Praia - Post Report Question and Answers
What is your home city/country? How long is the trip to post from there, with what connections? How easy/difficult is it to travel to this city/country?
Washington, DC, USA. Four hours to Lisbon and then another eight to DC. Layovers in Lisbon are long. You can also fly through the Azores (Ponta Delgada) or Casablanca. Domestic travel within CV is actually the real challenge, as there's only one domestic airline and the flights are unreliable. - Feb 2024
United States. There are current connections through Lisbon, Ponta Delgada, Dakar, and Casablanca. The government is planning to restart direct flights to Providence, RI, by the end of the year. Before the pandemic, there were direct flights from Boston, NYC, and Washington! - Aug 2023
Midwestern United States. It's quite unpleasant to get to Praia. The layovers are generally long. Right now you can get to Praia from Boston on Azores airlines, stopping to refuel in the Azores. People seem to like this flight in general, but it's only offered once or twice a week. The other option is to transit through Lisbon, which always seems to be a headache. Lisbon airport is very close to the city so easy to spend couple days in Lisbon if you have time. - Jan 2023
We call Boise home. It takes about 30 hours to get there on 4 flights: Praia to Lisbon, Lisbon to Newark, Newark to Denver, and Denver to Boise. We fly United because TAP is a partner airline. - Sep 2018
Montana. The most reliable connection is on TAP airlines via Lisbon. Praia to Lisbon is about 4 hours, then a flight to Newark, Philly or Dulles (7 hours), followed by 5 hours to Seattle or Salt Lake. Departures/arrivals to Praia are often around 1 a.m. and the Lisbon layover is frequently 12 hours. You can take a free layover of up to three days on TAP in Lisbon or some people check into a day hotel near the airport. There is also a direct to Providence/Boston from Praia, but TACV airlines frequently cancels and delays flights, so be careful with your connections. - Dec 2017
Washington, D.C. There are two main ways to get from Praia to D.C. and there are advantages/disadvantages to each one.
One route is via the national airline, TACV where you go from D.C. to Providence, Rhode Island and then from Providence to Praia. The advantage is that it's a much shorter route on the latter leg (6-7 hours), the disadvantage being that TACV tends to be unreliable; you often face cancelled or delayed flights.
The second route is via Lisbon. There used to be a D.C. to Lisbon direct flight but that ended in August 2016. This route now would require about 3 legs and take about 24 hours depending on layover times. The advantage being that flights tend to be more reliable and the disadvantage being, of course, the length of time it takes to get to post. - Oct 2016
There is a direct flight via TACV from Boston that takes about four hours. If you are flying on official government business you have to transit via Lisbon and the trip will take about 22 hours. - May 2014
There are direct flights twice a week to Boston with the local airline (TACV). The flight takes approximately 7-8 hours. On returning to the US, staying overnight in Boston is necessary as the flight lands too late to connect. TACV is safe, and relatively inexpensive ($600-1000 USD roundtrip), but it is known for delays. Otherwise, we fly through Lisbon (daily flights from Praia) and then from Lisbon to Newark or Philadelphia, which costs twice as much and takes 12-14 hours to get to the US and 24 hours or more to get back, due to a long layover in Lisbon. - Feb 2011
Saint Petersburg FL. Shortest direct flight is via Boston and takes a total of ten hours. - Sep 2012
Washington DC. For personal travel TACV has direct flights to Boston 2x per week, you spend the night in Boston and connect the following day. For business travel, you fly thru Lisbon, this can take up to 30 hours. Flights change and/or are cancelled without notice. Traveling to/from CV can be a nightmare. - May 2012
