Day 1 - Welcome to Mindelo on Sao Vicente Island !
Your self-guided walking trip in Cape Verde begins on the island of São Vicente at Cesaria Evora airport. The name of the airport sets the tone of the trip: you have just landed in the living home of Cape Verdean music, in the homeland of the "barefoot diva" who has spread the music and culture of "this little country" around the world. Private transfer to Mindelo centre. Depending on the time of your arrival, let yourself be tempted by a first walk - alone or accompanied by a guide - along its streets lined with old houses that forge the soul of the city.
Meals included : none
Night : Mindelo
We recommend
Add a night in Mindelo to discover Mthe entire island of Sao Vicente.
. In the morning let yourself be tempted by a guided tour to discover the history of Mindelo including visits to the fruit and vegetable markets, the fish market, and the African market as well as a workshop of a luthier who makes all kinds of guitars and stringed instruments, including the very local cavaquinho, a small 4-stringed guitar, ancestor of the ukulele.
. In the afternoon discover the island of Sao Vicente with a private driver, explore Monte Verde which culminates at 750m for beautiful panoramic pictures, Salamansa a colorful village with a long beach (kitesurfing area), the beach of Baia das Gatas known for its music festival in August, Praia Grande with its beautiful white sand dunes
You have to get up early this morning! Hiking shoes on, you take the ferry that connects Sao Vicente to Santo Antao, the garden of Cape Verde (1 hour crossing). A paradise for hikers, Santo Antao is crossed by a mountain range interspersed with sumptuous valleys, arid on its southern slope and lush on its northern slope. Upon your arrival in Porto Novo, welcome by your private driver and transfer to the circus of Ribeira das Patas. Defining in a way, the western and eastern parts of Santo Antão, this sparsely populated valley offers striking landscapes. For this first walk, you will walk through desert landscapes, torn by a small canyon, before climbing to the ridges dominated by basalt peaks that can reach several metres high, known as "the dykes". Descent into the valley of Ribeira Alta on the lush green north side of sugar cane and banana plantations. Transfer to your accommodation.
This morning, after a short transfer, the wall called Bordeira do Norte, which overlooks the circus of Ribeira das Patas, will be your challenge. Hiking in an alpine ambiance, it is probably one of the most beautiful trails of the archipelago. The path winds its way up along ochre-coloured rocks. Along the way you may meet some locals and their donkeys who come to fill their water cans in unlikely springs. On the plateau, the landscape changes radically: vast stretches of land as far as the eye can see. Take the time to admire this landscape that embraces the heights of the island up to Porto Novo through the Tope de Corea, the highest peak of the island which culminates at 1979 m. Descend to the village by an almost vertical majestic paved path, a true masterpiece, all the way to your accommodation.
Today you continue your journey northwards through the fertile valleys of the island to explore another facet of Santo Antao. The taxi will drop you off at the Cova Crater, in the heart of the large natural park of the same name. Cova's dormant volcano is a huge crater that has collapsed in on itself, with a bottom lined with crops and wild flowers. In good weather the panorama is splendid. You can take a few steps in the crater before starting your hike through the pine and mimosa forests to finally plunge into the Ribeira da Torre, one of the steepest and most spectacular valleys on the island. On the last part of the itinerary, you will enjoy the terraced crops of bananas and sugar cane. Transfer to your accommodation located in the seaside village of Vila das Pombas (standard accommodation) or at the bottom of the very lush Paul Valley (comfort accomodatoin)
Transfer to Boca de Figueiral, where starts your hike of the day. A magnificent trail to discover the agricultural world of the island. Following the river beds and the traditional hamlets, let yourself be carried away by the sound of the water flowing here and there in small levadas which come to irrigate the innumerable tropical crops: banana plantations, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, yam fields, breadfruit trees... Everything seems to grow effortlessly here and in abundance. And yet it is indeed the men and women who work hard on each cultivated plot, sometimes in places only accessible on foot. The path ascents to reach the pass where the panoramic view over the valley and the ocean is breathtaking. At the end of the walk, make a stop at the bar O Curral in the village of Cha de Joao Vaz. There you can enjoy a traditional rum or a traditional goat's cheese if you are peckish! Return by taxi to your accommodation.
This morning you exchange the peacefulness of the mountains for the seaside and the fishing village of Ponta do Sol, the island's former flourishing port. There reigns a nonchalant (and not unpleasant!) atmosphere as you stroll along the cobbled streets lined with colourful or colonial houses. Here one lives to the rhythm of fishing and a stormy sea. Take the time to stop on the port to observe the colourful boats that battle against the waves to finally land lobsters, blackbirds, moray eels .... But Ponta do Sol is also the starting point of one of the most spectacular trails of the island: a paved coastal path, dug in the volcanic walls. A real human feat! It will lead you first to the village of Fontainhas with its colourful houses perched on a promontory and then to the forgotten hamlets of Corvo and Formiguinhas, where time seems to have stood still. The path continues up high, in a succession of ascents and descents to the magnificent and wild black sand beach of Mocho (caution: swimming is forbidden as the sea is very dangerous) and then to the village of Cruzinha where your taxi is waiting for you. Transfer back to Ponta do Sol.
Transfer to Coculi, one of the historical centres of the great central valleys. You go up the small bucolic valley of Figueiral, before exploring the valleys of Joao Afonso and Cha de Pedras. An agricultural region dotted with lively hamlets, terraces with tropical crops such as banana, coffee, cassava and cabbage. After this superb farewell hike on Santo Antao, transfer to the port of Porto Novo via the panoramic road "Estrada da Corda". This paved road, built by hand, stone by stone for nearly 30 years, crosses the island, rising in a multitude of bends at an altitude of nearly 1 000 metres, before descending towards the coast. The views and the peaks are breathtaking! 
