Camino Central from the Algarve

[Pilgrim2023]

Just wanted to share my experience of walking from the South of Portugal to Santiago last summer. My intended starting point was Faro, but I decided to take the "easy option" (in terms of finding accommodation) from Cape St Vicente, which is the end or start of the Rota Vicentina.

I left Cabo Sao Vincente which is the far SW tip of Portugal at the beginning of June 21' on a windy day heading north along the Fisherman's and Historical Trails. These are in excellent condition and both have ample accommodation and services. The Fisherman's tends to follow the coast whereas the Historical is inland.

I finished the Fisherman's trail just south of Sines and made my own route across to Santiago do Cacem, which is the start or end of the Historical Trail and also where the Camino Central passes from Faro. From here I was on the Camino Central all the way to Santiago de Compostela!

The Camino Central from here to Santarem was a very lonely route and actually quite challenging too. I had occasions when the path would just suddenly end where a landowner put up fencing or a gate, despite the Camino signs pointing the way through! I had to make a couple of big detours through this stage which was frustrating. By the time I reached Vendas Novas, which is pretty much directly east of Lisbon, I was ready to quit. I never saw one walker from the Fisherman's trail until Santarem!

There was very little in the way of services along this lonely stretch of the Camino and I would have to carry a lot of water and sometimes food. I had to camp quite a bit because there was very little accommodation. I think it would be possible in normal times to find a real bed, but of course Portugal was only just out of a long lockdown then, so many places were closed temporarily or for good. You would still have to walk very long days. I did a 52km day once, furthest I have ever walked in one day.

The Central route continues north and crosses the Tagus river and joins the Lisbon route just south of Santarem. There was no way of going through Lisbon without taking a train or ferry, so I deliberately missed out the capital so I could join all my footsteps.

The Camino north of Santarem is more familiar of course and follows the way through Tomar, Coimbra and up to Porto. Very few others were walking this route last June and it was too hot some days. I would have to seek shade between midday and 4pm many days.

From Porto things were back to normal and I felt pretty emotional walking across the bridge into Spain after having walked the length of Portugal. The total distance to SdC from Cabo was 944km. It took me around 7 weeks of walking.

Would I recommend this route?

Well, it was very challenging to be honest and I don't usually quit any hikes, but I was close on this one. If you are prepared to walk alone a lot and happy to be self sufficient then it might appeal to you.

The lower Camino Central is pretty well marked but I would have been stuffed without GPS and offline maps - I used Windy Maps App which has all Caminos marked and is usually very accurate. This area definitely needs more infrastructure for mass appeal. It's a sparsely populated region with harsh weather, so I am not sure it will ever become busy with pilgrims.

Happy to answer any questions if you are curious about this route, particularly for the lower half and Rota Vicentina too.

I made videos which will give you a good feel for what I went through.

From the beginning, not great quality camera -

From Coimbra with much better camera -

 

[mspath]

WalkerForever,
Your recent posts and videos are very informative and should be most helpful for those considering walking these two routes in the near future. Thank you for posting.
Personally I have only hiked a bit in Portugal but driven a great deal in easier, happier times. Always my husband and I were warmly welcomed and found that younger people spoke fluent English and older people often French. Communication even in tiny hamlets was easy. ..We loved it all.

Looking forward to reading more of your adventures in 2022.

 

[Tom Hagger]

Thanks for this post, Walker Forever. The route sounds fascinating. I will certainly look into it. Best wishes, Tom

 

[bowewe]

this is very useful - thank you

 

[Anthony Coyne]

Your Camino is fascinating. I would be very interested in knowing your chosen route, did you travel with all your equipment/clothing on your back? Did this include tent, bag, etc?

 

[Pilgrim2023]

Your Camino is fascinating. I would be very interested in knowing your chosen route, did you travel with all your equipment/clothing on your back? Did this include tent, bag, etc?

Yes I travelled with everything and my pack weighed around 10kg without food and water. I was fully self sufficient, even carrying a small lightweight solar panel.

I had full camping gear which was all ultra light.

I even started off with a cooking stove but found that I was too tired too cook most nights, so made sure I ate out before arriving somewhere to camp. I would typically enter a village early evening, then find food and top up with water, then go find somewhere to camp. This worked pretty well, particularly with the long day light hours.

Here is the route I took...

 

[Anthony Coyne]

Yes I travelled with everything and my pack weighed around 10kg without food and water. I was fully self sufficient, even carrying a small lightweight solar panel.

I had full camping gear which was all ultra light.

I even started off with a cooking stove but found that I was too tired too cook most nights, so made sure I ate out before arriving somewhere to camp. I would typically enter a village early evening, then find food and top up with water, then go find somewhere to camp. This worked pretty well, particularly with the long day light hours.

Here is the route I took...

View attachment 115738

Is wild camping permitted / tolerated in Portugal and Spain, or did you have to find campsites?

 

[Pilgrim2023]

Is wild camping permitted / tolerated in Portugal and Spain, or did you have to find campsites?

In Portugal it's a grey area but wild camping is more frowned upon if you do it in a vehicle, rather than a tent. In Spain it can vary from region to region, but it usually not permitted. There I would seek the permission of land owners or the local community if it's in a public area.

To be honest I have never had an issue anywhere in Spain or Portugal with camping wild when it comes to authorities. I always leave no trace and when I have camped wild, it's usually late at night when there aren't alternative options. Doing the central Camino in lower Portugal would be almost impossible without camping.

There are quite a few regular campsites in Portugal, particularly near the coast and they are usually very cheap too.

 

[AZperegrino]

@WalkerForever We did the Frances in 2019 and would like to do something similar in length, so we're strongly considering the Portugues, from Lisbon to SdC. However, many reports about the Lisbon to Porto stretch are a bit discouraging, especially the first half of the route after leaving Lisbon. The usual issues mentioned are the quality of the trail itself, availability of albergues, etc. What's your take?

 

[jungleboy]

I've been meaning to reply to this thread for a while, thank you for posting your experiences @WalkerForever!

I finished the Fisherman's trail just south of Sines and made my own route across to Santiago do Cacem, which is the start or end of the Historical Trail and also where the Camino Central passes from Faro. From here I was on the Camino Central all the way to Santiago de Compostela!

The Camino Central from here to Santarem was a very lonely route and actually quite challenging too. I had occasions when the path would just suddenly end where a landowner put up fencing or a gate, despite the Camino signs pointing the way through! I had to make a couple of big detours through this stage which was frustrating. By the time I reached Vendas Novas, which is pretty much directly east of Lisbon, I was ready to quit. I never saw one walker from the Fisherman's trail until Santarem!

There was very little in the way of services along this lonely stretch of the Camino and I would have to carry a lot of water and sometimes food. I had to camp quite a bit because there was very little accommodation. I think it would be possible in normal times to find a real bed, but of course Portugal was only just out of a long lockdown then, so many places were closed temporarily or for good. You would still have to walk very long days. I did a 52km day once, furthest I have ever walked in one day.

This is the part I'm most interested in. As many know, I walked the Caminho Nascente north from Tavira in 2021. The Caminho Central from Faro is the other major route developed as part of the Caminhos do Alentejo e Ribatejo (with the Caminho da Raia to come as the third route). A possible camino for me in the next couple of years is the Central Faro-Santarém, the CP Santarém-Coimbra, then the CPI Coimbra-Viseu-Santiago.

Interesting comments about the gate/access issues. On the Nascente we met one of the waymarking volunteers and he explained a few things to us regarding private property etc. For example, the route leading to Évora goes on a fairly busy road for 15km because they needed permission from five landowners to divert the camino away from the road and onto rural paths, and four of them agreed but one didn't, so they were unable to create the desired route. So they don't just create the routes without permission, and it's unusual to read that landowners would apparently agree to it and then change their mind and put up fences. But I'm sure there are more details that we don't know that would clarify the situation.

Apart from the lack of facilities and way-finding difficulties, what were your other impressions of the Central, regarding scenery, villages, churches/castles etc?

 

[jungleboy]

@WalkerForever We did the Frances in 2019 and would like to do something similar in length, so we're strongly considering the Portugues, from Lisbon to SdC. However, many reports about the Lisbon to Porto stretch are a bit discouraging, especially the first half of the route after leaving Lisbon. The usual issues mentioned are the quality of the trail itself, availability of albergues, etc. What's your take?

This is a disputed topic! There are some like @peregrina2000 who are fans of the Lisbon-Porto stretch, and others who aren't. When we walked it in Sep 2020, we were so happy to be out of lockdown and on camino that we really enjoyed it. In our case, the municipal albergues were closed because of Covid but in normal times I think there are enough municipal and private albergues so that you can stay in one probably most nights, although not all nights.

In hindsight, my view is that it's true that the quality of the trail (often on/near roads) and the places you pass through sometimes aren't the best. The first few days out of Lisbon has its detractors, although Vila Franca de Xira is a nice town with a nice boardwalk path leading into it, and Quinta da Burra just past Porto de Muge is a gem of a place to stay. The stretch from Santarém to Coimbra was my favourite, with a lot of nice rural paths (with ripe figs!) and bookended by two great towns, as well as Tomar in between. Coimbra to Porto, I didn't like much. It just seemed like a lot of road walking through never-ending suburbs and nondescript towns.

As part of the first season of our podcast chronicling our CP, we dedicated a whole episode to the question of whether it's worth starting in Lisbon. Ultimately our answer was yes, but this was probably swayed a fair bit by the fact that we live in Portugal. Here is a link to the podcast (episode 1.3) if you want more detailed views on the topic:

Spirit of the Camino - Podcast Season 1

 

[Pilgrim2023]

@WalkerForever We did the Frances in 2019 and would like to do something similar in length, so we're strongly considering the Portugues, from Lisbon to SdC. However, many reports about the Lisbon to Porto stretch are a bit discouraging, especially the first half of the route after leaving Lisbon. The usual issues mentioned are the quality of the trail itself, availability of albergues, etc. What's your take?

I found there to always be available beds from Santarem, which is where I joined this route. My main issue with accommodation was south of there. The albergues were pretty nice when I stayed in them, but many of the municipals were closed due to Portugal just coming out of lockdown. I would assume there would be more options this year, fingers crossed.

I actually found the stretch between Coimbra and Porto to be the worst, in terms of being built up and not much scenery - I definitely won't do that again. It was also early July and way too hot!

I did walk out of Lisbon a few years ago for two days and actually found that ok but had to give up due to an injury.

Quality of the trail was good all the way to be honest.

 

[AZperegrino]

Thanks @jungleboy and @WalkerForever, that is great information. Since you both agree that the Coimbra to Porto section is not worth it, would you recommend jumping over to the coastal route in that area? I assume that would also be less hot during July/August.

 

[jungleboy]

Thanks @jungleboy and @WalkerForever, that is great information. Since you both agree that the Coimbra to Porto section is not worth it, would you recommend jumping over to the coastal route in that area? I assume that would also be less hot during July/August.

The coastal proper doesn't start until Porto, so while there are local coastal trails before that, I don't know how well signed, connected etc they are.

When we stayed at Albergue Moinho Garcia (highly recommended, slightly off the camino after Albergaria-a-Velha, about halfway between Coimbra and Porto), we were told that there was a coastal way we could take from there for the last 2-3 days into Porto. We chose to stay on the regular camino but that could be a good time to switch to the coast.

 

[The Yukon]

Just before Christmas this year I found myself at Pinheiro da Bemposta, probably the place you might seriously consider going “coastal “. While staying there as the lone peregrino at Mikalous’ scenic Waterfalls Alberge, I told him that my thoughts were to head northwest from his place to a strikingly beautiful church in Valega that I’d wanted to see for a long time. He immediately showed me some amazing paths on maps.me from his place through the forests to Valega, only hours away. He also mentioned lodging in Ovar, an hour or so further. As the last alberge situated 2 or 3 urban- walking days before Porto, this was an invaluable tip.
A day beyond Ovar, walking into Porto from Espinho, there is also a scenic 7 km of coastal boardwalk, easy on the feet and the eyes before moving inland to catch Eiffel’s famous train bridge’s grand entry into Porto.
What a wonderful few days of completing the Porto - Lisbon route for me on Christmas Day.

 

[suzanne perron]

Just wanted to share my experience of walking from the South of Portugal to Santiago last summer. My intended starting point was Faro, but I decided to take the "easy option" (in terms of finding accommodation) from Cape St Vicente, which is the end or start of the Rota Vicentina.

I left Cabo Sao Vincente which is the far SW tip of Portugal at the beginning of June 21' on a windy day heading north along the Fisherman's and Historical Trails. These are in excellent condition and both have ample accommodation and services. The Fisherman's tends to follow the coast whereas the Historical is inland.

I finished the Fisherman's trail just south of Sines and made my own route across to Santiago do Cacem, which is the start or end of the Historical Trail and also where the Camino Central passes from Faro. From here I was on the Camino Central all the way to Santiago de Compostela!

The Camino Central from here to Santarem was a very lonely route and actually quite challenging too. I had occasions when the path would just suddenly end where a landowner put up fencing or a gate, despite the Camino signs pointing the way through! I had to make a couple of big detours through this stage which was frustrating. By the time I reached Vendas Novas, which is pretty much directly east of Lisbon, I was ready to quit. I never saw one walker from the Fisherman's trail until Santarem!

There was very little in the way of services along this lonely stretch of the Camino and I would have to carry a lot of water and sometimes food. I had to camp quite a bit because there was very little accommodation. I think it would be possible in normal times to find a real bed, but of course Portugal was only just out of a long lockdown then, so many places were closed temporarily or for good. You would still have to walk very long days. I did a 52km day once, furthest I have ever walked in one day.

The Central route continues north and crosses the Tagus river and joins the Lisbon route just south of Santarem. There was no way of going through Lisbon without taking a train or ferry, so I deliberately missed out the capital so I could join all my footsteps.

The Camino north of Santarem is more familiar of course and follows the way through Tomar, Coimbra and up to Porto. Very few others were walking this route last June and it was too hot some days. I would have to seek shade between midday and 4pm many days.

From Porto things were back to normal and I felt pretty emotional walking across the bridge into Spain after having walked the length of Portugal. The total distance to SdC from Cabo was 944km. It took me around 7 weeks of walking.

Would I recommend this route?

Well, it was very challenging to be honest and I don't usually quit any hikes, but I was close on this one. If you are prepared to walk alone a lot and happy to be self sufficient then it might appeal to you.

The lower Camino Central is pretty well marked but I would have been stuffed without GPS and offline maps - I used Windy Maps App which has all Caminos marked and is usually very accurate. This area definitely needs more infrastructure for mass appeal. It's a sparsely populated region with harsh weather, so I am not sure it will ever become busy with pilgrims.

Happy to answer any questions if you are curious about this route, particularly for the lower half and Rota Vicentina too.

I made videos which will give you a good feel for what I went through.

From the beginning, not great quality camera -

From Coimbra with much better camera -

Hi and thanks for this as it is exactly what I was looking for. I have walked several caminos in Spain and the Via Francicina in Italy (Aosta to Rome and Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca). Spain is easy alone but Italy is impossible because one is forced to take BnBs alot which are too expensive unless shared (I am a 72 yr old woman, usually travel alone but don't camp). My plan is exactly your walk (Cabo ... on up) but am concerned about places to sleep in the south. You seem to say there is little infrastucture (albergue/ostello). Maybe I should start higher up?

 

[Pilgrim2023]

Hi and thanks for this as it is exactly what I was looking for. I have walked several caminos in Spain and the Via Francicina in Italy (Aosta to Rome and Rome to Santa Maria di Leuca). Spain is easy alone but Italy is impossible because one is forced to take BnBs alot which are too expensive unless shared (I am a 72 yr old woman, usually travel alone but don't camp). My plan is exactly your walk (Cabo ... on up) but am concerned about places to sleep in the south. You seem to say there is little infrastucture (albergue/ostello). Maybe I should start higher up?

There wasn't much open at all but it was only the month after a lockdown had ended. Albergues were non existent until Santarem (I walked around Lisboa). There were some guesthouses but you will probably need a healthy budget.

There Rota Vicentina did have good accommodation options. It was from Santiago do Cacem that there was very little.

 

[Steve57]

@WalkerForever We did the Frances in 2019 and would like to do something similar in length, so we're strongly considering the Portugues, from Lisbon to SdC. However, many reports about the Lisbon to Porto stretch are a bit discouraging, especially the first half of the route after leaving Lisbon. The usual issues mentioned are the quality of the trail itself, availability of albergues, etc. What's your take?

I hope you found time to walk from Lisbon. I walked in May through June this year. Yes the route from Lisbon was hard going too much walking on the road and even through an industrial estate. Met a few fellow pilgrims who had decided to catch public transport to Porto.