Walking Porto to Santiago and have a few days ahead of that

[Walsh Camino]

We will be flying in to Lisbon, and plan to take the train to Porto for the camino to Santiago. We will have a few days to walk ahead of Porto, so I am seeking suggestions for where to walk those days between Lisbon and Porto.

Judy

 

[jsalt]

Hi Judy, Fatima, Tomar, Conimbriga and Coimbra are places that are all worth including between Lisbon and Porto.
Jill

 

[volleyjanice]

We have similar plans for this August. When is your trip Judy? I would appreciate following this thread to benefit from the shared wisdom. I am finding myself dismayed at the flight costs I am seeing right now. We will be flying Victoria BC, Canada to Lisbon. With our height I really can't forego prebooking a seat with more leg room but the prices are seeming extremely high. A flight to Paris would be about $500.00 cheaper per person. Unfortunately that isn't where we have been planning to go!

 

[HeidiL]

Conimbriga to Porto would be about six days - we're doing in February to fill the gap between our Porto-Santiago (2011) and Lisbon - Conimbriga (2016-17) walks.

Conimbriga has the most wonderful set of Roman ruins, and a great, pilgrim-friendly museum with a good restaurant...

 

[Walsh Camino]

We have similar plans for this August. When is your trip Judy? I would appreciate following this thread to benefit from the shared wisdom.

We arrive in Lisbon on May 24

 

[Linda Fantillo]

Hi Volley Janice. Have you looked at the prices with Air Transat from Vancouver to Paris and then Easy Jet to Lisbon? Am hoping to start from Porto in September with friends. The price was $766 Cdn. all in and then about 49Euros ($75.00??) from Paris to Porto. I have flown Air Transat two times now and as far as an economy flight, have no complaints. Happy planning. Linda

 

[jmcarp]

Unless you have your heart set on walking those additional days, both Lisbon and Porto are beautiful, historic cities with lots of "touristy" things to do.

 

[Walsh Camino]

Yes that's certainly an option and we'll probably get plenty of warm-up walking in doing that. From my past caminos I know that I finally get my rhythm on the camino at about 10 days and since this one is much shorter than what I have experienced before, I fear it will be time to quit before I am ready!

 

[Jon Hebertson]

We will be flying in to Lisbon, and plan to take the train to Porto for the camino to Santiago. We will have a few days to walk ahead of Porto, so I am seeking suggestions for where to walk those days between Lisbon and Porto.

Judy

Hi Judy,

Definitely go to Tomar and Coimbra. I would throw Agueda into the mix too!

Cheers,
Jon

 

[miriamaok]

I started atCoimbra which took me 5 days to get to Porto - Mealhada, Agueda, Albergaria de Nova, San Joao then Vila Nova de Gaia and then Matasinhos. I had spent a few days in Porto before going down to Coimbra. I loved the quietness and solitude before arriving in Porto. It got fairly busy after that.

 

[jmcarp]

...From my past caminos I know that I finally get my rhythm on the camino at about 10 days and since this one is much shorter than what I have experienced before, I fear it will be time to quit before I am ready!

That was our experience as well.

 

[islandwalker]

Hi Judy,
We've just been talking about Wikiloc in another post and it occurs to me that (if you haven't already used it) it might be helpful to you in planning out some walking routes for areas you are interested in. Enter the name of the area you are investigating in the search bar, or you can search on a map. The more you zoom in, the more trails that appear. Sometimes you have to zoom in far more than you would have thought to make all the trails that start in a certain location appear. Another clue to good trails nearby is that when you go to the page for an individual track, nearby tracks will appear in a grey box on the right-hand side.
Elaine

 

[Rina22]

We have similar plans for this August. When is your trip Judy? I would appreciate following this thread to benefit from the shared wisdom. I am finding myself dismayed at the flight costs I am seeing right now. We will be flying Victoria BC, Canada to Lisbon. With our height I really can't forego prebooking a seat with more leg room but the prices are seeming extremely high. A flight to Paris would be about $500.00 cheaper per person. Unfortunately that isn't where we have been planning to go!

Hi Victoria BC. I live in Victoria as well and did the Senda de Litoral last May/June. I flew Lufthansa from Vacouver to Frankfurt Germany then into Porto. Lufthansa was great. I saw a good price posted and went to Flight Centre which did all my arrangements. I booked a year ago at this time of the year so hoping you will find a good price. Buen Camino

 

[surya8]

Hi Judy, is you have time in/around Lisbon I'd head to Cascais and Sintra. It's only an hour from Lisbon and has a very relaxed feel about it. The area in between has plenty of beautiful walks, from man-made parks to dunes and cliffs to wild forests. I loved walking off the beaten tracks in Sintra, the area between Sintra and Cabo da Roca is full if trails. I once went to see the Montserrate Palace and when finished just crossed the road near the bus stop and headed into the woods. So it's possible to combine sighseeing and hiking. The other lovely walk is along the ocean front from Caisais to Guincho beach. Don't miss the huge park in Cascais - one of my fav places there. Guimcho is all about the dunes. You can take a bus back to Cascais from there.

 

[surya8]

If you decide to walk between Lisbon and Porto I'd advise to get a credencial in Lisbon and walk for a couple of days between Tomar and Coimbra. The most breathtaking scenery is there. After Coimbra not so much. The distances are huge there between towns but it's worth it. There is a great cork oak forest/farm there that you walk through. Haven't seen anything like that ever on the way. And the wild forests as well, not the eucalyptus man-made ones but made of tall mixed trees and thick shrubbery, we saw hunters there. There is a lake on the way after Tomar, very rare thing in Portugal, lakes.

 

[Walsh Camino]

If you decide to walk between Lisbon and Porto I'd advise to get a credencial in Lisbon and walk for a couple of days between Tomar and Coimbra. The most breathtaking scenery is there. After Coimbra not so much. The distances are huge there between towns but it's worth it. There is a great cork oak forest/farm there that you walk through. Haven't seen anything like that ever on the way. And the wild forests as well, not the eucalyptus man-made ones but made of tall mixed trees and thick shrubbery, we saw hunters there. There is a lake on the way after Tomar, very rare thing in Portugal, lakes.

Surya,
Thanks for the great ideas...exactly the info I was looking for.
Judy

 

[surya8]

Surya,
Thanks for the great ideas...exactly the info I was looking for.
Judy

Mind you if you decide to walk there in the mid of summer make sure you have enough water with you. Sometimes you walk for many kilometers on end without a cafe in site. It's not yet as well catered as the route from Porto.