Sao Tome and Principe Itinerary: 15 Days Around Both Islands

Arrival at Sao Tome international airport (international flight not included). You are met by your Jaca Voyage local guide, who helps you change euros into dobras, the local currency, and transferred to Roça Santa Luzia, a boutique roça deep in the rainforest. Welcome dinner. Accommodation: Roça Santa Luzia. Meals: dinner.

Waking up at a boutique roça in the middle of the forest is different: here the day starts with birdsong. It is a calm, tasteful place full of endemic flowers, and the morning is for enjoying it without hurrying. A walk of about 1 km follows a trail between giant trees tens of metres tall, a sign of the rich soil of this volcanic island. Before lunch, a swim at the Milagrosa waterfall to work up an appetite. Then a fish lunch at a generous roça, much like the great fazendas of Brazil. In the afternoon, a first meeting with the local community: we visit a few places to chat and get to know the people of Sao Tome, stopping at Trindade market to buy anything you need. Accommodation: Roça Santa Luzia. Meals: breakfast and dinner.

An early start to cross the island to the south along the Tropical Route: the world's largest open-air laundry at the mouth of the Abade river, the historic Roça Água Izé, visited at leisure, Sete Ondas beach and Boca do Inferno, where you drink fresh coconut water. Lunch at your own expense in São João dos Angolares. In the afternoon, rainforest and volcanic landscapes to the Pico Cão Grande viewpoint and the timeless villages of Monte Mário and Malanza. Arrival at Ecolodge Praia Inhame, one of the oldest eco lodges in Sao Tome, with bungalows a few metres from the sea. Accommodation: Ecolodge Praia Inhame (bungalow). Meals: breakfast and dinner.

Boat crossing to Rolas Islet over the warm waters of the Gulf of Guinea. The Equator runs across the islet and, by the Equator monument built at the request of Gago Coutinho, you can stand with one foot in each hemisphere. Time for the beaches and for swimming in crystal-clear water. You can have grilled fish or octopus at a restaurant on the islet (not included, book through your guide). Boat back in the late afternoon. Accommodation: Ecolodge Praia Inhame (bungalow). Meals: breakfast and dinner.

A free day to enjoy the south at the «leve-leve» pace. From the eco lodge you can walk to almost empty beaches and to Praia Piscina, with natural pools among the volcanic rocks that fill and empty with the tide. If you like, your guide can arrange a canoe trip through the mangroves at the mouth of the Malanza river (optional). In season, at the end of the day, sea turtles come up the southern beaches to lay their eggs. Accommodation: Ecolodge Praia Inhame (bungalow). Meals: breakfast and dinner.

The journey back to the capital begins. Stops at the Rio Cauê viewpoint and at a hidden beach looking out to Pico Cão Grande, then past palm plantations and the Ribeira Peixe waterfall by the fishing village. In São João dos Angolares, a tasting lunch at the roça of chef João Carlos Silva, from the TV show «Na Roça com os Tachos» — one of the best tables in Africa, served at the pace of the conversation. On to Sao Tome city and check-in at the Sweet Guest House, simple, clean and well located in the centre. Accommodation: Sweet Guest House. Meals: breakfast and lunch.

Up to the centre of the island, the greenest part of Sao Tome, where coffee grows at 800 metres. Visit to Roça Monte Café and its coffee museum (optional entry, €3 per person). Lunch at the Almada Negreiros restaurant-museum, in the former Roça Saudade where the artist was born. In the afternoon, discover Sao Tome city: São Sebastião fort and its museum, the cathedral, Independence Square, the colonial avenues and the municipal market. Accommodation: Sweet Guest House. Meals: breakfast and lunch.

Excursion by car with driver-guide to the beaches of the north. Visit to the fine colonial house of Roça Bela Vista and the historic site of Fernão Dias, then through the savannah of the north coast among baobab trees (Sao Tome's «embondeiros»). A stop for a swim at Tamarindos beach and, at Morro Peixe, a talk about the sea turtles that nest on these beaches and the work to protect them. On the west coast, a superb view over the stunning Lagoa Azul, a cove of blue water and golden sand framed by arching lava rocks and baobabs. At the end of the day we continue a little further, past the town of Neves, to Mucumbli: staying here saves covering the same ground the next day. Accommodation: Mucumbli (bungalow with a view). Meals: breakfast.

A day on the west coast, the wildest part of the island. Visit to the place where the first Portuguese navigators landed, then along the coast road past Roça Diogo Vaz and the Santa Catarina tunnel to the fishing village of Santa Catarina, where the road ends. Here the landscape changes: miles of black-sand beaches. Along the way, the chance to see other roças — at a time when Sao Tome had hundreds of them, imagine what life was like here and hear their story. Back to Mucumbli in the late afternoon, a perfect place to switch off. Accommodation: Mucumbli (bungalow with a view). Meals: breakfast.

A free morning at Mucumbli, «almost a jungle hotel», to walk the northern trails or, if you feel adventurous, climb down to the pebble beach. Back to the capital along the coast, stopping at Roça Agostinho Neto, one of the island's largest roças, made famous by Miguel Sousa Tavares's novel «Equador». Arrival at Hotel Omali, facing the sea, and a free afternoon by the pool. Accommodation: Hotel Omali. Meals: breakfast.

Scheduled flight at 9am to Principe Island: just 35 minutes separate the two islands. Transfer to Bom Bom, set over the sea and linked to its islet by a long wooden bridge. The rest of the day is free for the beach and your first sunset on Principe, a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. Accommodation: Bom Bom (Principe Island). Meals: breakfast.

Morning at Roça Sundy, where on 29 May 1919 Arthur Eddington's expedition observed the total solar eclipse that confirmed Einstein's theory of relativity. In the afternoon, Sundy Praia, one of the most beautiful beaches in the archipelago. Accommodation: Bom Bom (Principe Island). Meals: breakfast.

Discover the island from north to south: the Nova Estrela viewpoint, Terreiro Velho, the community and Roça Abade, and Santo António, the smallest capital in the world. In the afternoon, the famous Praia Banana (subject to availability), with clear water and golden sand fringed by forest. Accommodation: Bom Bom (Principe Island). Meals: breakfast.

A free morning for a last swim on Principe. Transfer to the airport and scheduled flight at 3.30pm to Sao Tome, connecting with the overnight flight to Lisbon (international flight not included). Meals: breakfast.

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