Cost of Living in Sao Tome
Where this figure comes from. No cost survey covers Sao Tome, so the $1,100 a month above is our own estimate rather than a measurement. On 330 of our 891 city guides the figure is built from a published Numbeo basket, a one-bedroom rent in the centre plus one person's monthly costs without rent, converted to USD; this city is not one of them. Treat it as a starting point and check current rental listings before you budget against it. How we source everything.
Budget around $1,100 a month as a solo remote worker in Sao Tome, which is moderate for the region and higher than a country this small might suggest, because almost everything is imported and the islands sit a long way off the West African coast. A one-bedroom place runs roughly $350 to $650. Market food is cheap and the fish is exceptional. The dobra was redenominated in 2018 and is pegged to the euro through an arrangement with Portugal, which removes currency volatility. This is our own estimate rather than measured data.
Where to Work in Sao Tome
Sao Tome's connectivity is weak and it is the main practical constraint. The islands are served by a single submarine cable and domestic prices are high relative to speed, with mobile data from CST and Unitel the usual fallback. Power cuts are frequent and generators are standard in anything serious. There is no coworking. Portuguese is the official language and the language of everything; Forro and the other creoles are spoken at home, and English is genuinely rare. Portuguese is close to necessary here. Anyone working with Europe will find the offset trivial, since the islands keep the same time as London through most of the year.
Getting Around Sao Tome
The city of Sao Tome is small and its centre around the cathedral, the fort and the market is walkable in half an hour. Shared taxis and motorcycle taxis cover the island cheaply. The main island is only fifty kilometres long and a road runs most of the way round it, though the southern section is rough. Principe, the smaller island, is reached by a short flight or a long boat crossing, and it is quieter and considerably more expensive to stay on. Obo National Park covers roughly a third of the country and its trails start close to the road, which makes the forest unusually accessible.
Sorting transport? Book an airport transfer, or compare car rental on Auto Europe and QEEQ.
Visas for Sao Tome
Sao Tome and Principe abolished visa requirements for citizens of the European Union, the United States and several other countries in 2017, granting stays of up to fifteen days visa-free, with a straightforward e-visa available for longer. That makes entry unusually easy for a country this obscure. There is no remote work visa. Longer stays run through a residence permit applied for locally. A yellow fever certificate is required from endemic countries. Confirm the current position directly, since the policy has been adjusted more than once. Anyone flying in should note that connections run mainly through Lisbon, Accra and Libreville, and that the schedules are thin enough to shape a trip.
Best Time to Visit Sao Tome
June to September is the gravana, the main dry season and the practical window, with less rain and daytime temperatures around twenty-eight. A shorter dry spell runs through January and February. The islands sit on the equator and are hot and humid throughout, with the southern half of Sao Tome among the wettest places in Africa. Sea turtles nest on the beaches between October and March and whales pass between July and October, both of which are reasons to time a visit. The southern beaches around Praia Jale and Praia Piscina are the ones worth the drive, and the road to them is rough in any season.
Pros and Cons of Sao Tome
Sao Tome and Principe are two volcanic islands on the equator, once the largest cocoa producer in the world, whose abandoned plantation houses stand in the forest with trees growing through them. Principe is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve with a fraction of a thousand visitors a year. It is safe, the fish and cocoa are exceptional, and almost nobody goes. Against that, the internet is poor, Portuguese is essential, flights are limited and expensive, and there is very little infrastructure of any kind aimed at visitors. The country also produces some of the finest cocoa in the world from the old plantation estates, several of which now run their own small chocolate operations.
Who Sao Tome Is For
Sao Tome suits a Portuguese speaker who wants somewhere genuinely unvisited and beautiful, whose work tolerates a weak connection, and who is interested in the plantation history or the birdlife, which includes a remarkable number of endemic species for so small a country. It is a poor fit for anyone without Portuguese, anyone needing reliable internet, and anyone on a schedule, since the flights are few and cancellations are not unusual. It also suits birdwatchers, since the islands hold around thirty endemic species in an area smaller than most national parks, which is a density found almost nowhere else. Divers get uncrowded reef with no operators competing for it.
Photo: Bdickerson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
