Santo Antão is the second largest island of Cabo Verde and by far its most dramatic. A spine of volcanic peaks splits the island in two: a bone-dry southern slope facing Porto Novo and a lush, cloud-fed north where ribeiras (steep green valleys) tumble from crater rims down to black sand coves.
Most travellers arrive by ferry from Mindelo, and the hour-long crossing is a fitting overture. The road over the old mountain pass, the Estrada da Corda, is one of the great drives of Africa, a cobbled ribbon laid by hand that threads along crater edges and through pine forest before plunging toward the northern coast.
The Cova crater is the island's emblem: an extinct caldera whose flat floor is a patchwork of smallholder farms. From its rim, a legendary footpath drops into the Paul valley, a staircase of terraces growing sugarcane, yams, mangoes and coffee. Villages such as Fontainhas cling to knife-edge ridges above the ocean and look almost painted onto the cliffs.
Santo Antão is the hiking capital of the archipelago. Trails here were never built for tourists; they are the mule paths that still connect villages, which is why every walk ends somewhere real: a schoolyard, a fishing harbour, a grandmother selling bread from her window.
Known for
- Ribeira Grande valleys
- Cova crater
- Cliff-edge hiking paths
- Sugarcane terraces
Good to know
Ferries from Mindelo dock at Porto Novo several times a day.
The north of the island catches the northeast trade winds, making it the greenest place in the country.
Cobbled roads here were laid entirely by hand, stone by stone.