Itinerary assistance

[kittykat3]

We are looking to walking from Porto to Santiago Early part of May 2020. Looking at flights we are most likely arriving in Porto early in the morning after an overnight flight from NYC. We have 15 days for the whole trip. We wanted to walk along the river from the Cathedral and turn inward to the Central . We were thinking of starting our walk the same day and walking hours.

We have a few questions where is good place to stay the first night? Where should we turn in towards the central route? We want to stay at Casa Fernanda so trying to plan the first few days so our walk could be comfortable. Any suggestions is greatly appreciate.

 

[OzAnnie]

We are looking to walking from Porto to Santiago Early part of May 2020. Looking at flights we are most likely arriving in Porto early in the morning after an overnight flight from NYC. We have 15 days for the whole trip. We wanted to walk along the river from the Cathedral and turn inward to the Central . We were thinking of starting our walk the same day and walking hours.

We have a few questions where is good place to stay the first night? Where should we turn in towards the central route? We want to stay at Casa Fernanda so trying to plan the first few days so our walk could be comfortable. Any suggestions is greatly appreciate.

Hi Kittykat
So much info on this forum that I couldn’t hope to give you better info -
Start with checking this similar thread by @trecile
It has some great staging ideas.

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/suggested-stages.63895/#post-790952

Also look at gronze as it also gives you info on booking ., distance , profile maps etc etc

El Camino de Santiago | Gronze.com

Bienvenido a Gronze, tu Guía del Camino de Santiago: Información práctica, actualizada y participativa de los principales Caminos de Santiago.

www.gronze.com

Happy planning - I know this doesn’t answer all your questions but will make a good start. Others who have walked the Portuguese more recently than I may give you good advice on all your other questions.
& Bom caminho / Buen Camino
Annie

 

[Anamya]

Hi Kittykat!

The Portuguese is an awesome itinerary. I highly recommend that you spend a day or two in porto, the city is quite phenomenal and the food and Porto wine are a unique experience.

Casa da Fernanda in on the Central route, so if you want to start by walking on the coast, I'd suggest:
Porto - Labruge
Labruge - Arcos (or Rates)
Arcos - Barcelos
Barcelos -Casa da Fernanda
And so on...

I was going to mention Trecile's itinerary, which @OzAnnie kindly linked above.

 

[trecile]

Coming off of a transatlantic flight and starting to walk the same day I don't know if you will make it to Labruge on the first day. Matosinhos might be more realistic.

We arrived around 10 am, but we started on the west coast, so had traveled quite a bit longer than you will from NYC. We had a reservation at a guest house in Labruge, so after arriving at the airport we took an Uber there, dropped our bags at the guest house, then took another Uber to the cathedral in Porto. After getting our credentials stamped and touring the cathedral a bit we started off on the Senda Litoral along the river. By the time that we got to Matosinhos we were pretty tired, especially since neither of us had slept much (or at all!) in the previous 24 hours. With a shorter travel time you may be up to walking to Labruge, but we couldn't do it.
The next day we walked to Rates, though I kind of regret not spending the night in Vila do Conde. I would have liked a bit of time to explore that town.

 

[FLEUR]

We came off a flight from London, arrived early afternoon. Metro from airport to se Bento metro station, a quick look at the magnificent se Bento train station, walked down to cathedral for a stamp on the credencials and then followed the river and sea to Matosinhos where we'd booked a room at Hotel des Reis .

 

[t2andreo]

The central route typically takes about 10 days walking. Add two days / nights for Santiago (minimum). That fits within your timetable.

Also, having grown up in New Jersey and now living in Florida, seeing the same Atlantic Ocean from the other side is not very exciting or enticing for me. I have tried the coastal route up to Villa do Conde, before cutting in toward Rates and the Central Route. On my second go from Porto, I rode the local train / Metro to before Vilarinhos and walked from there. I stayed at a very nice private albergue called Casa Laura. See below...

This is also about two days walking before Casa Fernanda. As regards staying at Casa Fernanda, please, please reserve a place early. She is very popular, and with good reason. So, her beds fill up fast. While she operates, or did, as a donativo, DO be as generous as you can.

Consider spending one night in Porto to rest up and prepare before heading north to Santiago. You may need / want to post things ahead to Ivar at Santiago to await your arrival. The Portuguese post office is called CTT. Here is their website: https://www.ctt.pt/home/index.html

To have time to mail stuff ahead, you will need that extra time. Also, in my experience, you will be exhausted from being cramped in the airplane for 9+ hours. Don't push it.

Plus, Porto is a beautiful, historic city and well worthy of spending time there. If pressed for time, consider the hop on-hop off tourist bus for a good view and tour of the important places in the city.

Also, Porto, like most other large cities has an industrial belt of light industry, warehouses, trucking distribution centers and big box stores surrounding it. This is true of Lisbon, Madrid, Leon, Burgos, and even Santiago to a lesser extent.

You can choose to walk across this distance, OR opt to ride public transportation to effectively leap-frog, saving most of a day's walking. This is 'legal' as only walking the final 100 km before Santiago is what qualifies you for a Compostela. Anything beyond that is for your benefit and pleasure.

Here is the Metro Porto website: https://en.metrodoporto.pt

Also, here is the Portuguese Railways website: https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en

I cannot recall if I actually rode the Metro or CP train, and then walked, but I know I did take one for perhaps a 30-minute ride, before getting off to walk. The scenery enroute convinced me that I made the right decision for me. Having grown up in northern New Jersey, seeing industry does not exactly make my spirit soar, and it is no way IMHO to start a Camino.

In this case, I chose to ride the train / metro out past the urban belt, and then walk to Vilarhino. There I stayed at Casa Laura. Here is their Facebook page:

Casa da Laura | Vila do Conde

Casa da Laura, Vila do Conde. 1,317 likes · 84 talking about this · 1,152 were here. Albergue para Caminho Santiago do Porto (Vilarinho - 1ª etapa) Reservas/Reservation: 917767307

www.facebook.com

I highly recommend this private albergue.

Lastly, even in the off-season, DO NOT arrive in Santiago without a reservation. Forewarned is forearmed... I recommend two nights. The night of arrival and the next, to provide enough time to handle business at the Pilgrim Office and see Santiago. You will not be sorry you did this.

Hope this helps.

 

[David Tallan]

We are looking to walking from Porto to Santiago Early part of May 2020. Looking at flights we are most likely arriving in Porto early in the morning after an overnight flight from NYC. We have 15 days for the whole trip. We wanted to walk along the river from the Cathedral and turn inward to the Central . We were thinking of starting our walk the same day and walking hours.

We have a few questions where is good place to stay the first night? Where should we turn in towards the central route? We want to stay at Casa Fernanda so trying to plan the first few days so our walk could be comfortable. Any suggestions is greatly appreciate.

I went from Porto Cathedral to Vila Chã on the first day. On the second day, I went from Vila Chã through Vila do Conde on the Coastal/Senda and then headed over through Arcos on the Central to Rates. On the third day, I went from Rates to Barcelinhos/Barcelos. On the fourth day I went from Barcelinhos/Barcelos to Casa da Fernanda where I had a reservation. On the fifth day, I went from Casa da Fernanda to Ponte de Lima.

But I didn't start the first day. I stayed the first night in Porto and started the morning of the second day. My itinerary may be a bit long on the first day if you are starting fresh off of the flight.

 

[kittykat3]

Thank you for all your responses. Would you mind sharing the rest of stages from Casa Fernanda. I know the central route is about 11 days walk however if we started along the river how many days are we adding? We plan to walk the whole way unless something unforeseen happens. We are in our mid 40's and pretty fit and love to travel and hike and explore but with limited vacation time. We are flying from Dallas to NYC to Porto so it will be a long travel day. We are also flying out of Porto as well. We plan to let the Camino tell us when we need to stop however we just wanted to get a good picture of what to expect.

 

[linkster]

You can checkout the stages here:

Camino Portugués Central | Gronze.com

www.gronze.com

 

[Isca-camigo]

I was reading a blog recently from someone who walked from the Cathedral in Porto to Vila do Conde, they walked along the Douro then up the coast, from that I realised there is a tram which runs parallel from near the Cathedral to near Foz do Douro which is at the mouth of the river, it's 6km from the Center. If I was doing a transatlantic flight and wanted to hit the ground running then that might be place I would look at as the destination and place to stay. I am going to be flying from Bristol in the UK in December to Porto and have planned on walking on my 1st day but from past experience it's best to give yourself a short day and recover from your travels on the rest of it.

Buen Camino

 

[David Tallan]

Thank you for all your responses. Would you mind sharing the rest of stages from Casa Fernanda. I know the central route is about 11 days walk however if we started along the river how many days are we adding? We plan to walk the whole way unless something unforeseen happens. We are in our mid 40's and pretty fit and love to travel and hike and explore but with limited vacation time. We are flying from Dallas to NYC to Porto so it will be a long travel day. We are also flying out of Porto as well. We plan to let the Camino tell us when we need to stop however we just wanted to get a good picture of what to expect.

I took 13 days rather than 11 because, while I am quite capable of walking 30+ km, I prefer not to when there is a choice. My sweet spot is 20-25 km, but i would rather walk two short 16 km days than a 32 km day usually.

So these were my days after Casa da Fernanda:
Casa da Fernanda to Ponte de Lima
Ponte de Lima to Rubiães
Rubiães to Tui
Tui to O Porriño
O Porriño to Redondela
Redondela to Pontevedra
Pontevedra to Caldas de Reis
Caldas de Reis to Padrón
Padrón to Santiago de Compostela