Camping on the Camino

[BuenCamino2013]

Hello All,

Hiking the Camino in the spring of 2013 with a large group. We will be starting in Porto and were wondering if its possible to camp along this route. Not sure if there are locations and or laws that will prevent us from doing so.

Buen Camino

Mike 8)

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

Hello All, Hiking the Camino in the spring of 2013 with a large group. We will be starting in Porto and were wondering if its possible to camp along this route. Not sure if there are locations and or laws that will prevent us from doing so. Buen Camino Mike 8)

Well done Mike! I hope someone who's camped along the VdlP can help you: sorry I was of no use this time.
Bom caminho!

Stephen.

 

[JohnnieWalker]

Mike

I think you may find this a challenge depending on the size of the "large group"! In the first place I´d contact the Tourist Office in Oporto (they speak English) to seek their advice and help in organising this.

http://www.visitportugal.com/NR/exeres/ ... meless.htm

Let us kow how you get on please.

John

 

[Anniesantiago]

Porto is on the Portuguese route, not the VDLP.

I've walked this route and much of it is along busy highway.
I don't recall seeing many places to camp, especially with a "large group."

Is there a reason you don't want to stay in the albergues?

Buen Camino!

 

[JohnnieWalker]

It is true there is some walking at the side of busy roads but depending on the size of the group I think there might be problems just turning up at albergues. This morning I popped along to the Tourist Office for Portugal in Santiago and they confirmed their colleagues in Portugal will be happy to help you plan this group pilgrimage.

Best wishes

John

 

[BuenCamino2013]

Stephen, Annie and Johnny Walker.

Thanks for the help an advice.

Annie the group Iam going with are injured military members, we are going to in the hope of receiving some emotional healing. The only reason we are camping is some of the guys love to camp.

Will let you know when our blog site is ready.

Thanks so much.

Mike

 

[renegadepilgrim]

If you guys do the coastal route on the Portuguese Camino, you might have better luck finding campgrounds. I've seen quite a few on my Google Maps route I just put together last night.

 

[walkforthewhale]

If your on the route there are plenty of opportunities to do wild camping that's how I went. However a large group might be different as on your own is easy to hide yourself. The albuergies might allow you to camp in their yard.
Jakob
twitter @walkforthewhale

 

[handzondeck2]

Hi Mike

If you stay out of the big cities you might be able to find appropriate camping spots.

I have walked from Porto to Santiago twice (solo and with my nephew) and stayed away from most of the big cities. From memory I didn't see any camping spots although (I agree with Falcon) if you check with the tourist authority they may have a list of areas in which you can camp out.

Some of the albergues are out of town so that may be a solution to your needs if you can't find camping spots. They are well set up with kitchens, laundries, etc. and cater for large groups depending on how large your group is(?) The albergue in Rates is one of the first on this camino and well set up to cater for groups as is the one in Rubiaes and Valencia.

Any idea how long you and your group plan to walk daily?

The CSJ organisation has a good guide book (donativo) on the portugues route that can be found on their website http://www.csj.org.uk that can asssist with planning stages. Also John Brierly has some good information on his website. He has a guide book as well as a book of maps.

Good luck with your planning.

Feel free PM me if you would like any further information.