Thinking of staying at this hotel however concerned with recent deaths. Is it safe or is it a rare occurrence?

Also do not give me any woke “do not stay at all inclusive”. I do not care.

I got a job offer to go and work in cabo verde is the salary considered good? Please need some tips

Ahhh São Vicente, you’re so prettyyyy 🇨🇻✨

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I just finished 7 days of hiking across Santo Antão and I thought maybe some of this information would be useful as I know I had to sift through a lot of information to plan my trip.

This was mid July 2026.

My biggest mistake (for me) was booking my flights, then planning the hikes as initially I'd just planned to stay in Paul Valley and Ribeira Grande and do day hikes, but then after I'd booked my flights, 🙄, changed my mind!

ATMs: I'd read that they were only in Porto Novo and Ponta do Sol, but there is also one in Cha de Morte. It looked like there was one in Ribeira Grande but cannot confirm as I did not withdraw money there - but did in Cha de Morte.

I left my bigger bag at accommodation in Mindelo and only took a day pack with one pair of clothes to hike in and one pair to sleep in, a swimsuit, small toiletries/first aid kit. I was able to wash my hiking clothes each night and they were dry by morning.

Aa a solo female hiker, I never felt unsafe. I knew this was low hiking season but for the most part, there wasn't anyone on the trails - no exaggeration! I didn't see a soul - not a single person, dog, goat on my way up to Pico da Cruz from Porto Novo. Only saw people as I entered the villages in the Paul Valley.

As I hiked up the crater, saw some people coming down, but no one going up. There was a small group of young guys walking down through xoxo valley on the second day behind me.

Ponta do Sol - Cruzhina there were people, but the 3 days after that - not a single person (outside of the villages) until I got to Tarrafal.

Day 1:

7am ferry Mindelo - Porto Novo. Grabbed something to eat, and went to the ATM. Started walking the very long, dry, dusty uphill to Pico da Cruz then down to Paul Valley accommodation Casa Cavoquino (accepts card). The most expensive night of my trip but very nice and convenient for my first day of walking.

Using alltrails map SAL 14, Pico da Cruz to Porto Novo, then switched to SAL 3, Pico da Cruz - Pe de Eucalipto, cut off at Cha de Padre to my accommodation.

Day 2:

Using alltrails map Cratera da Cova and walked along road a short while to connect with SAC 8, Pedra Rachada - Rabo Curto - Lombo de Pico - xoxo. Walked along road to Ribeira Grande, Ponta do Sol. You could get an aluguer also along the road.

Stayed at Hotel Miranda & Miranda in Ponta do Sol (accepts card)

Day 3:

Ponta do Sol - Cruzinha  (the suggested time on mapy & alltrails is not accurate as it says 8 hours).

I do not think think it would take anyone with a reasonable walking pace this long. As you are approaching Cruzinha, there are two beaches. Go for a swim! Stayed at Questel BronQ (accepts card)

***the next stage is where I wished I'd planned better and had an extra day as I needed to get to Alto Mira III - Cha d'Orgueiro if I was going to make it down to the west side.

In hindsight, since arriving in Cruzinha early, I could have kept going to Ribeira Alta (watch the tide times right out of Cruzinha) that afternoon to break up the 35km SAP 7, SAP 6, SAP 5 (alltrails). I've done 30km plus days before but I think this would have been too much. I guess I could have pushed on to Ribeira Cruz, but that would have still put me a day late.

I'm disappointed (mainly with myself) as I know there are some good trails here.***

However, not all was lost as:

Day 4:

Deciding that I just needed to get to Alto Mira III, and it was a Sunday, I ended up forking out for a taxi to Ribeira Grande, where I very quickly met another tourist to share a ride to Porto Novo, then got a ride to Alto Mira III. I arrived around noon.

Although it was mid-day heat, I decided I had enough time to walk (part of) the opposite way I intended and walked down to Branquinho. This is (most of) SAP 5- alltrails. In a way this was nicer as it was mostly downhill. At the end was gorgeous beach and had a swim.

Because I'd started my hike mid day, I needed to find a way back and after my swim and beach time it was 5pm.The plan was to walk up and over to Ribeira Cruz, but I ended up gritting a ride (not an official taxi, but just found someone and paid them) to drive me back to my accommodation.

Stayed at Casa Manuel & Elvira. I was the only one at the accommodation. Cash only

Day 5:

Used alltrails maps Rota de Nho Muchim which connects with Rota de Flagelados.

**ATM in Cha de Morte! **

Stayed at Casa Luciano. Again, only person in the accommodation & village (think Casa Luciano might be the only one!)

Basic, but has electricity, just had a bucket to wash with. I'd asked the owner/manager at Casa Manuel & Elvira the day before to call ahead for me as I didn't have the contact details and he did, but when I got there, I wasn't sure if they received the message. Anyway, they cooked up a great dinner and breakfast and provided me with water. The accommodation was fine and had electricity - just no running water.

Grandma (or mum?) insisted on packing extra biscuits for the day's hike ahead ❤️

**again, my poor flight planning did not allow me the time to hike up and down Topo da Coroa. I would have probably stayed in Cha de Feijoal two nights or Casa Luciano to do this, but there are other ways to add it on to a longer day**

Day 6:

Casa Luciano to Monte Trigo using alltrails map SAP 2 Monte Trigo - Morrinho de Egua. While I knew the general direction, there are a lot of goat trails up here in the plateau, that if you're not paying attention and not following your map, you could go off course.

Stayed at Osvaldo Santos (search up and book by WhatsApp). Again, only person at the accommodation and from what I saw, only tourist in the village.

I was glad I'd charged up my powerbanks the night before as there was an electricity outage all night in Monte Trigo, although there was wifi for a brief time in the evening.

Day 7:

Monte Trigo to Tarrafal - one path down the coast. Don't really need a map as it's very straightforward.

Stayed at Pousada Cantino de Preta (cash).

The only aluguer out to Porto Novo leaves at 6 am.

This was a great hike! Couldn't believe how quiet it was. Even in low season I expected to see people sporadically or once in a while. I'm kicking myself for not adding in an extra couple or few extra days as it was just poor planning on my part.

But I still got to mostly traverse the island in 7 days. If I did it again, I'd probably add an extra couple of nights in Paul Valley to do some extra hikes, add a night (probably in Ribeira Alta) in between Cruzinha and Alto Mira and then add in a night to go up topo da coroa.

There are several sign posts around (not entirely accurate) along with the red/white (like on all the GR routes) line markers occasionally, but if doing this solo, you definitely need to download it the gpx files ahead of time. I used both mapy.cz as well as alltrails.

I did end up getting the wrong esim. I thought Roafly would be best for Santo antao and it was fine for the main towns /Paul etc, but I had no service after Cha de Morte to Tarrafal.

If your thinking of doing a cross island traverse, do it! There are so many other ways and trails to add on to make it shorter, longer. I suspect Santo Antão tourism will only increase and glad I had the opportunity to do it now.