The Portuguese coastal route is the third most popular Camino de Santiago trail after the Camino Francés and the Portuguese Central, according to 2022 statistics from the Pilgrim Office in Santiago.

But does walking a non-traditional, scenery-based path along the coast still feel like a Camino de Santiago? That’s the question I asked myself as I walked on the Portuguese coastal route from Porto to Vigo in the middle of the beach holiday season.

In keeping a daily diary of the pilgrimage, I eventually found my answer.

Day 1: Porto to Vila Chã  — 26km

A pre-dawn departure from Porto and it’s exciting to be back on the camino and to walk through a virtually empty city after it was bursting at the seams with tourists yesterday afternoon.

I take the alternative river exit and I’m glad I did, even though the absence of arrows at the outset of a camino is slightly disconcerting — not for wayfinding, because that’s quite obvious, but because it doesn’t help you land on the right side of ‘Does this feel like a camino?’ when there are no arrows. But soon I pass three Italian pilgrims and we exchange ‘bom caminhos’, and a camino it is.

Where the river meets the ocean at Foz do Douro is my favourite part of the stage, because there are lighthouses and fishermen and a surprisingly interesting fort to explore all to myself (not to mention the fabulously-named Instituto de Socorros a Náufragos — something like the ‘Shipwreck Rescue Institute’). Foz feels like a real place, unlike Matosinhos, which comes soon enough and is quite the shock. 

There are beaches by now and it’s August so they’re jam-packed with holiday-makers, even though the beaches aren’t especially nice and are surrounded by industrial cranes and silos and ugly modern buildings. The beaches and umbrellas and people and development seem to go on forever, and by 9:15am I’ve already seen two Pizza Huts and this isn’t the Portugal I know. But there are arrows and a Lidl in Matosinhos so I take those little wins, stock up, and move on.

Then the boardwalks begin and the rhythm for the rest of the stage is set. Walking a camino on wooden planks is new for me and not my preferred surface but it’s still pretty easy walking because it’s not hot and you can’t exactly get lost on boardwalks. As I approach São Paio the holiday crowds start thinning out a bit and it seems more low key and there’s a nice estuary full of bird life, all of which is more to my liking. 

Before I know it, I reach my destination, the fishing village of Vila Chã, and it’s not even 2pm yet and if that was really 26km, it was as much of a breeze as the one coming off the ocean.

Day 2: Vila Chã to Esposende  — 31km

I leave at dawn this morning but sunrise is merely theoretical because it’s misty and overcast and it will remain that way (at least the overcast part) for all of today’s 31km. It’s the longest day I’ll have on this camino, and some might say it’s ‘perfect hiking weather’, but I’m not one of them, and I miss yesterday’s glorious sunshine.

After Vila Chã ends, the boardwalks begin but they can hardly be further from the ones that were packed with beach-goers yesterday. The boards are damp from the mist and visibility is poor and there’s an almost complete absence of people. I don’t see any pilgrims and hardly anyone at all until Vila do Conde, just the odd local jogger or dog-walker. I signed up for a solo camino and this morning I get one; after yesterday’s beach crowds, I enjoy the solitude.

Vila do Conde has a nice historic core with some old sandstone buildings and azulejos and although I’ve never been here before, it’s a familiar and welcome version of Portugal for me. The Igreja Matriz is closed but it has a magnificent late Gothic Manueline portal, so I stop in the square opposite (also familiar: Praça Vasco da Gama) and eat breakfast.

It’s only 9am when I leave Vila do Conde but I don’t have my camino legs under me yet and I feel sore already, barely a third of the way through my stage. Pushing on, Povoa do Varzim has a nice church half-dedicated to Santiago with an azulejo of the saint and quite a few people praying inside, but after that the town descends into today’s most touristy beach spot. After lunch, there are more boardwalks, a golf course, a vineyard or two (literally), almost a pine forest, no pilgrims, and plenty of cobblestones. If anything makes you long for boardwalks, it’s cobblestones — but it wouldn’t be a Portuguese camino without them.

Apúlia seems like a ghost town but the Igreja Matriz is open so I go in and I’m the only person there and I’m surprised by how much I like it. The interior artwork is all modern, which doesn’t usually do much for me, but I find the mosaics to be quite fascinating. There are four of them and they’re almost all black-and-white but each has a splash of a different colour that illuminates them and brings out each scene, and I’m happy with this little discovery.

By Fão I’m near the end of the stage, but I’m worn out so I stop at a bar for a drink and chat with two pilgrims for a while. We walk together for the last 2.5km to Esposende, where we’re all staying tonight (albeit in different places), and it’s good company.

The day finishes happily with pizza and cider on a nice square, so if this ends up being the least interesting stage on this camino, then I’ll take it.

Day 3: Esposende to Viana do Castelo — 25km

Early morning fog — again! — but thankfully it doesn’t last today. By about 8:30am, the sun breaks through and it turns into a beautiful day, and an easier one than yesterday for a solar-powered pilgrim. 

One of the quirks of the ‘coastal’ camino is that a fair bit of it is not by the coast at all — that’s what the Senda Litoral is for — and the official route today between Esposende and Viana do Castelo is entirely inland with not a single boardwalk after the outskirts of Esposende.

The early part of the day is fairly unremarkable (towns and cobblestones) and I am lost in thought when I suddenly realise, about three hours into the stage, that I’m in a forest for the first time on this camino. It’s not the most amazing forest I’ve ever been in by any stretch of the imagination and it only lasts a few minutes and there’s a fair bit of eucalyptus, but despite all of that, I irrationally love it. There’s actual terrain and I can feel the earth under my feet and hear the flow of a nearby river, and this is what the camino is for me. The river crossing over a stone bridge is nice and although there’s an opportunity just after the bridge to head towards the coast, I stick with the inland route and am rewarded soon enough with another forest, which is not quite as thrilling as the first one but worth it all the same.

It’s also another day of churches and there are several on the trail that I like: Belinha for its quasi onion dome, rare in Portugal in general but somewhat common in this part of the country; Castelo do Neiva for its AD 862 inscription that shows it to be the earliest known sanctuary to Santiago outside Spain; and Anha for more surprisingly interesting modern art, this time stained-glass windows.

I arrive in Viana do Castelo by 2:30pm; it’s an attractive town with a picturesque historic centre, and it’s a good place to reflect and ponder over an afternoon drink at a garden kiosk. If the lesson from today is ‘the further inland you go, the more authentic a camino this is’, what does that mean for the coming days?

Day 4: Viana do Castelo to Caminha — 27km

Walking through an empty Viana do Castelo at dawn, with an orange tinge in the eastern sky and not a cloud in sight, the decision point comes early today. The official ‘coastal’ route is once again mostly inland, and there’s an obvious Senda Litoral alternative immediately after Viana that hugs the ocean. Despite my enjoyment of the interior route yesterday, today’s stage doesn’t sound exceptional, so I opt for the Litoral and I’m glad I did.

Early on, the coast is wild and rough, and, while it’s not exactly beautiful, I like it. Gronze describes today’s Litoral alternative as ‘sin flechas pero con playas’, but that’s only half right for the first 10 kilometres: there are no arrows, but there aren’t any beaches either. Instead, the coast is rocky and locals clamming outnumber sunbathers — and pilgrims — for the first couple of hours. The winding dirt path passes four mills (one recently restored, three not) and a couple of forts, and this is my favourite part of the day. 

Later, the beaches appear and I take my shoes off and dip my toes into the (freezing) sea for the first time on this camino. Vila Praia de Âncora is the unappealing beach town of the day, where the coastal and Litoral paths meet back up, and I pass through quickly. 

At Moledo, near the end of the stage, arrows take pilgrims onto the highway but I follow a recommended Gronze alternative and find myself in a sandy pine forest that resembles the Camino de Madrid except for the sound of the ocean to my left. When the forest ends, the body of water in front of me is no longer the Atlantic Ocean but the Minho River, and the land I can see on the other side is Galicia.

Day 5: Caminha to Oia — 16km

Sunrise over the Minho River affords one last glimpse of Portugal before I am whisked across the river by boat with three other pilgrims to continue my journey in a different land; on the other side of the river, which is now the Miño, awaits Spain. 

Two minutes after disembarking from the boat, I’m taking a photo of a building by the shore whose faded grandeur is lit up by the sun’s first light, and a local man walks by and asks if I speak Spanish. When I say that I do, he tells me that the building was used as a concentration camp during the Spanish civil war. I look it up later and he’s right; according to one account I read, in just two months in the summer of 1938, 171 people were executed there. Later, I find out that the Oia monastery was also a concentration camp during the war.

The camino itself is different in Spain, too: right away there are hills and forests and mojones showing the distance to Santiago (165km), standard practice in Galicia but something I had almost forgotten about while walking in Portugal — especially on the Senda Litoral, where there aren’t even arrows, let alone distances.

After A Guarda, the coastline is rocky, like yesterday, but it’s more remote. Hills rise up directly from the ocean at times, leaving few settlements and forcing the camino away from the shore, sometimes onto the highway. It might not be the best day of walking but it’s a short stage and it’s sunny and I’m happy to be in Spain. 

By midday I’m already in Oia, and that’s as far as I’m going today because I want to visit the monastery and align my stages for Baiona and Vigo over the next two days. As I arrive, a localised fog descends on the ruined monastery by the sea, and, as improbable as it may seem at times, right now it doesn’t take much imagination to picture a Celtic land on the Iberian peninsula.

Day 6: Oia to Baiona — 18km

I leave Oia in heavy fog, which lasts all morning and then some, but I don’t mind because I’m nearly at the end and this is Galicia and it’s real. The glamour of the boardwalks and packed beaches and Pizza Huts of just a few days ago seems a long way away now, as I walk alone alongside a remote, rocky and misty coastline and can’t even see the water at times. Yet I prefer this — for the solitude, the sense of exploration and discovery, and, yes, because it feels more like a camino.

I have an unusual goal today and there’s not much in the fog to distract me from thinking about it. About 12km into the stage, I forego the arrows urging me inland and stay on the coast for another half an hour to reach the ‘beach of the crystals’, which I only know about because another pilgrim came this way a couple of weeks ago and wrote about it. The crystals are, in fact, small pieces of sea glass, of various colours but mostly clear and green, smoothed and frosted and scattered all over this tiny beach. It’s quite fascinating, and I stay for a while, eat a cobbled together Sunday lunch consisting of gas station snacks, and look past the crystals out into the ocean as far as the eye can see — which is not very far on a day like this.

After I leave the beach, the fog that has lingered all day completely clears in 10 minutes, the Galician coast suddenly reveals itself, and my destination, Baiona, looms in the distance. I walk for an hour in the sun and reach my albergue, but by the time I have a shower, rest, and am ready to go out and explore the castle, the fog is back and I can barely see the crenellations. 

‘It comes and goes,’ the hospitalero says matter-of-factly about the fog, and people seem to barely notice it as they continue to take their Sunday afternoon strolls and lay out on the two small city beaches. But I can’t help but think about what an odd existence this must be, having your town literally disappear from view for hours at a time, at any time of day, in the middle of summer. 

And just as I’m writing this on a park bench in the fog at 8:30pm, the sun breaks through, the sky turns blue out of nowhere, I get my photo of the castle, and all is right with the world.

Day 7: Baiona to Vigo — 25km

It’s foggy again as I set out this morning but it isn’t nearly as thick as yesterday, and at this point the fog has become an inseparable part of this camino — and of this mystical land. By 11am, the fog clears and it’s sunny for the rest of the walk.

This is the last day of my camino, and that’s usually accompanied by a sense of excitement at approaching Santiago. But today I’m only going to Vigo, a large and unattractive city whose best feature might be its good transport connections with Lisbon. On one hand, this will be a somewhat anticlimactic end to this little camino; on the other, I can enjoy the walk without being consumed by my impending arrival, because, really, I don’t want to arrive. And I’m not the only one; at one point today, I see a pilgrim laying on the beach, propped up by her backpack, reading a book.

From A Ramallosa, I take the coastal variant, as do quite a few others. It’s a nice path, passing a few local, low-key beaches and some cruzeiros to remind me where I am.

As I approach Vigo in the early afternoon, the city is fortunately hidden by coves and bays and I don’t actually see it until I’m basically in the outskirts. And then I have to walk through an urban jungle for an hour, but it’s not bad and there’s some street art to look at and before I know it, I’m at my accommodation and my camino is over.

As for the question I’ve been pondering throughout this pilgrimage — ‘Does this feel like a camino?’ — I think the answer lies inside each individual pilgrim more than anywhere else. If you take the Senda Litoral at every opportunity and stay overnight in the touristy beach towns, I suspect it doesn’t feel much like a camino. And if you’re just here for the ocean, you’d be better off on the Rota Vicentina, which is both more remote and more spectacular.

But if you look for the camino here, you’ll find it — in the monastery of Oia, where monks fired canons at pirates from the patio that also served as the pilgrim route; in the ninth-century church inscription mentioning Santiago in Castelo do Neiva; and in those quintessential and special markers of Galician culture: the cruzeiros and the shells and the hórreos and, yes, even the fog.

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For more content on the Portuguese Way of the Camino de Santiago, check out our other posts and resources:

Portuguese Way Highlights | Portuguese Way Experiences | Variante Espiritual Highlights | The Camino de Santiago in Portugal | Podcast Season 1

The Camino Inglés (‘English Way’) is an increasingly popular short route of the Camino de Santiago that winds its way south from the north coast of Galicia — where boats would drop English pilgrims in medieval times — to the tomb of the apostle in Santiago de Compostela.

A 113km journey from Ferrol that is usually completed in five or six days, the Inglés is an excellent alternative to the more crowded last 100km of the Camino Francés or Camino Portugués.

And a pilgrimage on the Inglés might just get you hooked, like the Italian pilgrim and self-proclaimed ‘King of the Camino’ we met who was walking the route for the 12th time.

So, what makes it a charming little camino? Our six Camino Inglés highlights offer an explanation.

Celebration of Galicia

All Camino de Santiago routes are, in a sense, defined by the region or regions they traverse. To take the most obvious example, the Camino Francés is marked by its journey across northern Spain, taking pilgrims over the Pyrenees, into the Basque country of Navarre, through the vineyards of La Rioja, alongside the endless fields of the Meseta, past the stone villages of El Bierzo and finally through the forests of Galicia.

As a short camino, the Inglés cannot match the Spanish kaleidoscope of the Francés or other longer routes, but instead offers a celebration of a single region: Galicia. In just a few days of walking, all of the cultural touchstones of Galicia can be appreciated, including hórreos (traditional raised granaries), galerías (winter garden window frames marked by white borders), cruceiros (sculpted stone crosses) and local dishes such as polbo á feira (Galician-style octopus). 

In addition to its cultural elements, Galicia’s natural features shine on the Camino Inglés, starting with its incredible greenery and, in springtime, the explosion of colourful wildflowers on the entire route. Beyond Galicia’s trademark forests, the Camino Inglés also takes pilgrims along the coast at times, from the Ria de Ferrol estuary to start the pilgrimage to the beaches at Magdalena and Grande de Miño.

In short, the Inglés is an excellent option for pilgrims without much time who are looking to immerse themselves in Galicia. 

A Coruña 

Of the two branches of the Camino Inglés, the one beginning in A Coruña is less popular because it doesn’t meet the 100km requirement for a compostela, unless it’s combined with another recognised walk in England or even the United States. Starting in Ferrol solves this problem, but Ferrol itself is a fairly nondescript place to begin a camino, and pilgrims are advised to make the effort to visit A Coruña beforehand to experience a more dynamic northern Galician city. 

Among the highlights of A Coruña are the region’s most famous and photogenic galerías along Avenida Marina and the windswept Torre de Hércules lighthouse, one of the symbols of Galicia. 

Beyond these major attractions, the church of Santiago offers a symbolic starting point for the camino — and a more appropriate one than the tourism office in Ferrol. At the wooden statue of Santiago inside the church, pilgrims can summon the strength and spirit they will need for the journey ahead.

In our view, A Coruña sits comfortably in the middle range of the seven cities of Galicia in terms of tourism appeal: below Santiago and Lugo, on par with Pontevedra and Ourense and above Vigo and Ferrol.

Street Art

An increase in street art has become a feature of many caminos in recent years, and the Inglés is particularly rich in this regard. Designs range from an epic confrontation featuring Neptune and Hercules in A Coruña to portraits of prominent local citizens in Miño.

But it’s the camino-themed street art on the Inglés that is the most memorable, not least because it serves to animate and encourage pilgrims on their arduous path. This begins precisely at kilometre zero, as a large pilgrim mural adorns the exterior wall of the tourism office in Ferrol. 

Further along the Inglés, Santiago the pilgrim is a common subject for street art, but the most striking piece, created by Victor Romero Toscano in a tunnel in Narón, shows an octopus wrapped around a way-marking mojón and a pilgrim staff with a shell and traditional water-carrying gourd tied to it. 

Finally, while not strictly street art, an unmissable attraction — and well-deserved rest stop — in Presede is the Mesón-Museu Xente no Camiño, a café decorated with distinct, starry paintings, many of which are related to Galician culture or the camino. 

Boo!

One of the pleasures of the camino is learning about local history in places that you might not ordinarily visit. The Inglés is no exception, especially regarding one figure in particular: Fernán Pérez de Andrade, known charmingly as O Boo, derived from a Galego epithet meaning ‘the good’. 

Boo was a 14th-century Galician knight who, it is said, built seven churches, seven monasteries, seven hospitals and seven bridges. While these figures may be exaggerated, Boo’s fingerprints are all over the middle stages of the Camino Inglés, where seemingly every second bridge or church you pass is attributed to him. 

He is also the subject of an unusual memorial cruceiro at Ponte do Porco that includes a sculpture of a wild boar, the symbol of his house. Finally, Boo’s tomb is the star attraction at the church of San Francisco in Betanzos and, naturally, this has been turned into a dazzlingly colourful piece of art at the aforementioned Mesón-Museu Xente no Camiño in Presede.

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Betanzos

With two of the seven cities of Galicia in close proximity to each other on the north coast of Galicia, and Santiago not far further south, there isn’t much room left for historic towns in between. Fortunately, there is one major exception to this rule: Betanzos.

For the energetic pilgrim, the hilly streets of Betanzos are littered with churches and monuments that make for a wonderful afternoon’s exploring. Pilgrims access the town by crossing the Mandeo river over the old bridge, passing through one of Betanzos’ three remaining medieval gates to enter a different world of narrow alleys, old houses, tiled rooftops and Gothic churches.

The adjacent churches of San Francisco and Santa Maria do Azougue are among the historical highlights (with Boo Plaza between them, of course), while the city’s main square, Praza da Constitución, is a great place for people watching, an afternoon drink or a taste of Betanzos’ distinctive ‘runny’ tortillas. 

Spirit of the Camino

The Camino Inglés is currently in that hard-to-attain sweet spot where it has the ‘right’ number of pilgrims and sufficient facilities (the bed race in Bruma aside) and hasn’t yet jumped the shark into the over-commercialism that plagues the last 100km of the Camino Francés. 

Within this ‘Goldilocks’ dynamic, the spirit of the camino stands out on the Inglés, from tiny donativo stalls offering shells or other trinkets for a few coins to the locals who leave crates of delicious ripe plums on top of way-marking mojones for pilgrims.

This spirit is embodied above all at the much-appreciated Camino Angels refreshment stand following the climb from the Ponte do Porco. Slightly reminiscent of David’s La Casa de los Dioses near Astorga on the Camino Francés, the Angels offer donativo drinks and engaging camino conversation in a forest setting surrounded by camino-themed street art.

And if that isn’t the spirit of the camino, we don’t know what is.

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The Camino del Salvador is a 118km camino from León to Oviedo, famed for its mountain scenery. Bookended by two fabulous historic cities, the Salvador is otherwise an isolated, rural trail taking in some of the most beautiful views that any route of the Camino de Santiago has to offer. 

Here are our highlights of the Camino del Salvador. 

Medieval Art in León

As one of the most famous destinations on the Camino Francés, and a popular starting point for a shortened version of that camino, León is worthy of a sightseeing day before starting the Salvador for the scope and brilliance of its medieval art.

The city’s 13th-century cathedral is one of the most significant Gothic churches in Spain, and its towers and spires provide a fascinating contrast with the smaller, older and darker pre-Romanesque churches towards the end of the Salvador.

In particular, the cathedral is known for having the largest set of stained-glass windows of any church in the world, covering about 1,800 square metres. Some windows depict biblical stories, and others contain scenes relating to the camino itself, but my favourite window has always been the one showing grumpy faces stuck inside plants.

The other unmissable highlight of León is the church of San Isidoro and, in particular, the Royal Pantheon. Containing Visigothic column capitals but better known for its stunning 12th-century murals, the pantheon is often described as the ‘Romanesque Sistine Chapel’. The wall and ceiling paintings are extremely well-preserved and include such scenes as the seven churches of Asia on one ceiling vault and a monthly agrarian cycle on one of the arches. 

In the church’s museum, the chalice of Urraca, an important 12th-century queen of León, is yet another beautiful example of the city’s medieval legacy. 

The Mountains of Castile and León

The first stage on the Salvador is hot, shadeless and mostly flat, although pilgrims switching from the Francés will find it positively bursting with plant life after the endless plains of the Meseta.

On the second day, there is a glimpse of the mountains that give the Salvador its identity, beginning with roadside cliffs after Beberino and the climb to the Alto de San Antón after Buiza. 

It’s on the third day of most pilgrims’ itineraries, however, that the landscape fully reveals itself. After setting out from Poladura de la Tercia on the ‘queen stage’ of the Salvador, it’s only 3km to the most celebrated viewpoint of the camino: the Cruz del Salvador, with almost 360-degree views of both nearby and distant peaks. 

In winter, the entire scene can be covered in snow, while in spring or early summer, yellow flowers create an explosion of colour across the landscape and provide a striking contrast with the green of the valley floor. 

Two further passes shortly afterwards, including the Puerto de Pajares, offer more stunning views. All told, the mountain vistas of this stage are likely to form some of your best memories of the Salvador.

The Forests of Asturias

The Salvador is a journey through two distinct Spanish regions — Castile and León and Asturias — which is typified in a very long day (or two short ones) in the middle of the camino that showcases the natural scenery both have to offer. 

Soon after crossing the regional border at the Puerto de Pajares, the sweeping views and rocky crags of the Spanish heartland are replaced with paths through lush green forests that recall Asturias’ more famous camino, the Primitivo.

From Llanos (Chanos), the new Munisteriu alternative route is an adventurous, forested path on a mountainside that can be tough but rewarding with waterfalls, tiny wild cherries and strawberries, spider web tunnels and other insect life. 

Back on the main trail, the subsequent Fresneo-Herias section is also largely through thick forest, providing a striking contrast with the shadeless paths earlier on the Salvador.

The Magical Atmosphere of Bendueños

It is not an exaggeration to say that the donativo albergue at Bendueños is, quite simply, the best albergue on any Camino de Santiago route. It is not directly on the camino, and the 1.5km detour from the path to the albergue includes a switchback uphill climb, but it is beyond worth it for the atmosphere, views and everything else that makes Bendueños such a special place.

The stone building is more reminiscent of a family cabin in the woods than an albergue. The bedroom features cosy single beds, plentiful blankets and a book nook, while the downstairs kitchen is stocked with all manner of drinks and snacks. These comforts alone would make this an exceptional albergue; however, Bendueños somehow offers so much more. 

The views of the Asturian mountains from the albergue are fabulous, especially in the early morning as clouds and sunlight shift around the peaks. But, above all, it’s hospitalera Sandra’s warm welcome and delicious stews that create a special pilgrim atmosphere in the true spirit of the camino. 

Directly opposite the albergue, the village church contains an extraordinary and recently restored 18th-century fresco cycle in which all figures, including saints and angels, are Black. The reason for this remains a mystery, although one suggestion is that the village priest visited the Caribbean before commissioning the paintings.

The pre-Romanesque Jewel of Santa Cristina de Lena 

In the 9th century the flame of Christianity was kept alive in the Iberian peninsula in the tiny Kingdom of the Asturias. Here an innovative pre-Romanesque architectural style was created that was to play a significant role in the development of the religious architecture of the peninsula. Its highest achievements can be seen in the churches of Santa María del Naranco, San Miguel de Lillo, Santa Cristina de Lena, the Cámara Santa and San Julián de los Prados, in and around the ancient capital city of Oviedo.

UNESCO World Heritage List

As the Salvador descends from the mountains, pilgrims who make a slight detour from the camino and are willing to wait for the 11am opening are treated to an extraordinary sight: the pre-Romanesque church of Santa Cristina de Lena. 

Perched alone on a small hill in a valley, surrounded by mountains, this mid-ninth century edifice even today evokes the rural isolation that would become a hallmark of many later Romanesque complexes.

The interior is a small and austere but beautiful space highlighted by a raised, triple-arched apse. As with later Romanesque churches, there is little natural light, as only tiny windows could be inserted into the load-bearing walls. This creates a monochrome grey setting and a slightly haunting atmosphere befitting the moniker ‘Dark Ages’, although the extraordinary architectural achievement of Santa Cristina and the entire Asturian pre-Romanesque collection could be held up as an example of why that term is no longer in vogue.

The Cider Bars and Early Medieval Heritage of Oviedo

Oviedo is not only the end point for the Salvador, but its raison d’être: the northern diversion from the Camino Francés exists as a side pilgrimage to the city from where Asturian king Alfonso II undertook the first Camino de Santiago, in AD 814.

The Asturian capital is famous for its sidrerías (cider bars), particularly on Calle Gascona, a street known as the ‘Bulevar de las Sidrerías’. In Asturias, the cider is more sour than sweet and, as an acquired taste, it’s not to everyone’s liking. The real highlight, however, is not the cider itself but the ritual culture that surrounds it: at the sidrerías, staff pour small amounts of cider from bottles held high above their head into a glass held below their waist – all without looking! It’s fascinating to watch and makes for a great cultural experience.

If you can drag yourself out of the cider bars and have the energy after walking the Salvador, Oviedo has plenty of historic attractions on offer. The various eras of art and architecture on display at the cathedral span the entire Middle Ages, from traces of its early medieval incarnation as a royal palace to its Gothic tower and cloister. The most famous part of the cathedral, the Holy Chamber (Cámara Santa), contains two chapels: the upper chapel of Saint Michael, restored in the 12th century and famous for its relics and Romanesque sculptures; and the even more impressive ninth-century lower chapel and crypt of Saint Leocadia, built during the reign of Alfonso II himself. Atmospheric and eerie, the tunnel-like crypt evokes the long-forgotten past as over 1000 years of history swirls around you.

Beyond the cathedral, the important Christian heritage of Oviedo from the early Middle Ages – a time when most of the Iberian peninsula was under Muslim control after the invasion of AD 711 – is also on display at the church of San Julián de los Prados. Although overshadowed by the more famous Naranco churches just outside the city, San Julián forms part of the same UNESCO World Heritage listing. It’s a wonderful example of pre-Romanesque art and architecture in its own right, highlighted by its splendid ninth-century frescoes, which are unusual for not featuring any representations of living beings.

While these attractions make Oviedo a worthy finishing point for the Salvador, it might not be the end of the road — for many pilgrims, the Camino Primitivo awaits! 

The Caminho Português Interior (CPI) is a little-known Camino de Santiago route in north-central Portugal that combines gorgeous scenery, historic cities and that rare combination of an off-the-beaten-track pilgrimage that surprisingly offers a vast albergue network. 

Not to be confused with the Portuguese Central from Porto, the Portuguese Interior route traditionally begins in the city of Viseu, although the trail has now been extended about 110km southwest to Coimbra. 

From Viseu, the CPI heads north for 208km, crossing into Spain on the final day and finishing in the Galician town of Verín. From there, an alternate route of the Camino Sanabrés continues to Ourense, where it joins the main route to Santiago de Compostela – 387km in total from Viseu.

If the opportunity to walk a friendly, welcoming camino and discover a lesser-known region of Portugal while avoiding the crowds of the standard Caminho Português sounds appealing, check out our CPI highlights below.

Street Art in Viseu and Beyond

The cathedral and other churches in Viseu’s old town are worth exploring, as is the city’s homage to the ancient, proto-Portuguese Lusitanian warrior Viriatus, but it’s more recently created attractions that might form your lasting memories of Viseu.

The city is full of street art from some of Portugal’s most famous artists, including an instalment of Bordalo II’s Big Trash Animals series, featuring monkeys. Other well-known street artists such as AKA Corleone and Frederico Draw also have murals in Viseu, as does Mario Belém, whose delightful style also adorns a building in the town of Crato on the Caminho Nascente.

Beyond Viseu, there is plenty of other street art to discover on the CPI. Among the more striking examples, a fabulous camino-themed mural decorates Vila Meã’s new bandstand-albergue, while a large tiled mural showing rural scenes adds a splash of colour to a fountain in Vila Pouco de Aguiar. 

River Hopping like a Local

As with almost all Camino de Santiago routes, the Portuguese Interior offers its share of old bridge crossings, notably the Roman-medieval bridge near Vila Pouca de Aguiar and Trajan’s Bridge in Chaves. 

But the most appealing river crossings on the CPI are stepping-stone bridges, in which pilgrims-turned-gymnasts gingerly and timidly hop from stone to stone, while marvelling at how quickly and adeptly local farmers perform the same task.

The most picturesque of the stepping stone bridges – and the trickiest to cross – is the one over the Rio Paiva on the stage between Ribolhos and Bigorne. 

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There is another stepping stone bridge shortly afterwards, and another in an unusual setting in the city of Chaves near the end of the camino. On this last bridge, urban school kids take the place of farmers in casually zooming over the stones. 

Yellow Brooms

Wildflowers are a highlight of many spring caminos, and the Português Interior is no different. Red poppies, purple bellflowers and many other flowers give colour and life to the trail, but none more so than yellow broom flowers.

The broom shrub is so called because its twigs were once used to make up the brush part of a broom. But the yellow flowers are what sets the broom apart on the camino, as they provide a spectacular explosion of colour across the landscape.

The broom shrub, known as giesta in Portuguese, is so common in the region around the CPI that it has become part of the local culture. In Bigorne, a village that often serves as the overnight stop on the third day of the camino, the only restaurant in town is named A Giesta, with photos of the shrub adorning its walls.

Medieval Heritage in Lamego

Situated almost halfway through the CPI, after the early hilly stages and on the doorstep of the Douro Valley, Lamego is one of the highlights of the route. 

The entrance to the city is a spectacular one, as the trail passes the hilltop Santuário de Nossa Senhora dos Remédios, an 18th-century Baroque and Rococo church. From the church, a famous and ornate staircase or a wooded park are the options for descending into the city centre.

While the shrine is one of Lamego’s most photogenic spots, the city’s medieval heritage is what really transports pilgrims back to the golden age of the camino.

The cathedral retains some Romanesque elements, but more impressive attractions await a short walk away in a picturesque neighbourhood. There, the 12th-century castle keep soars towards the heavens, while underground, a cavernous 13th-century cistern demonstrates how water was accessed hundreds of years ago. 

Finally, the early Middle Ages are brought to life at the Capela de São Pedro de Balsemão, which dates from the sixth century and is a rare example of Visigothic architecture in Portugal. While later medieval modifications are evident, some original aspects remain, including Visigothic column capitals. The church is outside the city centre and off the camino, but a detour is possible by following signs on the way out of Lamego. 

Douro Valley Vineyards 

The spectacular terraced vineyards of the Douro Valley provide the most extraordinary scenery of the Caminho Português Interior. In Portugal’s most famous wine region, perfectly aligned rows of vineyards stretch as far as the eye can see, interrupted only by the occasional olive tree.

At Sande, about 5km beyond Lamego, a way-marking sign points left for the CPI and right for the Camino Torres, which also passes through the Douro on its path from Salamanca (Spain) to Ponte de Lima. The two paths rejoin before the footbridge over the Douro river, meaning either route can be taken through the valley. 

The Torres path affords the most spectacular scenery, given its descent into a rugged and rocky gorge dominated by olive trees, and the panoramic views back over the vineyards from the other side of the gorge. 

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Whichever path you take, the stage in the Douro Valley is likely to be among the top echelon of highlights not just of this camino, but of any of the ways of St. James.

La Belle Époque, Abandonnée 

The most unlikely yet potentially most curious attraction on the Caminho Português Interior surrounds the natural springs area of Pedras Salgadas on the northern section of the camino in the region of Trás-os-Montes (Beyond the Mountains). 

During the Belle Époque era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when balneotherapy was in vogue, several enormous hotels were built in the area to service those who came to the springs looking for the cure to what ailed them. 

These days, the hulking structures are completely abandoned and have long since been overrun by nature. They are now fascinating ruins that can be seen right from the path.

Though Pedras Salgadas’ golden era is long in the past, part of the area has been revitalised and turned into an eco-park where visitors can stay in ‘tree house’ cabins and sample the naturally fizzy spring water that brought visitors here a century ago. 

In the Footsteps of the Romans in Chaves

The CPI saves one of its biggest attractions for the end: the historic city of Chaves in the far north of Portugal. Chaves is famous in Portugal for being one of the endpoints of the 1940s-era Estrada Nacional 2 highway, which stretches all the way to Faro on the Algarve coast and is now a nostalgic secondary road in the vein of the USA’s Route 66.

For pilgrims, however, it’s Chaves’ Roman heritage that is likely to have more appeal. Entering town, the camino crosses the Tâmega river via Trajan’s Bridge, an impressive arched structure which dates to the Spanish emperor’s rule (AD 98-117) and contains two Roman markers with still-legible inscriptions. 

Near the bridge, one of the CPI’s newest attractions is also one of its oldest: the Roman baths that were destroyed by an earthquake in the fourth century, rediscovered in 2005 and finally opened as a free museum in late 2021. 

The bath complex, the largest in Iberia and one of the largest in the entire Roman Empire, is very well presented and shows that the Belle Époque wasn’t the first time that the area’s natural springs were put to use. Unlike most Roman baths, these ones were primarily for therapeutic – rather than hygienic – purposes. 

After walking up and down the hills of the Caminho Português Interior, however, pilgrims – medieval and modern – could probably do with both types of bath!

While the Camino de Santiago is indelibly linked with Spain, there are an increasing number of camino routes in Portugal in addition to the country’s other long-distance trails including the Rota Vicentina and pilgrimage routes to Fátima.

Here is an overview of the 10 main routes that form the Camino de Santiago in Portugal, where it is known as the Caminho de Santiago.

The routes included in this summary are the Caminho Português Central, Caminho Português Coastal, Caminho Português (from Lisbon), Caminho Português Interior, Caminho de Torres, Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieros, Caminho Nascente, Caminho Central, Caminho da Raia and Camino Zamorano Portugués (Vía de la Plata Portugués).

Note: in the map above, the Caminho Nascente (in light green) and the Caminho Central (in dark blue) have only their stages in the Alentejo and Ribatejo regions visible, while the Caminho da Raia (in lighter blue, with letters) is an approximate representation of the trail.

Caminho Português Central

Route: Porto-Santiago

Distance: 240km

Stages: ~10

Pros: Porto, good pilgrim infrastructure, historic towns, Variante Espiritual

Cons: Walking on cobblestones, possibly too much pilgrim traffic

More Information: Wise Pilgrim, Pilgrimage Traveler, Gronze (Spanish only but good for stages and accommodation), Variante Espiritual Highlights

The Caminho Português Central is the second most popular of all Camino de Santiago routes after the Camino Francés, with over 20 per cent of pilgrims who received a compostela in the last pre-pandemic year of 2019 choosing this route. 

It’s easy to see why: this is a short camino with plenty of albergues and other pilgrim infrastructure that takes pilgrims through two countries and past historic towns including Barcelos, Ponte de Lima, Pontevedra and Padrón. 

The Portugal-Spain border crossing over the Minho River between Valença and Tui is another highlight. Valença is a fortress town on the Portuguese side whose ramparts date from as far back as the 13th century, while the Galician town of Tui is dominated by its imposing Romanesque-Gothic cathedral.

In recent years, the Variante Espiritual option after Pontevedra has become an increasingly popular part of this camino. It includes stunning scenery on the Stone and Water Route, monasteries at Poio and Armenteira, seaside hórreos in Combarro and the translatio boat trip in the wake of Santiago’s posthumous journey.  

Pilgrims choosing this route should be aware that there is a fair amount of cobblestone walking which can be tough on feet and knees, and there’s road walking on the first day out of Porto. Many pilgrims start walking the coastal route from Porto along the Douro River and switch back to the central after a day or two.

Caminho Português Coastal

Route: Porto-Santiago

Distance: 271km

Stages: ~13

Pros: Porto, coastal views and boardwalks, sea breezes that make it cooler in summer, several options for rejoining the central route, Variante Espiritual

Cons: Less historic route than the central, some coastal towns are touristy

More Information: Wise Pilgrim, Pilgrimage Traveler, Gronze

The coastal route was the third most popular camino behind the Camino Francés and the Caminho Português Central in 2019 with over 22,000 pilgrims treading the boardwalks of this path.

Like the central, the coastal route begins in the fabulous city of Porto. The colourful houses, azulejos (Portuguese tiles), port wine and river life are all highlights of Portugal’s second largest city, and it’s well worth spending a day or two exploring Porto before beginning the camino.

From Porto, there are several options for beginning the coastal route; a recommended choice is to follow the alternative Senda Litoral path along the Douro River west to the ocean, turning north at Foz de Douro. 

Once on the coast, the camino continues north to the town of Caminha, where boats transport pilgrims across the Minho River into Spain. 

Beyond the scenery, the coastal route also passes some historical towns including Viana do Castelo on the Portuguese side and Baiona on the Spanish side, while the Oia monastery is another highlight.

On several occasions, the official coastal route turns inland, but the series of trails that make up the Senda Litoral provide an alternative for those who don’t wish to stray from the ocean.

There are several possibilities for returning to the central route, but the one that stays on the coast the longest involves walking to the Galician city of Vigo and rejoining the central at Redondela. Another option is to turn inland on the Portuguese side of the Minho to join the central at Valença and walk across the bridge to Tui.

Caminho Português (from Lisbon)

Route: Lisbon-Santiago

Distance: 610km

Stages: ~28

Pros: Lisbon, more immersion in Portugal, historic towns of Santarém, Tomar and Coimbra, choice of central or coastal routes at Porto

Cons: Some road walking, fewer pilgrims and less pilgrim infrastructure before Porto

More Information: Caminho Português Highlights, Caminho Português Experiences,  Caminho Português Day-by-Day Description, Wise Pilgrim

One of the great camino debates is whether to start the Caminho Português in Lisbon or Porto. The latter is far more popular; in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year, statistics from the pilgrim office in Santiago show that for every pilgrim who started in Lisbon, nearly 15 started in Porto. 

If time allows, the main advantage of starting in Lisbon is that it’s a much longer camino, which allows for greater immersion into Portuguese life in regions where the culture is more distinct than north of Porto (where there are many similarities with Galicia).

The historic towns of Santarém, Tomar and Coimbra are also well worth exploring, and the latter two are perfect places for a rest day. Among the many attractions in these towns, Tomar’s Convento do Cristo is arguably the most impressive historic site on the entire Caminho Português between Lisbon and Santiago.

As for the trail itself, the first several stages out of Lisbon and the stages between Coimbra and Porto contain a fair amount of road walking. Between Tomar and Coimbra, the path is largely rural among vineyards and olive trees and these stages are the most picturesque.

Finally, there is also the possibility of starting in Lisbon and following coastal trails for part of the way, although these are less developed than the standard route. 

Caminho Português Interior

Route: Viseu-Verín-Santiago

Distance: 208km to Verín; 387km to Santiago (including the Sanabrés from Verín)

Stages: ~10 to Verín; ~18 to Santiago

Pros: Beautiful scenery, Douro Valley, historical route, vast albergue network for a route with few pilgrims

Cons: Lots of ups and downs (especially first four days), solitary route

More Information: CPI highlights, Gronze

Sometimes confused with the Central route from Porto, the Portuguese Interior trail is further east and traverses a more mountainous and less populated part of the country. 

As with the Caminho de Torres, a great highlight of the CPI is the Douro Valley stage from Lamego, which passes through the famous terraced vineyards of the region. The two caminos share part of this stage before going their separate ways. 

After crossing the Douro River, the camino enters the rural region of Tras-os-Montes, described in one rather fanciful account as resembling Machu Picchu.

Typically, the final overnight stop in Portugal is the charming town of Chaves, which contains a medieval tower and impressive Roman remains including a bridge with stone markers and a bath complex. From there, the camino crosses the Spanish border to Verín, where it joins a variant of the Camino Sanabrés. 

The recent extension of the CPI means it’s possible to start in Coimbra and combine it with part of the Caminho Português to create an alternative route, albeit a less direct one, from Lisbon to Santiago.

Caminho de Torres

Route: Salamanca-Santiago

Distance: 567km

Stages: ~23

Pros: Salamanca, the countryside in Spain, the Douro Valley, the historic cities of Guimarães and Braga, several options for continuing to Santiago

Cons: A lot of road walking in Portugal, lack of pilgrim infrastructure

More Information: Official Website (University of Salamanca), Official Website (Portugal)

The Caminho de Torres (Camino Torres in Spanish) approximates the route taken to Santiago in the 18th century by Salamanca university professor Don Diego de Torres Villarroel. It heads southwest from Salamanca towards the Portuguese border and then northwest to Ponte de Lima, where it joins the Caminho Português Central and continues north to Santiago.

The Spanish section of the route is very rural and mostly passes through idyllic countryside, occasionally interrupted by towns including the cathedral city of Ciudad Rodrigo. This scenery continues for the first few stages on the other side of the border before the route becomes more urban.

In Portugal, highlights include the walled city of Trancoso, the spectacular terraced vineyards of the Douro Valley and the historic cities of Guimarães (the birthplace of Portugal) and Braga, although there is a lot of road walking during these stages, particularly after Amarante.

Alternative options for continuing to Santiago include switching to the Caminho Português Interior in Lamego or to the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieros in Braga.

Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieros

Route: Braga-Santiago

Distance: 239km

Stages: ~10

Pros: Roman road and milestones, Peneda-Gerês National Park, friendly and welcoming locals

Cons: Inconsistent way-marking, lack of pilgrim infrastructure

More Information: Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieros Highlights, Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieros Day-by-Day Description, Official Website

The Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieros is an up-and-coming route that is an excellent alternative to the coastal or central routes from Porto as a short, off-the-beaten path camino that gives pilgrims a taste of both Portugal and Spain.

The two parts of the camino’s name refer to the ancient Roman road – the Geira – and the merchant road that arrieros (wine carriers) traversed from the wine-growing region of the Ribeiro to Santiago during the Middle Ages.

Although the Roman road and accompanying milestones, the historic sites of Ribadavia and the seventh-century São Frutuoso chapel outside Braga are features of the route, the scenery is the real highlight of this camino.

Near the Portuguese-Spanish border, the Peneda-Gerês National Park, with its crystal-clear rivers, forests and mountains, is the most beautiful part of the trail, but the nature focus of the camino continues into Galicia.

While the Geira e dos Arrieros doesn’t see many pilgrims and there’s only one albergue on the route, the hospitality pilgrims receive from locals is among the most welcoming on any camino.

Caminho Nascente

Route: Tavira-Trancoso

Distance: 645km

Stages: ~30

Pros: Mostly countryside walking, many historic towns and castles, good way-marking despite having so few pilgrims, feels like an adventure 

Cons: Lack of pilgrim infrastructure, heat in summer, possible language barrier

More Information: Caminho Nascente Highlights, Caminho Nascente Day-by-Day Description, Free Wise Pilgrim App for iPhone or Android, Official Website

The Caminho Nascente, also known as the Via Portugal Nascente, was launched in 2018 and is one of the two major Camino de Santiago routes, along with the Caminho Central, that link the southern Portuguese coast with the tomb of the apostle. 

The Nascente traverses three distinct regions – the Algarve, the Alentejo and the Beiras – and pilgrims who chose this route will immerse themselves in Portuguese village life as well as visiting historic towns and more than a dozen castles.

Despite passing through such towns as Mértola, Beja, Évora and others, this is a largely rural camino whose natural highlights include the Alentejo countryside, the dramatic crossing of the Tejo river and the mountainous stages of the Beiras.

Although the camino is still developing and does not see many pilgrims, the route is well signposted, and local parish councils can arrange lodging in places where there are no albergues or other traditional forms of accommodation.

From the end point of the Caminho Nascente in Trancoso, pilgrims can continue walking on the Caminho de Torres and eventually join any one of the Português Interior, the Geira e dos Arrieros or the Português Central routes to reach Santiago. 

Caminho Central

Route: Faro-Santarém

Distance: 475km

Stages: ~21

Pros: Easy-to-reach starting point, joins standard CP in Santarém, Order of Santiago connections, longer walking season than northern caminos 

Cons: Lack of pilgrim infrastructure, heat in summer

More Information: Official Site

The Caminho Central is the logical extension of the Caminho Português all the way to the south coast of Portugal, allowing pilgrims to begin in the capital of the Algarve, Faro, and walk all the way to Santiago, traversing the entire length of Portugal in the process.

Leaving the coast, the camino spends the first part of its trajectory in the rural interior of the Algarve and the Alentejo, regions that have lovely weather for early or late season walking but that are very hot in summer. 

Moving closer to the coast, the towns of Alcácer do Sal and Santiago do Cacém have important connections to the Order of Santiago, while Grândola is famous in Portugal for the song Grândola Vila Morena, the playing of which on the radio was the trigger for the 1974 Carnation Revolution.

There is also an Atlantic variant which links the Caminho Central to the Rota Vicentina, allowing walkers to begin at Saint Vincent’s Cape near Sagres at the southwestern most point of Portugal.

Caminho da Raia

Route: Mértola-Alpalhão

Distance: 310km

Stages: ~13

Pros: Several historic towns, road less travelled, immersion in the Alentejo

Cons: Lack of pilgrim infrastructure, won’t be officially launched until 2022

More Information: Official Site

The Caminho da Raia is one of three recently developed caminos being promoted by the Caminhos de Santiago Alentejo e Ribatejo in the south of Portugal (along with the Nascente and Central described above). This camino is entirely within the Alentejo region and follows part of the older Caminho do Este, which is no longer being maintained.

The Alentejo is the largest and most depopulated region of Portugal, and once the final Raia route is determined, pilgrims can expect to walk in picturesque countryside featuring cork and olive trees.

The historic highlights of the Raia include Elvas with its World Heritage listed fortifications, the charming whitewashed village of Marvão and the low-key city of Portalegre, containing a castle and a cathedral. 

The Caminho da Raia can be walked as a stand-alone camino or as a variant of the Caminho Nascente, given that its start and end points are both shared with the Nascente.

Camino Zamorano Portugués (Vía de la Plata Portugués)

Route: Zamora-Santiago

Distance: 282km

Stages: ~17

Pros: Historic town of Bragança, mountain scenery, San Pedro de la Nave church, adventurous alternative to the standard Vía de la Plata

Cons: Strenuous ups and downs during the Portuguese stages, possible language barrier in rural Portuguese sections, solitary route

More Information: Confraternity of St. James

The Zamorano Português is an alternative route for completing the Vía de la Plata that starts in Seville. While the most common option is to turn northwest two stages after Zamora onto the Camino Sanabrés, remaining in Spain all the way to Santiago, the Zamorana Portugués veers off at Zamora itself and follows a parallel path south of the Sanabrés that heads into Portugal.

On the Spanish section of the route, a highlight is the seventh-century Visigothic church San Pedro de la Nave, just past Almendra, which is 23km from Zamora and typically the end of the first stage.

Although there are only a handful of stages in Portugal, these are noteworthy for the beautiful scenery and strenuous walking of the Montesinho Natural Park in a region of Portugal known as Trás-os-Montes (‘Behind the Mountains’).

Another highlight of the Portuguese section of this camino is the underrated city of Bragança, known for its 12th-century citadel that contains a beautifully preserved old town inside its complete set of medieval walls. 

From Bragança, the camino eventually heads back into Spain at Verín, where it joins the Caminho Português Interior and a variant of the Sanabrés before rejoining the main route at Ourense, just over 100km from Santiago.

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Which of these routes of the Camino de Santiago in Portugal have you done or would like to do? Leave your comments below!