Praia de Santa Monica is Boa Vista’s most famous beach and, for many, the most beautiful in all of Cape Verde: more than 30 kilometres of empty, powder-white sand curving along the island’s south coast.
Why it’s special
Santa Monica is all about scale and emptiness. You can walk for an hour and meet almost no one, with nothing but pale sand, turquoise water and dunes for company. It regularly appears on lists of the world’s best beaches, and it shares its name with the famous Californian beach.
Can you swim there?
Take care: the open Atlantic here brings strong currents and surf, so swimming is not advised. Come for the walking, the space and the scenery. For a proper swim, head to the sheltered bay at Sal Rei instead.
How to visit
Santa Monica is remote and reached by 4x4, so it’s best visited on an organised island tour. Bring your own water, sun protection and food, as there are no facilities.
What 18 kilometres of empty sand feels like
Santa Monica runs along Boa Vista's south-west coast in an unbroken curve of pale sand and layered blues, wide enough that a hundred visitors disappear into it. There are no bars, no loungers and — outside one resort at its far western end — no buildings. Walk twenty minutes from any access point and your only company is ghost crabs, wind and the occasional osprey. It is regularly ranked among the best beaches in Africa, and the emptiness is precisely the point.
Swimming, safety and the turtle season
This is open Atlantic: beautiful, but with real shorebreak and current on many days. Swim only in calm conditions, stay shallow, never go in alone, and treat the sea with the respect an unpatrolled ocean beach deserves. From June to October the beach becomes one of the world's great loggerhead nesting grounds — keep off the sand at night unless you are with a licensed guide, and never drive on it.
Getting there and what to bring
- Access by 4x4/quad tracks or via the Praia de Salinas resort area.
- Included in most full-day island tours.
- Bring everything: water, food, shade, sunscreen — there are no facilities.
- The wind builds through the day; mornings are calmest for photos and swimming.
- Compare it with Praia de Chaves in our best beaches guide.