevitably result in several bites. - at any time of the day, expect to encounter stray dogs on the beach and in the village. Easily 5-10 within sight at any given time.They are docile enough, but anyone suggesting that there arent any dogs are running a different agenda.

People must bear in mind that this is a developing country reliant on the tourist trade. You are going to get hassled by traders from Senegal. As a single female traveller with a small child this was quite intimidating at times as blokes befriend you and try dragging you into their shops, but you soon get over it. Back to the real Cape Verde- take a trip with Obama Tours and learn what life is really like on Sal- we had a fantastic time and my daughter loved every minute of it from the sharks to the off road truck ride. If you love animals you'll be pleased to see the dogs and cats that roam free are usually well cared for and are very chilled out- one rocked up when we were on the beach and laid beside me using my bag as her pillow. If you visit the veverio botanical garden be sure to take fruit for the animals there especially the solitary monkey. It's quite difficult to get fresh fruit and veg outside the hotels.

Like a lot of these places, the town of Santa Maria was very poor and shanty with many street sellers hassling you to buy their goods or to follow them to their market stalls. This would be expected as the money on the island goes to the huge resorts and not to the locals so you do feel obligated to buy their wares. However, they can become extremely overbearing and it makes you not want to do much sightseeing. However, we did do an island tour on the back of an open backed Ford Ranger and visited the Blue eye which was great but went completely against any kind of health and safety as you peered over a big hole in the rocks with no means of stopping you falling in- but it was amazing! We also went to see the salt mine which was an experience as we all bobbed about in the salty lake as we defied gravity! The tour was a good way to find out about the island and we used the local taxis, which were abundant, to have a look around as well.

Santa Maria is very small with a whole lot of tourists. The island is mostly dry and windy, especially when you have a hotel next to the beach. Good location for sunning, swimming and jet ski. Furthermore not lots to do, although I heard about a few night clubs that I did not visit. In comparison to Sal/Santa Maria the island Santiago is much greener, more hills and more locals. Not many souvenirs in Santiago in comparison to Sal/Santa Maria. Enough fruit if you want on the island Santiago. When you are going on an all-inclusive tour to another island, you will not spent much of your own money (escudos). Short, exchange like between 10 and 15 euro's....not more...unless you plan on buying a whole lot of fruit and spending a few days on Santiago or another island. I went to Santiago for one day...gone in the morning....back in the late afternoon. I exchanged 20 euro's. This was too much.

Santa Maria itself is lovely, with gorgeous white sandy beaches and crystal clear topaz waters. However, a couple of things kind of put me off: 1) construction work going on almost everywhere - this is unsightly 2) extortionate prices for food and groceries. If you are going for self catering, definitely take everything with you 3) harassment from shop keepers and other street sellers - most of them are from Senegal and they literally hound you until you give in and go to their shop. Initially they lure you in by forcing a free bracelet or necklace onto you. If you refuse to go to the shop, they then demand 5 or 10 euros for the gift. If you go with them, they won’t let you leave without buying something. They also resort to emotional tactics about starvation, etc. 4) tours that are advertised for a certain price are actually way more expensive due to hidden costs which are revealed on the day. These extra costs are entry fees for the salt swim, the blue eye and also for a meal at a restaurant in espargos. Oh and the Senegalese sellers have memorised the pit stops, so they turn up to harass you and don’t give over until you slam the car door shut.

A little town only for the tourism. Locals (most of them from other islands will live in Espargos). A bit pricey because of all this tourists. Very nice beach but quite windy, which is very normal in January. Restaurants are quite decent and there's plenty of choice. Many people approaching you and trying to sell you things on the streets (not cape-verdeans), just nod and carry on if You're not interested. I've been in Santo Antão running and hiking witch I totally recommend for solo travelers. Sal is good if you wanna have a couple of relaxed days on the beach or if you're a sea lover (kite surf, windsurf, surf, paddle).

Great for short holiday to catch some sun during cold winter months in Europe, but extremely windy, hence fantastic for surfing. If you love seafood, u can eat fresh fish and rice for only €3 at non touristy places. The water is very clean and clear, but a tad chilly for me, however not for the Germans and Swedes. There isn't much to do or see in the island. Prices are over valued for what it offers. Some of them can get extremely greedy, I guess it is the same in most under developed countries. This place is great for a very chilled beach holiday (if u can find a less windy spot to sunbath). Sal island is tiny, keep your expectations low. The best thing is that there are plenty of beautiful local men and women, they are all very friendly and charming. But be aware of the local men getting overly tactile, unless u love the attention. There are plenty of local men looking for overseas women for economic reasons, but there aren't that many local women hanging out at bars and clubs.