New albergue south of Porto

I know I may be sounding like a broken record, but the Via Lusitana is one terrific group with a lot of information for pilgrims on the Camino Portugues, especially for the part south of Porto where the information is spottier.

Here's one example -- a list of accommodations: http://www.vialusitana.org/caminho-portugues/albergues/ All of the voluntary firefighters are listed with addresses and numbers.

And I want to highlight, if you look at the list, you will see that a private albergue has opened very close to Mealhada. It's in the neighboring town/village of Sernadelo, right on the Camino

Private Albergue – 12,50€ – 12 places
Estrada Nacional 1, Avenida da Restauração, 30 – Sernadelo
3050-347 Mealhada
Contactos: D. Isabel / Nuno Canilho Tel: 916-191-721

And just for purposes of disseminating this phone number as much as possible, I thought I'd repeat that the Via Lusitana staffs a SOS pilgrims phone line, every day, any time. Help given in English, French, and German.

(+351) 915 595 213

Looks like the pilrgrim infrastructure south of Porto is starting to improve quite a bit. Laurie

I walked this route in 2009 (and the Confraternity on-line guide dates from that walk - it is in need of updating though, so all comments would be helpful as I try to do that this summer).

Here were the stages I did from Mealhada:

Day 10 – Mealhada - Agueda (31 km)
Day 11 – Agueda - Albergaria a Velha (19.5 km)
Day 12 – Albergaria a Velha - São João da Madeira (29 km)
Day 13 – São João da Madeira - Porto (35 km)

(I know my kms are somewhat different from what Helena reports, and I bet hers are closer to reality than mine).

The short distance on day 11 had to do with lack of accommodation, and I don't know if there are more options now that would let you break it up more evenly.


Buen camino to all of you on the Caminho Portugues, good to see that more are looking at options for starting south of Porto! Laurie