São Tomé

Currency budget São Tomé and Príncipe

A cash economy. The dobra is pegged to the euro at 24.5, and euros are taken almost everywhere a visitor spends — hotels, guides, taxis — with change given in dobras. Cards work at a few hotels in the capital and very little else. Bring the trip in euros, in small notes.

ATMs & cards

A small number of machines in the capital, at the banks, and foreign cards are often refused. Treat them as an emergency fallback; there is nothing outside the city.

Bring euros in cash for the whole stay. The rate is fixed, so there is nothing to shop around for, and euros are accepted directly in most places that see visitors.

Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.

Safety all of São Tomé and Príncipe

Calm and friendly; the UK advice describes crime as generally low, with burglaries and occasional armed robberies, and no areas it advises against. The practical risks are the roads, which are poor and unlit outside the capital and blocked by landslides after heavy rain, and the sea on the exposed southern and eastern beaches. Malaria is present, and the medical care is basic: serious cases are flown out.

Our own assessment, not a sourced index.

Entry & visa São Tomé and Príncipe visa rules

Health & emergencies all of São Tomé and Príncipe

Required to enter

• Yellow fever certificate if arriving from a country where yellow fever is present — including a transit through one

Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.

Food tip

Fish, breadfruit, banana and palm oil: calulu, a long-cooked stew of smoked fish and leaves, is the national dish. The roças serve lunch on the veranda, and the chocolate made on the island from its own cocoa is the thing to carry home.

Getting around

• Hire car with driver — the usual way round the island, a day to the south and back; the coast road is slow and broken in places
• Hire car — possible, but the roads are unlit and the south is a long day; drive by daylight
• Taxi — yellow shared taxis in the capital and along the main roads, cheap, and agreed before getting in
• Domestic flights — to Príncipe, about 35 minutes, with few seats; book early
• Airport: São Tomé (TMS), 10 min from the city centre

eSIM

Neither of the two big eSIM providers sells a plan for São Tomé and Príncipe, so this is one of the few places where the answer is a local SIM or nothing. Not here Not here

Must-see

Nearby day trips

Say a few words

Portuguese

• HelloOláo-LA
• PleasePor favorpor fa-VOR
• Thank youObrigado / Obrigadao-bree-GA-doo / -da
• Yes / NoSim / Nãoseeng / nowng

Thank you changes with your own gender, not the listener’s: men say obrigado, women obrigada.

Religion

Catholic, with Protestant and Adventist minorities

Mostly Catholic, a legacy of five centuries of Portuguese rule, with growing evangelical churches. Each town keeps its patron saint’s feast, and the tchiloli — a sixteenth-century Portuguese court drama performed in masks — is the island’s great inherited art form. Nothing here constrains a visitor beyond dressing decently in church.

Do's and don'ts

Do

• Slow down — leve-leve, easy-easy, is the national motto and the pace of everything
• Greet in Portuguese, bom dia or boa tarde, before asking anything
• Bring enough euros in cash for the whole trip; cards are not widely accepted and there are only a handful of cash machines
• Watch nesting turtles only with the local guides who run the night walks, and keep torches off
• Ask before photographing people, and especially the fishermen and market women

Don't

• Do not eat turtle meat or eggs, or buy anything made from shell; sea turtles are protected by law here
• Do not count on a card or a cash machine
• Do not go into the Obô forest or towards Pico Cão Grande without a guide; the paths are unmarked and the forest is dense
• Do not rush people or raise your voice; it gets nothing done here
• Do not drink the tap water