Cape Verde

[Wilberforce2]

Few quick questions if I can.

Have you been? Any good for kids (will be 9 and almost 4)?

We want to go away next year just after Christmas and Cape Verde sounds too good to be true, only 6 hours flight time, lovely weather and hardly any time difference so no jet lagged kids!

I haven't heard much about it which makes me wonder why!

Also dh would rather go to the Caribbean but I'm worried about flying that far with my youngest and then coping with any jet lag as we would only be going for a week so just wondering what you would choose if you had the choice? Would you just do the extra 3 hours on a plane and go to the Caribbean (would be Jamaica or St Lucia maybe, we can't afford Barbados)?!

Thanks.

Watching with interest, I've come across it several times looking for the same holiday as you- post Christmas, not too far, kid friendly.
We went to Egypt this year, would tick your boxes, 5 hours flight and 2 time difference. Do you need heat? If not we did Malta several years in a row with dcs your age, it was great.

Love Cape Verde!
We stayed at the Melia Dumas resort on Sal and had a great time. All inclusive with plenty of kid friendly food choices, 7 swimming pools including a kids pirate pool with slides etc, playground and kids club.
Flight is pretty basic, so bring iPad and plenty of snacks!
Cape Verde is pretty much always sunny with very little rain. Being an island there is always a breeze but still plenty warm enough.
Bear in mind that it is still a developing country, so there's not a ton to do outside of the resorts, but it's great for a holiday with kids! Beautiful beaches, really recommend it!

Which island?

I went to Boa Vista when DD was 7 in December. The hotel was massive, really huge - got my highest ever Fitbit numbers whilst on AI holiday in Cape Verde!

Pools were cold. The sea was warm but the waves massive so you need to be very careful. It was pretty hot.

Beautiful island and a lot really untouched although tourism is really going to take it over. I wanted to hire a car but few roads meant offroading which i wasnt comfortable with, so did a tour with Giggling Geckos .

It's pretty child friendly. We had a great time and would go back, although perhaps to Sal.

And another thing, I usually get eaten by mozzies but didn't get a single bite. ALthough wasnt able to give blood when I returned as it was (still is?) a zika risk.

I don't need heat at all (fair freckly skin so I need shade!) but dh needs heat, I would be happy with just some time away but he is obsessed with temperature

We went to Egypt in 2015 and I loved it there, was great for the kids as well but would like somewhere different this time. Malta is also on my list but during the warmer months due to DH's need for heat!!

gigglinggeckoadventures.com/

It's not too hot but since you are close to the equator you will need to cover up and use sunscreen. Would strongly recommend wearing boardshorts/rash vests particularly for the children.

There are things to do outside the hotel like dune bashing and checking out the volcanoes for instance - I have a colleague who went there and who recommends it.

Make sure the hotel has good pools - given its position there will be more red flag days on the beach due to the high waves.

Sorry cross posted with you both!

ToInfinity - That's the hotel we were looking at and it looks lovely.

I don't mind if there isn't loads to do outside of the hotel as kids only want a pool and and the younger one just wants a pool and a playground! I like the idea that you can do an organised tour as well, not sure I would trust dh's driving!

Meatloaf - sorry should have said which island! We were looking at Sal as that seemed to be the child friendliest. I have been looking at pictures and it really does look beautiful. I'm not so worried about my ds who will be 9 as he is so laid back he just gets on with things it's more my dd who will be nearly 4 and not so easy going!!

I love Cape Verde. We went to Boa Vista, my parents have been to Sal. They are practically the same.

We went in March/April. It was really hot and the sun was strong. I wore Factor 50 all the time, and still went a bit pink at times when I never usually go pink with a lower factor elsewhere.

There's not a lot to do. It's mainly hotel based. The seas are rough and not suitable for swimming. Most days it's a red flag day. Even when it's not it will still be rough enough to knock you off your feet or swipe your swimsuit off!

I loved it because it's so chilled, I could read loads and we left our kids at home!

Thanks Geeklove I'm liking the sound of it more and more. Me and the kids always cover up, I'm basically one big freckle and completely paranoid about the sun! Would get ds into shorts and rash vest though as he tends to just do shorts when it's hot (obviously with loads of sun cream).

Went to Cape Verde the first week of Dec and loved it! It was so hot every day (around 27/28 degrees) so your DH should be more than happy with that.
If you are happy with a beach / pool type holiday rather than going on lots of activities then this will be perfect. There are of course excursions that you can do such a fishing, boat trips etc.
One thing to note re. the flight to Boa Vista though - we flew with Thompson and the runway is not big enough to take their Dreamliner planes - therefore, you are on more of an 'easy jet' type plane, with no in flight entertainment. If this is a problem with little ones you will want to load up iPads with plenty of movies etc. Other than that the flight was fine, just not your standard 'mid-long haul'.

The Dreamliner does fly to Sal from Gatwick on a Thursday.

I didn't have an issue with the plane that took us to Boa Vista. We took our iPads and Kindlea. Ours was an early morning flight so I slept half way.

Loved Cape Verde, we stopped in Sal at the Melia Tortuga. Weather was perfect, hot but a lovely breeze, we stopped in February. I would say try and find one with a heated pool as the pools were cold.

Thank you so much for all of the advice/opinions we have booked it for January 2018!

Very excited but more nervous at the moment!