Why you should choose the Portuguese Way for your Camino de Santiago

24.10.2023 - 23:17 / lonelyplanet.com

Almost two years after I completed it, my mind frequently wanders back to my time on the Portuguese Way of the Camino de Santiago.

Before you start planning, you can be certain that you’ll never be able to forget this journey.

The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage to what is believed to be the final resting place of St John the Apostle in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. For centuries, religious pilgrims have followed the Way of St James in search of spiritual fulfillment. Today, people have a wide variety of reasons for taking on these hundreds of kilometers by foot, from weight loss to a simple desire to slow down and be more mindful.

There are many paths to get to Santiago. I took the 260km (161-mile) journey between Porto and Santiago, allowing me to see villages in both Portugal and Spain along the way. 

When my thoughts drift to my epic adventure – which I did as a solo traveler – I’m flooded with many feelings all at once. I think about the luxury of waking up each day with my sole task simply walking to the next gorgeous town and enjoying the scenery, from the stunning Portuguese coast to Roman bridges. How when I walked through the vineyards of one stretch of the Camino, I heard a choir singing. 

Then there are the people I met along the way. The three brothers from Colorado who kept me laughing the first half of the trek, who were walking to celebrate the middle brother’s 60th birthday. The Australian family with whom I enjoyed a bottle of wine and steak dinner on a patio in Pontevedra on our rest day. I remember turning the corner and spotting a retired couple from the UK I had met at one of the guesthouses now having a coffee on a restaurant terrace and thinking to myself, Well, where else do I have to be? – before joining them. 

All at once, I’ll hear the melody of the bagpipes that suddenly appeared on one trail. Or get emotional picturing the unexpected beauty of towns like Ponte de Lima and Valença, which now hold tender spots in my heart. The wonder of buying cookies from cloistered nuns in Tui. The pride I felt when I took a photo of my feet straddling the border between Spain and Portugal – realizing how far I had come and yet how far I still had to travel. 

For two weeks, my mind stilled into a sort of meditative state, free from the anxiety that normally buzzes through my head. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done – but it also filled me with so much peace that I yearn to get back. When the nostalgia sweeps over me, a new question rattles in my mind.

Should I do it again?

You’re probably here because you spotted this on the 2024 Best in Travel and are wondering if you should do it, too. 

This year, more than 337,000 pilgrims have walked the Camino already, with more than 100,000