São Tiago is the main island and home to the capital, Praia. The city isn't as beautiful as the archipelago's other city, Mindelo, but it's a pleasant place, with its centre perched on a rocky plateau known as Platô. This central area is surrounded by urban sprawl in three directions. Some 20km (12mi) inland from Praia, the village of São Domingos is the closest green agricultural valley to the capital. There are one or two shops selling handicrafts. At the northern end of São Tiago is the island's second largest settlement, Tarrafal, which is famous for its beaches.

Cidade Velha, once called Ribeira Grande, was the first town built by the Portuguese in Africa and is now a Unesco world heritage site. The best-preserved structures are the ruins of the old cathedral, constructed in 1693 during the city's heyday, and the Pillory in the park where enslaved captives were chained up and displayed.

Set round a moon-shaped port and ringed by barren mountains, Mindelo is Cape Verde's answer to the Riviera, complete with cobblestone streets, candy-coloured colonial buildings and yachts bobbing in a peaceful harbour. Safely around a bend is the country's deepest industrial port, which in the late 19th century was key a coaling station for British ships and remains the source of the city's relative prosperity.