Cape Verde Bus Independent transit guide
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Cape Verde without a car: practical guides

Short answer

Short, sourced answers to the questions that come after the bus: where to stay, what to eat, how safe the sea is, what to do on a cruise day, and how luggage, money and phones work. Each guide names its sources and the date we read them.

All practical guides

Five routes that decide an itinerary

The connections that make or break a car-free trip through the islands, with what is published and what is not.

Barlavento · the short crossing

Ferry from São Vicente to Santo Antão

The shortest crossing in the network: 40 minutes by the operator’s duration table. On the day we read the schedule it showed two sailings each way. Santo Antão has no airport, so this boat is the island.

  • Published crossing time: 40 minutes, São Vicente to Santo Antão.
  • Buy at least an hour and a half before departure — the operator states this as a rule, not a suggestion.
  • Aluguers meet the boat at Porto Novo pier for Ribeira Grande, Paúl and Ponta do Sol; they leave when full, not to a clock.

CV InterIlhasRoutes, schedules and island-to-island crossing timesTicket purchase rulesENAPORPorts of Cabo Verde

Santiago · aluguer

Praia to Tarrafal without a car

There is no scheduled coach. Shared Hiace minibuses leave the Sucupira area when they fill, by either the interior road through Assomada or the coast road through Pedra Badejo and Calheta. No operator or authority publishes a departure time or a price for either routing.

  • Depart when full — mornings fill fastest, and the flow reverses in the early afternoon.
  • Cash escudos only. Agree the price before you sit down; drivers may quote a private charter first.
  • No source publishes Sunday or evening service on this corridor; ask at Sucupira the day before.

Governo de Cabo VerdeNational transport services portalSol AtlânticoPraia bus lines and stops

Redonda · island hopping

Sal to Boa Vista by ferry

The two package-holiday islands are three hours apart by sea on the Redonda line, but the operator publishes sailings date by date, and on 14 October 2026 there was none between them. Check the live schedule before you commit a hotel booking to it.

  • Published crossing time: 3 hours 5 minutes, Sal to Boa Vista.
  • Government-set fare: 1,700 CVE for nationals, 2,500 CVE for non-nationals.
  • On 14 October 2026 the Redonda line ran Sal to São Nicolau and São Nicolau to São Vicente; treat the published calendar as the only truth.

CV InterIlhasRoutes, schedules and island-to-island crossing timesPassenger tariff (national and non-national)

Fogo · volcano

São Filipe to Chã das Caldeiras

The village inside Fogo’s caldera is reached by shared 4x4 aluguer from São Filipe. It is a morning-out, afternoon-back rhythm set by the people who live up there, not a timetable.

  • Departures cluster early from São Filipe and again later in the day from Chã.
  • No published times or fares exist; ask at the market the day before.
  • Nothing published covers Sundays either; an overnight in Chã is safer than counting on a same-day return.

Governo de Cabo VerdeNational transport services portalInstituto Marítimo e PortuárioMaritime and port regulator

Santiago · urban

Get around Praia by city bus

Praia is the one place in Cape Verde with a proper published urban network. Sol Atlântico runs numbered lines 2 to 16 and 18 to 20, nearly all of them converging on Plateau, with a prepaid card topped up online or through the vinti4 network.

  • A 5-trip prepaid bundle is 215 CVE, 43 CVE a trip; a 10-trip bundle is 430 CVE.
  • The first card costs 300 CVE and must be collected in person at a service desk.
  • Line 15 has a suspension notice dated 6 August 2024, yet the real-time map still lists it.

Sol AtlânticoPraia bus lines and stopsTariffs, cards and passesProvisional suspension of line 15Real-time bus map and line list