Sal is the front door of Cape Verdean tourism: flat, golden and ringed by some of the finest beaches in the Atlantic. Its name means salt, after the crater salinas that were once the island's entire economy.
Santa Maria, on the southern tip, grew from a salt-shipping village into the country's liveliest resort town, yet its long wooden pier still fills each morning with fishermen landing tuna and wahoo. The beach runs for kilometres in each direction, white sand into water of improbable blue.
At Pedra de Lume, an old tunnel cut through the crater wall opens onto a scene from another planet: salt pans in shades of pink and copper inside an extinct volcano, where the water is so dense swimmers float like corks. The salinas shipped salt to Brazil and Africa for two centuries.
The island's interior is a desert of ochre plains and lone peaks. On the northwest coast, Buracona's lava pools hide the famous Blue Eye, a submerged grotto that ignites in electric blue when the midday sun strikes it. Offshore, steady trade winds have made Sal one of the world's renowned wind sports destinations.
Known for
- Santa Maria beach
- Pedra de Lume salt crater
- Buracona lagoon
- Year-round sunshine
Good to know
Amílcar Cabral International Airport on Sal is the country's busiest gateway.
Lemon sharks cruise the shallows at Shark Bay, watchable from knee-deep water.
Rain is so rare that many years record almost none at all.