My husband and I are almost wrapping up our first Camino, a combination of three routes. We frequently stayed in private rooms in hostels and were surprised at how nice some were, and inexpensive! (From a US lodging cost perspective.)
Some recommendations:
1. Casa Anabela in São Pedro de Rates, Portugal. Very chic! We were the only guests that night, but there are other rooms so it could be an opportunity to meet other pilgrims. Amazing breakfast.
2. Nossa Senhora del Camino in Combarro, Spain. A nice common room, mix of private rooms and dorm rooms, so you get to chat with others (or keep to yourselves!) This is a place we wished we had an extra day to explore, relax, and get to one of the local monasteries for a Pilgrims blessing.
3.
Casa da Fernanda in Lugar do Corgo, Portugal. This is not romantic, per se, but it's an amazing pilgrim experience. That's where we met/created our Camino Family.
4. Residencial Porta do Sol in Valença, Portugal. I hesitate to recommend this place because it is very impersonal, but it is clean, comfortable, and private with a great bed
![Winking face :wink: 😉](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png)
. It's also right inside the fortress walls. Initially we'd planned a rest day in Valença to explore it and Tui. We didn't, but it's a super cool location and would have been fun to stick around.
Food in Porto: Taberna Santo Antônio! We went in April 2022 and back again last month.
The Mantegaria next to the Mercado Bolha for Pastel de Nsta.