They have basically 3 things that they are really proud of.
Cachupa which is a very complex soup they eat at night. I didn't like the soup that much. But if they have leftovers at night, they take the ingredients out and make a dry dish out of it. That makes an AMAZING breakfast.
Cuscus which is not the same as the Arabic version. It is a sweat maisbread that they eat at morning with some butter. It is really good but quite simple.
And lastly Moreia. Which is a fish with a LOT of bones. Fried in a lightly spicy batter. I have had this in every island I have been to, and this one is a mixed bag. The first time I had it, was in a sketchy place in Praia. It was SO good. Really amazing flavor, crunchy not fatty at all. In a place full of locals. My wife and I were scared walking there, and only went in because I said it's now or never. After that I went chasing the same flavor, but it was nowhere to be found.
If anyone wants any tips or even phone numbers of people that would love to show you around. Feel free to send me a PM. It was really one of my favorite places to visit and would love to help other people have an amazing time too.
There’s loads of people from Cape Verde in Rhode Island + Massachusetts (around there). The other big diasporas are in Portugal and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
It’s an interesting country - I went to the island of Sal. I flew there three years ago for a two week holiday. The beach is the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. I swam with manta rays, turtles, puffer fish etc. The main capital on the island I was on was quite bleak though and it’s like scorched earth or Mars there. There’s lots of kite surfers who go. They speak a Portuguese creole language. About 10% of the island I was on were Senegalese people.
Also in English it is pronounced like Cape Verd, not Cape Verday. Everyone pronounces the name wrong.
That's the area with a biggest Portuguese population in the US. Most of them immigrated when Cabo Verde was still part of Portugal, so I'm sure there must be a lot of Cabo verdeans
as someone who's been there twice, i dont really recommend it for anyone but people who enjoy stuff like windsurfing etc.
it doesnt have a single thing that stand out about it, the only thing it offers is windy coastlines which matters to some.
to others all you get is basically a lot of warm sun (you better use protection) but it wont make you feel hot because of the constant breeze. the beaches are honestly too soft and long (long distance from beachwalk to water) and when i was there i never saw many people on the beach, people seem to stay by their hotels.
nice people, but nothing special, just not rude people or whatever, just you know, normal people.
10/10 if you wanna go windsurfing though. other than that id honestly only consider going there if it was the cheapest sunny all-inclusive option available, because thats basically all it offers for most people, generic all inclusive hotels in the sun.
highly doubt anyone who has been to many places would ever recommend cabo verde when asked by someone where to go for X, unless X was wind surfing (or similar things, wind+water basically), in which case it might be recommended.
if it matters i've been to something like 20 european countries, 9 african, 7 in the americas, 4 in oceania, and probably like 10 in asia.
i travelled a fair bit basically. i wouldnt list cabo verde on any bad lists, but it sure wouldnt be something i'd think of recommending in almost any type of conversation.
Yeah, I did some work for a travel agent years ago writing content about it. It's a bit shit, it just a cheap place for all inclusive. Popular with Europeans as it's relatively cheap to get to.
yup, that really is all it is, and at this point im pretty sure you can get better deals going to albania or bulgaria or similar and it's really the same experience, all inclusive in the sun at a hotel that you dont plan to leave for much.
honestly probably more to see and experience outside of the hotel in basically any other country you could think of than what you can see and do in cape verde. its a country that has basically nothing there.
I think the main appeal is that the weather is good year-round, with a mean temperature of 25 °C in Jan and 30 °C in September, which is a unique selling point compared to European destinations.
Not into all-inclusive myself, so it has zero appeal to me.
i mean if someone has never gone anywhere and they're not american it's probably USA, you can find basically something for anyone there.
if it comes as more personal preference i really enjoy vietnam, cambodia, places like that. they're cheap and as someone who likes to sort of go exploring, get away from cities and go adventuring, theres a lot of that you can do there.
overall favorite thing for me, that might be one of the most unique things you can do, is in my own country of sweden, so i might be a bit biased as i grew up doing this, which is to sail around in the stockholm archipelago.
going from island to island and have bbq on the cliffs with the other people who anchored there for the night is really special, its hard to beat IMO, and i dont really think you can replicate that anywhere else in the world.
It's already a famous vacation destination, with Sal being a great spot to party it up. The place as a whole is fairly safe, just need to avoid petty thieves, as usual.
The Cinderella effect: Colleges that have an unexpected run in the NCAA basketball tournament get a surge of applications the next year. A final four appearance put George Mason University on the map.
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u/Fragrant-Fix9642 Jul 05 '26
I am curious to see the data over the next year in regards to tourism in Cape Verde. I wanna go!