Camino Portugues Holy Week 2017

[haribon]

Hi, my wife and I are planning to do our first Camino next year to celebrate my turning 50. We will be doing the Camino Portugues from Tui starting around middle of Holy Week. Because I have chronic back pain for which I was hospitalised already twice, unfortunately we can't do the 'pure' Camino experience of carrying all our stuff on the walk, and will have to use a luggage transfer service. We therefore will also make reservations ahead of time.

The April timing of the trip is fairly fixed as well, but we are currently torn on when exactly to start. We can either begin the walk middle of Holy Week, spending a few days with relatives in Madrid at the start of Holy Week and a few days in Barcelona at the end of the following week. Or we can spend Holy Week first in Barcelona and Madrid then start our Camino on Easter Sunday.

Would anyone have any suggestions on which option is best? We're inclined to do the first but are not sure if the Camino would be unpleasant on Holy Week because of crowds. Accommodations is not an issue as we will be reserving ahead of time anyway, not fighting for space in albergues.

This forum has been a fantastic resource and has already helped us with our planning. I've been referring to it a lot (and we have already purchased our Altus ponchos) but finally I have something to post about. Thank you to everyone who has been very generous with sharing their knowledge and advice on here!

 

[Antipodean_1]

Hello Haribon . I'm afraid I don't have any information for you but I have a similar question.

I too am planning to walk the Portuguese route (Porto to Santiago) around Easter time 2017 and have wondered about crowds. I don't want to do the camino in isolation but nor do I want to have to compete for a bed. Can anyone tell me just when the peak times are? Do the crowds tend to time their arrival in Santiago for a particular day (Good Friday perhaps or Easter Sunday)?

My plan is to attend the religious ceremonies in different towns as I walk but I'd rather attend in smaller towns and churches. Is it safe to assume that if I started walking from Porto on Good Friday the crowds would be ahead of me? The alternative that I can see is to aim for the Easter ceremonies in Pontevedra, Caldas de Reis and Padron.

Any advice would be helpful.

 

[haribon]

Hello Antipodean,

Thank you for your message, glad to know there are others in the same situation.

From what I've gathered so far, there are more people on the last legs of the Camino during Holy Week when people are on holiday and take the opportunity to do even just a portion of the Camino. I honestly don't know if they time it to arrive in Santiago by a particular day.

Ultimately we decided to do part of the Camino during Holy Week and end the week after, hoping to arrive in Santiago when it is quieter. That way we sort of experience both. Very similar to you we plan to start walking from Tui on Thursday and hear Easter services in Pontevedra.

As for accommodations, which is one clear risk in traveling at this time, we have chosen to go with a tour operator for a self-guided walk, with our luggage sent ahead and accommodations pre booked. This at least removes the risk of not having a place to stay.

Cheers!

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Haribon, Welcome to the forum. You'll get a lot of good advice here, we are a friendly bunch (usually)!

Most caminos are very crowded in Holy Week, because many Spaniards are able to get the week off. But Holy Week is a great time to walk, because of all the religious pageantry, so that's the dilemma. If you are looking to avoid crowds, I think that starting on Easter Sunday is the better choice, but then you will miss the Holy Week processions. So your plan about splitting the difference may be the best choice.

And let me make a comment about pack transfer. If I were you, I would be really careful about carrying a few things in a day pack while someone else transports your backpack. I have lower back problems, too, but I carry my internal frame backpack with 15 kilos with not a problem in the world. But give me a day pack and a few kilos of water, food, and a raincoat and my back is very unhappy within an hour or two. So be careful. I have found that walking with a good backpack, with internal frame support, actually helps my back.

 

[rmckay]

Hi Folks, my wife and I are planning to start out from Lisbon on or around 3rd April 2017 and allowing about 5 weeks to walk to SDC. It should be an intersting time around Easter. We plan to make a side trip to Fatima on the way, but I think our timing will have us there just before Easter but I imagine many of the towns and villages along the way will celebrate Easter with a great deal of pageantry. Having completed the way from SJPD to SDC and onto Finisterra twice now, we are expecting this one to be similar but different. I have used this forum as a great resource for both previous pilgrimages, and am learning so much from the discussions that occur within. One difference for us this time is that we are walking in April, our previous pilgrimages have been in September. Looking forward to green fields and flowers rather than dried and harvested fields. One piece of advice if I may, if things go wrong or not as planned, (and stuff happens) don't worry the camino will provide.

 

[haribon]

Hi peregrina, thank you for your reply especially the advice about the backpack! We have some time and are trying out different options on the bag and will seriously consider your suggestion. I gather that the structure of the bag with good frame support is as important a factor as the weight, maybe even more. (And a poorly structured bag while light could still lead to back pains) Cheers!

 

[jungleboy]

My wife and I are planning to walk the Camino Portugués next April which will also coincide with Semana Santa / Easter (Easter Sunday is April 21 in 2019). We are pretty flexible with time so we could spend Semana Santa early in the camino (if we start from Lisbon), towards the end of the camino, or in Santiago itself.

Can those who posted upthread about their 2017 plans for walking the CP in Semana Santa let us know how it was? Thanks!

 

[Oppis]

We walked in Portugal on Holy Week last year (2017 ). Stayed Good Friday in Coimbra. There were only a small procession in the evening starting from Seminario, heading to New Catedral, abt. 200 people. Nothing else. But, depending on Holiday time there were tens of thousands other turists in town. Later, on Saturday we saw in a small village a nice seremony, some priests and other followers walked from house to house telling the story of Easter. One important point! We had no difficoulties at all to find accomodations on the entire Holy Week.