Tarrafal

Tarrafal sits at the northern end of Santiago and has the best swimming beach on the island, a crescent of pale sand under coconut palms in a bay sheltered by a headland. The town is small and unhurried and lives from fishing. Behind it the road climbs through the Serra Malagueta into a green mountain park of terraced fields and cloud forest, which is where the island's walking is. Outside the town stands the concentration camp the Portuguese dictatorship ran here for political prisoners, now a memorial museum. The drive over the mountains from Praia takes about two hours.