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Santiago Highlights: Culture, Cuisine, and Nature Tour
4.8
136 Ratings
Praia
Discover Santiago Island’s highlights on this full-day tour. Experience a workshop with a local family, visit a vibrant market, and relax at Tarrafal beach.
Discover Santiago Island’s highlights on this full-day tour. Experience a workshop with a local family, visit a vibrant market, and relax at Tarrafal beach.
Duration:
8 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Praia - Begin the journey with a pickup from your accommodation, then set off towards the island’s interior.
- São Lourenço dos Órgãos - The first stop is at Mrs. Luisa’s home, where you can learn to prepare and enjoy cuscuz (a traditional corn flour cake) and fidjós (fried banana with wheat), a typical Cape Verdean breakfast.
- **Assomada…
- Praia - Begin the journey with a pickup from your accommodation, then set off towards the island’s interior.
- São Lourenço dos Órgãos - The first stop is at Mrs. Luisa’s home, where you can learn to prepare and enjoy cuscuz (a traditional corn flour cake) and fidjós (fried banana with wheat), a typical Cape Verdean breakfast.
- Assomada Market - Following the workshop, proceed to Assomada city to explore its renowned market (open on Wednesdays and Saturdays), interact with locals, and admire the vibrant array of local fruits and vegetables.
- Serra de Malagueta - Continue to the Serra Malagueta natural park to take in the breathtaking views from 1000 meters (3,280 feet) above sea level.
- Tarrafal Beach - Enjoy a swim at Tarrafal, Santiago’s most stunning beach, surrounded by white sand, hills, and palm trees. Then, savor a delightful lunch at a local restaurant at your own expense and relish the local cuisine.
- Calheta de Sao Miguel - Post-lunch, drive back along the picturesque east coast, capturing stunning photos of the magnificent volcanic landscapes of Calheta.
- Pedra Badejo - Travel through the lush agricultural fields before returning to Praia.
- Praia - The tour wraps up with a return drive to Praia, the nation’s capital.
- Santiago - After experiencing Santiago’s highlights on this full-day tour, you will be dropped off at the initial pickup location.
What's Included
- Pickup and drop-off at your accommodation in Praia
- Liability insurance included
- Transportation provided
- Workshop of Cuscuz and Fidjós (local delights)
- Professional Tour Guide
- Pickup and drop-off at your accommodation in Praia
- Liability insurance included
- Transportation provided
- Workshop of Cuscuz and Fidjós (local delights)
- Professional Tour Guide
What's Not Included
- Lunch
- Lunch
Additional Information
Explore the best of Santiago on this comprehensive day tour. Participate in a hands-on workshop with a local family to master the art of making Cape Verde’s renowned cuscus. Wander through the vibrant Assomada Market and journey across the Serra Malagueta Natural Park to enjoy a refreshing swim at Tarrafal beach, celebrated as the island’s most…
Explore the best of Santiago on this comprehensive day tour. Participate in a hands-on workshop with a local family to master the art of making Cape Verde’s renowned cuscus. Wander through the vibrant Assomada Market and journey across the Serra Malagueta Natural Park to enjoy a refreshing swim at Tarrafal beach, celebrated as the island’s most stunning. Engage with the community dedicated to preserving Cape Verde’s ancient traditions and gain insights into the local culture.
- Please note that the fair in Assomada Market takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Location
Praia
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.8
(136 Ratings)
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Alexandre
Feb 7, 2026
🇨🇻❤️ - Super well organized tour and with incredible vibe. I recommend 200%. Thank our guide Cátia for the excellent performance and the driver for the excellent and safe driving
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Madangopalm
Nov 26, 2025
A great day trip. - The tour started promptly, the guide Alecandra is quite knowledgeable and polite,his narrations with historical facts, life and times of Cape Verde was very informative and educative. The introduction to the local family, traditional breakfast, dance with music was the most beautiful experience. We stopped at the scenic viewpoints and could capture enchanting moments, the visit to concentration camp set up by colonial portugese regime is an eye opener to the brutalities and heroic struggles of people, the time given at Tarrafal Beach was quite sufficient, all together it's a great day trip.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Codissou
Nov 9, 2025
Nice experience - The experience was beautiful and the guides were super pro and kind. From start to finish, everything was done to make the experience perfect
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Wale_o
Oct 15, 2025
Great Day tour from Praia - The tour was fantastic. The guide Elton and the driver were both amazing. Elton was knowledgeable and he kept us informed
Review provided by Viator
Simon_t
Sep 6, 2025
Wonderful tour of Santiago island - Excellent tour of this beautiful island. Ricardo was an excellent guide and made us want to see more of this friendly country🇨🇻🇨🇻🇨🇻
Review provided by Viator
Lebretdavid
Aug 15, 2025
Exceptional - Exceptional day faithful to the description... and the good surprise was bamba our football guide from ivory side that brightened our day..
Not to be missed
David
Review provided by Tripadvisor
40aferditah
Jun 28, 2025
Great Santiago tour with all the highlights Spots - We had a very nice tour of Santiago.
Our guide told us a lot about the places and the island.
We would book this tour again anytime.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Destination278133
Mar 6, 2025
Good tour de lile - Good contact information before the visit. Pick up on time at my hotel. Nice visit consistent with the description. I recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ann_l
Nov 5, 2025
It's worth it. - Nice way to discover the island in 1 day. You visit the market with a lot of Mood. The cooking class is a bonus. The 2h break in Tarrafal was a bit disappointing because we had to wait more than 1 hour for food. Because of that not being able to enjoy the beach. The coastline back was beautiful and the nature reserve was top notch. The guides were very friendly. Nice stop for a coconut drink.
Review provided by Viator
Stephaniep
Sep 12, 2025
Lovely local team, please lose the trainee guide - We had a mixed bag of experiences with Bu Country Tours, having taken both the round island trip of Santiago as well as the half day Praia/Cidade Velha tour. Our originally assigned guide for the full day tour, Ivana and her Cape Verdean colleagues were highly professional, kind and knowledgeable. Our Cabo Verdean guide for the more historical tour, however, was lacking historical knowledge and couldn't really reply to questions in English or Portuguese. It was clear he didn't care about guests and just wanted to get the job done as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, both days, the team was joined by a guide in training who was one of the most unpleasant people I have met in travelling over 90 countries. He insisted speaking German to entire groups of people, clearly keen to practice his German, which was unfortunately barely intelligible or telling us random stories from his private life which were simply inappropriate. He ended up shouting German at people who didn't even speak the language, leaving them rightfully confused. He also kept repeating everything, the most basic and obvious things, 10 times throughout the day in both English and German, after other guides had already explained it. We talked to other guests who all had the same exhausting experience with this particular person.
Review provided by Viator
