This itinerary reveals all that’s best in Sao Tome & Principe without compromising your creature comforts and travel style. Starting in the larger island of Sao Tome, where the majority of the population live, you will reside at its best hotel and visit the interior and south coast with private guide to learn about the … Continued
A small but perfectly formed West African island nation that’s well off the tourism radar, with virgin rainforests, warm people, great marine life and the highest avian endemicity of any country its size. Uninhabited until Europeans first arrived in 1470, São Tomé & Príncipe (STP) is the second-smallest country in Africa and practically unknown to … Continued
In the northeast of Sao Tome is an area of savannah grassland with some large baobabs to be seen. This area is particularly rewarding for birdwatching, with different species seen from those inhabiting the rainforest. Within the area is the famous Blue Lagoon, a peninsula with an old lighthouse joined to the mainland by a … Continued
Built in 1921, the colonial plantation house of Roca Sundy has been converted into one of the country’s best loved hotels.
The original international hotel on Principe over 30 years ago, soon to be fully refurbished and even better than before.
Truly the Big One
A charming, family-run hotel in Sao Tome town with beautiful views of the sea and lovely gardens to enjoy.
This itinerary is similar to our other sample tailor-made tour but uses alternative yet still well-run, comfortable accommodation. You start with a friendly guesthouse on Sao Tome’s waterfront, owned by the British consul whose island-born daughter may personally take you out on tours of Sao Tome. Once in Principe you will stay at Roca Sundy, … Continued
There are many beaches to be found in both the islands but Banana Beach is one of the most perfect. The beach is a short distance from Roça Belo Monte, a converted plantation house hotel on Principe, and notable as having been the location for a famous 1991 Bacardi rum TV advertisement showing beautiful young … Continued
The only national park in the country, Obô has sections on both São Tomé and Príncipe islands and covers nearly 30% of the islands’ total area. The park’s 300 square kilometres consist mainly of lush primary rainforests, mangroves, swamps and savannah grasslands. In 1988 scientists classified the forests found in STP as the second most … Continued
By far the best hotel in the country, with fine dining and fabulous accommodation.
A historic colonial plantation house which has undergone extensive restoration resulting in the thoroughly charming boutique hotel we see today.
A rustic, converted plantation house in the south of Sao Tome island renowned for their multi-course lunchtime tasting menu.
Thank you for sending us on the most magical holiday. I can hardly believe there are two islands, of such beauty, almost untouched by modern tourism and commercialisation, left on the planet. They must be similar now, to how the Seychelles were 70 years ago.
The long, sandy beach is one of the two main sites for turtles on Principe. Three species of marine turtle – green, leatherback and hawksbill – visit the beach to lay their eggs, protected by the exemplary local conservation project whose rustic beach headquarters contains a small but enlightening museum. If in season, you might … Continued
Probably the best hotel in Sao Tome town, with beachfront location, good restaurant, large swimming pool, tennis courts and qym.
Comfortable bungalow with fabulous views of the Bay of Praia Vanha
By far the larger of the two main islands, São Tomé lies ‘at the centre of the world’, being the closest landmass to the imaginary crossing point of the Greenwich Meridian and the Equator, which may be crossed on tiny Rolas Islet off São Tomé’s southern tip. The nation’s lively capital, São Tomé town, displays … Continued
The smaller island by far, Principe is nevertheless beautifully formed. The rainforest is denser than São Tomé, the beaches more isolated, everything more virgin and purer still, the island magic even stronger – as is the degree of isolation from the world. About a century ago (in 1919) a British astronomer, Sir Arthur Eddington, proved … Continued
A quality, rustic beachfront lodge which lives up to its eco billing.
A basaltic coastal site on the road south from São Tomé town near Roça Água Izé which is known for its blowholes, geyser-like eruptions of seawater activated by wave action. The basalt has formed into hexagonal columns, rather like Northern Ireland’s Giant’s Causeway. Such rock formations can also be seen on Príncipe’s west coast during … Continued
