Portuguese Way of St. James

The Portuguese Way of St. James is the second most popular variant of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela after the Camino Francés. Nevertheless, the Caminho Português is still a largely unknown path, where the flow of pilgrims is much smaller than on the Meseta of Castile. This is certainly due in no small part to the fact that there are no pilgrims' hostels on most of the route—from Lisbon to Porto. Here, the pilgrim must rely on hotels, guesthouses, or campsites. The route begins in Lisbon and initially follows the largest river on the Iberian Peninsula, the Rio Tejo, upstream via Santarém to Vila Nova de Barquinha. Here we leave the river and continue walking to Tomar. We cross the southern foothills of the Serra da Estrela and reach the old university town of Coimbra. From here it continues through rolling hills and many small towns and villages to Porto. Via Barcelos and Ponte de Lima, we finally reach the Portuguese-Spanish border at Valença. The first town in