Cape Verde Bus Independent transit guide
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Bus guide

Dune island

Boa Vista

No scheduled road service is published for Boa Vista. The island’s one documented transport link is the circular Redonda ferry line, which connects it to Sal in 3 hours 5 minutes at a government-set fare. Inland movement is by 4x4 and aluguer arranged in Sal Rei.

By bus

Getting to Boa Vista

No scheduled road service is published for Boa Vista. The island’s one documented transport link is the circular Redonda ferry line, which connects it to Sal in 3 hours 5 minutes at a government-set fare. Inland movement is by 4x4 and aluguer arranged in Sal Rei.

  • Ferry to Sal: published crossing 3 hours 5 minutes.
  • Government-set fare: 1,700 CVE national, 2,500 CVE non-national.
  • The Redonda line calls only about twice a week and its days move — confirm before booking around it.

Source: CV InterIlhas: Routes, schedules and island-to-island crossing times · CV InterIlhas: Passenger tariff (national and non-national) ()

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Before you go

Times change. Take them with you.

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Rusting hull of the Cabo Santa Maria shipwreck standing in the surf on Boa Vista
Photo: Ximonic (Simo Räsänen), CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)

Worth your time

What Boa Vista does best

Boa Vista is the closest island to the African mainland and it shows: dunes drift across the interior, the Viana desert could be Mauritania, and the beaches run for kilometres without a building on them. Sal Rei is the only town of any size. Away from it, the island is sand track, which means 4x4 and aluguer rather than anything resembling a bus.

Santa Maria shipwreck

The cargo ship that ran aground on the north coast in 1968 is still there, rusting into the surf — the island’s unofficial monument.

Turtle beaches

Boa Vista hosts one of the Atlantic’s most important loggerhead nesting populations. Watching is licensed and guided; going alone at night is not the done thing.

The Viana desert

A genuine dune field in the island’s middle, sand blown across from the Sahara. It looks like a mistake in the geography and it is the best thing here.

Good to know

  • Sand roads punish ordinary cars; the 4x4 excursions exist for a reason.
  • The turtle season runs through the northern summer and access is regulated — book through a licensed operator.
  • Sal Rei has the ferry pier, the ATMs and most of the accommodation that is not a resort.

Optional experiences

Pairs well with the bus

Curated for this destination. The full list lives on the experiences page.

Off-road Boa Vista · Sal Rei

Boa Vista north by 4x4

A half-day 4x4 run to Rabil, the Santa Maria shipwreck on the north coast and Sal Rei town.

Getting there: Boa Vista’s interior is sand track with no scheduled service of any kind; 4x4 is how the north coast is reached.

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Keep exploring

Evening light over Mindelo and Porto Grande bay with the Monte Cara ridge behind, São Vicente Music island São Vicente Mindelo: the country’s cultural capital, its liveliest port, and its least documented bus network. Plan the ride Cloud spilling over the jagged peaks and farming terraces of the Paúl valley, Santo Antão Hiking island Santo Antão No airport, no bus network — a ferry, a mountain road, and the best walking in the Atlantic. Plan the ride Turquoise shallows at Santa Maria beach on Sal with a catamaran and yachts at anchor Gateway island Sal The main international arrival point, with the flattest landscape and the thinnest public transport in the country. Plan the ride