The resorts of Sal and Boa Vista suit very different trips. This guide sorts the Cape Verde all inclusive resorts by who sleeps well at each: couples, families with pool-hungry kids, and anyone who wants a bracelet on the wrist and zero decisions until the flight home.
Updated August 2026
Quick answer
Cape Verde all inclusive resorts cluster on two islands, Sal and Boa Vista. Nightly prices start at $266 at the adults-only Melia Llana and top out around $430 at Riu Palace Santa Maria. Guests score Riu Palace Boavista highest at 9.4/10.
Key takeaways
Every resort below sits on the beach with an all-inclusive plan. Scores and review counts come from Expedia guests, checked August 2026.
We have not stayed at these resorts. Scores, review counts and prices are what the booking pages showed when we checked in August 2026. Tap through for current numbers and treat guest scores as guest opinion, not our verdict.
| Resort | Island | Best for | Book | Adults-only | From, per night | Guest score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riu Palace Santa Maria | Sal | Families, water park | No | $430 | 9.2/10 (97 reviews) | |
| Riu Funana | Sal | Nightlife, 24-hour plan | No | $290 | 8.8/10 (170 reviews) | |
| Riu Cabo Verde | Sal | Couples near town | Yes | $316 | 8.6/10 (98 reviews) | |
| Melia Llana | Sal | Adults-only on a budget | Yes | $266 | 8.6/10 (171 reviews) | |
| Riu Touareg | Boa Vista | Families and couples, zoned | Section | $296 | 8.4/10 (71 reviews) | |
| Riu Palace Boavista | Boa Vista | Top score, imported drinks | No | $409 | 9.4/10 (68 reviews) |
Most of the resorts on this page stand on Sal, within a short taxi ride of Santa Maria. That matters more than any pool count. You can leave the bracelet behind for an evening, eat grilled tuna on the square for €10 to €15, browse the souvenir stalls and walk back along the sand.
Sal is also the watersports island, with the calmest swimming in Santa Maria bay and kite schools a beach over.
Boa Vista is emptier, wilder and shorter on things to do off the property, which is exactly why some people pick it. Riu Palace Boavista sits 9 minutes from the airport near the 4 km sweep of Praia das Dunas, and Riu Touareg holds the quiet south. The trade-off is the Atlantic itself: currents on Boa Vista's open beaches are strong, and on rough days the pool is the swim.
Loggerhead turtles nest on these beaches from June to October, and humpback whales pass offshore around March.
Want to wander, snorkel and mix resort days with town evenings? Pick Sal. If the plan is the plane-to-lounger pipeline with nothing on the calendar, pick Boa Vista, because every resort on both islands runs the same basic promise: choose the island for the trip you want, then the resort for the people you are bringing.
Pins mark each resort's stretch of coast. Note how Sal's four cluster around Santa Maria while Boa Vista's two stand alone.
Read the fine print on the bar. At most of these resorts the pours are local and house brands, including grogue, the island sugar-cane rum worth trying at least once. Imported labels usually cost extra.
The exception is Riu Palace Boavista, whose 24-hour plan lists imported drinks as included, and guests confirm that everything at the bars came free.
Every resort runs an open buffet for the three main meals. The specialty restaurants, Krystal and the Japanese rooms among them, take reservations and fill fast in high season. At Riu Funana one guest put it plainly: reservation-only, and you cannot ask for seconds.
Reserve your specialty-restaurant evenings on day one.
At Melia Llana, guests report more edges than most: the pool bar mixes basic spirits, and the VIP package, which adds restaurant choice and a €50 (about 5,500 CVE) per person dining credit, is the upgrade returning guests recommend.
The old salt works of Pedra de Lume fill an extinct crater 25 minutes from Santa Maria. Entry costs €6 (about 660 CVE) plus €1 for the shower, and the water is so dense you float like a cork, Dead Sea style. Go before 11 in the morning and you share it with a handful of people.
On Sal's rocky northwest coast, Buracona is a lava pool where, on sunny late mornings, a submerged shaft glows a deep neon blue. Entry runs about €3 (330 CVE). Most jeep tours pair it with Palmeira, a working fishing village of painted houses where lunch is whatever came off the boats.
At Shark Bay on Sal's east coast you wade in knee-deep and watch juvenile lemon sharks patrol the shallows around your ankles. It is safe, strange and the best €10 or so you will spend here. Snorkelers should head for Murdeira Bay, a calm marine reserve of coral heads and turtles.
On Boa Vista the wildlife calendar rules: loggerhead nesting from June to October, whale season around March.
Cachupa, the slow-cooked corn and bean stew, is the national dish, and Santa Maria cooking classes teach it in a morning, market shopping included. Then eat where the town eats.
Santa Maria is a genuine small town, not a resort strip. On the pier each morning fishermen land and gut the catch while half the town negotiates for it. The square fills after dark with live morna music spilling out of bars.
Dinner off-plan costs €10 to €20 (1,100 to 2,200 CVE) a head at the grills along the main street, and the fish was swimming that morning; Odjo d'Água by the pier is the classic first-night table.
Skip the beachfront stalls for an hour and go where prices are written for locals.
From the Riu cluster a taxi into town runs about €5 (550 CVE) each way, and Riu Cabo Verde guests can walk the beach in 15 minutes. Aluguer minibuses, the local share taxis, cost around €1.20 if you flag one on the main road. Nothing in town is more than ten minutes on foot from anything else.
The Cape Verdean escudo is pegged at about 110 CVE to €1, and euros are accepted almost everywhere on Sal and Boa Vista, though change comes back in escudos. Bring some cash: market stalls, taxis and small grills do not take cards. US dollars get poor rates, so euros win even for American travellers.
Prices below are what travellers report paying in 2026. Tipping is not expected, but €1 or a round 100 CVE for bar staff lands well.
| What | Price | In escudos |
|---|---|---|
| Taxi, Sal airport to Santa Maria | €15 to €20 | 1,650 to 2,200 CVE |
| Taxi, resort to Santa Maria town | about €5 each way | 550 CVE |
| Aluguer minibus (shared taxi) | about €1.20 | 130 CVE |
| Half-day excursion or jeep tour | €30 to €60 per person | 3,300 to 6,600 CVE |
| Pedra de Lume salt crater entry | €6, plus €1 for the shower | 660 CVE |
| Buracona Blue Eye entry | about €3 | 330 CVE |
| Dinner in Santa Maria, per head | €10 to €20 | 1,100 to 2,200 CVE |
| Tourist city tax, per person per night | €2.50, capped at 10 nights, under-16s free | 276 CVE |
| Airport security tax, paid via EASE | €31, once per trip | 3,400 CVE |
Cape Verde stays warm all year; the variable is wind. Air holds 24 to 30°C year-round and the sea runs 22 to 27°C, warmest from August to October.
Direct flights from the UK take about 6 hours into Sal (SID) or Boa Vista (BVC), and Cape Verde sits at GMT minus 1, so there is no jet lag to speak of. Package operators fly year-round; from the US, connections run through Lisbon. Book the airport nearest your resort: the islands are a domestic flight or ferry apart, not a taxi.
Every visitor pre-registers on the EASE platform, ideally at least 5 days before arrival, and pays the €31 (3,400 CVE) airport security tax there. EU and UK travellers enter visa-free. US citizens also skip the visa for stays up to 30 days.
Passports need 6 months of validity, and the hotel collects the small nightly city tax on top, so keep a card handy at check-in.
Santa Maria bay on Sal is the calmest swim of the archipelago, which is why the town grew there. Boa Vista's magnificent open beaches hide strong currents, and on many days the red flag stays up; guests at both Boa Vista resorts should expect pool swimming whenever the Atlantic says no. Nobody mentions this in the brochure photos, so we are mentioning it here.
From November to April the trade winds blow most afternoons. Kitesurfers cross the world for Kite Beach in exactly those months, but if your plan is a motionless lounger and a flat sea, aim for May to October instead. Resorts plant windbreaks and the pools sit sheltered, so the wind shapes the beach hours, not the whole holiday.
For pool-and-beach weather, May to July brings calm air, low prices and a 26°C sea on the way up. August to October is hottest with the warmest water and turtle nesting on Boa Vista. November to April is kitesurf season: sunny, but the trade winds blow most afternoons.
Riu Cabo Verde and Melia Llana, both on Sal, are fully adults-only, from $266 a night. Riu Touareg on Boa Vista runs a separate Adults Only section inside a family resort, so couples travelling with friends who have kids can share one property.
Yes. US citizens need no visa for stays up to 30 days. Everyone completes the EASE pre-registration online and pays the €31 airport security tax, ideally at least 5 days before flying, and passports need 6 months of validity.
Less than the Caribbean for a comparable week. The resorts on this page run $266 to $430 a night all-inclusive for two, dinner in town costs €10 to €20, excursions €30 to €60, and the fixed extras are the €2.50 nightly city tax and €31 entry tax. The escudo's fixed peg of 110 CVE to €1 keeps prices stable.
If your trip is sun, sand, water and doing very little, yes: 350 sunny days, a 6 hour flight from Europe with no jet lag, and calmer prices than long-haul rivals. It is not a sightseeing destination; one or two excursions like Pedra de Lume and Shark Bay fill the exploring itch.
On Sal, Santa Maria bay is calm and swimmable most days. On Boa Vista strong currents make open-sea swimming risky, and resorts fly warning flags; treat the ocean there as scenery on rough days and use the pools. Always swim where the flags allow.
Riu Palace Santa Maria wins on Sal with the Splash Water World water park inside the complex and town 6 minutes away. On Boa Vista, Riu Palace Boavista pairs its 9.4/10 guest score with the RiuLand kids club running six days a week.
On Sal: float in the Pedra de Lume crater, watch the Blue Eye glow at Buracona, wade with lemon sharks at Shark Bay, snorkel Murdeira Bay and learn to cook cachupa in Santa Maria. On Boa Vista it is nature's schedule: nesting loggerheads June to October and humpback whales around March.
Cape Verde All Inclusive Resorts