Santo Antão Hiking Festival Tour 14 days and 13 nights 01 – 14 October 2026

Breakfast at the hotel. Pick up from hotel after breakfast.

Today we discover São Vicente, the cultural island, starting in Mindelo. Music and workshops and crossings, paintings, an ideal output to understand how Cape Verdeans live and to discover all the secrets of its history, visit the different markets. Taste the local products and free time for some shopping. We will visit the highest point of São Vicente (774m above sea level) and stop in Baia da Gatas for a swim.

Return to the hotel. Rest of afternoon is free.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in local restaurant

Early breakfast at the hotel. We will take the first ferry out to Santo Antão (0700), so you may need to ask for a breakfast box to take with you. The journey to Santo Antão will take one hour.

From Porto Novo, we will drive you to the starting point of this beautiful hike. Crossing the village of Pico da Cruz, an agricultural village, and then the green valley of Janela, in the middle of the yam fields, banana groves, sugar cane, papaya trees. Then we descend to Ribeira de Penedo to reach the village of Janela where we will get lunch.

06h00 walking, 15km
Difference in altitude +: 1400m; Difference in altitude -: 1600m
Level: level 1 easy-moderate

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in local restaurant

Breakfast at the hotel. A transfer will take you to the starting point of this magnificent hike. Walk amongst potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, papaia and other vegetables and fruits. The starting point, over 600m high, gives you a spectacular hike, with many sugar cane terraces and of course the possibility to taste the local grogue and the punch. We will share a traditional meal at a typical restaurant.

04h30 walking, 09km
Accumulated elevation: +500m/ -700m
Level: level 1 easy-moderate

Santo Antão Island provides nearly all of the produce required for the Island of São Vicente, and other islands of Cabo Verde.

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in local typical restaurant

Breakfast at the hotel. Short transfer to the small, colourful fishing village of Sinagoga, with a small shipyard, then to Lombo Branco. We start the trek in the valley above Pinhão, crossing small villages through terraced crops. Arrival on foot in Ribeira Grande and visit the city. At the end of the day, short transfer to Ponta do Sol, a seaside village.

04h00 walking, 08km
Accumulated elevation: +450m/ -700m
Level: level 1 easy-moderate

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in local restaurant

Breakfast at the hotel. Ribeira da Torre, a deep volcanic valley surrounded by cliffs and dotted with pitons, where we spend the day discovering rural life and culture. Passing through Ribeira de Vinha with its magnificent waterfall of 150m high, and the village of Lombo de Pico with its spectacular volcanic neck.

The trail passes and the irrigation canals (levadas) they lead to the town of Rabo Curto, descent through fields of sugar cane and yam, to the village of Xoxo. Lunch in a local restaurant.

04h00 walking, 08km
Accumulated elevation: +600m/ -450m
Level: level 2 moderate

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in local restaurant

Breakfast at the hotel. From the town of Ponta do Sol, located on the northeast coast of the island, where people live mainly from fishing. We will climb to Fontainhas where we will find several plantations, later arriving at Selada de Corvo. A panoramic view of Ponta do Sol and Corvo awaits you. Descending into the valley, there are water sources all year round, then on to Formiguinhas, a small town overlooking the sea. From Formiguinhas, we will arrive in Aranhas, an abandoned town, then we will arrive at Meşcla de Ribeira Seca beach with white and black sand. Take a dip to cool off and appreciate the day.

There are also caves formed by lava, a good place to have a picnic, then we will pass by Motcho beach, to finally reach the town of Cruzinha.

06h00 walking, 14km
Accumulated elevation: +1000m
Level: level 2

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in local restaurant

Breakfast at the hotel. Today we go up the arid valley of Mocho towards the village, perched at about 600m above sea level. We continue onwards to the Ladeira da Graça pass. We descend into the Ribeira Grande. Transfer to Boca de Coruja, a small village nestled in the hollow of an agricultural village, or we can opt to walk to the hotel.

04h00 walking, 9km
Accumulated elevation: +700m/ -600m
Level: level 2

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in local restaurant

Breakfast at the hotel. We leave our hotel for 2 days, to spend the night in Lagoa. As we progress, we discover superb panoramas of the surrounding valleys. During the afternoon, we reach the village of Lagoa, located on the Lagoa plateau. We enjoy a dinner prepared by the local family.

05h00 walking, 11km
Accumulated elevation: +1000m/ -200m
Level: level 2

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in local restaurant, Dinner

Breakfast at the residence. We depart at 0900. From Lagoa, we reach the plateau village of Chã Branca and then the village of Ribeira Fria. Beautiful views of the city of Porto Novo. We then follow a narrow and steep trail to reach the village of Ribeira Fria. Logão – Ribeira Fria – Porto Novo was one of the most used routes during grogue smuggling on Santo Antão. During the hike, we will also encounter numerous endemic plants and spectacular views, until we reach Ribeira Fria. Our driver will pick us up to take us to our hotel in alto Mira. Pic Nic lunch.

03h30 walking
Accumulated elevation: +600m
Level: level 1

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast at the hotel. Departure for the ascent of the highest point of the island. The Topo de Coroa at an altitude of 1979m. After a transfer to Chã de Feijoal, we “attack” the slopes of Topo de Coroa. The path winds in the middle of impressive, lunar landscapes, and offers beautiful views of the volcanic cones and the sea. At the end of the afternoon, we reach the village of Norte, where we will spend the night.

05h00 walking, 09km
Accumulated elevation: +1100m
Level: level 2

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in local restaurant

Breakfast at the hotel. We leave the plateau of Norte, again for two days with all of our stuff for the night. We reach the fishing village of Monte Trigo. We go around the immense crater of Coroa and begin our descent towards the coast. Arrival in Monte Trigo in the middle of the afternoon.

06h00 walking / 15km
Accumulated elevation +200m / -1500m
Level 3

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in local restaurant

Breakfast at the hotel. Today, a superb coastal hike towards Tarrafal, a small paradisiacal village, still isolated from the rest of the island and protected from the trade winds by the Topo de Coroa. Discover its calm waters and its superb black sand beach.

04h00 walking / 11km
Accumulated elevation +600m / -600m
Level 1

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch in local restaurant

Breakfast at the hotel. Free day to relax and just enjoy life, the beach – NO STRESS CABO VERDE

Meals: Breakfast

Early breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to Porto Novo to catch the ferry to São Vicente. Free day.

Suggestion: Visit São Pedro Beach to snorkel with sea turtles in their natural habitat. To avoid issues with local fisherman, this activity should be pre-arranged.

Meals: Breakfast

Breakfast at the hotel. Depending on your flight time, we transfer to the Airport Cesária Évora. The tour ends at the airport for check-in and security formalities and to board the flight home.

Adeus Cabo Verde!

Meals: Breakfast