Santo Antão

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An hour by ferry from Mindelo, Santo Antão is the most mountainous and greenest island in Cape Verde. Its ridges often exceed 1,500 metres and peak at Tope de Coroa, while deep valleys such as Paul shelter terraced fields, sugar cane and mango trees. People come to walk old cobbled mule tracks, from the Cova crater to villages clinging to the cliffs like Fontainhas, and to taste grogue, the local sugar-cane spirit. With no airport, the island has kept an unhurried pace and a warm welcome.

Where is Santo Antão?

Santo Antão is the northernmost and westernmost island of Cape Verde, an archipelago off the coast of Senegal. At about 780 km², it is the country’s second-largest island and the biggest of the northern Barlavento group. Only a strait, the São Vicente Channel, separates it from São Vicente and its city, Mindelo. The island has three municipalities, Porto Novo, Ribeira Grande and Paul, and close to 40,000 inhabitants; Porto Novo, in the south, is the largest town and the ferry port.

The landscape is spectacular: a volcanic ridge runs across the island, often above 1,500 metres, rising to Tope de Coroa at 1,979 metres. The northeast, exposed to the moist trade winds, is green and farmed, with permanent springs that are rare in Cape Verde. The south and west, by contrast, are desert-like, with lava flows, volcanic cones and dunes. In between, deep valleys such as Ribeira da Torre, Ribeira Grande and Ribeira das Patas cut through the mountains down to the sea.

History and culture

Discovered in 1461 or 1462 by the Portuguese navigator Diogo Afonso, the island was only settled from the 16th century, and its first municipality was created in 1732. Over the centuries, islanders carved the mountains into terraces to grow maize, beans, cassava, yams, bananas and mangoes, linking villages with cobbled paths along the cliffs. Ribeira Grande, the former capital, keeps its church, main square and stepped lanes, while Ponta do Sol still has its fishing harbour and an old airstrip.

Sugar cane, grown mainly in the north, goes almost entirely into making grogue, the national spirit, distilled in stills after being crushed, in the past, in ox-driven trapiches. Creole culture also lives through morna, inscribed on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list in 2019, and through village religious festivals. With no airport since the 1990s, the island lives to the rhythm of the ferries and the aluguers, the shared minibuses that link its valleys.

What to see on Santo Antão

Exploring often starts on the old cobbled road that climbs from Porto Novo through the mountains to the Cova crater, a circular farmed caldera, before descending towards Ribeira Grande with views to both north and south. The Cova viewpoint overlooks the Paul valley, the island’s greenest, with banana groves, sugar cane and villages such as Lombo Comprido. Down below, Vila das Pombas, Paul’s main town, stretches along the sea around its statue of Saint Anthony.

In the north, Ponta do Sol, a quiet little town with a fishing harbour, is the ideal base for coastal hikes. The village of Fontainhas, with colourful houses perched on a ridge, is one of Cape Verde’s most famous views. To the west, the road leads to Tarrafal de Monte Trigo, a green oasis below the cliffs, and towards the Ribeira das Patas canyon, with walls up to 800 metres high. At the northeastern tip, the Boi lighthouse, built in 1886, is the oldest in the archipelago.

Beaches, sea and nature

Santo Antão is not a beach island: its coasts are mostly cliffs and pebbles, often pounded by a rough sea. The finest beach is at Tarrafal de Monte Trigo on the west coast, a long bay of black sand sheltered from the wind and rich in marine life, where you can swim and snorkel. Further on, the hamlet of Monte Trigo, reachable only on foot or by fishing boat, feels like the end of the world. Elsewhere, ask locally before going into the water.

Nature is best discovered on foot. Cobbled trails link the Cova crater with the Paul valley and Ponta do Sol with Fontainhas and Cruzinha, or lead to the Espadana crater near Lagoa, among the pines, eucalyptus and cypress trees of the uplands. The fittest climb Tope de Coroa in the desert-like northwest. From the coast you may spot dolphins, whales, turtles and seabirds. Scuba diving, however, is almost non-existent, as the only dive centre in Tarrafal closed in 2024.

Getting there and getting around

Santo Antão no longer has an airport: you land at Cesária Évora airport on São Vicente, 5 km from Mindelo, served by TAP and easyJet from Lisbon, easyJet from Porto, seasonal flights from Paris, Amsterdam, Luxembourg and Zurich, and Cabo Verde Airlines. A taxi reaches the harbour in 15 to 20 minutes. Two companies, CV Interilhas and Nôs Ferry, then cross to Porto Novo in about an hour, several times a day. Check timetables with the operators before you travel.

In Porto Novo, aluguers, shared minibuses and pick-ups, leave for Ribeira Grande, Paul or Tarrafal when full, at officially set fares of about 15 escudos per kilometre per passenger, or ten times that for a private taxi. Two roads cross the island: the new paved coast road to Paul and Ribeira Grande, and the old cobbled mountain road via Cova, slower but superb. Car rental is available, but dirt tracks become difficult during the rainy season.

Best time to go, budget and formalities

The climate is dry and mild all year on the coast, averaging around 23 °C, with a short rainy season from August to October that makes some tracks difficult but turns the valleys green. The best time for hiking is November to June, when temperatures are pleasant and trails are passable; the uplands can be cool and misty. The currency is the Cape Verdean escudo (CVE), pegged to the euro at about 110 escudos per euro, and euros are sometimes accepted.

EU citizens, including the French, need no visa for tourist stays of up to 30 days, with a passport valid for six months after the end of the trip. They must pre-register on the EASE portal at least five days before arrival and pay the airport security tax there, about 3,400 escudos or €31. The pre-arrival visa required since 1 January 2026 applies to a list of 91 countries that excludes EU states; other travellers should check their nationality. Accommodation also collects a tourist tax of about €2.50 per night, as a rough guide.

Essentials

Your questions answered

Nearby islands: Cape Verde, Porto Santo, Bijagós and São Tomé.

Photo : CaptainDarwin, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons