Packing list for Cape Verde, travel insurance for Cape Verde, and taking your belongings

To take or not to take to Cape Verde, leave at home or arrange locally?

Sufficiently insured or not for your activities in Cape Verde?

Sufficiently insured or not for your trip to Cape Verde?

What to take with you to Cape Verde: short

Featured items:

• Documents: passport valid for at least 6 months. An online and/or offline copy of your passport is always useful.
• Money: euros are the best to take with you and can easily be exchanged for Cape Verdean Escudo. A debit card in case you need more.
• Care: sunscreen and sun cream with a high factor – the sun is merciless.
• Outdoor and practical: cap or hat and sunglasses. The sun is bright, the shade is scarce.
• Clothing: light, airy clothing all year round. Light colors of linen and cotton are best. A warm layer for the evening, in the mountains or when the wind picks up. Swimwear. Long clothing for the evening against mosquitoes.
• Shoes: good walking shoes for the stony paths (more about mountain boots or hiking boots), sandals or flip-flops for the beaches and villages.
• Medicines and travel kit: a small first aid kit with plasters, painkillers, diarrhea pills, motion sickness pills (if you are taking the boat), ORS (dehydration is a thing) and mosquito repellent.
• Technology and equipment: world plug with type C & F. Power bank when you are visiting the small islands and the power goes out.
• Woman: tampons and menstrual products (are hard to find).

What are some other options for packing as well?

• Reusable water bottle with filter.
• Quick-drying travel towel.
• Water shoes and snorkel set for all aquatic life.
• Headphones/earphones with noise-cancelling – handy on the ferry or in noisy guesthouses.
• E-reader or something else to do offline!
• In the months of August-October a light raincoat.
• International driving license, when you want to rent a car. A kite, to get the most out of the wind on Sal and Boa Vista!

Are there mosquitoes in Cape Verde?

• The Cape Verde Islands are subtropical, so there are mosquitoes present, but not in huge numbers.
• It also helps that it is very windy - that makes it a bit more difficult for the mosquitoes to find a suitable spot.
• Mosquitoes like the period from July to December the most - then they are present in large numbers.
• On Sal and Boa Vista - the popular, dry sandpit islands - they are much less active, but not completely absent. You can still expect buzzing, especially around stagnant water (think: leaking taps, flower pots or tanks).
• The mosquitoes can also transmit serious diseases such as dengue, malaria and chikungunya.

Are there sandflies in Cape Verde?

• Sand flies and leishmaniasis are a small risk in Cape Verde and there are only rare cases of leishmaniasis.

Can you buy DEET, or other mosquito repellents, in Cape Verde?

• The chance that you can buy DEET or other mosquito repellents in Cape Verde is small.
• When you find a mosquito repellent, it is most likely not as strong as the one you have at home.
• Brands like Jungle Formula and Off! are for sale on Cape Verde and natural repellents like Incognito (DEET-free) and Avon Skin So Soft.

Can you buy a joint or weed in Cape Verde, or take it with you to Cape Verde?

• Cannabis is illegal and having anything to do with it can be expensive. Use can lead to arrests or fines, and there is no exception for tourists.
• So bringing cannabis with you is not a good idea either.