5 Questions re: our first camino - Camino Portugues

[SarahG]

Hi fellow pilgrims
My husband and I will be doing our first camino this October, from Porto to Santiago de Compostella! We we trying to decide between the coastal route or the interior route, but since we have heard way markings are better on the interior route, and the wind right beside the Atlantic might be a bit too rough for us, we will do the interior route for our first camino. It was a tough call though, because I love the ocean!
I have 5 questions I would love some help with:
1) Have bed bugs been an issue for many of you on this Portuguese route? In October we are hoping to find less of an issue with bed bugs than they might be in the warm summer months...
2) Which albergues do you recommend between Porto and Santiago? Will we have a roof over our heads if we make our way to each village/town without a reservation? Or in October is it still necessary to make reservations to albergues? If we need to make reservations how best to make them?
3) Along the interior route from Porto to Santiago, has there been any damage to the trails/path/villages due to the wildfires that have ravaged some parts of Portugal and Spain?
4) If we would like to have phone access while we are in Europe, what is the best way? Do albergues let you call ahead to your next albergue to make a reservation? Or is there a way to somehow have cell phone access while on our camino (is that recommended/ common)?
5) We have John Brierly Camino Portuguese guide book. Can we rely on this to direct us pretty clearly along the path? Of course we will rely also on prayer and God's guidance, but we hope that we won't lose our way due to poor directions in the guide book we have.
Thanks for any and all help you can provide!

 

[Former member 22438]

1). No issue

2) monasterio de Vairão, albergue de São Pedro de Rates, albergue de Barcelinos (Barcelos). Casa Fernanda in Vitorino de Piaês, Refúxio de la Jerézana 3 kms after Redondela. No reservations possible in albergues except for Casa Fernanda.
3) do'nt know. I have no recent information. Have been in Portugal last May . Then there were no fires.
4)take a smartphone with wifi with you. Allmost everywhere is wifi now on the caninho.
5) I had excellent expceriences with the Brierley guide during my Portuguese caminhos.

Bom caminho

 

[SabsP]

Pedra Furada acogida and Private albergue Ninho in Rubiaes take telephone reservations as do the recent private ones in Pontevedra and O Porrino.
I also strongly recommend besides the Acogida and the Ninho the nice municipal albergue of Tamel.

The municipal in O Porrino sometimes has reports of bedbugs.

 

[Deleted member 43780]

4.) I take two electronics:
a. a iPod. Which serves as a light weight camera and for connecting to the web on hot spots. Wifi hot spots are in A'bergs, bars, cafes, hotels, and more.
b. A simple Spanish phone. I got from phone place in Seville. It is not data/web smart. Only use it for calls in Spain/France. Works great. Buy amount of minutes i need. Refill as needed.

Be careful using a US cell phone in Spain/Europe. Talk and understand the ball game before you bring you stateside phone!

Walked/biked few Camions now. So IMHO the above a+b are the best options for my needs. Others agree with me.

 

[Steven Dwyer]

I would recommend skipping the alberque in Pontevedra and stay in town. Pontevedra has a lot to see, and a alberque is on the outskirts so it's more convenient in town.

If you have a cell phone with Sprint service, register for their Global roaming program. Phone calls are 20 cents per minute with unlimited free text messages and data. Make very few phone calls, but sure use lots of texts and data. Data speed is a little slow, but the price is right.

 

[Former member 35551]

My preference is to bring my (US) phone and get a local SIM card. I got one today from Vodafone in Lisbon. 20 euros for 2 GB and calls within Portugal for 30 days. I use Viber for calls to US or outside Portugal. You can use Viber for calls within Portugal also but you may not have access to wifi when you need to make a call. Plus it was so cheap. Half of what I paid in France 2 years ago.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Add to the recommendation the monastery de la apariciones in
Pontevedra. It's not in Brierly, not in the traditional German book, so lots of chances to get a room. Go to the tourism office to get their phone number to book. I had a single in the upper upper upper floor, but I could pick up my soap in my shower in case I dropped it. At least a double on a lower floor had not been renovated yet and there was apparently no way to pick anything off the floor in that shower! Lovely breakfast included.

Now, their main concern is running the chapel, so don't even think of calling at 4 pm asking for a room because if the coiple running the place is in a pickle with their schedule they will rather tell you they are full then cater to your needs ;0) .

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Second the Nido recommendation. Lovely mother and, mostly, daughter run it in what used to be the 300 year old family home. And a lovely LARGE house puppy to greet you.

For food, as you head into Santiago, after you pass a HUGE hotel with parking lot in the front, keep walking 300 meters and enjoy the ensalada mixta into which the most thought has been out into in the Iberian penninsula. I cannot remember what the restaurant is called, amd don't know where I put the pen they gave me that had name and address, but it has a huge sign on its side wall, almost all the wall, and an awning in the front, brown and beige if I recall. It's on the side of the road with traffic comming from Santiago, or from where you are heading to. If you are usng Brierly, it should have been included in the A Escravitude section.

A bit passed the restaurant is the albergue in the Monasterio Hebron.

Oh, wait, you didn't ask about the Variant Espiritual. Please search the fourm or just look for flyers about once you get into Spain, or perhaps even before. Lovely 2-3 day detour, well worth it, and no need to plan ahead.

 

[Doogman]

Hi: I had the Brierly book with me, but I rarely used it for route finding. I found that the route was very well waymarked with yellow arrows, starting right at the top of the staircase just outside the cathedral. Of course anyone can miss an arrow and get going down the wrong path, but you soon get used to the frequency of seeing the arrows and start to wonder when you have not seen one for a few minutes.

 

[SarahG]

Thanks everyone for your thoughful advice. Any opinions on whether is is nicer to stay in Valenca or Tui when we are in that area (we can only stay overnight in one of these towns). The Brierly guide makes Tui look much cleaner, what are your thoughts?

 

[SabsP]

Thanks everyone for your thoughful advice. Any opinions on whether is is nicer to stay in Valenca or Tui when we are in that area (we can only stay overnight in one of these towns). The Brierly guide makes Tui look much cleaner, what are your thoughts?

I like both towns , although Valenca with the fortress looked IMHO a bit more touristy and crowded with the bustourists.
Tui , again my personal idea, has more choices for sleepingarrangements. We stayed there in a nice private albergue.

 

[Doogman]

I agree with the comment above. Valenca is an interesting setting, but it seemed very touristy when I passed through. Lots of people, restaurants, tee shirt and souvenir shops, etc.
I stayed in Tui. It was much quieter, and IMHO much more "real".

 

[Ray J]

We took the coastal route out of Porto towards Matosinhos – it wasn’t particularly well-marked, but not too big of a problem. Once in Matosinhos, the Turismo gave fantastic directions and the trail became mostly well-marked boardwalks, so if you really want to do some coastal, I can recommend that. We stayed in Angeiras at the Orbitur Camping Ground – let them know you’re a pilgrim and you get half-price!

Since we’d already been hiking along the ocean for 30 days starting in Sagres, we decided it was time to rejoin the main Camino, so we headed inland to Arcos, Barcelos, Ponte de Lima, etc. Once in Arcos, the trail is extremely well-marked. (At least it was to our eyes since we’d spent a lot of time on extremely unwell-marked trails between Porto Covo and Porto!) I was never fond of the Brierly book so after Arcos I shoved it to the bottom of my pack and forgot about it.
Some people in the thread mention the Ninho if Rubiaes. All I can say is that if that’s the same as the O Ninho there, I can’t recommend it. Yes, it was inexpensive, but the host doesn’t live there, we were kept waiting for a couple of hours for her to show up, and we made sure to break out our mummy bags that night. We got out as soon as possible in the morning.

Valenca doesn’t appeal to some people, but we found the fort to be extremely interesting – we were glad we stayed an extra day in Tui so we could explore it and other things there. BTW, in Tui, I recommend the San Clemente Albergue. We spent two nights there and really liked it. You can do your laundry there cheaply, and they have a nice garden. Best of all, it’s on the northern edge of town and right on the trail so it’s a great jumping off point for the next day’s hike.

Two more lodging recommendations.
1. In Porto, the Nice Way Porto is brand new, clean, and centrally located. And if you have the time and want to get a great tour of the city, try a motorcycle side-car (www.side-ride.pt) – it’s the best way to see the city and you’ll feel like a rock star!
2. In Santiago, the Costa Vella Hotel is just the best. We’ve stayed there twice. It’s a family-owned/run hotel and it has a beautiful garden you can rest and rehabilitate in.

 

[CW86]

Just returned 2 weeks ago from the Portuguese route, we started at Ponte de Lima and went up to SDC. I can't help with all the questions but in regards to the forest fires affecting the paths - they haven't. You can see where they were clearly, in the distance and some a little closer to the path but it didn't affect our walk at all. We were there a week after they had all been put out.
As regards to the Brierly book - we had that too and to be honest we read about the route the night before and the place where we were staying but the yellow arrows and shells were excellent markers so it wasn't out much during the day if ever some days.
Buen Camino!

 

[Addicted]

Fernanda is a must stay. Best time ever, her and her husband are spectacular hosts. There is a large monetary under construction with an albergue , it was very clean , lots of room , kitchen was very well equipped ( but there were lots of mice in the sleeping areas) we walked the coastal route from Porto on the first day only , then walked the central route . Transitioning from one to the other was very difficult as there were no markings and we relied on a GPS . Not a huge deal but worth being aware . Day one was a lot of walking on board walks along the coast but is a beautiful walk
I leave in three days to start the Camino Primitivo .
Portugal was a great walk in 2015 with very few people .

 

[Addicted]

The Last Stamp in Santiago is clean , it costs a bit more , stayed there three times and no complaints

 

[Addicted]

Albergue Ninho is another great place along the way . On another note we did find bed bugs at two places along the way and and just decided not to stay

 

[peregrina2000]

Thanks everyone for your thoughful advice. Any opinions on whether is is nicer to stay in Valenca or Tui when we are in that area (we can only stay overnight in one of these towns). The Brierly guide makes Tui look much cleaner, what are your thoughts?

Hi, Sarah, seems like it's unanimous -- stay in Tui. Valenca is loaded with buses, not so much for touring the Vaubin fort, but more for textile shopping. The old city of Valenca has an endless number of shops selling every type of product made from cloth -- curtains, rugs, bedspreads, sheets, towels, clothing, etc, and tons of shoppers come over from Spain to take advantage of the lower prices. It is kind of a shock to the system, and you will probably be happier in Tui. Especially since you are unlikely to want to take advantage of the rock bottom prices on queen bed comforters. . Bom Caminho, Laurie

 

[Michael Morrison]

Hi fellow pilgrims
My husband and I will be doing our first camino this October, from Porto to Santiago de Compostella! We we trying to decide between the coastal route or the interior route, but since we have heard way markings are better on the interior route, and the wind right beside the Atlantic might be a bit too rough for us, we will do the interior route for our first camino. It was a tough call though, because I love the ocean!
I have 5 questions I would love some help with:
1) Have bed bugs been an issue for many of you on this Portuguese route? In October we are hoping to find less of an issue with bed bugs than they might be in the warm summer months...
2) Which albergues do you recommend between Porto and Santiago? Will we have a roof over our heads if we make our way to each village/town without a reservation? Or in October is it still necessary to make reservations to albergues? If we need to make reservations how best to make them?
3) Along the interior route from Porto to Santiago, has there been any damage to the trails/path/villages due to the wildfires that have ravaged some parts of Portugal and Spain?
4) If we would like to have phone access while we are in Europe, what is the best way? Do albergues let you call ahead to your next albergue to make a reservation? Or is there a way to somehow have cell phone access while on our camino (is that recommended/ common)?
5) We have John Brierly Camino Portuguese guide book. Can we rely on this to direct us pretty clearly along the path? Of course we will rely also on prayer and God's guidance, but we hope that we won't lose our way due to poor directions in the guide book we have.
Thanks for any and all help you can provide!

Hi guys I walked from Lisbon to santiago in may the highlight was from porto onwards along the coastal route to caminha turning inwards along the river to Valencia tui and onwards hostels,hotels etc along the route where immaculate definitely no sign of any bugs,no need to book most places had wi fi have fun Mike m.

 

[Simon Buck]

Hi fellow pilgrims
My husband and I will be doing our first camino this October, from Porto to Santiago de Compostella! We we trying to decide between the coastal route or the interior route, but since we have heard way markings are better on the interior route, and the wind right beside the Atlantic might be a bit too rough for us, we will do the interior route for our first camino. It was a tough call though, because I love the ocean!
I have 5 questions I would love some help with:
1) Have bed bugs been an issue for many of you on this Portuguese route? In October we are hoping to find less of an issue with bed bugs than they might be in the warm summer months...
2) Which albergues do you recommend between Porto and Santiago? Will we have a roof over our heads if we make our way to each village/town without a reservation? Or in October is it still necessary to make reservations to albergues? If we need to make reservations how best to make them?
3) Along the interior route from Porto to Santiago, has there been any damage to the trails/path/villages due to the wildfires that have ravaged some parts of Portugal and Spain?
4) If we would like to have phone access while we are in Europe, what is the best way? Do albergues let you call ahead to your next albergue to make a reservation? Or is there a way to somehow have cell phone access while on our camino (is that recommended/ common)?
5) We have John Brierly Camino Portuguese guide book. Can we rely on this to direct us pretty clearly along the path? Of course we will rely also on prayer and God's guidance, but we hope that we won't lose our way due to poor directions in the guide book we have.
Thanks for any and all help you can provide!

Hi! As others have said you should try to stay in Casa de Fernanda. We had the best evening of our Camino by far there. Fernanda and her husband are an amazing pair, providing an evening meal to remember for ever, with singing and dancing. It is 19km north of Barcelos, before Ponte de Lima. I rang and booked our beds (There is a 12 bed dormitory and also, I think, a separate double room.) The phone number is +351 914 589 521.
We used the John Brierley book and had no problems finding our way. We also opted for the interior route from Porto.
I think a mobile phone is useful, if only for emergencies. Had no problems with bed bugs anywhere.
You will have a wonderful time. The Portuguese route is much less busy than the Frances. Have a great trip!

 

[Rainerbernd]

Hi fellow pilgrims
My husband and I will be doing our first camino this October, from Porto to Santiago de Compostella! We we trying to decide between the coastal route or the interior route, but since we have heard way markings are better on the interior route, and the wind right beside the Atlantic might be a bit too rough for us, we will do the interior route for our first camino. It was a tough call though, because I love the ocean!
I have 5 questions I would love some help with:
1) Have bed bugs been an issue for many of you on this Portuguese route? In October we are hoping to find less of an issue with bed bugs than they might be in the warm summer months...
2) Which albergues do you recommend between Porto and Santiago? Will we have a roof over our heads if we make our way to each village/town without a reservation? Or in October is it still necessary to make reservations to albergues? If we need to make reservations how best to make them?
3) Along the interior route from Porto to Santiago, has there been any damage to the trails/path/villages due to the wildfires that have ravaged some parts of Portugal and Spain?
4) If we would like to have phone access while we are in Europe, what is the best way? Do albergues let you call ahead to your next albergue to make a reservation? Or is there a way to somehow have cell phone access while on our camino (is that recommended/ common)?
5) We have John Brierly Camino Portuguese guide book. Can we rely on this to direct us pretty clearly along the path? Of course we will rely also on prayer and God's guidance, but we hope that we won't lose our way due to poor directions in the guide book we have.
Thanks for any and all help you can provide!

Olá, as mentioned on the way Porto > Rates, I highly recomend Orbitur Camping Angeiras (Lavra). I´ts half way between Porto and Rates. For pilgrims they have special offers: A fully equipped bungalow for 13 € per person - you only have to show your Credential. In October, no reservation is needed and do not book on booking,com etc.

Monasterio Herbon, before Padron, could be closed for pilgrims in October. If it´s still open, you will find a sign on your way to Padron. I passed this sign 7 times. To Herbon there are red arrows.

Helpfull maps and links on a Swiss website:

https://www.camino-europe.eu/de/eu/portugal/jakobswege/caminho-portugues/
The links and downloads are at the stages.

Some more maps and tracks:
http://test.bable.de/ca01-porto-angeiras-vila-do-conde-povoa-de-varzim/

Bom caminho, Rainer

 

[Former member 22438]

Hi! As others have said you should try to stay in Casa de Fernanda. We had the best evening of our Camino by far there. Fernanda and her husband are an amazing pair, providing an evening meal to remember for ever, with singing and dancing. It is 19km north of Barcelos, before Ponte de Lima. I rang and booked our beds (There is a 12 bed dormitory and also, I think, a separate double room.) The phone number is +351 914 589 521.
We used the John Brierley book and had no problems finding our way. We also opted for the interior route from Porto.
I think a mobile phone is useful, if only for emergencies. Had no problems with bed bugs anywhere.
You will have a wonderful time. The Portuguese route is much less busy than the Frances. Have a great trip!

Casa Fernanda has two double rooms in the house which Fernanda usually reserves for couples . In the dormitory in the garden next to 10 beds she has a 3 bed room, mostly for a couple and a child .then there is a privat room in the dormitory which is not for use for pilgrims but her own guests. being hospitaleiros twice , we slept in there.
Then there is a veranda at the dormitory -one or two can sleep in the open air.
Up to about 20 people can be lodged every night.
Casa Fernanda is donativo. For what you get-a bed , a meal,drinks and a breakfast it is worth to pay 20€ per person..
Casa Fernanda is at the caminho path 18 kms after Barcelos.
Bom caminho

 

[Rainerbernd]

View attachment 29003 View attachment 29002
Casa Fernanda has two double rooms in the house which Fernanda usually reserves for couples . In the dormitory in the garden next to 10 beds she has a 3 bed room, mostly for a couple and a child .then there is a privat room in the dormitory which is not for use for pilgrims but her own guests. being hospitaleiros twice , we slept in there.
Then there is a veranda at the dormitory -one or two can sleep in the open air.
Up to about 20 people can be lodged every night.
Casa Fernanda is donativo. For what you get-a bed , a meal,drinks and a breakfast it is worth to pay 20€ per person..
Casa Fernanda is at the caminho path 18 kms after Barcelos.
Bom caminho

Olá Albertinho, essas imagens fazem saudade! This images make longing.

Obrigadinho e um forte abraço, Rainer

 

[Former member 22438]

Olá Albertinho, essas imagens fazem saudade! This images make longing.

Obrigadinho e um forte abraço, Rainer

Eu acho que sim ! Memorias feliçes !

Abraço