eSIM for Cape Verde

Ten islands, one roaming partner. Cape Verde connects through ALOU on 3G and 4G/LTE, and that single-network reality shapes everything about how a data plan behaves across the archipelago. Where ALOU has built, which is the towns, the resort zones and the ports, you get a perfectly ordinary connection. Where it has not, which is a lot of very vertical volcanic terrain, you get nothing, and there is no second operator to try.

Getting online when you land

Get the profile installed at home. The islands are small and the arrivals halls are smaller, and the last thing you want is to be troubleshooting a QR code at Amílcar Cabral on Sal or the airport outside Praia while your transfer waits.

After landing, turn the line on, allow data roaming for it, and set it as your data default. Give it a minute; island networks can be slower to hand a visiting device its first connection than a big mainland carrier. Keep your existing SIM in place, data off, for voice calls and any code your bank insists on sending by text.

The networks you'll be on

ALOU is it. On 4G/LTE in Praia, Mindelo, Espargos and Santa Maria you can work, video call and upload holiday photos without thinking about it. Move away from those centres and 3G is what you get: adequate for messages and a map, slow for anything else.

Because there is no alternative network, wifi is genuinely part of your connectivity plan here rather than a convenience. Hotels, aparthotels and beach bars in the resort areas nearly all have it, and it is often faster than the mobile signal outside. Ask for the password on arrival and use it for anything large, and do your backups and photo uploads there rather than over mobile data.

Where coverage holds, and where it thins

Reliable: Praia and its suburbs on Santiago, the resort strip at Santa Maria plus Espargos and the airport area on Sal, Sal Rei on Boa Vista, and Mindelo on São Vicente, which has the best connection in the northern islands.

Weak or absent: almost everything with a gradient. Santo Antão is the clearest example, since the hiking that draws people there runs through the Paul and Ribeira Grande valleys where the ridges block signal completely. On Fogo, the town of São Filipe is fine and the crater at Chã das Caldeiras is not; the climb up Pico do Fogo is offline. The arid interior of Santiago, the dunes and back tracks of Boa Vista, and the smaller islands of Maio, Brava and São Nicolau all have coverage clustered in a couple of settlements and little in between. Ferries between islands lose signal in open water, sometimes for hours.

What you'll actually use data for here

Inter-island logistics, mainly. Ferry departures shift with the sea state and small domestic flights get rescheduled, so being able to check and rebook from your phone is the difference between a lost day and a changed plan. WhatsApp is how you reach a guesthouse, a driver or a hiking guide, and how they reach you back.

Beyond that: maps for the aluguer shared-taxi routes that do most of the moving around on each island, translation if your Portuguese is thin and Creole thinner, weather and wind forecasts if you are on Sal or Boa Vista for kitesurfing, and the ordinary business of uploading photos of Mindelo during Carnival or the black-sand beaches to people at home. Music is worth a mention too: live morna and funaná nights are advertised informally rather than on a listings site, so a local social feed tells you more about tonight than any guide will.

Before you fly

Download offline maps for every island on your route, and specifically download hiking routes on Santo Antão before you get there, because you will not be able to fetch them once you are in the valleys.

Save ferry and flight confirmations as screenshots, along with your accommodation address and a phone number for whoever is collecting you. Check your phone supports eSIM and is unlocked. Bring a power bank, especially for hiking days and long ferry crossings, and treat the crossing itself as offline time. If your trip depends on a specific connection between islands, confirm it the day before over wifi rather than trusting that you can sort it out on the move. And plan a buffer day at the end near Praia or Sal, because a missed boat in this archipelago is not a delay you can drive around.