LIVE from the Camino Guimarães - an overlooked gem!

[Vacajoe]

Three Caminos (Torres, Braga Variant, Portuguese Central) run through or close to this Portuguese city and yet no one ever sings its praises! So I’m here to tell you: GO VISIT GUIMARÃES!!!! So much history, beautiful squares, lovely restaurants, and everything else you want when visiting Portugal without the tourist crowds of Porto or Lisbon. If you are walking through on a Camino, though, try to schedule two nights there to take it all in.

You can thank me later…

 

[U20C_Katherine]

I love Guimaraes!!! Not from the
Camino, but from my travels through Portugal… such a beautiful city with rich history! If it’s on the way, I highly recommend it!

 

[Corned Beef]

There are bus trips from Porto to Guimaraes (and Braga) if you have time or if you add in a few days for Guimaraes, Braga and Porto too.

Rail travel (Comboios de Portugal) will cost you about €3 and takes an hour.

 

[jungleboy]

I’ve been to Guimarães twice recently and agree that it’s a little gem! Here are a couple of pictures to illustrate @Vacajoe’s points:



The church of St. Michael in Guimarães, Portugal, dating to the 13th century but according to legend, several hundred years older than that and the place of baptism of Portugal’s first king Afonso Henriques.



The Torre de Menagem (keep) of the 10th-13th century castle in Guimarães, where Portugal was born.

 

[Vacajoe]

Rail travel (Comboios de Portugal) will cost you about €3 and takes an hour.

Or a four day, 100+ km walk! . Always a bit shocking when you realize how close all of these Camino cities are for the “normal” way tourists travel!

 

[WalkingJane]

Three Caminos (Torres, Braga Variant, Portuguese Central) run through or close to this Portuguese city and yet no one ever sings its praises! So I’m here to tell you: GO VISIT GUIMARÃES!!!! So much history, beautiful squares, lovely restaurants, and everything else you want when visiting Portugal without the tourist crowds of Porto or Lisbon. If you are walking through on a Camino, though, try to schedule two nights there to take it all in.

You can thank me later…

Oh, yes!

 

[Gina73]

I'm going to be walking the Portuguese in June and was planning on starting in Porto, but after much research and reading about the highway walking out of Porto, I've decided (I think) to take a bus to Guimarães and stay for two nights and then walk to Braga to stay for a night. This would be my first walking stretch of the Camino. Has anyone walked this stretch? I know there's a good climb, but do you think I'll encounter many pilgrims or be alone? Any other thoughts or things to consider? Experienced insight is appreciated.
Bom Caminho.

 

[peregrina2000]

Guimaraes is a really nice city, as is Braga, but this isn’t the Caminho Portugués. It’s the Camino de Torres, which starts in Salamanca. But if you walk from Braga to Ponte de Lima, you will then connect with the Caminho Portugues Central and carry on to Santiago. According to standard stages, Guimaraes to Santiago is 9 days, so it’s a day or two shorter than the standard route from Porto.

I think it would be a great alternative, but I don’t know anything about the surface (asphalt or trail, etc) or how well marked it is. I think having the GPS tracks on your phone would be a good idea, because I think you are unlikely to see anyone else till you get to Ponte de Lima.

 

[jungleboy]

Has anyone walked this stretch? I know there's a good climb, but do you think I'll encounter many pilgrims or be alone? Any other thoughts or things to consider? Experienced insight is appreciated.
Bom Caminho.

I have walked it. We didn't encounter any pilgrims on this day (or any of the first 54 days of our walk from Tavira to Santiago). Here's what I wrote about that stage in this thread:

Torres Day 8: Guimarães to Braga (~19km)

Our ‘victory lap’ stage to end the Torres was the hottest day we’ve had so far (32 degrees Celsius), but fortunately a huge thunderstorm is in progress as I’m tapping this out this afternoon while we are safely inside in Braga, and the temperature has plummeted to 18. There are storms forecast for the next few days but I’m hoping this one is big enough to reset the weather and give us blue skies again by Sunday.

Most of today’s stage was the urban sprawl / asphalt that we’ve become accustomed to over the last few days. In amongst that, we crossed a Romanesque bridge and an unusual Roman bridge, saw the remains of a Roman altar, and saw a nice stone fountain dedicated to four brothers, who according to legend, fought each other over a beautiful woman, and all of them died.

After the fountain we climbed up to a pass on a partial Roman road through (mostly eucalyptus) forest. Even though it was very hot and tough going, this was enjoyable because we hadn’t had scenery like that for a while. On the way down, in a more urban setting, we saw a fabulous piece of modern azulejo artwork depicting Santiago that I really liked. It’s next to the Church of Santiago in Fraião, just outside Braga (the apostle is Fraião’s patron saint).

 

[peregrina2000]

I have walked it. We didn't encounter any pilgrims on this day (or any of the first 54 days of our walk from Tavira to Santiago). Here's what I wrote about that stage in this thread:

Torres Day 8: Guimarães to Braga (~19km)

Our ‘victory lap’ stage to end the Torres was the hottest day we’ve had so far (32 degrees Celsius), but fortunately a huge thunderstorm is in progress as I’m tapping this out this afternoon while we are safely inside in Braga, and the temperature has plummeted to 18. There are storms forecast for the next few days but I’m hoping this one is big enough to reset the weather and give us blue skies again by Sunday.

Most of today’s stage was the urban sprawl / asphalt that we’ve become accustomed to over the last few days. In amongst that, we crossed a Romanesque bridge and an unusual Roman bridge, saw the remains of a Roman altar, and saw a nice stone fountain dedicated to four brothers, who according to legend, fought each other over a beautiful woman, and all of them died.

After the fountain we climbed up to a pass on a partial Roman road through (mostly eucalyptus) forest. Even though it was very hot and tough going, this was enjoyable because we hadn’t had scenery like that for a while. On the way down, in a more urban setting, we saw a fabulous piece of modern azulejo artwork depicting Santiago that I really liked. It’s next to the Church of Santiago in Fraião, just outside Braga (the apostle is Fraião’s patron saint).

I should have checked your blogs, because my instincts told me you had probably walked that way. The Torres, Geira, Interior, etc, are all kind of a blur in my geographically challenged mind.

 

[Vacajoe]

It’s fabulous!!!! But you won’t meet many (or any!) other pilgrims because the commercialized route no longer goes through this area. It’s a sad loss for pilgrims but a fabulous benefit for those seeking spots off the beaten track.

 

[Prentiss Riddle]

Thanks for this thread! We will be taking a trip to northern Portugal soon for other reasons and won't have time for a proper caminho, but we plan to squeeze in a few days of walking where we can (among other things, we plan to walk a bit of the Litoral out of Porto). Our itinerary will include both Guimarães and Braga, and it had occurred to us to walk between them rather than take the bus. We love walking as transportation! But we are slow walkers on hills so we might have to break it up and stay halfway - I see a rural hotel not far off the trail near Carvalho / Sande.

The comments here give mixed reviews for the Guimarães-Braga stage. For those of you who have done it, would you rather walk from Guimarães to Braga, or save that shoe leather for a different stretch somewhere else in Portugal?

 

[Vacajoe]

Its a tough stretch, especially the last section into Braga - you basically climb the mountain range where Bom Jesus Do Monte is located. If your walking days are limited, there are definitely better sections to choose. We through-hiked, so we did it and didn’t regret it. If I had to choose sections, though, it would definitely not make the top of my list.

 

[jungleboy]

For those of you who have done it, would you rather walk from Guimarães to Braga, or save that shoe leather for a different stretch somewhere else in Portugal?

Per my comment upthread, I agree with Vacajoe and would pick a different stage to walk.