Although the second biggest and greenest island it supports one of the smallest populations and it remains one of the least developed. Its dramatic fertile mountainous landscapes create an exhilarating trekking experience, its main tourist attraction. It can be reached by a short ferry ride from the island of São Vincente.

Its capital Mindelo hosts Cape Verde's main shipping port and it is from here that coal ships refuelled whilst crossing the Atlantic in the 19th Century. This island remains popular with windsurfers and organises a popular annual beach music festival in August. Mindelo has a strong European influence and its long-standing rivalry with Praia remains a topic of debate for most Cape Verdeans.

The one uninhabited island in the archipelago, it can be seen from the coast of São Vincente and reached by fishing boat within a couple of hours. The smallest island at only 35km² its only use has been for goat herding in the past and remains untouched.

Once the hub of learning, São Nicolau lost its importance as an intellect incubator to neighbouring São Vincente but remains one of the few islands able to support a viable agricultural industry. Tuna fishing also provides a source of income to the inhabitants of this sland whose main attractions are trekking opportunities amongst its mountain ranges and the black sand beaches at Tarrafal, which are said to cure symptoms of arthritis.

Salt trading was once this islands main income but the establishment of a refuelling point for aircraft by Benito Mussolini created a prosperous alternative to the population. The main international airport of Cape Verde is based in Sal, which to date has experienced the most rapid growth in tourism due to its white sandy beaches, mainly based at the fantastic beach of Santa Maria.

The defining characteristic of this island is its wealth of virgin white sandy beaches, currently targeted by the government's tourism development programme. This island's beaches play host to one of the largest nesting turtles populations in the world, which could be put under threat if tourism development continues at an ecologically unsustainable pace.

One of the main salt producing islands in the past, Maio today remains a tranquil tourist attraction, offering white deserted sandy beaches and the largest acacia plantation of the islands. Being one of the smallest islands, it is not as popular as Sal or Boavista for beach tourism.

The largest island at 990km² with the biggest population of 240 000, half of which is concentrated in the capital city Praia. The island is characterised by a fertile interior that is successfully cultivated and a rich cultural heritage. It was here that the first discoverers of the islands established a shipping and slave trade and initiated inhabitation of the country. It remains the most African influenced of the islands with descendents of the slave rebels still inhabiting the internal mountain ranges. The recent opening of the international airport has increased tourism to the island, with development concentrating around San Francisco, one of the two white sandy beaches on the island. The other beach is at Tarrafal, the opposite side of the island. Other beaches exist around the island but most of them are characterised by black volcanic sand.

Defined by the only active volcano of the islands that dominates Fogo, the crater remains inhabited by descendents of a French nobleman who introduced the first vines to the island. Wine and Coffee remain staple sources of income to the inhabitants who cultivate the fertile land around the volcano that last erupted in 1995. Tourist attractions include trekking through the dramatic volcanic landscapes and cultural tourism where trekking routes are combined with homestay accommodation with the local population.

Known as the island of flowers, Brava was once covered with an abundance of flowers and fertile soil. Nowadays the smallest inhabited island has been blighted by drought, diminishing the number of flowers and driving its inhabitants to seek livelihoods in America - this influence is heard in the American expressions regularly used in this island's Creole dialect. Reached only by boat from the islands of Fogo or Santiago, tourist activities are limited to excursions and hiking due to the rocky cliff faces that line its coastline.