Boa Vista: dunes, empty beaches and turtles

Sal Rei

**Sal Rei** is the small capital, a laid back town of colourful houses around a central square, the **Praça de Santa Isabel**, with cafés, a church and shops. Its long town beach, **Praia de Estoril**, curves south from the harbour and is popular for kitesurfing and windsurfing. Just offshore sits **Ilhéu de Sal Rei**, an islet with the ruins of an old fort, reached by local boat. Sal Rei is the best base if you want to eat in local restaurants and walk around in the evening.

The beaches

**Praia de Chaves**, just south of Sal Rei, is a vast beach backed by dunes and the ruined chimney of an old brick factory. Several resorts sit here. **Praia de Santa Mónica**, on the south west coast, is often called one of the most beautiful beaches in Africa: kilometres of pale sand with almost nobody on it. Further around, **Curralinho** and the east coast beaches are wild and remote, reached only by 4x4. Many Boa Vista beaches have strong currents and big waves; swim only where locals say it is safe and never alone.

Desert and shipwreck

The **Deserto de Viana** is a sea of golden dunes inland from Sal Rei, made of sand blown across from the Sahara. It is magical at sunrise or sunset. On the north coast, the rusting **Cabo Santa Maria** shipwreck, which ran aground in 1968, sits on the beach of the same name and is a favourite photo stop on island tours.

Turtles

From roughly June to October, thousands of loggerhead turtles come ashore to nest, mainly on the south and east beaches. Hatchlings follow in late summer and autumn. Conservation groups and licensed guides run small night tours that protect the turtles. Never walk on nesting beaches at night alone, use torches or flash photography, or drive on the sand. Humpback whales pass offshore in spring.

Villages

Tours often stop at **Rabil**, the old capital with a pottery school and church, and the southern villages of **Povoação Velha** and **Fundo das Figueiras**, where life moves at a gentle pace and you can try simple home cooking.

Getting around

Public transport is limited. Taxis and aluguer minibuses link Sal Rei, the airport and the main resorts, but to see the island most visitors join a guided 4x4 tour for a day. Roads to the remote beaches are rough tracks, and getting stuck in sand is common for anyone who goes without a guide.

Where to stay

Choose Sal Rei for local life and walkable restaurants, or the beaches south of town for resort calm. Boa Vista pairs well with Sal by short flight or ferry. See places to visit for picks.

A suggested few days

Give your first day to Sal Rei: a morning on Praia de Estoril, lunch in town and sunset by the harbour. Day two, join a full day 4x4 tour that loops the island past the Viana desert, the Cabo Santa Maria wreck, Rabil and the southern villages to Santa Mónica beach. Spend day three on the sand at Chaves or kitesurfing, and if it is turtle season, book a guided night walk with a licensed project for the evening. A boat trip to Ilhéu de Sal Rei or a whale watching trip in spring rounds out a stay.

Getting there

Aristides Pereira International Airport, near Rabil, receives charter flights from Europe and domestic links to Sal and Praia. It is around fifteen minutes by taxi to Sal Rei, and a little further to the southern resorts.