Cape Verde

[supergraeme]

I’m looking at a December all-inclusive holiday and Cape Verde is coming up trumps in terms of cost and appearance, but some things I’ve seen mean I can’t help but feel that it’s going to be a long-haul Benidorm. Does anyone have any experience?

I asked this in the chat thread yesterday but that was probably the wrong place.

Thanks all!

[Colin MacKinnon]

The islands are very varied!

Went 10 years ago to Boa Vista and Sal, two of the Barlovento islands. Boa Vista has some amazing long beaches, and some huge 2,000 occupant all-inclusive hotels. Think beached cruise ship!

This meant that there were few local places to eat and rink – the locals were simply too poor. Think women queuing to get buckets of water and very primitive waste removal, ie kids crapping on the stony harbour foreshore on their lunchbreak!

We ended up helping some French medical people who came for a fortnight to supply some care – it turned out that there was not even a single doctor on the island! So maybe not as all-inclusive as a cruise ship!

On the way over to Sal, the person next to me said: You even been here, it looks just like Mars! True enough, apart from a great beach and pier in the main town, the rest is red sand and rocks!

Both islands fun for a day or two, a week on just one might be too much.

Santo Antao and Sao Vicente were, on the other hand, quite different and the sort of place you might happily go back to.