Hotels on Sal, Cape Verde

Fantastic Stay at Hotel Riu Cabo Verde – Relaxing, Welcoming, and Memorable! 🌴 I recently spent a week at Hotel Riu Cabo Verde and had a wonderful experience from start to finish. The location is stunning – right on a beautiful, sandy beach with clear blue waters. Perfect for long walks, swimming, or simply relaxing with a cocktail in hand. The hotel itself is clean, well-maintained, and designed for comfort. My room was spacious, with a lovely balcony and a well-stocked minibar. Housekeeping did a great job keeping everything tidy and fresh. What really stood out was the staff – everyone from reception to the restaurant team was warm, friendly, and helpful. They went out of their way to make sure guests were comfortable and having a good time. The food options were impressive, especially for an all-inclusive resort. The buffet had a great variety with fresh, flavorful dishes, and the à la carte restaurants were a nice change of pace. I particularly enjoyed the Italian and the steakhouse. During the day, there were plenty of activities (shoutout to the fun and energetic entertainment team!), but if you just want to unwind, the two pools and beach loungers offer plenty of space to relax. If I had to note anything, I’d say the buffet can get a bit repetitive after several days, and outdoor seating in the evenings could be a bit more sheltered from the wind. But those are small things in an otherwise excellent stay. Overall, I highly recommend Hotel Riu Cabo Verde for anyone looking for a relaxing, sun-filled getaway with great service and a welcoming vibe. I’d definitely return!

Perfect base to explore the whole island of Sal. Very close to the airport. Especially nice experience for me was Pedra de Lume. There are nice and helpful people everywhere. I will certainly come back. Please note that this is not a beach or resort type of holiday like in Santa Maria.

Beirona/ Murdeira is a beautiful place, definitely worth choosing if you want to relax on the beach/ by the pool without crowds of people around you. There’s just one shop here ( it has an ATM which is a huge advantage), but it’s well stocked. If you’re not a fan of big resorts, but want a laid back holiday, be sure to visit.

This is a small working port town with a traditional small scale fishing industry. It is gradually coming up into the modern world as a result of tourism. The harbour is used by yachts, tall ships and daytrip boats. There is a town beach but it is not commercialised in any way and is not cleaned for leisure purposes. The people are friendly and we did not feel threatened in any way. Restaurants, hotels and some shops will accept Euros and there is an ATM in the town. We liked Palmeira for a short visit before and after a sailing holiday. A taxi to the airport costs 800 cve or 8 Euro.

The first thing to say about Santa Maria is that local people are very friendly and welcoming. Trips are available for motorised vehicles, sea trips and cultural site seeing. During the day Santa Maria is very good for watersports and of course relaxing at the beach. There is always wind which helps with the water sport and doesn't cause sunworshippers any real inconvenience. There is a long stretch of beach which is worth walking, it has numerous beach bars which can be relaxing or lively dependant on where they are along the beach. The evenings are relaxed and mainly consist of dining, dinking, dancing and listening to music. There are numerous bars and restaurants to choose from, both on the main street and further in. There are many shops and a market to look around but I can't say much about this as it's not my thing. What I particularly like about Santa Maria is that it is not over developed, although things are moving along. Santa Maria takes me back to a time when life was far simpler and in my opinion much better. The key thing to remember is that you are in an African country with it's own culture and characteristics, just embrace it!

Espargos is a good place to stay to reach the Blue Eye Cave, Shark Bay and Pedro da Lume, but I thought it would be cheaper to get to those places by taxi. Overall not much to do in the city itself, but I didnt want to miss the island’s capital. Not as touristy as Santa Maria, you can stroll the streets without being bothered, I felt safe, very friendly propeople as everywhere on Sal .

•The town centre and beach are lovely, though it is a little bit rough around the outskirts. •If you’re looking for a holiday to sit on your backside and tan it’s for you. There are a few different trips/excursions/activities (Which i highly recommend you do, especially the full day island tour) but not too much. •Be extremely careful of the ATM’s as the foreign currency exchange rate and service charge’s can be a bit much (I’m from UK so might not be as bad for other countries, but I recommend bringing lots of Euro’s with you); all the local shops and services accept Euros and local Escudos in case you run out of Euros •Taxi/Bus prices are extremely reasonable if you fancy exploring the town/island on your own •DO NOT! Under any circumstances drink the tap water (I never), i caught a hellish stomach bug that near bed rid me for 4/5 days. Be careful at some bars/restaurants as some of them use tap water to make their ice too (Which is how i got it) •All of the local bars/restaurants provide brilliant service and extensive menus, i’m vegetarian and it was a bit tricky to find a dish in some places •Portuguese and Kreol is spoken, English too but it can be hard to communicate sometimes •My biggest problem with the town is the street sellers. I get 100% that they’re trying to earn a living but whenever i said i wasn’t interested, and this is the truth about 80% of them offered me Class A/B drugs. Now i was on holiday myself, a young guy on his own so i can imagine they don’t exactly offer these things to couples and pensioners but it honestly put me off walking through the town some days. For reference in case you think i’m being harsh, i did spend a chunk of money in some shops on keepsakes