Camino portugues from Coimbra or just coastal from Porto with detours?

Walking at the moment between Coimbra and Porto. För us it takes 6 days. Possible to walk in 5 too. But Coimbra is absolutely worth of 1 day. The Way goes up and down on a most beautiful country roads. Lots of flowers everywhere. No harm of the highway at all.

Anamaria G said:

Hi,

I plan to walk my first Camino on the Portuguese coastal route from Porto to Santiago an then to Finisterre.
I will arrive in Porto on 9th May 2017 and have the departure flight from Santiago on June 8th.
I thought about starting in Coimbra because of the time I plan to be on the Camino(from Lisbon I guess it would be to much for the time I have) but I read that the Coimbra to Porto section isn't that great as it is near a highway.

I have calculated that I would need 7 days for the Coimbra to Porto section. Do you have any suggestions what should I do: start from Coimbra or perhaps stay a few days more in smaller towns, a detour to Braga..? Any ideas would be well appreciated.

Bom Caminho,
Anamaria

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My husband and I walked from Santarem to Santiago last June and found is a wonderful experience. Tough, long days but thoroughly worthwhile. Coimbra is an absolute must. We took a day off in Porto, Coimbra (two days) and Ponte de Lima. We walked the coastal route the day we left Porto and once we hit the coast we also hit a head on wind which made the day very hard going. We walked on board walks the entire way, but the coast is not great. Of course the sea is wild and beautiful but the land side is very dull. We then continued following the route to Barcelos northwards. Walking from Porto is great as the amount of kilometres one has to walk is fine, as in not too many kilometres. Walking the Portuguese way one never feels crowded and often one spends hours walking on ones own which we loved. We walked on highways, roads and on country roads and then there are always the cobbles. Brierley's book is very useful as it tells you practically everything one needs to know for the day. By the way we are both 60. We wrote a blog which you may find interesting but never got around to writing much about Coimbra which we still intend to do. Ourwayportuguesecaminho.wordpress.com. Kind regards, Susan (Shushy)