Small group tours growing in popularity on Portuguese Camino route

[OzAnnie]

Hi
I’m reading a Sydney sunday paper this morning and see that a major tour company is promoting small group tours along the Camino portugués from Porto to Santiago. Just a heads up to anyone wanting a quiet camino - ads like this indicate to me that the tour groups could be growing in popularity even more as far afield as Australia with this ad. (Price is Aud$)
I know it is only a small group tour and wouldn’t be daily; so not huge numbers but it’s a start? Enjoy the Portuguese- it’s a lovely route. It’s was very quiet on my first camino there in 2012.

 

[Tassie Kaz]

Apart from the price , only 120km on foot? Seems it might be one of those 'walk-a-little-each-day-but-only-the-pretty-parts' type arrangements.
If that is the case, the impact should be minimal (& I'm guessing they won't be taking up places in the albergues!) but as you say @OzAnnie, it could be the start of something bigger.
Glad I did it when I did (2015 from Lisbon)...& it still remains my 2nd favourite path to this day.

 

[Charles Ross]

I see these tour ads occasionally; The Smithsonian, New York Times, offering 10 day, 2 weeks to some 'exotic' locations. I'll see '10 days on the Camino De Santiago, airfare included only $6,950 PP'. Our costs for our two walks were $4,500 and @ $5,800 total for 38 and 45 days respectively. People with Camino experience know that in spending that amount of money we were living it up!! We know a couple that took a two week river cruise along the Rhine; it was $16,000 total. They said the experience was a couple of days too long!! I understand that any endeavor requires some planning and that there is a large element of apprehension and even fear but, basically, you just have to throw yourself out there. Doing a long walk on a Camino is a real confidence builder for any future travel experience. . . . . the train's cancelled, now I'm on a bus with a chicken on my lap . . . whatever . . . : ).

 

[Bradypus]

the train's cancelled, now I'm on a bus with a chicken on my lap . . . whatever . . . : ).

January 1990. A bus between Pokhara and Kathmandu in Nepal. An older gent sitting in the bus seat behind me. A very young goat sticking its head out between the buttons of his tweed jacket and bleating mournfully. Somewhere far off I could hear a plaintive bleat in return. With a fair bit of mime I asked where the mother was. The man pointed up through the roof to the luggage rack on top of the bus. Sure enough an hour or so later we saw him climb up a ladder and retrieve mama-goat from the roof then chase her for a couple of hundred yards as she put as much distance from the bus as she could!

 

[trecile]

When I walked from Porto to Santiago in 2019 I saw more people who were on a tour than I have seen on the Camino Francés.

 

[Tincatinker]

I’ve just been offered 15 days on the Invierno for £1300. Wine, food and Orujo extra. It struck me as a reasonable price to pay for not having to plan, research or even think much. Get out of minibus, walk as directed, get back in minibus, get to hotel, eat as directed, repeat…
There’s no mention of pilgrimage other than as history. I guess that’s it. Pilgrimage to the bones of one who may have touched the divine is history.

 

[Bradypus]

It struck me as a reasonable price to pay for not having to plan, research or even think much. Get out of minibus, walk as directed, get back in minibus, get to hotel, eat as directed, repeat…

I think that's my main objection to a packaged tour. Why pay a high premium to have someone else do my thinking for me and restrict my options? How do they know where and how far I'd like to walk each day?

 

[Bradypus]

I’ve just been offered 15 days on the Invierno for £1300. Wine, food and Orujo extra. It struck me as a reasonable price to pay for not having to plan, research or even think much.

Cheapskate! I remember this advert from a while back. I wonder if inflation has bumped it into the luxury bracket....

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/the-crux-of-the-camino.66573/

 

[Tincatinker]

Their algorithms have established what we need. It’s down to Marketing to help us understand that

 

[Tincatinker]

Meanwhile, any one in need of a fully curated pub crawl in Shoreham by Sea, kebabs optional. My rates are reasonable

 

[Philtration]

Had a group of about 40 people get off a bus and start walking just ahead of us between Melide and Salceda in 2021. After initial irritation, some very judgemental thoughts, and a burst of speed to get through, I calmed down. It's good that people are walking. These people had their own comfort level and had as much right to be there as I did. The large numbers of people walking from Sarria, many of them from Spain, can make it challenging to find a place to sleep. But I wish my country had a spiritual based tradition of people taking a week off to walk 60+ miles. A positive thing about the bus walkers, is that they are probably staying off the route and not in albergues. And I don't think we'll see them as we pass through the Meseta!

 

[Gwill21]

We encountered multiple tour groups during our early fall 2022 CP-Central. It made it challenging a few times when we encountered ”booked by tour group” (full) accommodations after long days of walking. Not sure there is a solution as hotel and albergue owners want the business. One day we walked 38km to find accommodation. That was only a one time anomaly but it made for a long and tiring day.

 

[woody66]

When I walked from Porto to Santiago in 2019 I saw more people who were on a tour than I have seen on the Camino Francés.

In 2021 on the way after Arcade there were several mini bus loads embarking together it was pouring with rain.
A few kilometres later the buses were parked up waiting for them to arrive! (i wouldn't have minded a seat as it never stopped raining!)
The worst was on the Espiritual as i walked towards the turn to begin the Variant and was overtaken by what I believe was more than one coach load en mass seemed to last forever!
Again through the narrow streets of Combarro a coach load of Italian tourist's came towards me I was completely swamped couldn't get out of there way .

But i suppose you just have to accept everyone has the right to experience life in their own way; the World belongs to us all !!!
Just wish they'd do it somewhere else


Woody

 

[Rita Flower]

About 5 years ago a lovely relative of mine walked the Portugese from Porto with a group of 5 friends - on an organised tour. She said it was great and loved it!

 

[VNwalking]

And I don't think we'll see them as we pass through the Meseta!

Think again.
I encountered a stray walker from such a group before Itero de la Vega. The rest of the group and the bus were at the rest area nearby - he had 'escaped' for some optional time on foot.

 

[Barbara]

Meanwhile, any one in need of a fully curated pub crawl in Shoreham by Sea, kebabs optional. My rates are reasonable

Ok, will you meet me at Shoreham airport?

 

[Tincatinker]

@Barbara No problem. We can make a start with the 16th Century Red Lion, move on to the Amsterdam, reputedly, but unlikely, to have been built with the timbers of a wrecked Dutch merchant ship and then The Swiss Cottage, now the sad remnant of a spectacular Victorian pleasure garden comes next. After which we lose sight of the airport….

I’m not sure that the weekly flight from Le Touquet runs at this time of year, so see you in the Spring

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I guess I've been lucky on all my Caminos as I've never encountered any tour groups.
The closest to a tour group I experienced was in Santiago seeing people in matching t-shirts and hats disembark from the little choo-choo trains to walk around the cathedral area, but at least they were not competing for my bed.

 

[dick bird]

@Barbara No problem. We can make a start with the 16th Century Red Lion, move on to the Amsterdam, reputedly, but unlikely, to have been built with the timbers of a wrecked Dutch merchant ship and then The Swiss Cottage, now the sad remnant of a spectacular Victorian pleasure garden comes next. After which we lose sight of the airport….

I’m not sure that the weekly flight from Le Touquet runs at this time of year, so see you in the Spring

Time to get really off-topic: Alec Clifton-Taylor in his "The Pattern of English Building" (the bible of vernacular building studies in England) comprehensively exploded the myth that re-purposed ship's timbers were ever used to construct timber-framed houses. Now I sit back and wait.

 

[Kanga]

We came across two large groups on the CF last year. One was a group of about 20 Irish women in a group from Dublin, another was with the "Wild Women on Top" group. Pleasant people in both groups and did not cause us a problem with accommodation.

 

[Barbara]

@Barbara No problem. We can make a start with the 16th Century Red Lion, move on to the Amsterdam, reputedly, but unlikely, to have been built with the timbers of a wrecked Dutch merchant ship and then The Swiss Cottage, now the sad remnant of a spectacular Victorian pleasure garden comes next. After which we lose sight of the airport….

I’m not sure that the weekly flight from Le Touquet runs at this time of year, so see you in the Spring

Oh, that's not a problem. My other activity is aviation. I'll fly myself, but not until the weather is better. Little aeroplanes and winter weather don't mix well.

 

[Barbara]

Time to get really off-topic: Alec Clifton-Taylor in his "The Pattern of English Building" (the bible of vernacular building studies in England) comprehensively exploded the myth that re-purposed ship's timbers were ever used to construct timber-framed houses. Now I sit back and wait.

As long as the beer is good....

 

[Tincatinker]

Oh, that's not a problem. My other activity is aviation. I'll fly myself, but not until the weather is better. Little aeroplanes and winter weather don't mix well.

Tinkers and winter weather don’t mix as well as they used to do neither. The trick is to catch that time when the beer is still cool enough and the sunshine warms the bones

 

[henrythedog]

As long as the beer is good....

With the greatest respect to my esteemed colleague, you would be going to the wrong end of the country for that.