Where is more authentic than Sal?
We spent 3 weeks on Sal last Christmas, the first 5 days in an all inclusive resort then the rest of our trip we stayed at 3 different apartments in Santa Maria. Our kids age 7 and 13 loved the pools and buffets at the resort but my husband and I really didn’t enjoy it, all the staff seemed overworked, undervalued and miserable. We much preferred being in the apartments in town.
We loved the beaches, the bars, the weather, the taxi drivers, the Strela and Caipirinhas, the airport and the stray dogs. There were a couple we’d have loved to take home they were so sweet 🥰
We didn’t like the near constant and sometimes quite aggressive pressure to buy from vendors on the beach and when passing gift shops in town. We found food and drinks quite expensive compared to Portugal where we live and other than watersports we didn’t think there was much to do once we’d visited all the usual tourist places.
I’m not sure we’ll return to Sal in future, but we’d like to visit other islands after hearing about the hometowns of the taxi drivers we spoke to. São Vicente and Santo Antãu were highly recommended. Flights over Christmas aren’t cheap and it’s our only family holiday of the year as where we live is hot and sunny most of the year with lots to see and do.
So my question is where should we spend our 3 week trip and why? We can’t afford flights between the islands so we’d be flying into São Vicente. I know it’s easy to get from there to Santo Antão by ferry so we’d definitely want to visit there. Other than that we’re completely open to suggestions! We’re not opposed to getting ferries to other islands too, but not really long journeys.
I also wondered if anyone has been anywhere else in the world that’s warm and sunny in December, is reasonably affordable, has great food, nice sandy beaches and plenty of things to do for both adults and kids?