The best things to do in São Tomé are the 1575 Fort São Sebastião and its national museum, a chocolate tasting at Claudio Corallo, the coffee museum at Roça Monte Café, the hospital and blowhole at Água Izé, and a swim at Lagoa Azul. Give it three or four days, two of them on day trips. June to September is the dry gravana.
São Tomé is the small, low-rise capital of an island country on the equator, built around a bay on the northeast coast of São Tomé island. It is the base for everything else: the cocoa and coffee roças, the northern beaches and the rainforest of Obô, all within a day's drive.
The fort was built in 1575 to guard the bay and now holds the national museum, with colonial-era rooms and religious art. Climb to the ramparts for the view back over the city.
Claudio Corallo's workshop turns the islands' own cocoa into bars, and the visit is a talk followed by a long tasting of a dozen or so products. It is part tour, part shop, and worth both.
One of the six roças UNESCO inscribed in July 2026, it still dries and processes coffee, and the museum shows the working machinery. The cooler air up here is a relief after the coast.
Another of the 2026 World Heritage roças, with a hospital built in 1928 and rows of worker housing. Families live among the ruins, so it reads as a village, not a museum.
The cathedral of Our Lady of Grace, rebuilt several times, and the pink presidential palace on Praça do Povo make the centre's best short walk. The palace is a working residence and closed to visitors.
A small bay with clear water and a lighthouse on the point, the island's best-known snorkelling spot. The bottom is rocky, so it suits snorkellers more than swimmers.
The waterfall drops through forest a short walk from the road, and the Bom Sucesso botanical garden higher up is the gateway to Obô Natural Park. Together they make the easiest taste of the rainforest.
An uninhabited islet off the north coast, reached on a boat trip of two or three hours with time to snorkel and walk up to the lighthouse.
Prisoners from the 1953 Batepá massacre were held at this beach, and the memorial lists the victims. It is the place to understand why 3 February is a national day.
The Portuguese modernist was born at this roça on 7 April 1893, and a restaurant with a small museum to him now sits over the ruins of the house. Come for the lunch and the view as much as the exhibit.
A public holiday in one of the lighter wet-season months.
Remembers the leader of the 1595 revolt of enslaved Africans.
Marks the 1953 Batepá massacre, the country's most solemn date.
A public holiday as the rainy season ends.
Independence from Portugal in 1975, in the heart of the dry gravana.
A public holiday, marked by the swearing-in of new recruits.
Remembers the Portuguese arrival on the island in 1471.
A family holiday. The US warns of more burglaries over the season.
The country's only international airport, about 5 km northwest of the centre. Agree a taxi fare before you leave the terminal.
There are no meters. Agree the fare before you get in, including from the airport, where quoted prices vary widely.
Hiaces and shared cars run fixed routes for a few dobras, but rural services can be only two or three a day.
Moto-taxis are the cheapest short hop in town. For roças and beaches, hire a car with a driver through your hotel.
Smoked fish or meat stewed for hours with okra, greens and palm oil.
A drier cousin of calulu, with more fish and more palm oil.
Smoked fish with herbs, óssame and palm oil, served with cassava flour.
Beans with smoked fish, coconut and pau-pimenta pepper.
Breadfruit, the starch beside most everyday plates.
Giant crab, cracked at the beach shacks of Praia Lagarto.
The islands' sugarcane spirit, sipped neat or in cocktails.
Bars made from the islands' own cocoa, in town at Corallo and Diogo Vaz.
Subscribe to the Wimup newsletter for new guides, travel news and more.
