Camino Portugués
25.3 km, 227 m up and 257 m down, through 13 places, 2 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from The Central Route from Porto. Most are too small to sleep in — a fountain, a chapel, a bar that may or may not be open — but they are what the day is actually made of.
The sprawl from Porto's centre runs all the way to Giao — 25 km of continuous urban development. This is more than enough walking on hard surfaces, and it's not uncommon for pilgrims to bypass the worst of it by taking t…
The split between the Central and Coastal (not litoral) routes occurs at the Chapel of the Ramada Alta, a small church roughly 1.5km from where the pedestrian zone ended. Walk around the church, keeping it on your left, and follow the road behind the church. At the fork, turn right. Street signs indicate that you have left Largo Ramada Alta and are now on Rua de Nove de Julio.The road ends at apartments, which you pass under. Cross the road and cross under the apartments opposite as well. Where you emerge from the second set of apartments, turn left.This road (still the Nove de Julio) merges with another. Keep going straight. Eventually, you will pass under the highway. From here there is nothing to do but keep on going straight. You will eventually pass under another highway, where the camino splits into two distinct options.
The Metro of Porto Line C (Linha da Maia) affords an option to walking the most durable part of the camino leaving Porto.
A hamlet in the suburban sprawl north of Porto. No services on the camino.
The Metro Line C stops here twice — first at the Araujo station, then at the Custio station, which is closer to the camino. This is the practical point to rejoin the route if you took the metro out of Porto.
Entering Moreira, turn right at the cemetery.The camino will take a right-left-right a short distance on, and the arrows are painted low on the curb. Whether you follow them, or you miss them, you will arrive at the main road. Turn right there. A Pingo Doce and a Lidl tell you that you are on the correct road.From here it is a straight road to the Zona Industrial of Maia. Turn left when you get there.
An industrial zone. The Metro's Zona Industrial stop is nearby but not on the camino. Pingo Doce and Lidl along the road provide supplies. Turn left when you reach the zone.
The Metro of Porto Line C (Linha da Maia) has a stop called Zona Industrial but it is not along the camino.
Barranha marks a welcome change in scenery. The congestion and noise of Porto are finally behind you, though you're still on paved or cobbled paths. The walking improves from here.
If you wish to spend the night here, turn left. Otherwise, keep on straight through the intersection, passing a few bars on the way out of town.
A small kids' park and a pretty but disused square offer shade for a rest. The church is up the road to your right; the camino passes straight through.
Turn right and head towards Igreja.
At Gião - Joudina the camino has followed alongside the narrow N306 for about 2km.
The road narrows ahead, and the going was sufficiently dangerous for the camino to be rerouted to the east along a much quieter road. The distance added is 1km, but the route is pretty enough and peaceful enough to feel shorter than along the road.
There are also plenty of bars along the way, and the albergue of Vairão is best reached via the detour as well.
Public restrooms next to the church. The camino passes through on the detour between Giao and Vairao.
A hamlet on the road between Igreja and Vairao. No services.
A hamlet on the approach to Vairao. No services.
Shortly before arriving at the Monastery the camino turns left sharply. Follow that road 500m, and turn right onto a trail through the forest.
Where the forest ends turn right, and at the next big road (N318), turn left again into Vilarinho.
The camino follows the road out of town in the direction of Fontaínhas and keeps to the left at the fork, leaving the busy road just before a curve. It passes through a small hamlet and then crosses back over the road. Old arrows indicate that the camino continues along the road, but this way should only be followed if the bridge at Ponte do Ave is not passable.
The camino goes straight across the road to a set of stairs that take you down to the river.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 166 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 26.9 km.
Esta entidad ha sido beneficiaria de una ayuda del Programa de incentivos a la movilidad eficiente y sostenible (MOVES III), gestionado por la Xunta de Galicia a través del Instituto Enerxético de Galicia (INEGA) en el marco del Real Decreto 266/2021, y cofinanciada por la Unión Europea — NextGenerationEU, dentro del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia.