For 2024 Pilgrims: €50,- donation = 1 year with no ads on the forum + 90% off any 2024 Guide. More here. (Discount code sent to you by Private Message after your donation)
The literal coastal path means walking the actual coastline, which is confusing, as the other “coastal route” does not literally follow the coast, but is more closer to the coast than the central route. It was difficult finding information about the various ways online. We did some research...
Hey! Congrats on making a huge decision which you won't regret! I think as people have mentioned, choosing the right Camino is a personal decision.
Any path you follow to Santiago de Compostela is your Camino, but the more worn Camino paths have become well-known routes over time. The most...
That's awesome advice! Although it would be sad to miss Porto, if you aren't following the actual coastline (which isn't technically marked for any Camino until Marinhas) then this is a great way to miss some freeway walking. Safe travels home!
We had the same dilemma, around 2 weeks available from England. We looked at the Ingles (too short!), the Norte (Northern) and Primitivo, and seriously considered the Primitivo, but discounted it for three reasons: rain, less coastline and too much freeway walking.
We spent some time exploring...
If you know French or Italian, you may find learning some Portuguese easier. If you know Spanish, you'll find it easier still and there are some hacks if you know some Spanish.
As noted above in many posts, one piece of advice we were given, which proved to be true, was not assume all...
I think you’ll be fine booking cheap accommodation with linen, that’s a great way to cut down your bag weight. We had sleeping bags but we stayed in a hotel in Caldas anyway - it was a cheap pilgrim room we booked on arrival so didn’t provide towels so perhaps just ask if you want full...
We got our stamps at a large hotel in Vigo and then again at the Iglesia de Santiago in the old town. Just a warning - the Camino can be poorly signed on that next coastal section but once you get to Redondela it improves significantly!
So in case it is not clear, Brierley does multiple guides, some containing lots of information and maps and the smaller versions with just maps (and a page or two of background at the beginning). We wrote a little guide for the Senda Litoral but we found the Brierley maps only version the most...
We chose the Senda Litoral and didn't regret it. It is really up to personal interpretation but we also found some historic places along the coast which link that route to the Camino over hundreds of years, they are just lesser known and maybe do not feature in historic accounts of the Camino. I...
We only walked the Senda Litoral in 2017, Porto to Santiago so can't do the comparison to Central or Costa but we really really enjoyed every moment of it along the coastline and still felt like we got the tradition central experience when the three Portuguese routes converged anyway. We made a...
If it makes you feel better you can plan out a list of stops you like the look of in 4 - 5 kilometre increments for the whole route, that way if you change something one day you won't lose your entire plan. You'll fall into a rhythm pretty quickly. Your timetable is fine so you won't have to...
I agree with all of the above and strongly recommend Viana do Castelo. I think it may be worth considering where you will be staying in these rest stops - if you'd like to take a break from albergues and have some beach time, you may want to base the stops on where you can get nice accomodation...
This site is run by Ivar at in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon