Picked by our team
Towns worth discovering along the Camino de Santiago, chosen by our team. Open one to see its history and sights, and where to stay.
43 towns on the Camino Portugués Central
View on the mapÁgueda is a classic stage end on the Camino Portugués Central, 295.3 kilometres from Lisbon after a flat day through the Bairrada. In summer, colourful umbrellas hang over the lanes; the rest of the year it is a quiet riverside town. Tomorrow brings one of the prettiest stages before Porto.
Camino Portugués CentralFátima: Caminho do NorteAlbergaria-a-Velha carries a pilgrim hostel in its name: in 1117 Countess Teresa, mother of Portugal's first king, had a house for the poor and for pilgrims set up here. Today it is a small town after a short, pretty stage, with a good municipal hostel. Tomorrow will be long.
Camino Portugués CentralFátima: Caminho do NorteAlvaiázere is the reward after a dry stretch: 31.8 kilometres from Tomar, lots of ups and downs, hardly a bar. The little Vila, with its town charter from 1200, has an Arabic name that tells of a falconer, and it eats grass peas. An afternoon is enough, and tomorrow it's only 13 kilometres to Ansião.
Camino Portugués CentralAnadia calls itself the capital of Espumante: in the middle of the Bairrada it lies 8.7 km beyond Mealhada, with a wine museum and the spa town of Curia right next door. A break is enough, for a coffee and some shopping, because it is still 16.6 km to Águeda, and the next pilgrim bed is just beyond the town.
Camino Portugués CentralFátima: Caminho do NorteAnsião lies on the Nabão, and the town likes to explain its name with a legend: the holy Queen Isabel is said to have given alms here to an old man, an "ancião". After 13 short kilometres from Alvaiázere, an afternoon is enough for the bridge, the pillory and the church. A pilgrim bed is only to be found north of the town.
Camino Portugués CentralFátima: Caminho do NorteArcade is the oyster capital at the inner end of the Ría de Vigo: for many, the stage from O Porriño ends here, and the routes from Porto already continue together, with a good 78 kilometres left to Santiago. Oysters come raw, in escabeche or in an empanada, and there is a waterfront promenade at the mouth of the Verdugo. One evening is enough.
Senda LitoralCamino Portugués Central+1Azambuja is the threshold to the Ribatejo: the town belongs to the district of Lisbon, but is the only place there that did not belong to the old province of Estremadura. After 61.1 kilometres from Lisbon you sleep here in a real pilgrim hostel, for €10. Rest up, because tomorrow there are 32.5 flat kilometres to Santarém.
Camino Portugués CentralCaminho do TejoBalugães is the halfway point between Barcelos and Ponte de Lima: 15.3 kilometres are behind you, 17.7 still ahead. Just before the village you cross the old Ponte das Tábuas down to the Rio Neiva, then climb to the church of São Martinho, with its rest area and fountain. A break is enough, then it's on into the Lima valley.
Camino Portugués CentralFátima: Caminho do NorteBarcelos is the town of the rooster that crowed for a pilgrim: over a fourteenth-century bridge you enter the old seat of the counts, where the stone cross of the legend stands in the palace ruins. Every Thursday since 1412 the market has filled the Campo da Feira. An afternoon is enough, because tomorrow brings 33 kilometres.
Camino Portugués CentralFátima: Caminho do NorteTop rated
The stays pilgrims rate highest right now, across every Camino.
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