Camino Portugués
Lisbon-Oporto-Santiago
640km (approx)
Camino Portugués/Caminho Português is a generic term for various routes from Portugal.
The main route Lisbon-Santarém-Tomar-Coimbra-Porto-Barcelos-Tuy-Santiago is now complete. Called the Caminho Português Central or Camino Central Portugués, a guide in either Castilian or Portuguese is available for download from the website of the Galician Amigos. See website of Associação dos Amigos do Caminho de Santiago do Norte de Portugal (Porto/Maia) for detailed mapping of the route between Lisbon and Porto.
Between Lisbon and Santarém, and between Ansião and Porto, this route is coincident with the routes to Fátima being developed by the Centro Nacional de Cultura, and marked with blue arrows in the direction of Fátima and yellow in the direction of Santiago. So, between Santarém and Ansião, pilgrims have a choice between a blue/yellow route via Fátima and a yellow route via Tomar.
From Porto, the Amigos in northern Portugal have created 2 routes to Ponte de Lima and on to the border at Valença de Minho, the Central one via Barcelos (126km), and a variant via Braga, called the Caminho Português do Interior (140km). For an outline of these, see the site of the Associação dos Amigos do Caminho de Santiago do Norte de Portugal (Porto/Maia); for more detailed maps, description and photos of the main route, see the site of the Associação dos Amigos do Caminho Português de Santiago (Ponte de Lima). There is further information on the stretch in Paredes de Coura on the website of the Camara Municipal.
These routes continue on as the Camino Portugués from Tuy via Pontevedra and Padrón to Santiago (97km).
The Portuguese section of the Camino Portugués de la Costa from Porto via Viana do Castelo to Caminha is not yet marked. Marking is however complete on the Galician section, which runs from A Guarda via the monastery at Oia to Vigo, joining the Central route at Redondela. This route is also known as the Camino Monacal and according to a local tradition was the pilgrimage route used by Thomas à Becket.
In addition, another route, the Caminho Português do Norte/Camino Portugués del Norte, runs from Barcelos via Lanheses to the Minho at Vila Nova de Cerveira, continuing on to Gondomar and the coastal route at Vigo.
Confraternity of St James produces English: guide | factsheet