Thinking of walking Lisbon to Porto around Christmas 2023

[Perambulating Griffin]

Hello all;
On the heels of a series of losses, souse and I find that there is nothing to tie us to home this year, and the thought of making a Christmas meal for 2 is just depressing...
So we are thinking to take a small portion of my mother's remains and the glittering fairy princess key fob I found in her purse and have named after her, and heading to Lisbon for the holidays. Our aim is to go via Fatima (and if we time it right/get lucky we would arrive there for Christmas Day... mass all that wonderful stuff). And then we would continue onward toward Porto, going as far as weather and accommodations will permit.
So... maybe @jungleboy can help out with this... Is it feasible? I know much will be closed, but will *all* be closed? We can go comfortably in a day up to about 33km (after that it's less fun). Prime distances are 25-28.... Hoping those distances will find us what we need. We do not require donative but would rather not have to hit a hotel every night... And we are hoping for 15-16 days on the ground.
I will take all advice into consideration.
Anyone else... please feel free to chime in.
Neither one of us has any other time available and this is really about fleeing the North American debacle of Commercemass to arrive somewhere both more serious and more joyful about the holiday.

 

[Hans-Georg Goebel]

walked from Lisbon to Porto in an April/May 2018. In all your planning, make sure you find enough places to sleep. Even at peak travel times, the number of albergues, hostels and hotels is much lower than after Porto or on the camino frances.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

Thanks, um., tat’s why I am skiing for information from those with familiarity with the December timeframe.

 

[FLEUR]

Are there any Airbnbs dotted along that route ?

 

[jungleboy]

So... maybe @jungleboy can help out with this...

No pressure though!

Not sure I can help much other than to say that when we walked the full CP in Sep 2020 all the municipal albergues and some other places were closed due to Covid, but we were still able to find accommodation each night, sometimes having to make some route adjustments. So although that wasn’t December, perhaps Christmas time would present a similar situation: some places closed, others open. I would just have a quick look on Booking.com, putting in Christmas dates in several towns just to have an idea of what’s open.

I like your Fátima idea. One thing we learned about Fátima this year is that it’s a special place when there are a lot of pilgrims (and a kind of weird one when there aren’t), so Christmas there would hopefully be a good experience. We stayed at Hotel Santo António de Fátima, which seemed like the type of place that would be open year-round (i.e. a large operation, not a family-run place).

 

[The Yukon]

Hello all;
On the heels of a series of losses, souse and I find that there is nothing to tie us to home this year, and the thought of making a Christmas meal for 2 is just depressing...
So we are thinking to take a small portion of my mother's remains and the glittering fairy princess key fob I found in her purse and have named after her, and heading to Lisbon for the holidays. Our aim is to go via Fatima (and if we time it right/get lucky we would arrive there for Christmas Day... mass all that wonderful stuff). And then we would continue onward toward Porto, going as far as weather and accommodations will permit.
So... maybe @jungleboy can help out with this... Is it feasible? I know much will be closed, but will *all* be closed? We can go comfortably in a day up to about 33km (after that it's less fun). Prime distances are 25-28.... Hoping those distances will find us what we need. We do not require donative but would rather not have to hit a hotel every night... And we are hoping for 15-16 days on the ground.
I will take all advice into consideration.
Anyone else... please feel free to chime in.
Neither one of us has any other time available and this is really about fleeing the North American debacle of Commercemass to arrive somewhere both more serious and more joyful about the holiday.

December is a great month to start out from Lisbon. It was surprising that when I did this walk in December 2021, many albergues and hotels were open. Hopefully, my reflective link below gives you some ideas. Hotel Aleluia in Fatima was a highlight as far as a clean, affordable and friendly place to stay for a day of rain. Much of the weather that year made for a delightfully walkable trail.

You can also see that I meandered off the trail often after Albergue Moinho Garcia and its peaceful waterfall setting. There's a memorable path to the beautifully tiled church in Valega from there, which albergue owner Nikalous can show you on maps.me. If you carry on to the northwest from there, you can spend time walking along the ocean, especially after Espinho, a seaside town with reasonably priced lodging.

Typically, I buy a Portuguese sim card upon arriving at one of Portugal's international airports (or e-sims now). In December 21 and 22 they had a one month deal for tourists for just over 20 euros. It's very handy for phoning ahead to find lodging, which I often did a day or a few hours before arriving. You probably want to do that between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day.

Footnote to a recent thread about staying somewhere the first night after leaving Lisbon: I'm a huge fan of walking closer to 15 km the first day of any camino if possible. Google maps will show you some guest houses and hotels about that distance from Se Catedral in Lisbon. I eventually walked a couple km off the path to a hotel along a narrow bustling highway, but it was worth it to feel well rested and blister-free the second day.

Bom Caminho!

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/a-walking-journey-of-magnificence-and-safety-through-portugals-camino-in-december-2021.72596/

 

[Hans-Georg Goebel]

Are there any Airbnbs dotted along that route ?

did you looked at AIRBNB page?

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

did you looked at AIRBNB page?

Regardless… I don’t use AirBnB. Too much damage caused to local economies by it, so I stick to small, local, purpose-built tourist/pilgrim accommodations. I’m sure those interested in the AirBnB route can navigate to that platform…

 

[Hans-Georg Goebel]

Regardless… I don’t use AirBnB. Too much damage caused to local economies by it, so I stick to small, local, purpose-built tourist/pilgrim accommodations. I’m sure those interested in the AirBnB route can navigate to that platform…

I have good experiance with Airbnb, specially in Portugal

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

There are many small businesses that do use Airbnb rather than booking.com. Many people rent rooms on AirBnb like small b&bs used to do through signs in windows or through the local tourist office. I agree that the model of flats in many popular tourist spots is damaging but in many other places Airbnb offers small businesses opportunities that they might miss otherwise

That’s fine. I don’t use the platform and I am not about to start. AirBnB has ruined the previously quiet river on which I have my home, and the private road that I cut by hand with my father in the 80’s and have improved considerably since. My one single neighbour on the road sold to a jerk who lied about wanting a family cottage for his children to enjoy an iconic Canadian childhood and instead began renting out the home to as many as 17 people per week. The road is ruined, as is the previous peace. Some jerk listed my private acreage as a hiking trail on Google and it took several weeks to get it removed… all the while more cars rutting and washboarding my road.
I said I was not interested in AirBnB suggestions. Why do people continue to try to persuade me of precisely what I do not want? I do not support the *platform*. I won’t maintain it as a vehicle that destroys entire cities and economies in other locations.
All tourism is fraught, but I try not to participate in things I find irredeemable on a global scale.
Now… if anyone would care to return to suggestions for things to see and do and not-to-miss places to stay during a December walk from LIsbon to Porto, I‘m here for that.
Perhaps people who want to extol the virtues of AirBnB can do it in another thread so that I do not have to read in this one exactly what I do not want.

 

[Perambulating Griffin]

I have no intention to persuade you- that is your right to take issue and not use them but I simple wanted to provide another view as lots of people will read this thread.

Could it perhaps go in another thread?