Things to do in Praia
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Praia
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Dry season and the best overall window, with reliable sun, swimmable seas and the year's festival spine.
The connoisseur's pick, still green from the rains with clear air and crowds not yet arrived.
Peak season, when a harmattan wind can bring Saharan dust haze that spoils summit views for days.
Superb for music, with Atlantic Music Expo and Kriol Jazz in April and the Gamboa festival in May.
Hot and humid and building toward the rains, manageable but not ideal.
Rainy season and the worst window for most purposes, with downpours and rough seas but the greenest hills in September and October.
What's on
- Carnival February or early March, to Shrove Tuesday
Praia's smaller, neighbourhood carnival of costumes, drums and street parties on and around the Plateau.
- Atlantic Music Expo Early to mid April
An industry music week of showcases across Praia stages, with the city full of musicians.
- Kriol Jazz Festival Usually April
Praia's flagship international festival of Creole world jazz since 2009, and a book ahead week.
- Festival da Gamboa Mid to late May, around 19 May
The city's big open air music festival on Gamboa beach for its municipal celebrations.
- Tabanka June into July, dates set locally
Santiago's Afro Catholic festival season of processions and drumming in the Santa Catarina interior.
Best things to do in Praia
Praça Alexandre Albuquerque
The main square anchoring a Plateau walk past colonial buildings, cafes and viewpoints over Gamboa bay.
Mercado Municipal da Praia
The Plateau food market for cachupa ingredients, island produce and one of the cheapest cooked lunches in the capital.
Mercado de Sucupira
Praia's sprawling general market, a loud labyrinth of clothing, tailors and snack stalls best visited in busy daytime hours.
Museu Etnográfico da Praia
A small museum of Cape Verdean daily life that makes the markets and Cidade Velha make sense if you visit it first.
Fundação Amílcar Cabral
The small museum to Amílcar Cabral, the independence leader at the centre of modern Cape Verdean history.
Praia da Quebra Canela
Praia's social city beach, a sheltered crescent with beach bars where the calmer left end is the place to swim.
Praia da Gamboa
The breezy bay below the Plateau for the classic city view and festival stages, better for walking than swimming.
Farol de D. Maria Pia
The small lighthouse on the Prainha headland, the city's best free quiet hour at sunset with open Atlantic views.
Where to stay in Praia
Prainha
best all round and luxury base
Quiet, sea facing embassy quarter with the two flagship hotels, the splurge restaurants and the lighthouse walk.
Plateau
first short sightseeing stay
Markets, museums, cafes and music on foot by day, with hotels at mid and budget tiers in the historic centre.
Achada Santo António
value and longer stays
Residential districts toward Quebra Canela beach with hostels, apartments and local restaurants at lower prices.
Chã de Areia
tour heavy itineraries
Between the centre and Prainha, a short taxi to everything, anchored by a modern mid range hotel with a pool.
Think twice about
- Sucupira market fringe
Visit the market by day but do not base there: the weakest lodging, chaotic streets and the city's most reported pickpocketing.
- Port and Achada Grande industrial fringe
Isolated, poorly lit heavy vehicle streets east of the centre with no visitor infrastructure and no reason to sleep there.
Best restaurants in Praia
O Poeta Lounge & Food
Praia's most refined dining room, a seafood led splurge with poets' lobster, views and live music on Fridays.
Restaurante Linha d'Água
The Prainha waterfront splurge for long seafood lunches and sunset dinners where Praia dresses up.
Quintal da Música
A colonial courtyard with live morna and funaná most nights and good Cape Verdean cooking, so reserve ahead.
Bistro Noventa 90
The Plateau's polished bistro, praised for grilled tuna, generous portions and unusually sharp service.
Kebra Cabana
The beachfront restaurant on Quebra Canela with a veranda over the sand, seafood and the city's best sunset table.
Restaurante Punto d'Incontro
Praia's established Italian table, a reliable change of pace for pasta and pizza in a cachupa and grilled fish week.
Restaurante Kaza Katxupa
The cachupa specialist on the pedestrian street and the best cheap lunch in the capital, including a fish version.
Restaurante Moringo
The after beach balcony at Quebra Canela, known for cachupa breakfasts, good coffee and fresh passion fruit juice.
Outdoor things to do in Praia
Fortaleza Real de São Filipe
The hilltop fortress above UNESCO listed Cidade Velha, where a guided visit should start for the view and the story.
Rua da Banana
A cobbled lane of stone and thatched houses below the fortress, among the oldest European built streets in Africa.
Igreja Nossa Senhora do Rosário
The 1495 church at the top of Banana Street, the most atmospheric fifteen minutes in Cidade Velha.
Parque Natural da Serra Malagueta
Santiago's greenest high ground, a moderate guided hike among endemic plants and birds with cooler air than Praia.
Pico de Antónia
Santiago's highest summit at 1,392 metres, a serious guided climb from Rui Vaz for island wide views on clear mornings.
Praia do Tarrafal
Santiago's most beautiful beach, a calm palm backed bay in a fishing village that rewards a full day trip.
Praia de São Francisco
A broad, quiet bay twenty minutes from Praia, the locals' calmer alternative for a half day by the sea.
Ilhéu de Santa Maria
The islet in Gamboa bay for short kayaking and snorkelling trips and a sea level view back at the city.
Best hotels in Praia
Hotel Oásis Atlântico Praiamar
The full service Prainha flagship with pool, tennis and gardens, the safest luxury recommendation in the city.
Pestana Trópico
The Prainha hotel head to head reviewers prefer, for its pool, service and relaxed oceanfront feel near the old town.
Hotel Pérola
A modern mid range hotel between centre and Prainha with a pool and a panoramic restaurant, at below flagship prices.
Hotel Cesária
The Plateau's smart mid range hotel on the pedestrian street, with the markets and music rooms on foot by day.
Residencial Nazaré
The classic central budget residencial, simple and well run, leaving money for guided days and long lunches.
Praiadise Hostel
Praia's social hostel toward Quebra Canela, where staff double as an informal tour desk for Santiago.
Is Praia expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | CVE 6,500 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | CVE 14,000 a person |
| Splurge | CVE 32,000 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Fortaleza Real de São Filipe: a few days ahead
- Parque Natural da Serra Malagueta: a few days ahead
- Pico de Antónia: a few days ahead
- Praia do Tarrafal: a few days ahead
- Ilhéu de Santa Maria: a few days ahead
- O Poeta Lounge & Food: a few days ahead
- Restaurante Linha d'Água: a few days ahead
- Quintal da Música: a few days ahead
- Reserve Quintal da Música a day or more ahead and O Poeta for a Friday.
- Book guided Serra Malagueta and Cidade Velha days ahead in the November to June season.
- Festival weeks for Kriol Jazz in April and Gamboa in May compress hotels and flights across the city.
Is Praia safe?
- Taxi at night and avoid hillside stairways; petty crime is the main risk in the capital.
- Emergency numbers are police 132, medical 130 and fire 131.
- Swim where locals swim and never alone, because strong currents and undertows are common on Santiago's coasts.
- There are no hyperbaric facilities in Cabo Verde, so keep any diving shallow, certified and conservative.
Praia travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Treating Praia as a beach resort, when the great beaches are Tarrafal and São Francisco and Praia is the culture base.
- Doing Cidade Velha as a 45 minute photo stop without a guide, which misses the story that is the town's value.
- Expecting artisan souvenirs at Sucupira, which is a general market with largely imported stock.
- Drinking grogue like beer at distillery tastings, which ends more afternoons than the fortress climb.
Getting around Praia: public transport and more
- Walk the Plateau by day and taxi everything at night, agreeing the fare before you get in.
- Aluguer minibuses leave when full from Sucupira, at about 200 CVE to Cidade Velha, and are the cheap way to the island sights.
- For island days a car with driver booked through a hotel beats self drive on winding mountain roads.
- Book inter island flights early in festival weeks because they sell out with no same day rescue.
Who Praia suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Good |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Praia your trip
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