Travel insurance
Travel insurance for Cabo Verde
Short-trip cover for visits to Cabo Verde: emergency medical, trip-cancellation, luggage, the usual travel-insurance stack. Designed for weeks-not-years stays.
Cabo Verde runs a Remote Working Program that lets you live on the islands for six months, renewable once, and unusually it spells out the insurance rule: you must hold travel and health cover that includes medical evacuation and repatriation. That rule exists for a reason. On an Atlantic archipelago where serious cases are flown to Europe and two islands have no working airport at all, evacuation cover is the part that actually matters.
What travel insurance covers in Cabo Verde
Travel insurance is built for short trips (under 3 months), vacations, weekend trips, gig travel. The lines below are the base. Exact terms are carrier-specific, so always check the policy document for the Cabo Verde situation you care about.
What you get
- Emergency medical and dental
- Trip cancellation and interruption
- Lost or delayed baggage
- Travel-document theft
- Adventure-sport add-ons (some plans)
What it won't do
- Routine care, chronic-condition management
- Maternity, mental-health
- Trips longer than the policy's max (often 90 days)
Typical local costs in Cabo Verde
What insurance protects you from. Costs vary by region inside Cabo Verdeand between public and private facilities; these are the numbers we've seen most often in 2026.
| Private clinic consultation (Sal) | around 20 euros |
|---|---|
| Emergency or after-hours call-out (private) | around 70 euros |
| Public health centre emergency visit, tourist rate | around 25 euros |
| Air ambulance evacuation off-island, uninsured | commonly cited above 50,000 US dollars |
These are indicative figures, not an official tariff; Cabo Verde publishes no public price list and rates vary by island and clinic. The local currency is the Cape Verdean escudo (CVE), pegged to the euro at roughly 110 CVE to 1 euro, and many tourist clinics quote in euros. Hospitals and private practitioners generally expect upfront payment regardless of whether you hold insurance, so you pay first and claim back. The evacuation figure is the one to internalise: it is in a different league from any consultation fee, and it is exactly what the visa rule is pointing at.
Healthcare in Cabo Verde: what you're dealing with
Cabo Verde has a public system built around two central hospitals, Hospital Agostinho Neto in Praia and Hospital Baptista de Sousa in Mindelo, backed by regional health centres on the other islands. It is not free, even for residents, and the US State Department describes public clinics as lacking basic resources and supplies. For day-to-day care, nomads use the private sector instead, which is concentrated on the islands tourists and remote workers actually live on: São Francisco de Assis in Praia, Clínica do Sal in Santa Maria, and tourist-focused clinics like Clinitur on Sal and Clinica Boa Esperança on Boa Vista.
English is the dividing line. In public health centres consultations run almost entirely in Portuguese or Cape Verdean Creole, while the private clinics aimed at visitors keep English-speaking and often multilingual staff, which is the practical reason to default to private care. Emergency numbers are 130 for medical, 132 for police and 131 for fire, but ambulance coverage is thin and slow, and travellers are often advised to reach a hospital by taxi rather than wait. Pharmacies are common in the main towns and stock most routine medicines, though supply can be patchy on smaller islands. The detail that defines insurance here is evacuation: a serious case is typically flown to mainland Europe, and the islands of Brava and Santo Antão no longer have working airports, so a medical emergency there can mean a sea crossing before a flight is even possible.
What to watch out for in Cabo Verde
- Off-island evacuation. Serious cases are flown to mainland Europe, and Brava and Santo Antão have no working airport, so evacuation cover is the single most important line in your policy here.
- Pay upfront, claim later. Hospitals and clinics generally want payment before treatment even if you are insured, so keep a card or cash buffer and save every receipt.
- Tap water. It is desalinated and fine for showering but not for drinking; stick to bottled water, and be extra careful after heavy rain when damaged pipes can cause contamination.
- Mosquito-borne illness. Cabo Verde was certified malaria-free by the WHO in January 2024, but dengue and Zika still circulate, with a dengue rise reported on Santiago and Fogo in late 2025, so use repellent.
- Petty crime in Praia. The capital sees more pickpocketing, bag-snatching and occasional muggings than the resort islands, especially at night and around the Sucupira market, so keep phones and cameras out of sight.
FAQ
Cabo Verde doesn't usually require visitors to carry travel insurance for short stays, but the moment something goes wrong it's cheaper to have it than to buy at the hospital. Check the visa-class requirements for your specific situation.
Premiums vary by age, plan and deductible far more than by country; the underwriting risk is priced, not the postal code. Use the "Typical local costs" table above to gauge what your insurance protects you from, then run a real quote to see your own number.
It depends on your situation: how long you're staying, your visa class, your age and health, and whether you want cashless treatment or are fine with reimbursement. Rather than push one plan, we match you against the options that actually fit a stay in Cabo Verde: answer a few honest questions and see only what's relevant.
Yes, the Remote Working Program. It is granted for six months, renewable once for a further six, and is open to people whose income comes from outside Cabo Verde.
Yes, and specifically. You must hold travel and health insurance that covers medical evacuation and repatriation of remains. There is no published minimum sum, so prioritise cover that clearly includes evacuation and overseas treatment.
Because serious cases are typically flown to mainland Europe, and two islands, Brava and Santo Antão, have no working airport, so getting a patient to definitive care can be slow and very expensive without cover.
No. US, British, Canadian and Australian visitors can stay up to 30 days visa-free, but everyone must complete EASE pre-registration and pay the 3,400 CVE airport security tax before or on arrival.
There is no single official salary figure published, but the requirement is commonly cited as an average bank balance of around 1,500 euros over six months for an individual, or about 2,700 euros for a family. Confirm current figures with the consulate.
No. It is desalinated seawater, safe to shower in but not to drink, so use bottled water, particularly after heavy rain when pipe contamination is a risk.
Other insurance for Cabo Verde
Different stages of nomad life need different cover. Here's the full set we've mapped for Cabo Verde.
Get matched with travel insurance for Cabo Verde
Three minutes of honest questions, then we'll show you the travel insurance options that actually fit your situation in Cabo Verde.
Find my plan