Santiago is the largest island in Cape Verde and its cultural and political heart. It was the first of the islands to be settled by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century, and the traces of that history are still visible — nowhere more so than at Cidade Velha, the oldest European colonial settlement in the tropics, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The island's interior is rugged and mountainous, rising steeply from the coast to peaks that catch the clouds and stay surprisingly green. It makes for excellent hiking. The coastline ranges from the dramatic cliffs of the north to the long, calm beach at Tarrafal in the northwest — one of the best in the archipelago. Praia, the country's laid-back capital, sits on a plateau on the southern tip of the island and is the obvious base for exploring Santiago.