What to do on the islands, and when.
Some of it you book in a tap. Some of it you time to a season. All of it we would do ourselves. Start here.
Booked online · arranged on island · seasonalWhen to go, season by season
A guide for the day
If you do one thing, do this. A trusted local guide turns a day of guessing into a day of seeing. These are the names travelers come back raving about.
On the water
The Atlantic is the whole point here. Two oceans of current meet off the south, which is why the water is warm, clear, and full of life.
Where do the whales go?
From roughly July to October, humpbacks move through the channel between the islands, mothers with calves close enough that you hear the blow before you see the back. There is no schedule. You go out, you wait, and on a good morning the sea opens up.
When do the turtles come ashore?
November to March, the beaches of the deep south, Praia Jalé above all, become nesting grounds for green and hawksbill turtles. Conservation teams run the night walks, and it is one of the few places left where you watch a turtle dig and lay without a crowd behind a rope.
Where is the water quietest?
The coves below Lagoa Azul stay glassy when the south is rolling. Offshore, the same currents that bring the whales bring marlin and tuna, and the local boats will take you out for them when the swell allows.
Into the forest
Most of the island is jungle that has never been cut. The Obô rainforest climbs from sea level into permanent cloud, and almost nothing in it lives anywhere else on earth.
An island of birds found nowhere else
São Tomé and Príncipe is one of the densest concentrations of endemic birds on earth. The São Tomé grosbeak, long thought extinct, the dwarf olive ibis, the São Tomé fiscal, the giant sunbird, all of them live in Obô National Park and nowhere else. Birders fly here for a single week and leave with a life list.
The needle you cannot climb
Pico Cão Grande, the volcanic plug that rises straight out of the canopy like a tower, is the island's signature view. You will not climb it, almost no one does, but the road south gives you the angle that ends up on every postcard.
Cocoa & coffee
For a century these islands ran on cocoa. The old plantation estates, the roças, are still here, half ruin and half living village, and the chocolate that comes off them is among the best made anywhere.
The best chocolate you have never heard of
Claudio Corallo grows, ferments, and makes his chocolate on these islands, and people who know chocolate consider it world class. His tasting room in the capital walks you from the raw bean through every grade he makes, an easy walk from the old town. Pair it with the working estates at Roça Monte Café and Água-Izé for the full arc of the trade.
Town & table
São Tomé town is small enough to walk in a morning and slow enough to enjoy it. The food is Portuguese roots over African ingredients, and on the right night it comes with live music.
The morning market, the pastel colonial fort on the water at São Sebastião, the cathedral square, the cafes where the day moves at island speed. None of it needs a ticket. Bring an appetite and a few hours and let the capital introduce itself.
Príncipe is where you stay.
An hour's flight north sits the wilder, emptier island, a UNESCO biosphere of green peaks and hidden bays. You do not day-trip Príncipe. You stay, and the lodges run the rest: the boat trips, the forest walks, the beaches at your door. That is the whole point of going.
Questions about tours?
Message us with anything: which tour is worth your time, what to book ahead, or how to reach a roça, a beach, or the water. We know the islands first-hand and we answer fast.
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