Sal Island
The island of Sal, with its stunning white sandy beaches, offers unique opportunities for sea-related activities such as swimming, surfing, windsurfing, scuba diving and of course fishing.
Pedrade Lume. It’s worth watching. The impressive crater of an extinct volcano. In the center of the ring of rocks that surround the crater, the landscape is breathtaking. The salt pits in shades of blue, pink and green are an extraordinary sight!
Sal Island is one of the driest islands in the Cape Verde archipelago. Lunar landscape with brown rocky plains.
Rocky hills have been worn down by the wind over many thousands, maybe millions of years. Sand blows in from Africa, and in some places dunes even form. Despite severe surface erosion, the arid nature increases as you move south of the island. This is the flattest island of Cape Verde.
Monte Grande (in the Northeast) is the highest point of the island, 406 meters. The surface of the island covers an area of 216 square meters. km. Dimensions of the island: length 30 km, in a north/south direction, width 12 km in an east/west direction. The island of Sal belongs to the Barlavento group of islands, and is located on the eastern edge of the archipelago. The east coast is often visited by turtles, and the salt pits by long-legged birds belonging to a species of pelican.

Headings
The best

History of the island
History says that Fr. Sal was opened in 1460. Before this, the island was already known to the Moors because of its salt pits, which is why the island received its name. However, the arid climate of the island did not contribute to the rapid development of the island, which, for centuries, was used only for grazing cattle, namely goats, and was a habitat for wild birds and animals: most notably, flamingos and turtles.
The development of the island has always depended on fluctuations in the demand for salt. Slaves from the African continent were the main labor force in the salt pans. In the mid-19th century, intensive exploitation of salt mines for the export of salt to Brazil and Africa led to significant development of the island. However, the island’s notable prosperity really began in 1939 with the construction of an airport, initially aimed at serving passenger aircraft, and later used as infrastructure for the island’s tourism development.
Today, Sal is the island with the most developed tourism among the islands of the Cape Verde archipelago. A population of about 10,000 inhabitants lives in the village of Santa Maria, located at the extreme southern point of the island and in the capital of the island, Espargos, located in the center, at a distance of 2 km from the airport.
Air and water routes
Amilcar Cabral International Airport on the island of Sal receives flights from the USA, Europe, South America and Africa. The national airline TACV offers 6 – 10 weekly flights to Santiago, 2 – 4 weekly flights to SaoVicente, 1 weekly flight to Boavista, 3 weekly flights to SaoNicolau, and 2 weekly flights to Fogo. After passing through passport control and collecting your luggage at the exit from the airport, take a taxi. The fare for travel to Espargos is $25000, and Santa Maria is $90000. At night, fares increase by approximately 30%.
If you want to travel by ocean, we recommend that you come to the port of Palmeira, located on the west coast of the island, a distance of 4 km from Espargos. This is the most secure port and offers the best services. The Praia ferry connects the islands of Santiago and Sal. It is also possible to travel by boat to Boavista, a tour offered by many hotels.
Transport connections on the island
Traffic between Santa Maria and Espargos takes place on an asphalt road that runs across the entire island. It takes 25 minutes by car to get from one place to another. At Espargos, the road diverges to PedradeLume (to the east) and to Palmeira (to the west). There is public transport there with irregular services to the two most important villages. The cost of the trip is $10000, so it is recommended to get to Pedrade Lume and Palmeira by taxi. You can also rent a car, the approximate price is $3,60000/day. To do this, you will need to make an advance payment of $20,000.

Where to stay
There is a very wide range of offers of available places on Sal. These are hotels, aparthotels, guesthouses, most of them are located in Santa Maria. However, there are cheaper accommodation alternatives in Espargos, and a tourist village in Murdeira.
Where to eat
Like housing, the island’s restaurants and bars are concentrated in Santa Maria and Espargos. Most visitors go to restaurants located in the small district of SantaMaria – pracinhadeSantaMaria. We encourage you to venture into the back streets or waterfront restaurants where you can eat delicious fried fish. Hotels have restaurants with live music.
Where to shop
There are many shops in Santa Maria, Espargos and at the airport. They sell mainly handicrafts from the African continent. You can visit the Handicrafts Factory that operates in the School, which is easy to find.
where to go
Pedra de Lume salt lakes. They are located on the eastern coast of the island, inside a huge crater of an extinct volcano, the walls of which are porous and do not prevent the penetration of sea water. Access to the crater is possible through an artificial tunnel built in 1804 by businessman Manuel Antonio Martins, the man responsible for the intensive commercial exploitation of the Sal salt pits. You can also visit the salt pits in Santa Maria.
Buracona is a fantastic natural pool that was formed in the black lava rocks at the edge of the sea. There is another natural underground pool very close, which can be accessed by diving through a tunnel at the base. This place is located 6 km away, North of Palmeira.
Night life
The dance clubs of the best hotels in Santa Maria organize nights with typical local live music.
Sports
The entire tourist infrastructure of the island of Sal is aimed at serving beach holidays and ocean sports. Without a doubt, Santa Maria Bay is the trump card, with large and long beaches of white sand and crystal blue ocean. However, there are many other alternatives for those who want to walk, swim, practice windsurfing, surfing, scuba diving, fishing, etc.
For those who practice windsurfing, we recommend the Santa Maria coast. And the shores of Ponta Preta and Algodoeiro with their world-famous waves for surfing. Buracona,
Pedrade Lume is a very colorful reef with lots of marine life, and the group of caves near Santa Maria are great diving spots!
Excursions are organized to dive sites on ships off the east coast of the island. The best season of the year for fishing is July and October due to the wide variety of fish species present. You can witness turtles hatching and laying their eggs on the beautiful beaches of Parda, Serra Negra and Igrejinha.

