Camino Portugues in February, 21 days

[Katjadk]

Dear Forum

I just stumbled upon this amazing forum, and it seems like the greatest collection of knowledge on the camino that one could wish for.

I have a wish to walk to santiago on the portuguese route in February for 21 days.
I have never done a walking tour like this before, and I have very limited knowledge about the camino and the route in general.
I am really hoping that there are some friendly souls out there that can provide me some insights into this subject. I have some questions:

1. Does anyone have suggestions for aroute that would be possible to do within 21 days?
2. Does anyone have experience of walking this route in February with regards to weather?
3. Does anyone have experience with how easy it is to find albergues along the way on February? and also how expensive they are?
4. Also I am a bit nervous that we will have a hard time stocking up on food along the way, does anyone have some insight in how many shops one could encounter along the way?

Any input that you might have for a newbie would be very much appreciated!

All my best wishes to all of you pilgrims out there!

 

[Camembert]

Katja welcome on this forum.

The caminho Portugues has different places to start from.
One is Lisbon. To Santiago about 650 kms which takes there in about 4 till 5 weeks walking, depending on how many kms per day you walk .

The other one is from Porto about 250 kms to Santiago, doable in about 2 weeks

21 days means that you could start somewhere around Coimbra. But another idea is to start in Porto, take your time sightseeing in this beautiful town, start walking. Have a day off in Barçelos and vist the famous town of Braga with its famous world heritage church Bom Jesus do Monte.
And take some days in Santiago and your 21 days are gone in a relaxed and enjoyable time.
As you wrote it is the first time for you. Enjoy the beauty of the Portugese and Galicean landscape, the friendly Portugese people , the fabulous food and wines.


I have no experience walking in February. I walked in May. But there will be fellow forummembers who react on your questions too for sure. Some have great blogs and websites .

Albergues inPortugal are privat and are like hostals . They will be open all year round. Once in Spain there are Xunta albergues but I cannot tell you if they are open during the wintertime. But here again I expect your answer is coming soon
There was a discussion on this forum the other day. Read back a week and you know what the costs are per day.
The caminho leads from village to village and town to town. Everywhere are shops, restaurants ,bars for food and drinks .you donot walk through the desert.

I suggest read back for some time. There are so many posts about everything you want to know. Reading is a good investment in your coming journey .
Bom caminho

 

[cdnwine]

My wife and I are walking from Porto starting on Feb 4th to Santiago and then onto Finistera and are planning our trip along the lines of what Albertinho is suggesting.

Cheers and Bon Camino if you do get on the route.

 

[Camembert]

My wife and I are walking from Porto starting on Feb 4th to Santiago and then onto Finistera and are planning our trip along the lines of what Albertinho is suggesting.

Cheers and Bon Camino if you do get on the route.

If you do research about your trip take the general advise, leaving Porto by the coastal detour. Walk from Porto center (Sé Cathedral) to Matosinhos and walk from there to Vila do Conde from where you find the connection to Sāo Pedro de Rates and on to Barcelos, Ponte de Lima and Valença into Spain.By doing this you avoid an unpleasant and dangerous walk through the busy with traffic infrastructure north of Porto direction Vilarinho.
From Porto you can take the Metro to stop "Mercado" where the coastal detour starts and you walk alongside the Duero river and the Atlantic ocean for about 30 kms. The first 10 kms are from the center to the Mercado stop.
Plan an overnight stay between Barcelos and Ponte de Lima at casa da Fernanda in Vitorino dos Piães. Un unforgetable experience and the best place to stay along the entire caminho from Porto to Santiago .casa da Fernanda is a privat house, and lodges up to about 18 people per night. Fernanda and her husband Jacinto provide you a diner with home made wine, a place to sleep and a breakfast, all donative. They are lovely people and you'll have a great time with them and all the pilgrims together. Their home is directly on the caminho path.

Bom caminho

 

[Camembert]

Here some pictures of casa da Fernanda


Jacinto at the left. Fernanda at the right. We are in the middle


Most pilgrims sleep in the gardenhouse,shown below but Fernanda hassome rooms in her hiuse for couples. We stayed in it two times with privat bathroom.

Great place to be there. The common dinner is a great event.

 

[Camembert]

Found some pictures of the Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga.
When you are in Barcelos, take a rest day and take the bus to Braga -20 kms.
The church is outside Braga. We took the bus at the busstop just 200 meters from the Tourist information at the central square. Just ask there

 

[Texasguy]

Dear Forum

I just stumbled upon this amazing forum, and it seems like the greatest collection of knowledge on the camino that one could wish for.

I have a wish to walk to santiago on the portuguese route in February for 21 days.
I have never done a walking tour like this before, and I have very limited knowledge about the camino and the route in general.
I am really hoping that there are some friendly souls out there that can provide me some insights into this subject. I have some questions:

1. Does anyone have suggestions for aroute that would be possible to do within 21 days?
2. Does anyone have experience of walking this route in February with regards to weather?
3. Does anyone have experience with how easy it is to find albergues along the way on February? and also how expensive they are?
4. Also I am a bit nervous that we will have a hard time stocking up on food along the way, does anyone have some insight in how many shops one could encounter along the way?

Any input that you might have for a newbie would be very much appreciated!

All my best wishes to all of you pilgrims out there!

Living and working in the US, I have not been able to take a month vacation, however y walked in November y December (in 2 diferent trips) from Lisbon to Tui.
For me, the Camino is so much beautiful in winter, I did the Camino Frances in November /December 2013. I will be flying across the pond to walk the remaining Tui-Santiago-Finisterre on March 28, and I hope to be in Santiago for Easter Mass.
I walked by myself from Lisbon to Santarem, mostly stayed in Hostels. I was able to find accommodations without any issues. Santarem has a wonderful Hostel, Mario and his wife are incredible. I also stayed a Casa Fernanda, another MUST stay place.
I walked from Casa Fernanda to Rubiaes, it was one of the longest day because la Bruja hill was there. Overall a great Camino.

If I can help with anything let me know.

Buen Camino(or Caminho)

Texasguy

 

[Diogo92]

February in Portugal, a winter month, tends to be either cold and windy, or windy and rainy. We never know! We are having right now a very dry winter, so you could be lucky

Bom Caminho

 

[Camembert]

Living and working in the US, I have not been able to take a month vacation, however y walked in November y December (in 2 diferent trips) from Lisbon to Tui.
For me, the Camino is so much beautiful in winter, I did the Camino Frances in November /December 2013. I will be flying across the pond to walk the remaining Tui-Santiago-Finisterre on March 28, and I hope to be in Santiago for Easter Mass.
I walked by myself from Lisbon to Santarem, mostly stayed in Hostels. I was able to find accommodations without any issues. Santarem has a wonderful Hostel, Mario and his wife are incredible. I also stayed a Casa Fernanda, another MUST stay place.
I walked from Casa Fernanda to Rubiaes, it was one of the longest day because la Bruja hill was there. Overall a great Camino.

If I can help with anything let me know.

Buen Camino(or Caminho)

Texasguy

sometimes life is though @Texasguy.
We only could walk the caminho since we were pensionados and had the time for it.
There are some great places to stay
On the Lisbon Porto leg except for Mario's hostal in Santarèm (I loved it also because just as I am he is a guitarist and I loved his guitar collection) also hostal Solo Duro in Golegã and Hilario's in Mealhada except for a casa da Fernanda this was the only place where they offer a pilgrimsmenu with all pilgrims together. Very good Hilario's is beyond Mealhada direction Águeda at the N1 road,

Just before Coimbra (sorry Mealhada is beyond Coimbra) is a nice place to stay at the Colegio da Immaculada Conceção, a schoolcampus which lodges you for free in a house on the campus with bunkbeds ,hot showers. Give them a phonecall on beforehand during weekdays so the concierge welcomes you. A restaurant for your meal and breakfast is oposite the gate. Be inside the gate before 21h00 otherwise you will find it locked up. Tel. nr 239 940 630

Another great place to stay just beyond Albergarìa -a-Velha is casa Diocesana. Tel nr 234 522 422. It is on the caminho. A retraite house were nuns take care for you. Beware you arrive in time for breakfast in the morning. because otherwise the nuns will tell you off. We paid 3€ per night per person in 2013 included lunch ,diner and breakfast.

Pictures I will upload later because now it is not possible because of maintenance of the website obviously

 

[musicman]

There is ( not mentioned above ), a beautiful , coastal route,where you continue alongside the Ocean from Vila do Conde.
Contact me for details, if it is of any interest.

 

[Camembert]

On the first picture the house in the background is at t the schoolcampus in Cernache. The gate is behind the house. My wife stands in front of the reastaurant. Excellent place to stay for the night but I can't tell you you can stay there during the weekends.

The second picture is the retraite house in Albergaría -a-Velha where the nuns are
Passing Albergaría-a-Velha about 2 kms you will see a big Maria statue. Directly to the right is a very steep hill .on top of this hill you'll find the entrance.