Sao Vicente is small, dry and mountainous, and it holds the cultural capital of Cape Verde. Mindelo, built around a deep natural harbour on the island's north coast, was a British coaling station in the nineteenth century, and that history left it with colonial architecture, an outward-looking temperament and a musical tradition unlike anywhere else in the archipelago. Morna and coladeira were shaped here, and Cesaria Evora, the singer who carried Cape Verdean music worldwide, was born and buried in the city. Mindelo's Carnival in February is the largest in the country. The island itself is stark and largely barren, so most visitors treat it as a base for the city, for the beach at Laginha, and for the ferry across to Santo Antao.
Things to Do in Sao Vicente
Mindelo's music bars
Live MusicThe real attraction of Sao Vicente is not a place but a nightly event. Bars around the centre put on live morna, coladeira and funana most nights of the week, played by working musicians to mixed rooms of residents and visitors. Nothing starts before ten and the best of it happens well after midnight.
Duration: ~4 hours
Cesaria Evora Museum
MuseumThe house museum of the barefoot diva, in the neighbourhood where she lived, holding her dresses, awards, records and personal effects. Small and affectionately assembled rather than grand, and the best single introduction to why this island matters musically.
Duration: ~1 hours
Mindelo Municipal Market
MarketA two-storey colonial market building in the centre, with produce below and craft above, plus a separate fish market by the water where the morning's catch is gutted on marble slabs. Busiest before ten.
Duration: ~1 hours
Monte Verde
ViewpointThe island's highest point at 750 metres, reachable by rough road, with a view across the whole of Sao Vicente and over the channel to Santo Antao. The summit catches cloud and is often green when everything below is brown, which is where the name comes from.
Duration: ~3 hours
Mindelo Carnival
FestivalThe largest carnival in Cape Verde, held in the days before Lent and modelled loosely on Brazil's. Organised groups parade in costume through the centre with drums and floats, and the city effectively stops for a week. Accommodation books out months ahead.
Duration: ~8 hours
Sao Vicente Neighborhoods
Where to stay and explore
Mindelo Centre
Safe by day and on busy streets at nightFaded colonial, sociable, walkable
The colonial grid behind the harbour, with pastel buildings, the Torre de Belem replica on the waterfront, the municipal market and the Palacio do Povo. Nearly everything worth seeing in the city is within a fifteen-minute walk of the main square.
Price level: $$
Laginha
Safe by day; leave it after darkLocal, busy at weekends, convenient
The city beach, a short walk west of the centre, with imported pale sand and calm water inside the bay. It is busy with residents at weekends and is the only easy swimming close to town.
Price level: $
Baia das Gatas
Safe; few facilitiesQuiet, natural, seasonal
A sheltered bay on the northeast coast, half an hour from Mindelo, with a natural pool inside a volcanic reef. It is quiet most of the year and hosts a large music festival on the August full moon.
Price level: $
Food & Restaurants
Mindelo has the best independent restaurant scene in Cape Verde, helped by a port that lands good fish and a city used to outsiders. Tuna, wahoo and octopus are the staples, often done with a Portuguese accent, and there are proper wine lists in a country that mostly does not have them. Eating is late here, as is everything else.
Must-Try Dishes
Grilled tuna steak
Landed at the fish market and served rare with rice, beans and a sharp tomato salad.
Polvo guisado
Octopus stewed slowly with onion, tomato and wine, a Mindelo restaurant staple.
Rissois
Breaded shrimp turnovers eaten as a snack with a beer before dinner.
Top Restaurants
Centre seafood restaurants
$$Seafood and Portuguese • Mindelo Centre
Tuna and octopus with an actual wine list
Fish market grills
$Cape Verdean • Mindelo Centre
Whatever came off the boats that morning
Sao Vicente Nightlife
This is the best nightlife in Cape Verde and it is built on live music rather than clubs. Bars around the centre run musicians most nights, with the biggest crowds Thursday to Saturday. The rhythm is slow: dinner at nine, first bar at eleven, music properly underway after midnight.
Best areas: Mindelo Centre, Rua de Lisboa, The waterfront
Live morna bars
Live musicMindelo Centre
Small rooms with nightly morna and coladeira played by working musicians.
Waterfront bars
BarMindelo Centre
Harbourside drinking that fills up before the music bars do.
Shopping in Sao Vicente
Mindelo is the best place in the country to buy music and cloth. The upper floor of the municipal market sells craft, and small shops around the centre carry recordings, panu di terra and grogue from Santo Antao, which arrives on the ferry.
Malls
Markets
- Mindelo Municipal Market - Produce and craft
- Fish market - Fish
What to Buy
Safety in Sao Vicente
Mindelo is a relaxed and sociable city with low violent crime. Pickpocketing happens around the market and the waterfront at night, and Laginha beach is best left after dark, but visitors walk the centre late without trouble. Carnival week brings crowds and the usual accompanying opportunism.
Safe Areas
- ✓ Mindelo centre
- ✓ The waterfront
- ✓ Laginha by day
- ✓ Baia das Gatas
Avoid
- ✗ Laginha beach after dark
- ✗ Quiet streets away from the centre late at night
Safety Tips
- • Carry small notes for bars; card acceptance is patchy outside hotels
- • The Santo Antao ferry sells out in high season, so buy the day before
- • Book accommodation months ahead for Carnival and for the August Baia das Gatas festival
- • Music starts far later than visitors expect; a bar at ten tells you nothing
- • The crossing to Santo Antao is short but genuinely rough, so take something if you are prone
Getting Around Sao Vicente
On foot
RecommendedThe centre, market, waterfront and Laginha are all within a half-hour walk of each other.
Free
Taxi and aluguer
Cheap fixed-route minibuses and taxis to Baia das Gatas, Monte Verde and the airport.
$1 to $15
Ferry to Santo Antao
Roughly an hour from Mindelo harbour to Porto Novo, several sailings daily. Rough in the channel.
$12 to $18 each way
Sao Vicente Weather
Warm, dry and windy, with very little rain in any month
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| january | 24°C | 18°C | 2mm | Dry and breezy, Carnival build-up |
| february | 24°C | 18°C | 1mm | Dry and windy, Carnival month |
| march | 25°C | 18°C | 0mm | Driest month |
| april | 25°C | 19°C | 0mm | Dry and clear |
| may | 26°C | 19°C | 0mm | Warm and dry |
| june | 26°C | 20°C | 0mm | Warm, steady trade winds |
| july | 27°C | 21°C | 1mm | Warm, humidity rising |
| august | 28°C | 22°C | 8mm | Hottest, brief showers, Baia das Gatas festival |
| september | 29°C | 23°C | 18mm | Warm and humid, wettest month |
| october | 28°C | 23°C | 10mm | Warm, showers easing |
| november | 27°C | 21°C | 4mm | Warm and breezy |
| december | 25°C | 19°C | 3mm | Dry and mild |
How Many Days in Sao Vicente?
2
Minimum
3
Recommended
5
Ideal