Bom Dia, pilgrim. Welcome to the threshold of the Camino Portugal, which – like the Camino del Norte (if you’re not sure which route to choose, read more about that camino here) – is also mostly coastal. The Camino Portugal is impressive, beautiful and demanding all at once. We walked the Camino de Santiago back in 2021, so we can compare the individual routes and bring you the most complete picture. Let’s get to it! 🙂
Why walk the Camino Portugal (Camino Portugués)
- Authentic culture – the Portuguese are incredibly warm-hearted, even when they don’t speak English.
- Great food – sardines, cod (bacalhau), pastel de nata and Vinho Verde wine.
- More variants – the coast, the interior, or a combination.
- Beautiful town passages – Porto, Barcelos, Pontevedra, Tui, Vigo.
Where to start the Camino Portugal / Camino Portugués
The Camino Portugués (i.e. the Camino Portugal) most often starts in three places. There are many more, though – the southernmost point of the Portuguese Camino is the port city of Faro. In this article we’ll show you the main starting points and take a closer look at our route, when we walked on foot from Porto to Santiago.
Lisbon
The longest route of the three mentioned. It runs along the coast through Porto and then either along the coast or inland all the way to Santiago.
- 643 km in total (can be more depending on the chosen route)
- Estimated 30 days of walking.
- Level: easy to moderately demanding
Porto
The happy medium, which we write more about in the following article – From Porto to Santiago in 10 days. We walked the Portuguese Way in autumn 2023 and it was amazing.
- 259 km in total (can be more depending on the chosen route)
- Estimated 14 days of walking at most.
- Level: easy to moderately demanding
Vigo
The last possible town to set out from and still earn the Compostela at the end of the pilgrimage in Santiago de Compostela (read more about the certificates from the Camino de Santiago)
From Vigo it’s exactly 100 km to Santiago de Compostela, and believe us, a fair number of pilgrims set out from here. Mostly older pilgrims, “bus” tourists and the like, who wouldn’t manage more kilometres. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
- 100 km in total
- Estimated 5–6 days of walking at most.
- Level: easy
