The main reason most people come to São Filipe is to climb, or at least to approach, Pico do Fogo. At 2,829 metres, it is the highest peak in Cape Verde and one of the most active volcanoes in the Atlantic — the last major eruption was in 2012, when lava flows destroyed most of the village of Portela in the caldera of Chã das Caldeiras. The villagers rebuilt in the same spot, on the same lava field, between the old solidified flows and the new ones. Whether this is stubbornness, pragmatism, or something like faith is a question the place asks without answering.
Shared taxis (aluguers) leave from the main square in Sao Filipe for Chã das Caldeiras, the settlement inside the ancient outer caldera that surrounds the active cone. The drive takes about an hour and climbs steeply through farmland and then through the bare, dramatic interior of the island. From Chã das Caldeiras, the hike to the summit of Pico do Fogo takes three to four hours in each direction — fit walkers can do it in a long day, returning to Sao Filipe by evening. A guide is strongly recommended, both for navigation and because local guides from the caldera village offer context that no guidebook can replicate. The views from the crater rim, on a clear day, extend across the entire southern Cape Verde archipelago.