Ten islands.One guided welcome.
Cape Verde is an Atlantic archipelago unlike anywhere else. LAGAI is the institute that bridges it to Portugal, Germany, and the United States — its three core partner nations — while welcoming travellers from the United Kingdom and beyond. That bridge starts the moment you land.
An archipelago shaped by wind, ocean, and centuries of exchange.
Ten islands spanning the Atlantic, 570 kilometres off the West African coast. Each one has its own character — the volcanic drama of Fogo, the lush green gorges of Santo Antão, the musical heartbeat of São Vicente, the white dunes of Sal.
Cape Verde’s culture is a rare fusion of African and Portuguese traditions — heard in its music (Batuque, Funana, Morna), tasted in its food, seen in its festivals, and felt in the warmth of its people.
Three starting points across the archipelago.
Most visitors begin in Santiago — home to LAGAI’s campus — then continue to the other islands with a guide and a map. A glimpse of what awaits.
Volcanic peaks & green valleys
Dramatic mountain ridges, hiking trails through ribeiras, and some of the most striking scenery in the Atlantic — the island walkers and nature lovers come for.
White dunes & clear Atlantic water
The beach islands — flat, wind-swept, surrounded by shallow turquoise sea. Perfect for swimming, windsurfing, and doing nothing in particular for a few days.
Active volcano, unique wine culture
A perfectly shaped volcanic cone rising 2,829m above sea level, flanked by vineyards that produce one of Africa’s most unusual wines inside the caldera itself.
A musical, living culture — not a museum piece.
Cape Verde’s traditions are still practised daily, not preserved behind glass. Batuque is a percussive circle dance rooted in the community life of Santiago Island. Funana brings the accordion and the iron scraper together in rhythms that drive a dance floor. Morna — the genre that gave the world Cesária Évora — is a music of longing, of the sea, of islands left behind.
The brief cultural performance you will see on the LAGAI campus draws from these living traditions — performed by people for whom this is not a job but an inheritance.
From the airport to the islands — every step taken care of.
A single guided welcome, then the freedom to explore the archipelago with a trained local guide and a real island map.
We meet you at the airport
An official LAGAI representative greets you at Praia’s Nelson Mandela International Airport and takes you directly to your partner hotel — no taxi queues, no uncertainty after a long flight.
Settle into a partner hotel
Check in to a LAGAI-vetted partner hotel. Rest, eat, adjust to Atlantic time — on your own schedule. We don’t rush you.
A short talk at the campus
When you’re ready, we bring you to the LAGAI campus for an informal introduction to Cape Verdean history, culture, and the islands — context before exploration.
A live cultural welcome
A brief live performance greets you — traditional music or dance drawn from the living traditions of Cape Verde. A vivid first impression, not a staged tourist show.
Meet your local guide
We connect you with a trained local guide and hand you an island map showing ferry routes, key destinations, and what each island offers. From here you travel with someone who knows them.
Cape Verde is yours
The islands are yours to discover at your own pace — with a guide, a map, cultural grounding, and the confidence of knowing where you arrived before you left.
“I’d booked Cape Verde expecting a beach holiday. The campus welcome reframed the entire trip — by the time I left Praia for the other islands, I felt I knew where I was. That’s a rare thing to feel as a tourist.”
Institutional knowledge, vetted partners, real cultural authenticity.
Any agency can arrange a transfer and a hotel. What you get with LAGAI is built over years — not assembled for your booking.
LAGAI has active cultural and educational connections across Cape Verde, Portugal, Germany, and the United States — and welcomes travellers from the United Kingdom and other nations into the same network. Our welcome is informed by real institutional partnerships, not translated from a tourist brochure.
Your accommodation is through vetted LAGAI partner hotels. Your airport transfer is confirmed before you land — no improvising on arrival, no surge-priced taxis after a long flight from Europe or America.
The traditions performed on campus come from LAGAI’s own cultural heritage research — not hired entertainment. The same knowledge that goes into our research publications goes into your welcome.
We don’t keep you to one stop. A local guide and a proper island map take you beyond us — to the mountains, beaches, markets, and communities that make each island different from the last.
The Welcome Experience suits you if…
You want more than a beach holiday.
You want to understand where you are and feel genuinely welcomed into it — not just checked into a resort with a wristband and a buffet voucher.
You’re travelling together.
You want a shared cultural introduction and orientation before exploring the islands at your own pace, with the freedom to do different things on different days.
You’re selling Cape Verde to clients.
You want to offer clients in Germany, Portugal, the UK, or the USA a certified cultural welcome that genuinely differentiates your Cape Verde offering from the rest.
Part of something larger than a holiday.
The Welcome Experience is hosted by LAGAI’s Cultural Research Department, which studies how people from different countries experience and connect with Cape Verdean culture.
With your consent, your visit may contribute to this research — work that helps document and preserve Cape Verdean traditions more widely. Participation is entirely optional and has no effect on your hotel, transport, or guide arrangements.
- Fully voluntary — decline anytime with no impact on your trip
- Information is anonymised before use in research
- You’ll be asked again, in person, before anything is recorded
- Findings support cultural preservation, not marketing
Tell us where you’re travelling from — we’ll handle the rest.
From the moment you land in Praia to the moment you head out across the islands, every step is taken care of. The form takes two minutes. Nobody charges you anything until we’ve confirmed your dates and hotel by email.