Sal
Cape VerdeWind, sand and easy beach days
Emergency
- police132
- ambulance130
- fire131
Cape Verde essentials
- Carry escudos — cash is essential for taxis, aluguers, markets and small cafes
- Cards (Visa first, then Mastercard) work mainly at high-end resorts and hotels; contactless is rare outside Praia
- Euros are accepted on Sal and Boa Vista but at a poor tourist rate — pay in escudos where you can
- ATMs ('Vinti4') are on all islands but can be unreliable — withdraw enough and don't count on a single machine
Tap water is NOT safe to drink — bottled only. Peel fresh produce and favour cooked food (most water is desalinated but not to a drink-from-tap standard).
Not obligatory — round up or ~5–10% for good service. Small tips appreciated.
Drive on the right. Sal and Boa Vista are small and flat; roads between the resort towns and the airport are fine, but a hire car or transfers make more sense than driving for most beach stays.
4G is solid on Sal, Boa Vista, Santiago and São Vicente but patchy on smaller islands and inland. Two networks (Unitel T+ and CVMovel) — an eSIM covering both avoids dead zones when island-hopping. Buying a local SIM needs your passport.
sourced — translations from published sources; corrections come from user reports
The Sal kit
Every kit, offline
Free to start. iPhone first — Android close behind.