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 mapOliveira de Azeméis is a milestone, literally: a Roman milestone stands on the main square, and it is still 43.6 km to Porto. Above the town lies the La Salette park with a chapel said to have sprung from a vow for rain. There is no pilgrim hostel.
Camino Portugués CentralFátima: Caminho do NorteO Milladoiro is the last stop before the finish: a suburb of tower blocks, 7.7 kilometres from the cathedral. Its name tells of pilgrims who saw the towers here for the first time and knelt down. A Romanesque chapel, a hostel with a social mission, and tomorrow morning you are in Santiago.
Camino Portugués CentralCaminho Português da Costa+1O Porriño is a town of granite: Antonio Palacios, the architect of Madrid's Palacio de Cibeles, was born here in 1874, and his town hall stands by the Camino like a small castle. According to Camino Ninja it is about 102 kilometres to Santiago. An afternoon is enough, but take the river variant in the morning.
Camino Portugués CentralCaminho Português da CostaPadrón is where the story of the Camino begins: this is where the boat carrying the Apostle's body is said to have landed, and the stone it was tied to lies beneath the altar of the Iglesia de Santiago. According to Camino Ninja, the cathedral is still 25.3 kilometres away. An afternoon is enough.
Camino Portugués CentralCaminho Português da Costa+3Pontecesures is where the routes come together: here you cross the Ulla, here the boat of the Variante Espiritual docks, and from here it is only 28.7 kilometres to Santiago. A cross recovered from the river stands on the harbour square. A stop, not a stage end; Padrón is 3.4 kilometres further on.
Variante EspiritualCamino Portugués Central+2Ponte de Lima is the place where you are not supposed to forget: at this bridge over the Lima, which the Romans took for the river of forgetting, a general is said to have called his soldiers by name. The town received its charter in 1125. The pilgrim hostel costs €5, and tomorrow the climb over the Labruja awaits.
Camino Portugués CentralCamino Torres+2Ponte Sampaio is a village at a bridge: the way crosses the Verdugo over its ten arches, and here, in June 1809, the last battle against Napoleon's army in Galicia was fought. Beyond it begins the Brea Vella, a stretch of old Roman road through the woods. 77.2 kilometres left to Santiago; a short stop is enough.
Caminho Português da CostaCamino Portugués Central+1Pontevedra is the last big city on the Camino Portugués before Santiago, and it has won walking back: the old town belongs to pedestrians. At its heart stands the church of the Pilgrim Virgin, built in the shape of a scallop shell. Here you choose between the main route and the Variante Espiritual. A rest day is worth it.
Camino Portugués CentralCaminho Português da Costa+2Every year more than 50,000 pilgrims start the Camino Portugués in Porto, and those coming from Lisbon take their first long break here. The old town on the slopes above the Douro is steep, beautiful and busy. From the cathedral you walk to Santiago along the coast or inland, 244 to 283 kilometres away.
Camino Portugués CentralCaminho Português da Costa+3Top rated
The stays pilgrims rate highest right now, across every Camino.
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