What a visitor's money does in Cape Verde: every guide rated from very cheap to very expensive, cheapest first, then the things that cost travellers money without buying anything — the ATM, the taxi, the SIM.
Cape Verdean Escudo (CVE) · 1 EUR = 110 CVE (fixed) · 1 USD = 96.1 CVE
The escudo is pegged to the euro at a fixed 110.27, so euros are accepted in tourist areas at a rate close to that — but change is given in escudos and you cannot change them back. Take out only what you will spend.
Avoid: hotel exchange desks, changing back at the end — escudos cannot leave
Use: Banco Comercial do Atlântico, Caixa Económica, Banco Interatlântico
Machines run dry at weekends and are scarce outside Santa Maria, Espargos, Mindelo and Praia. Draw before island-hopping, and only what you will actually spend.
From the airport: Sal airport to Santa Maria €12–18 by taxi
Cachupa — a slow corn and bean stew — is the national dish and is eaten fried for breakfast the next day. The tuna is caught that morning, the grogue is fierce, and the morna played in Mindelo bars is the reason many people come back.
The cost rating is this site's own, for a visitor, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in. The general rules — the conversion prompt, shoulder season, the airport taxi — are in budget travel tips.
