Here's your mini guide to the three most popular islands of Cape Verde! There's ten in total, but these are the ones with the most infrastructure and attractions.

This route will land you on the island of Sal, so there begins our tour!

Sal's claim-to-fame is the wide, flat, sandy beaches that line its shores. If slow vibes and resort relaxation are your thing, you can skip the ferries and plop yourself down right here. The island specializes is "fly-and-flop" vacations where you can hit the beach and chill as soon as you land.

But Sal isn't just a hotel hotspot, either — you can escape the resort areas by mingling with locals in Santa Maria, wading with baby sharks, and looking deep into the famous Blue Eye.

Hop a ferry over to Boa Vista and you'll be greeted with even more wide stretches of untouched beach! Fewer hotels means more room for the sea turtles that call these shores home. You won't find as many bars and restaurants here, but you can take an ATV over miles of soft sandy dunes.

And lastly, Santiago! You'll likely need a local flight to reach this one (but you can fly directly home afterwards without breaking the bank, if you prefer). This island is the largest and least touristy of the three, and one of the few that visitors say actually feels African in culture.

The capital of Praia is a busy city dotted with shopping centers and historic museums that are worth a stop, but we recommend heading up to Tarrafal. To reach this tiny beach town, you'll wind through mountains and past rocky cliffsides and over volcanic fields. It's quite the trek, but you'll be rewarded with a sleepy seaside hideaway where you can lay back on a beach (where you'll have plenty of room to yourself) and watch the sun go down.