To visit the exotic island of Sao Tome and also add on the beautiful beaches of Principe because why not.
We've long been a fan of the undervisited Africa islands especially those off the western cape. Many people have never heard of
Sao Tome and we only came by it as a chance encounter. Even getting flights here was difficult, but we did manage to find Portuguese
flights here via Lisbon.
Despite the costs of coming here this is an African island and things won't work, power will fail and all the rest. You can't expect
the Maldives or Majorca when coming to a place like this. To us this is all part of the allure though. A place not overly touched by
the modern tourist amenities.
We planned to come here in January which was a perfect break from the cold bleak winter weather in the UK and allowed us some much
needed sun and beach time. The flight to Principe is a very small propeller plane but its run by an efficient company with western
pilots.
NOTES: The Quad bikes are a real adventure on an island with limited health care options. Its a lot of riding so be prepared
NOTES: This hotel is very far out. We had hoped they'd be able to offer lots of tours but they were very mismanaged and most tours were boat only and not hiking. Wi-Fi was also none-exsistant here along with no AC.
This is a very underexplored region. Hotel and flight costs are very high. They are charging niche prices and it may well have been our most expensive trip to date considering it was only a week long. I'd suggest you have very deep pockets to pull of this trip. There are limited options for budget travelelrs.
You can see how our actual trip went along with photos here: Sao Tome & Principe 2023