Bus/taxi services along the Coastal Route

[Piscesman1946]

I am a newbie and will be walking the CP from Porto to Valenca along the Coastal Route in October. I am 73 and in good shape...and I am expecting blue skies and gentle breezes all the way...but should some ill-health or weather beset me, I was wondering if there are buses or taxis between towns should I find myself falling behind? Thanks!

 

[John Sikora]

I walked from Porto to Santiago last year and taxis are readily available. So are buses but not on all segments. I actually look at each planned segment and then do a room2rio website lookup to see what my options are. Some of the segments many even have local railroad to choose from. Either way it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

 

[Piscesman1946]

Thanks, John! I am enjoying your YouTube posts!

 

[John Sikora]

Thanks for watching my amateur attempts. I'm headed to walk the first part of the Camino de la Plata (Seville to Salamanca) tomorrow so I'll be posting the first 25 days or so when I get back (postings sometime in June/July).

 

[Piscesman1946]

I use Rome2rio all the time but hadn’t thought to use it on such a small scale! Duh! Bus and/or train on all my segments. Buen camino!

 

[Pilger99]

The coastal caminho offers a variety of public transport inside Porto City, e.g. the Metro to Matosinhos.
After that you are heading to the coastline, which means less buses, no train. During summer you pass a lot of open cafés, but in September/October it becomes much less.
From Vila do Conde to Povoa you have a parallel train line which you don't see while walking (500-1000m to the east). Soon you are leaving Porto metropolitan area and again you are following the coast.
I remember buses passing me in Fao/Esposende, but I'm not remembering their destination.
After that I think you have to get to Viana do Castelo somehow. From here the railway runs in parallel to Valenca with stops in any mayor village. Some bigger places have also bus stops of rede-expressos.

October can be windy, rainy, misty and cold or even summer like with ~30°C from time to time. If you like more stable hotter weather start earlier. After some rainy weeks in October/November winter weather tends to be colder but mostly dry (without warranty). The area of Santiago is famous for rain all year round, but Vigo / Pontevedra is not so bad.

 

[aziletx]

I am a newbie and will be walking the CP from Porto to Valenca along the Coastal Route in October. I am 73 and in good shape...and I am expecting blue skies and gentle breezes all the way...but should some ill-health or weather beset me, I was wondering if there are buses or taxis between towns should I find myself falling behind? Thanks!

We are three ladies in their 60's, and we just returned from walking the Portugues coastal route. We had no trouble finding taxis when we needed (or wanted) them. There are definitely buses and trains between many of the cities. We took a taxi from central Porto to the lighthouse to begin the walk. Also, we took a taxi a few miles to bypass smoke from a forest fire in Esposende. We did take a taxi in Vigo from the city center to the edge of town because it is a big city and we did not want to walk on those highways. We had a man (also 73) who walked with us on some legs of the trip, and he did take a train or taxi to bypass some of the steeper parts of the route. I would not worry about this if I was you. Have a wonderful time! Bon Camino!