If you’ve already hiked a Camino and you want to hike the Portuguese Camino, this Lisbon to Santiago itinerary is for you. It’s meant for those of you who already know how to hike and can put in some distance.
The Portuguese Camino lends naturally to a quicker hiking pace based on where the albergues are located–especially between Lisbon and Porto. You’ll have more options north of Porto because most people start there.
However, if you’re looking to explore more of Portugal with fewer hikers, then the Lisbon to Porto stretch may interest you.
I hiked the entire route in the fall of 2024 and had a blast. Because I hiked with my Mom, for parts of it, we went slower than this itinerary. However, if I was hiking solo or with my partner, this is how we would have hiked it.
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List of Contents
19-Day Fast-Paced Lisbon to Santiago Itinerary for the Portuguese Camino
Quick Logistics
📲 Get an eSIM through Airalo or Yesim
🛏️ Grab a place to stay in Lisbon. We liked the Poet’s Inn Hostel!
This 19-day itinerary is for those of you who can hike a further distance.
Most of these hiking days have a pace of 17-23 miles per day (27-37 kilometers). A few days are shorter based on albergue availability, and one day pushes 24 miles. Should you not want to do the 24-mile day, it can be split into two smaller days with room for town exploration.
If that’s too much for you, check out my Porto to Santiago Itinerary at a slower pace!
🚨 Please note that this Lisbon to Santiago itinerary follows the central route from Lisbon to Porto and then takes the coastal route from Porto to Santiago. In my opinion, after hiking it, this is the best of both worlds.
Once you leave Porto on the coastal route, you will eventually return to the central route (no matter what) at Redondela, Spain, for the last 52 miles (84 kilometers).
However, you have two options to get back to the central route. You will decide in Caminha, Portugual. There, you can either cut inland toward the central route and stay in Portugal longer OR take a ferry into Spain and follow the Spanish coast up to Vigo and Redondela.
The following Lisbon to Santiago Itinerary will be split into four parts:
- Lisbon to Porto
- Porto to Caminha
- Caminha to Santiago via cutting inland in Portugal
- OR Caminha to Santiago via the Spanish Coast
Lisbon to Porto
This section is less popular than from Porto to Santiago. Thus, it has fewer options for albergues. You’ll find more hostels that act as albergues but also accept other people.
➕ The Pros
- There are fewer people who hike this stretch, making it less crowded.
- You’ll experience more of Portugal–otherwise, when you start from Porto, half of your Portuguese Camino will be in Spain.
- Southern Portugal has a different climate and experience that you miss if you start in Porto.
- The towns that you pass through are less touristy and you can have a more authentic Portuguese experience.
➖ The Cons
- There is significant pavement walking between Lisbon and Porto.
- Southern Portugal has a bit more of a desert vibe without a lot of shade–we brought our own shade with our sun/rain umbrellas, and that became our gear MVP of the trip!
- You don’t always have the option to split the stages up without taking two very short days.
Below, you’ll see each town you’ll stay in using this Lisbon to Santiago itinerary, a suggested stay if we stayed in that town, and the miles/kilometers to the next town.
🚨 If you search for accommodation based on town, make sure you check the map function on Booking to make sure it’s in the correct place. A mile or two outside of the town can really suck on foot if you’re not planning for it!
The suggested stay might be blank if we didn’t stay in that town or if we didn’t like where we stayed. For a complete list of everywhere we stayed on the Portuguese Camino with notes, click here.
| Town | Suggested Stay (that we stayed in) | Miles/Kilometers to next town |
| Lisbon | Poet’s Inn Hostel | 20.3m/32.6km |
| Vila Franca de Xira | Hostel DP – Appartments & Suites | 13.0m/20.9km |
| Azambuja | Albergue de Peregrinos de Azambuja | 20.8m/33.5km |
| Santarém | N1 Hostel Appartments & Suites | 21.0m/33.8km |
| Golegã | 19.0m/30.6km | |
| Tomar | Hostel 2300 | 21.0m/33.8km |
| Alvaiázere | Albergaria Pinheiro’s *Got bed bugs here | 19.9m/32.0km |
| Rabaçal | Albergue O Bonito | 18.7km/31.0km |
| Coimbra | Coimbra Portagem Hostel & Zero Box Lounge | 15.7m/25.3km |
| Sernadelo | Albergue de Peregrinos de Sernadelo – Hilarios | 14.54m/23.4km |
| Agueda | 22.3m/35.8km | |
| Oliveira de Azeméis | Porto Je T’aime – Solar São João | 17.33m/27.9km |
| Grijo | 9.5m/15.3km | |
| Porto | 19.6m/31.6km |
Porto To Caminha
This section of the Lisbon to Santiago itinerary takes the coastal route between Porto and Caminha.
In Caminha, you have a choice to walk inland toward Valença and stay in Portugal longer. This reconnects you with the central route in Valença, where you will cross into Spain in Tui.
Or, you can take the ferry to the Spanish coast, continuing on the coastal route until Redondela.
👉 Either way, the coastal route ends in Redondela, and you will be on the central route until Santiago. That is unless you choose to add the spiritual route addition later on, which is not covered in this post.
We thoroughly enjoyed the coastal route and walking near the ocean for many days. I walked just slightly off the path onto the beach several times and loved the feeling of sand between my toes. Even if you don’t take your shoes off, the sound of the waves in the background of the walk is very calming.
📌 Remember: If you search for accommodation based on town, make sure you check the map function on Booking to make sure it’s in the correct place. A mile or two outside of the town can really suck on foot if you’re not planning for it!
| Town | Suggested Stay (that we stayed in) | Miles/Kilometers to next town |
| Porto | 19.6m/31.6km | |
| Labruge | Albergue de S. Tiago | 17.3m/27.9km |
| Apúlia | 16.5m/26.5km | |
| Anha | 20.2m/32.5km | |
| Caminha | Albergue Santiago de Caminha | 18.4m/29.6km Route #1 15.7m/25.3km Route #2 |
Route Option #1: Cutting inland from Caminha
This is the route option that Karma, my Mom, and I took when we hiked the Portuguese Camino in the fall of 2014. We LOVED it. One of our favorite towns on the Portuguese Camino on this Lisbon to Santiago itinerary was Valença, Portugal.
There were two main reasons that we had for taking this route:
- There was a downgraded hurricane coming toward the Portuguese and Spanish coasts with heavy rain and some wind. We opted to go inland to get more wind protection and some higher ground.
- We also wanted to see as much of Portugal as possible. None of us had been to Portugal before, so that was high on our goals.
From what I heard after Redondela, route option #2 up the Spanish coast was a beautiful option they all enjoyed.
Basic facts:
- Route option #1 is 6 miles or 10 kilometers shorter than route #2
- You can usually only take the ferry across the river from Caminha in the morning if you choose option #2.
- Either way, you’ll see an increase in people who start at the Spanish border to do just over 100 kilometers to Santiago (the minimum to get your pilgrim passport).
📌 Remember: If you search for accommodation based on town, make sure you check the map function on Booking to make sure it’s in the correct place. A mile or two outside of the town can really suck on foot if you’re not planning for it!
| Town | Suggested Stay (that we stayed in) | Miles/Kilometers to next town |
| Valença | Hostel Bulwark | 21.6m/34.8km |
| Redondela | 22.8m/36.6km | |
| Briallos | 14.4m/23.2km | |
| Padrón | Hostel and Rooms O Albergue de Meiga | 14.9m/23.9km |
| Santiago de Compostela | Hostel As Marguaritas | Congrats! |
Route Option #2: Ferry to the Spanish coast
This option would follow the coastal route in its entirety to reconnect with the central route in Redondela (between Vigo and Pontevedra on this Lisbon to Santiago itinerary).
We did not take the beginning of this route, but this is how Karma and I would have broken up the stages had we been on our own and had good weather.
📸 Above is a photo from our stay in Teo at Albergue Aldea de Pedreira, which turned out to be one of our favorite albergues. Stopping here before Santiago allowed us to step out of the herd of pilgrims and arrive in Santiago before the main herd the next day.
🚨 This does have the longest day on this itinerary. Between Mougás and Vigo is just shy of 24 miles (just under 40km). If that’s too much, you can split that into two days by staying in Ramallosa. This would split the long day into two short days, adding an extra day overall.
📌 Remember: If you search for accommodation based on town, make sure you check the map function on Booking to make sure it’s in the correct place. A mile or two outside of the town can really suck on foot if you’re not planning for it!
| Town | Suggested Stay (that we stayed in) | Miles/Kilometers to next town |
| Mougás | 23.8m/38.4km | |
| Vigo | 20.6m/33.2km | |
| Pontevedra | Turoqua Hostel | 13.2m/21.2km |
| Caldas de Reis | Albergue Vintecatro *This is about a mile before Caldas de Reis. | 19.3m/31.1km |
| Teo | Albergue Aldea da Pedreira | 8.7m/14km |
| Santiago de Compostela | Hostel As Marguaritas | Congrats! |
Final Thoughts + Continuation to Finisterre/Muxía
I hope you’ve found this Lisbon to Santiago itinerary helpful! This is the pace that I would hike as a seasoned thru-hiker. While I can do more miles on trails in the US, based on the amount of pavement, I think it’s wise to keep it sub-25-mile days on Caminos.
However, if you’ve chosen to walk from Lisbon to Santiago instead of just from Porto, you’re likely in it for the distance.
If ending in a city at a cathedral isn’t your thing, I HIGHLY recommend hiking another 56 miles (90 kilometers) to finish in Finisterre or Muxía. On each of my four Caminos I did this, and it’s a much more peaceful finish.
