Sao Nicolau, A delightful quiet island with an air of sophistication, and home to Cape Verde’s prettiest town

São Nicolau is an island of real contrasts; Ribeira Brava stands out as probably the prettiest town in the archipelago with its lovely colonial architecture, colourful fertile gardens and quiet dignity having been home to Africa’s first university and a focal point for the Portuguese intellectual elite.  The other settlements on the island are more impoverished and barren and much of the island suffers from desertification.  However around Mount Gordo, in the central massif, the scenery is stunning, mountainous and green with wonderful cobbled paths and terraced fields stretching up into the mountainside making it a walker’s delight.  The eastern end of São Nicolau, by contrast, is a ridge of stony mountains and volcanic craters and there are miles upon miles of cobbled tracks linking numerous abandoned farm houses and villages; a reminder how fertile and productive the land must have been here when the rains were more frequent.   

One of the best islands for walking, you’ll be able to follow the central spine (650m) of Sao Nicolau and look down on collapsed volcanic craters, turquoise ocean on both sides and the beautiful crescent shaped bay of Sao Jorge. Or head west to the ‘greener’ part of the island for walks around Ribeira Brava, descending on cobbled paths through the cloud amidst rocky spires and coffee and corn plantations to the coast where you might be lucky enough to spot dolphins.