Things to do in São Tomé
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit São Tomé
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Gravana, the long dry season: cooler, drier, best hiking and road conditions, and the cultural high season.
Best months overall, with Independence Day on 12 July and the August festival season.
Short dry season: hot and green with the clearest seas and festive season rooms booking early.
Peak turtle nesting on the south beaches, with night patrols running in season.
Turtle hatchlings emerge about 45 days after nesting, and diving visibility is best December to March.
Humpback whale season centres on August to October, within a broader late July to October window.
Worst months for a first trip: peak rain, deteriorating roads and humidity, with neither whales nor best diving.
What's on
- Independence Day 12 July
The national day, with official events in the capital and some businesses closed.
- Festa de São Lourenço and Tchiloli around 15 August
Community troupes perform Tchiloli, the island's Charlemagne theatre tradition, across the August season.
- Auto de Floripes August
A whole island spectacle in Santo António on Príncipe, reachable only by the inter island flight.
Best things to do in São Tomé
Fortaleza de São Sebastião
A 1566 Portuguese fort housing the national museum, with the best harbour view in the capital from its ramparts.
Claudio Corallo
A guided tasting of additive free chocolate and coffee from the island producer who spent decades perfecting the bean.
Roça São João dos Angolares
The best restored roça on the island, a plantation house turned cultural centre above the east coast.
Roça Agostinho Neto
The vast ruined estate that was once the island's largest roça, now a living village and a lesson in its history.
Roça Monte Café
The historic coffee estate above the capital, with a small coffee museum and a tasting of its own arabica.
Diogo Vaz
Award winning bean to bar chocolate from a west coast roça, tasted as gelato, hot chocolate and bars in its city café.
Mercado Central
The capital's covered market, piled with mango, breadfruit, cocoa and vanilla, and the city's everyday front room.
Sé Catedral de Nossa Senhora da Graça
The cathedral on the main square, the orientation point for a first wander through the colonial centre.
Where to stay in São Tomé
Praia Lagarto and the airport bay
best run hotels, easy arrivals
Five minutes from the airport on the bay, walkable or a short taxi from the centre, with the island's best hotel.
The Marginal and the historic centre
walking to dinner, museum and market
Stay here to feel part of the town, with big bayfront hotels and the best value guesthouse.
The north coast road, Neves
quiet second base, north beaches
A greener base near Lagoa Azul whose lodge guides will run your whole island programme.
Santana, east coast
beach resort base, families
The island's one true beach resort on its own cove, well placed for the south circuit.
Porto Alegre and Jalé, deep south
equator boat and turtle beach
Bungalow ecolodges at the end of the road, for two nights of dark skies and isolation at a trip's end.
Think twice about
- Streets immediately around the Mercado Central
Chaotic and noisy from dawn and hard work with luggage. Fine to visit, tiring to sleep beside.
- Unlit outskirts beyond the Marginal
Little for a visitor after dark and no pavement to walk home on. Stay on the lit bayfront or in the named bases.
- The deep south as a sole base
The road back to the capital is slow and rough in its last section, so a whole trip based there is spent on it.
Best restaurants in São Tomé
Roça São João dos Angolares
Chef João Carlos Silva's set tasting lunch on the plantation veranda, built entirely from the estate and the island.
Casa Museu Almada Negreiros
A museum house and garden restaurant serving Santomean dishes with unusual care on the artist's birthplace estate.
Espaço Cacau
Restaurant and arts centre with exhibitions and folklore nights, the best night out in the city that is not a hotel buffet.
O Pirata
A sea view terrace known for seafood rice and grilled fish, where the big hotels send their own guests to eat.
Papa Figo
The capital's default good restaurant for two decades, a big breezy room for grilled fish, octopus and cold beer.
Filomar
A simple Creole restaurant with the best lunch view in the capital and, on a good day, unforgettable grilled cherne.
Dona Teté
Home style Santomean cooking near the big hotels, calulu and fish stews that hotel guests return to daily.
XICO's Café
The capital's café for coffee, juices and simple lunches on a central square, with the island's most reliable hours.
Outdoor things to do in São Tomé
Ilhéu das Rolas
The equator islet reached by boat from Ponta Baleia, where you stand with a foot in each hemisphere and swim after.
Praia Jalé
A wild southern beach where turtles nest at night in season and hatchlings reach the sea about 45 days later.
Lagoa Azul
A calm, clear volcanic cove on the northwest coast that is the island's easiest snorkel from the capital.
Praia Piscina
A local favourite beach of dark sand and volcanic rock pools that fill at low tide and warm in the sun.
Obô Natural Park
Primary rainforest around the island peak, hiked with a guide to the Lagoa Amélia crater lake and endemic birds.
Cascata de São Nicolau
A tall waterfall on a fern covered rock face by the Monte Café road, a photograph stop rather than a swim.
Pico Cão Grande
A volcanic needle rising vertically from the southern rainforest, seen best from the road viewpoints on the south drive.
Atlantic Diving Center
Small scale diving on warm volcanic reefs, and the same boats look for humpback whales from late July to October.
Best hotels in São Tomé
Omali São Tomé
The island's benchmark boutique hotel in gardens on Lagarto Bay, with the capital's most praised hotel restaurant.
Club Santana
The island's beach resort, set in forest above its own cove with an activities desk for dives and excursions.
Pestana São Tomé
The big reliable bayfront hotel with an oceanfront pool and Friday barbecue, comfortable if dated in places.
Pestana Miramar São Tomé
The smaller garden sister hotel on the same bayfront, a sensible mid range fallback when the main hotels fill.
Hotel Praia
A locally run hotel in green grounds on Lagarto Bay with a pool and bungalows, five minutes from the airport.
Mucumbli
A small north coast lodge with excellent food and its own guides who will run your whole island programme.
Praia Inhame Eco Lodge
Wooden bungalows on the sand opposite the equator islet, with the lodge boat for the crossing and turtles in season.
Sweet Guest House
The capital's best cheap sleep, a friendly guesthouse near the centre with a communal rooftop terrace.
Is São Tomé expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | STN 1,400 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | STN 3,400 a person |
| Splurge | STN 7,500 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Claudio Corallo: a few days ahead
- Roça São João dos Angolares: a few days ahead
- Ilhéu das Rolas: a few days ahead
- Praia Jalé: a few days ahead
- Obô Natural Park: a few days ahead
- Atlantic Diving Center: a few days ahead
- Pico de São Tomé: weeks ahead
- Omali São Tomé: weeks ahead
- Book Roça São João's restaurant days ahead, and always for weekends, as there is one seating starting on time.
- Book flights and the top hotels weeks ahead in the June to September and Christmas dry seasons.
- Book turtle patrols, dive boats and the Rolas crossing a day or more ahead with a weather fallback day.
- Arrange the Pico de São Tomé trek and specialist birding guides before you arrive.
Is São Tomé safe?
- Crime is generally low, and health risks are the main concern.
- Medical care is limited with no adequate trauma service, so evacuation insurance is essential and malaria is year round.
- Carry proof of yellow fever vaccination, and watch bags in the Mercado Central crowds.
- Never drive the rough south road at night, and swim where locals swim as surf and currents are unguarded.
São Tomé travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Do not swim off the capital's town front, which is a working harbour, despite the inviting bay.
- At Roça Agostinho Neto, go with a guide and agree the price first to avoid the island's commonest complaint.
- The Pestana São Tomé is a comfortable dated 3.5 star hotel despite its five star badge.
- Pico Cão Grande's summit is a technical climb, so decline any offer of an easy hike to the top.
Getting around São Tomé: public transport and more
- Hire a car with a driver or take guided day tours, and do not self drive the south where the road becomes 4x4 only.
- The capital is walkable by day along the Marginal, and yellow shared taxis run set routes for a few dobras.
- Money is cash: the dobra is pegged near 24.5 to the euro and international cards work mainly as Visa.
- Buy a local CST SIM for data, download Portuguese offline, and expect 220V European two pin plugs.
Who São Tomé suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Not ideal |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | Not ideal |
Make São Tomé your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
Get Swearby on the App Store