How did you plan your accommodation?

[Miranet]

Hi all,

I'm not quite sure wether I should book some places in advance or wether to work things out when I get to each location.

How did you handle your accommodation?

Would be great to learn from your experience.

Cheers,

Mira

 

[sulu]

Hi Mira
I just aimed for the places that had Albergues, between Oporto and Valenca/Tui they come at, what for me was, reasonable intervals. Once in Galicia they are more frequent and it is possible to change plans on how far to walk.
I don't know about the Lisbon to Oporto bit, I think it is more difficult.

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Mira,
Your stages on the Caminho south of Porto are pretty well determined by where there are places to stay. The volunteer firefighters continue to take in pilgrims in many small towns (list is on that link I gave you in another post), there are some albergues, and there are small boarding houses, etc. I posted all of my stages years ago:
el-camino-portugues/topic5398.html

I was living in Lisbon at the time, so I did some day trips out and back on the train till Tomar, but I think the post along with the CSJ guidebook I did has a lot of the information. There are new places opening though, so nothing is likely to be totally up to date. For instance, I believe an albergue is going to open in Tomar any day now. (But there are cheap private accommodations there as well).
And I think there's a place opening in Grijo.

South of Porto there is no need to reserve anything.

Laurie

 

[Miranet]

Ok, thank you both for the info, Sulu & Laurie.

All the best to both of you,

Mira

 

[peregrino_tom]

Mira
I don't think you need to book accommodation. Apart from anything else, it reduces your ability to be flexible and 'go with the flow'.
From Lisbon to Porto in October I met 6 pilgrims in total. Two couples who I just saw briefly and two women who were walking by themselves. After Porto I met no-one walking the same way as me until I got to Spain, except another four women, two walking together and two walking alone. There was one exception: on leaving Porto there was a group of about 60 pilgrims walking along the coast and I thought 'oh no, I'm not going to find anywhere to stay!'. But they completely disappeared that afternoon and I never saw them again. So you just don't know what will happen...
I missed the experience of breaking bread with other pilgrims over a communal meal in the evenings. But there are some more albergues now, so that may be different for you. The only communal meals I had in Portugal were at the Old Town Hostel in Lisbon and the Poets Hostel in Porto. Both places were fab. And because they provided the chance to sit round and eat and talk with others they were highlights of the journey
cheers, tom

 

[John Holland]

Mira,

Lisbon to Porto is difficult with long stages and limited accommodation,. But because very few people do it, you should not have any problems. A new hostel in Santorem (Santorem Hostel) has made life easier.

Be very wary of the first two stages out of Lisbon as far as Azambuja. Really tough walking mainly along highways. I just did it last week (am still walking while posting this) and hated it. Heavy traffic along highway with no footpaths.

Would strongly recommend catching the train to Azambuja and starting there. It is a nice walk through fields to Santorem, alebit very long.
Buen camino
John

 

[Miranet]

Thanks John,

I just passed that bit and now arrived in Santarem. Santarem Hostel is great. I'm there right now.

I'm very curious how the rest of the trip will go.

All the best,

Mira

 

[NadineMc]

Mira,

Lisbon to Porto is difficult with long stages and limited accommodation,. But because very few people do it, you should not have any problems. A new hostel in Santorem (Santorem Hostel) has made life easier.

Be very wary of the first two stages out of Lisbon as far as Azambuja. Really tough walking mainly along highways. I just did it last week (am still walking while posting this) and hated it. Heavy traffic along highway with no footpaths.

Would strongly recommend catching the train to Azambuja and starting there. It is a nice walk through fields to Santorem, alebit very long.
Buen camino
John

Great tip about catching train and starting in Azambuja.....was a little worried about the first couple of stages. I'm trying to gather lots of info about the route....trip planned for late May.
Nadine

 

[Camembert]

Great tip about catching train and starting in Azambuja.....was a little worried about the first couple of stages. I'm trying to gather lots of info about the route....trip planned for late May.
Nadine

We walked the first stages out of Lisbon to Alverca do Ribatejo. Nice walk through the outskirts of Lisbon to the parque das Naçãoes in Moscavide and so on through the fields to Santarèm and on to Alverca There we catched the train to Azambuja and skipped 30 kms along this horrible road. From Azambuja the track goes through a beautiful landscape.
We also skipped a part of the last track into Porto. We walked as far as Grijo, coming from
São João da Madeira .from there at he busstation took the bus to Porto avoiding the busy asphalt jungle from Vila Nova da Gaia, a suburb of Porto.