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Getty Images/Robert Harding World Imagery

Praia dos Tamarindos

Top choice in São Tomé


One of the island's best beaches, a beautiful white crescent facing an emerald sea, with excellent swimming. An easy drive from the capital, it's empty during the week but crowded on weekends. Reaching Guadelupe from the capital, turn right at the monument in the middle of the road, then a further right at the primary school.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby São Tomé attractions

1. Museo do Mar e da Pesca Artesanal

0.64 MILES

This charming marine and fishing museum is located in a whitewashed fisherman's shack up on stilts by the water's edge. Created by local marine…

2. Lagoa Azul

2.53 MILES

This attractive small cove with aquamarine water is perhaps too well known, as it is developing a trash problem. Walk up to the lighthouse for beautiful…

3. Roça Agostinho Neto

2.86 MILES

Once the grandest plantation in STP, Agostinho Neto is now the grandest symbol of its decline. The impressive entrance, a wide boulevard leading to the…

4. Roça Bela Vista

4.58 MILES

While this roça (plantation) is modest in size, its buildings are in very good condition relative to those found elsewhere, and include the large manager…

5. Claudio Corallo Chocolate Factory

7.19 MILES

Claudio Corallo is both an extraordinary person and a local institution. For over 40 years this native Italian has pursued an overriding passion for…

6. Mercado Grande

7.55 MILES

Alternately fascinating and repellent, the Mercado Grande is divided into two cavernous and adjacent halls, the Mercado Municipal and the newer, and…

7. Roça Monte Café

7.57 MILES

Monte Café is the most pleasant roça to visit. A hillside village of plantation houses, it offers a small museum and formal tour of the coffee production…

8. Nossa Senhora da Graça Cathedral

7.7 MILES

While fairly humble as cathedrals go, the Nossa Senhora da Graça is one of Africa's oldest, and a testimony to persistence, as it has been destroyed and…