Martin&Yvonne
New Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2019 Camino Coastal Portuguese
2021 Camino Primitivo
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Hello all,
Here are some questions;
1) Seeing that we want to walk the camino in September 2019 (6th to 20th approximately) would we need to prebook accommodation? We would want our own room (no dormitory style) so is there enough hotels or guesthouses available?
Hi Martin&Yvonne,
We finished our Portuguese Caminho just this August. We went by the central route from Lisbon.
1& 3. We never pre-booked accommodation but did stay in dormitory rooms (ages 47 & 49 costing 6 - 15 euro each. Some albergues did have single rooms but at double the price. We did not look for hotels or guesthouses so I can't answer that question. Porto was the only place we thought we might not get a room. If you are starting there I would pre-book so you can relax before you start.
2. We used a multi currency passport card which was effectively a MC without the fees and being attached to our home accounts. We had one major issue with this. In smaller places the ATMs would not accept our card. So we learned to plan and get extra money out in the larger places.
4. We LOVED the central route. Lots of farmland, villages, cornfields, tomato fields, forests, hilltops, just stunning and quite peaceful walking. A one day break...We changed our end of day destination from the Brierley suggested endings after Porto as the path became very busy with pilgrims. And since we were not booking we worried we might not get a bed. For a day rest perhaps Barcelos or Ponte de Lima - both quite beautiful with a lot of history. Redondela & Padron likewise. Do some research and see which fulfils your curiosities.
5. Like I stated earlier we LOVED the central route and followed Brierley. The route was great and well marked. We met wonderful people and made life long Caminho family members.
Whichever route you chose it will be the right one for you. Caminho is an amazing experience. Planning is half of the enjoyment in anticipation. Have fun, good luck and Bom Caminho. Connie and Adriano.
1) Seeing that we want to walk the camino in September 2019 (6th to 20th approximately)....
Contrary to many, I have always prebooked. That way, I know I can just enjoy the walk without worrying about where I'm going to stay. That said, I don't think you'll have much of a problem. I walked during that same time period and there were many vacancies (even at the better hotels).
2) Do you find that paying by credit card (Visa and/or MC)....
Hotels - mostly yes. Restaurants vary. If it's a larger restaurant they usually do but smaller town restaurants often only accept cash. That said, in those restaurants meals are usually under 15E per person.
4) Where and on which route is the best...
It depends on what you like. The national park off the coast of Baiona (or Vigo) is very nice to spend a day (you can also talk the ferry company into letting you take the ferry to the island from Baiona and then another ferry to Vigo if you want to). Caminha is also a nice town to spend some time in. Baiona and Vigo are both larger cities that have the amenities and places to just stroll.
5) Anyone that thinks they have the best route....
This really depends on what distance you want to walk each day. Having walked the Camino Frances, I found the inland portions of the Portuguese not as nice. I did enjoy the coastal portions (particularly those just outside Porto and up to Esponsende (although the fog got in the way). I used a service to set up the hotels and routing based on my limitations and interests and didn't regret it at all. They provided excellent accomodations, luggage routing, and a little route assistance but nothing else so I was on my own.
Having wanted to stay in hotels we used the booking.com app. It worked perfectly. Easy to book. Easy to cancel. Reviews at the fingertips. I’d suggest a rest day in Tui. It’s about 1/2. Tui, Spain and it’s neighboring town of Valenca, Portugal are fabulous. We stayed at a small hotel that was just perfect called Hotel a Torre do Xudue. This is on the central route. We walked along the coast day 1 and then to the central route http://www.booking.com/Share-Gnavp2
Also regarding the baggage transfer service: We carried the first 100 miles and then after developing some leg issues we used Correos which is run by the Spanish postal service. So worth it. About 6 Euros per day and they took our packs from hotel to hotel. Never an issue
My CP trip will be May 12 to 30, 2019. Except in Porrino, all hotels are booked with free cancellation either through booking.com, expedia, or directly with the hotels whichever offer the best prices.
I guess hotels in Porrino do not accept reservation till the new season (April, 2019. )
Air Transact from Toronto directly to Porto was C$633.00 purchased in May this year.
Porto is worth spending a day or two in. I loved it and recommend the tuk tuk tour. Great way to see the city if you have limited time. I walked this route a month ago and took a mix of the coastal and Senda Litoral....this route keeps you as close to the coast as you can get. It’s beautiful...you can’t get lost, the two routes meet up. For accommodation you should have plenty. I found Booking.com excellent and booked one day out. Luggage transfer is abundant when you cross into Spain. It’s a bit harder to locate in Portugal. You certainly don’t need a travel company to arrange anything
Great questions and I have the same...we are going in March on the same route. Would love someone to offer answers to these questions...Thanks!Hello all,
We are avid hikers from Canada, in our late 40's and early 50's. Our plan is to walk the camino to Santiago from Porto next September 2019 and haven't made up our mind yet which route to take, Inland, Coastal or a combination of the 2. I'm sure we will figure that out with all the advice on this forum.
A few questions we would have tho is some feedback from all of you on using an agency over organizing and booking our own itinerary. My Dutch background always has me looking for the best bang for my buck and to save a few dollars (-:
Here are some questions;
1) Seeing that we want to walk the camino in September 2019 (6th to 20th approximately) would we need to prebook accommodation? We would want our own room (no dormitory style) so is there enough hotels or guesthouses available?
2) Do you find that paying by credit card (Visa and/or MC) is widely accepted in hotels and restaurants?
3) Is there anyone that traveled the camino route from Porto without pre booking accommodation and any feedback you can share?
4) Where and on which route is the best and most interesting place to take a 1 day break from hiking?
5) Anyone that thinks they have the best route suggestion and is willing to share this from town to town?
Appealing to us is the luggage transfer offered by some agencies, and it doesn't seem there is another way around that if you don't want to carry things other then a small daypack. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated
I finished the route from Porto in mid October and having followed the Brierly stages I needed a rest day in Ponte de Lima. I found it hard to start with the distances on the first 3 days. Had they been the last 3 days it may not have been an issue. It wasn't a problem as Ponte de Lima is lovely and I enjoyed my time there but I took the decision to rest as there is also a huge hill on the section after Ponte de Lima. Im glad I did.Nice to read the details of your experiences along the Portuguese way and it sounds like you had a leisurely walk. I will be walking this same route starting April 30th, staying the first night out of Porto in Matsinhos to break up the long first day. In looking at the other stages in Brierley's book, I am concerned about the long one going to Barcelos (30k) and the next one from Barcelos to Ponte de Lima (34k). My preference to walk is 20-25k per day, although I have gone farther when needed at times. Did you follow the stages in his book? I want to include the Spiritual Variant, and am somewhat limited on time, so feel I need to follow the recommended stages. Any advice would be aporeciated.?
Wonderfully helpful info for us, thank you! I will be doing the exact same route in March 2019 and I was wondering what to do with our suitcases that we will have with us. We had to take a suitcase a piece as we will be traveling in Europe for 4 months and the Camino will be just a portion of our adventures! So mentioning the luggage service was so helpful. Do you suppose that we would be able to utilize them from the start in Porto? Because we'd like to give up our suitcase there and access it a bit sooner than Pontevedra (maybe twice during the hike). Happy to hear you were satisfied with the trail and we are looking forward to it!My husband and I recently walked the CP from Porto to SDC (Oct 1 - 18). It was our first Camino and it was a wonderful experience.
Pre-booking -- we generally did not pre-book, although we might reserve the night before or during the day as we were walking. We mostly stayed in small hotels and had no difficulty, except a Saturday in Ponte de Lima which was fully booked for an October festival. That night we were very grateful for a bed in the albuergue. I'm sure there are at least 2 schools of thought on pre-booking ... I am very much a "planner", especially in my profession, but I found it a welcome change and in some ways a helpful spiritual practice, to NOT plan too much. It allowed me to approach each day based on how I and my partner actually felt in the moment, physically and mentally. We used Gronze.com, trailsmart, wise pilgrim, and google to surface lodging options, then called them directly to reserve. It worked great and most places had availability.
We used cash all the way. We carried credit cards as a backup but many smaller places don't take them, so we kept on the lookout for ATM's to resupply our cash every few days. We ran into several people who had problems of carrying only cards and had no cash with which to eat; we helped them out by exchanging some of our currency.
We walked along the coast from Porto to Vila do Conde, then moved to the central route for the remainder. We loved the coastal part and the central -- both were very beautiful and peaceful. We did take a taxi from Vila do Conde to the join the central route, as the walk out of Vila is along a very busy road without much shoulder. I don't have anything to compare it to, so I'll have to go back and do one of the other routes.
We rested in Pontevedra -- we liked the town, and also it was the right timing for us as we had some business to take care of, and were physically tired. But there are any number of towns I would have been happy to rest in -- Barcelos, Tui/Valenca, Ponte de Lima. For me, it worked well to leave the decision about a resting location until I was out on the trail and could go by how I felt.
We carried our packs, but we did use TuiTrans to ship some other stuff that we didn't want to carry but wanted to be able to periodically access (primarily a laptop computer, to take care of some business issues, but also other stuff we would need for the non-Camino portions of our trip). They were great, handled our request perfectly (we shipped to Pontevedra, retrieved our stuff for a couple days, then re-shipped it to Ivar in Santiago).
Great stuff!! Along the lines of what we have in mind and thanks to all the advice on this forum. Very helpful!My husband and I recently walked the CP from Porto to SDC (Oct 1 - 18). It was our first Camino and it was a wonderful experience.
Pre-booking -- we generally did not pre-book, although we might reserve the night before or during the day as we were walking. We mostly stayed in small hotels and had no difficulty, except a Saturday in Ponte de Lima which was fully booked for an October festival. That night we were very grateful for a bed in the albuergue. I'm sure there are at least 2 schools of thought on pre-booking ... I am very much a "planner", especially in my profession, but I found it a welcome change and in some ways a helpful spiritual practice, to NOT plan too much. It allowed me to approach each day based on how I and my partner actually felt in the moment, physically and mentally. We used Gronze.com, trailsmart, wise pilgrim, and google to surface lodging options, then called them directly to reserve. It worked great and most places had availability.
We used cash all the way. We carried credit cards as a backup but many smaller places don't take them, so we kept on the lookout for ATM's to resupply our cash every few days. We ran into several people who had problems of carrying only cards and had no cash with which to eat; we helped them out by exchanging some of our currency.
We walked along the coast from Porto to Vila do Conde, then moved to the central route for the remainder. We loved the coastal part and the central -- both were very beautiful and peaceful. We did take a taxi from Vila do Conde to the join the central route, as the walk out of Vila is along a very busy road without much shoulder. I don't have anything to compare it to, so I'll have to go back and do one of the other routes.
We rested in Pontevedra -- we liked the town, and also it was the right timing for us as we had some business to take care of, and were physically tired. But there are any number of towns I would have been happy to rest in -- Barcelos, Tui/Valenca, Ponte de Lima. For me, it worked well to leave the decision about a resting location until I was out on the trail and could go by how I felt.
We carried our packs, but we did use TuiTrans to ship some other stuff that we didn't want to carry but wanted to be able to periodically access (primarily a laptop computer, to take care of some business issues, but also other stuff we would need for the non-Camino portions of our trip). They were great, handled our request perfectly (we shipped to Pontevedra, retrieved our stuff for a couple days, then re-shipped it to Ivar in Santiago).
Thank you Elle! We have come full circle on our plans from going organized and using luggage transfer, to take it day by day and carrying our own packs.Martin and Yvonne - Do it yourselves! Sometimes we pre-booked if there was a holiday or something like that. I hear the Coastal is getting busier and busier, but we saw more pilgrims on the Central than the coastal in the two springs we did them of 2017/18. However, you never really know. You will have to use your judgement. As for cash there are ATM's everywhere, and it is the way to go. Porto is a fabulous place, but so is Ponte de Lima, Valenca, Tui and Pontevedra on the Central Route. On the Coastal Route, we loved Oia and Baiona. What the coastal lacks in big historic cities, it makes up in lovely seaside boardwalks and views. You can look at my blog to see the routes we took, our recommendations, and maybe it will help you choose! Good luck! The Many Ways on the Camino Portugues
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