Vila do Maio

Vila do Maio is the small capital of Maio, the quietest inhabited island in Cape Verde and the one that tourism has largely passed by. Its beaches are as long and as pale as those on Sal and Boa Vista and are almost always empty, with a single row of pastel houses and a white church behind them. An acacia forest planted against erosion covers part of the interior and shelters birds. Salt pans still work near Porto Inglês. Turtles nest along the southern shore through the late summer. The island is flat and easily circled by road in a single day.