Day 1 – Porto – Vila Cha (~21km / 30km)

We had a late start to the first day on the Camino Portuguese (due to being up till 4am celebrating São João in Porto the night before). Almost everyone who walks out of Porto will leave by the coastal way, walking along the Douro River until you reach the coast, which you then walk along for the next 80km or so.

Although this first day was only meant to be around 21km long, a bridge was down on route which meant that we had to take a very long detour which upped our distance to around 30km. When we got to the albergue in Labruge it was already 5pm and it was full so we moved on to Vila Cha albergue which was by donation. We just barely made it in time as well as the only restaurant in town closed at 8pm. Overall it was a bit of a rough start to the Camino Portuguese, but we made it!

Day 2 – Vila Cha – Estela (~21km)

After what is most defiantly the loudest display of snoring I have ever seen at the albergue in Vila Cha we decided that a night in private accommodation at the campsite / cabins at Estela was in order. Snoring is something that I’ve only ever really had problems with in hostel / allergies on the Camino, I think because they tend to attract an older audience then most other hostels. Ear plugs would have been great although I’m not sure how much help they would have been here, this guy was literally sleep yelling!

The second day on the Camino Portuguese coastal route was entirely along the board walk on the dunes and beaches. It was impressively long and beautiful, but honestly got a little boring by the end of the day – I guess you get a little jaded by beautiful beaches! The trail is well marked, but you are not walking it along. There were lots of other non-pilgrims walking the board walk. This also means that you are never far from good food (and beer!). The last little bit of the day was along a road beside a golf course, but it did not take long to reach the campsite.

We were exceptionally glad that we decided to stay at the campsite, we got a cabin to ourself for around 10euros, the 3 corse pilgrim menu was around the same cost and was delicious. The campsite also had a pool and access to the beach!

Day 3 – Estela – Castelo do Neiva (~21km)

This day honestly didn’t leave me with that big an impression, just more beautiful beach after beautiful beach. It is when I think we started to hit our Camino groove though, we were well rested for the first time and established our go to rule for the rest of the Camino Portuguese.

Always carry food so you don’t have to stop, but always stop if something or somewhere looks cool.

The highlight of the day was discovering that boxed red wine is 1 euro and that carrying a box for the last few km makes them go by in no time!

Day 4 – Castelo do Neiva – Carreco (~22km)

We started the day off pretty early because we wanted enough tome to explore Viana do Castelo which was suppose to be quite a nice little city. Most of todays walk was through cool cobble stone towns with a beautiful viewer the ocean. It was also covered in hydrangeas which made the walk very pleasant. Although we stopped in Viana do Castelo for lunch we actually walked on the Carreco to stay the night.

If there is one thing you do on the Camino Portuguese – stay at Alburgue Casa Do Sardao! It is a 13th century monastery converted into an alburgue and it was beautiful! Nice, clean kitchen and bathroom, the most comfortable beds, two resident horses and a beautiful BBQ pit, garden and foot soaking pool. Rather then heading back in to Viana do Castelo for dinner we decided to stick around, play cards, talk, drink wine and watch the sunset. It was one of the best night on the Camino Portuguese!

Day 5 – Carreco – A Guarda (~23km)

We spent most of the day walking with an Australian couple that we met playing cards the night before. They made the day go by very quickly! The path today was a mix of country side paths or small street or walking on sidewalks while approaching bigger towns or cities.

Unfortunately we had to part from our Australian friends after lunch as we took the boat to Spain and they continued up to join the Central route. Remember when crossing into Spain you lose an hour! We stayed in A Guarda which we had been warned was not the nice of a city so we were pleasantly surprised by it. It had a nice waterfront and we had some of the best paella that we would have all trip! Spain is slightly more expensive then Portugal though. Interesting the albergue we stayed in had communal showers which was a kind of a weird experience for my prudeish Canadian self. Crossing into Spain also means the switch to Spanish Camino signs which all have the remaining distance on them (all though they are notoriously incorrect).

Day 6 – A Guarda – A Ramallosa (~36km)

This was our longest day on the Camino Portuguese so we decided that we were going to send our bags ahead to A Ramallosa so we didn’t have to carry them. This cost us about 7euros each bag. The rest of our group was meeting us in A Ramallosa so we wanted to make sure we had enough energy to go out for dinner and drinks!

This was also an absolutely beautiful day! We started early so the mist was still coming off the ocean when we started. The coast here is rockier then the Portuguese side which I thought made a prettier view, but meant you couldn’t really swim. This day also had one of the biggest climbs on the Camino Portuguese, a lot of people avoid it by sticking to the road the whole time, but we were very glad we took it. There is a great rest stop just after this big hill where we stopped for second lunch, made friends with the owners then proceeded to get drunk with them.

After quite a few drinks we decided we better hurry to join up with the rest of our group in A Ramallosa. We had originally wanted to stay in Baiona, but it was a weekend in the summer so everything was booked out. We did go make into the city for dinner and drink, it was a beautiful city and I would suggest staying in it. However our albergue in A Ramallosa was a beautiful converted monastery with cheap private rooms.

Day 7: A Ramallosa -> Vigo (~21.5km)

Our full group (of 4) was now together and excited to walk the remainder of the way to Santiago. The first part of the day was quite a nice country side walk, but before too long it turned into the slog that happens every time you have to enter a major city on the Camino. We had been expecting this, but still it was quite a long walk through crappy streets and beside some sort of power plant. Apparently you can stick closer to the coast to have a nicer if slightly longer walk into the city.

We quickly got settled into our AirBnB (there are no alburgue is Vigo), put on some laundry and set out to look around the city. Vigo was another city that we were pleasantly surprised by. We had been told to expect absolute shit and well it was not the nicest city we walked through it was still pretty nice.

Day 8: Cies Islands

This was the reason we decided to come to Vigo (although you can also get a ferry to them from Baiona if you can find a place to stay). These are Caribbean looking islands just off the coast. There are little facilities on the islands so come prepared to carry your stuff in and out. We were able to get some ice cream on the island. If we could do this again we would have arranged to camp a night on the island (must be booked ahead) because the sunset and stars would have been beautiful from there. we spent all day hiking, drinking wine and reading in the beach. Be warned, just cause it looks Caribbean does not mean the water temps are – it is still the Atlantic and it was cold!

Day 9: Vigo -> Redondela (~17km)

Walking out of Vigo was significantly more pleasant than walking into Vigo had been. There was a great rest stop on the top of a large hill just outside of Vigo which we of course had to stop at. There we met an American father daughter duo that we ended up play leap frog (from bar to bar) with for the rest of the Camino.

Day 10: Rendonela -> Pontevedra (~20km)

All Portuguese routes had now joined and we immediately noticed the increase in number of pilgrims walking. Today we didn’t book our beds ahead and with the increased number of pilgrims and with us being 4 people now we were kind of nervous about getting a spot at the public albergue. This meant that we had to be up earlier and that we couldn’t make our regular beer or tapa stops along the way. We ended up making it just in time and snagged the last few beds at the albergue and went into town to explore.

Pontevedra was quite a nice town with a few nice restaurants, but the albergue had a curfew so we couldn’t stay out for too long. The albergue itself was pretty typical for a public albergue – big and clean, with paper sheets and a kitchen.

Day 11: Pontevadra -> Tivo (~20km)

Wine! This day was largely on vineyard paths which are one of my favourite paths to walk on. We decided to book ahead so that we could take our time walking today and we were glad we did. Not only did we meet up with our American friends quite a few time, starting later in the day meant that we were no longer surrounded by crowds like we had been the previous day. The albergue we stayed in was in a small town, had good food and lots of wine!

Day 12: Tivo -> Padron (~21km)

Home of Patron peppers, Padron was a absolutely beautiful city that happened to have some sort of medieval carnival thing on while we were there. We didn’t really know what it was, but greatly enjoyed the parade of people in costumes going from bar to bar.

Day 13: Padron -> Santiago de Compostela (~25km)

The last day on the Camino. Some of our group had flights out on the same day so we didn’t have a ton of time to walk. We decided to ship our bags ahead so that we would have time to explore Santiago. The walk into Santiago was in general a lot for pleasant then the walk in from the French way. The approach was largely downhill and had quite a nice view of the city.

Ironically the last time I walked the Camino the outside of the Cathedral was covered by construction and this time the inside was! Maybe next time I’ll get the full experience! Overall I found the walking into Santiago better the Camino Frances, it was less of a slog.

If you’d like to see more photos from the Camino Portuguese check out my portfolio.