The beach islands
Most visitors land on Sal, a flat, dry island with the biggest airport, the resort town of Santa Maria and a long white beach that draws kitesurfers and families alike. Its neighbour Boa Vista has even emptier dunes and beaches, a sleepy capital at Sal Rei and one of the world's most important nesting grounds for loggerhead turtles.
Culture and history
Praia and Santiago is the heart of the country: the capital on its Plateau, the UNESCO listed old town of Cidade Velha, the green valleys of the interior and the batuku and funaná rhythms of the badiu culture. It is the best island to understand where Cabo Verde comes from.
Music and mountains
Mindelo on São Vicente is the cultural capital, home of Cesária Évora, the country's best known Carnival and a café and live music scene unlike anywhere else in West Africa. An hour away by ferry, Santo Antão is the hiker's island, all knife-edge ridges, terraced valleys of sugar cane and cliff paths dropping to tiny villages.
The volcano
Fogo is a single giant volcano rising almost three kilometres from the sea. Its pastel colonial town of São Filipe sits on black sand cliffs, and inside the crater the village of Chã das Caldeiras grows wine and coffee in lava fields beneath Pico do Fogo, which last erupted in 2014 to 2015.
How to combine them
Islands are linked by domestic flights and by ferries that can be slow and change schedules, so build in slack. Popular routes are Sal plus Boa Vista for beaches, Mindelo plus Santo Antão for music and hiking, and Praia plus Fogo for culture and the volcano. Two islands in a week, three in two weeks, is a relaxed pace. Use the free trip planner to shape your route, and the places to visit list for where to eat, drink and stay.