Traffic and a marked crossing on a street in Praia, with apartment blocks along both sides.
Travel planning

Accessible Travel in Cape Verde

No Cape Verdean accessibility authority was reachable. What the sourced facts do say is that the ten islands are not equally provided for.
  • Country Cape Verde
  • Guide Accessibility
  • Reviewed 20 August 2026
  • Length 2 min read

Credit TxetxeCV, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Last reviewed 20 August 2026

As with Senegal, there is no national accessibility authority we could reach and the FCDO offers only its general guide on disability and travel abroad. This page draws what it can from facts that were sourced for other reasons, and then stops.

The islands are not interchangeable

The single most useful thing in the sourced material is that provision varies sharply between islands, and not in the way a holiday brochure would suggest.

The largest hospitals are in Praia on Santiago and Mindelo on Sao Vicente. Medical facilities are described as basic and limited generally, and as particularly limited on Boa Vista, which is a major resort island. Fogo and Brava, the two islands where tremors are felt, are also the two whose ferry connections are most often disrupted.

An itinerary built around Santiago and Sao Vicente has more margin than one built around Boa Vista or the southern islands. That is a fact about infrastructure, not about anybody.

What the terrain is

Three of the five heritage sites in this cluster are volcanic: a caldera floor reached by mountain road, salt pans inside a crater, and a valley system rising to 1,585 meters. The ground is lava rock, loose salt and steep terraces. That is a description of the places, and it is better said plainly than discovered on arrival.

Cidade Velha and the towns are the flatter half of the country.

Worth asking before you book

  • Ask your accommodation about steps, door widths and bathroom layout, and ask for photographs.
  • Ask which island your medical cover assumes you are on, and where the nearest hospital actually is.
  • Ask how each site is reached and over what surface, especially on Fogo and Sal.
  • Confirm inter-island arrangements in advance, and build in slack for disrupted sailings.
  • Check that your insurance covers medical evacuation. Your GHIC will not be accepted.
This guide is general orientation, not legal, medical or governmental advice. Entry, health and safety requirements change frequently and depend on your nationality, your route and your dates. Always confirm with the relevant authority before you travel.