"The Camino Portuguese" Portugal by into-thin-air

Portugal Travel Guide: 19,499 reviews and 54,801 photos

Mike Birgit & myself arriving @ Santiago Cathedral

Planning

This is a really easy Camino to plan, With Ryan Air flying from several UK airports to Both Oporto and Santiago de Compostela getting to the starting point and returning from the finishing points are easy.
If coming from somewhere else in Europe then there are other budget carriers flying into Oporto and from Santiago de Compostela you can either get a train, bus or internal flight to a larger airport such as Madrid where more budget flights operate from.

The Best English language guide book is undoubtedly “A Pilgrims Guide to The Camino Portuguese” by John Brierley. This contains enough information to both plan and execute your walk.

However it is also worthwhile visiting
http://www.santiago-compostela.net/portugues/index_cp_en.html
to see the latest photos of the route and
http://www.csj.org.uk/
to download their accommodation lists and check up on the latest information available

Once you arrive in Oporto then there is a new metro system that takes you from the airport right into the centre of the city in just over ½ an hour.

The essential “Credentials” are available from The cathedral, You Must pick up a set of these as without them you aren’t entitled to stay in the Pilgrims Refugios and you won’t get The Compostela at the end of your walk. The desk at The cathedral opens up at 0900, so If you are making an early start then get them the day before.

Oporto is full of accommodation options from 5 star hotels right down to my chosen option of a dormitory in a hostal

I would suggest that you allow at least one Full day for sight seeing in Oporto before sting off on your walk as it really is a Beautiful city and it would be a great shame just to pass through it without taking the time to see it

The walk

The well way-marked route

The total distance of this walk is 241.4 kilometres and it can be walked in 10 to 14 days, We took 11 days and this was fine but if I had more time on my hands then to split the two longer days would have been a nice option.

The route starts outside the Cathedral in Porto and you pick up the first yellow arrow almost immediately, Overall the route is exceptionally well marked so you won’t have problems with route finding.
Accommodation is usually readily available throughout the walk however the Refugios and cheaper hotel accommodation gets full quickly during peak times.
There are now two refugios in Portugal and when you cross over into Spain there is at least one Refugio option for every day.
The paths are well maintained and the route is overall quite good, the first couple of days out of Oporto you do a lot of road walking, this tends to be on minor roads so not to much traffic problems, However these roads tend to be cobbled so they are Hard on the feet.
The countryside that you pass through is Beautiful, Interesting towns and villages too. There tends to be plenty of good drinking water available from village fountains so carrying extra water isn’t usually necessary. Most days have good options for lunch stops too

I will break the individual days down the way that we did under the sports travel tips section with distances, height gain and loss, terrain and rough timings for each day.
Also I will list the accommodation that we used under accommodation tips.

Last visit to Portugal: Aug 2007
Intro Updated Aug 31, 2007
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Reviews (29)

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Distance 23.1k Accrued ascent 140m A very gentle day with hardly any climbing, and the small amount that there is, is... more travel advice

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Comments (7)

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BruceDunning Oct 12, 2010 at 2:01 PM

It must be different to trek along the highway and see the local culture at eye level. YOu did a nice job of describing the trip.
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smyturn Aug 24, 2008 at 10:42 AM

Great page! Didn't see these refugios. I found the Portugese fire dept is responsible for those on the 'way'. Portugese fireman were brave, heroic and wonderful. Loved Portugal. Hope all is well. Best, Kat
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ncfg Jan 11, 2008 at 12:21 PM

Great page about the "caminho português a Santiago". I'm glad you enjoyed it! What's about the room 6 in Hospedaje Santa Cruz?
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marcbrazil Oct 27, 2007 at 10:08 AM

woooooow FANTASTIC PORTUGUESE TIPS!!! Portugal is a very important country for us!;)
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Karolina01 Oct 20, 2007 at 10:32 AM

Very good tips. We all wear pink at work this month. Did you wear a pink shirt on your trip?
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bijo69 Sep 28, 2007 at 8:00 AM

Great page Rob! It was definitely a beautiful walk!
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hunterV Sep 28, 2007 at 2:44 AM

Hello, Rob! Thanx for your great description! A bery healthy trip!