Portugal
Fisherman's Trail
We walked 110 miles, 8,500+ feet, in 9 days on a very well marked trail. Started in Porto Covo ending in Sagres. Walked on average 12 miles a day mostly along cliff side with gorgeous views of either beaches or ocean with dramatic rocks and shear cliffs. Some inland trails through fields and / or forests. Some sections pretty deep sand. Most of it very doable, a few tricky sections with steep ups and downs. We got lucky with the weather. Only walked in rain one day and another day avoided rain with a late start. Trails weren’t crowded. Lots of German hikers some Italians and other Europeans. Didn’t meet any Americans. Everyone was very friendly. The towns were small, but not too small, and the hikes were long, but not too long. This, for us, was a great test to see if we would like hiking inn to inn over multiple days… and the answer was a resounding yes!!
Towns were all very charming. White washed houses with color trim of blue, yellow or red. All have red tile roofs. Handful of restaurants and shops. Most restaurants open at 7 or 7:30pm, but we were lucky to always find some open at 6pm.
Accommodations: Booked all our accommodations via booking.com or Airbnb. All of our lodging except for one were right on the trail or super close which is helpful after a long day of walking.
Daily flow: Typically leave a town after breakfast around 10am arriving in the next town between 3pm -5pm. For us, perfect timing to take a shower, catch up on life, and then head to dinner. Cheap prices with good wine.
Equipment:
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Trail running shoes with gaiters (to keep out the sand) worked well.
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Carried REI 40L packs. Loved the integrated camel back (1.5 liters), structure of waist belt and chest strap.
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Packed light rain jacket (which we used), light jacket (which we used a couple of nights when wind picked up), sandals (life saver to switch into out of our hiking shoes), snacks and extra water. Bring whatever you need to ensure your shoes don’t cause blisters (e.g., thin socks under normal socks, Vaseline or body butter, talcum powder, etc.) and blister treatment just in case (e.g., mole skin, etc.)
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Sunscreen is critical as sun is super intense and no shade
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Most days we did not need toilet paper, but good to carry. Most days we did come across proper toilets.
Luggage transfer: We used Vicentina transfers. They were reasonable, it was easy and seamless. Didn’t ever even see them (picked up sometime after 9:00 AM), but bags were always magically waiting for us at our next place.
Good resource: This blog (Stingy nomad) was a fantastic resource as it enabled us to plan 9 days on our own.
Cost:
ARRIVAL - Porto Covo
Took the Rede Expresso bus from Terminal Rodoviario de Sete Rios in Lisbon to Port Covo. Bus station was on the outskirts of town. Easiest (and cheap) for us to just take an Uber to bus station, rather than try to figure out the local bus or trolley. Little over two hour ride from Lisbon. Air conditioning and comfortable seats (unavailable and locked out toilet -only toilet in bus terminal was pay toilet). Bought tickets a few days in advance and had assigned seats. Very tight overhead space. Need to put larger bags underneath bus.
Arrived at Porto Covo around 4pm. Main Street is five blocks long pedestrian only street leading to the beach Lots of little restaurants and shops. White House’s with blue and red trim.
Not much open for dinner and we were hungry, so ended up eating at Manjerico Pizza Point, which is a food truck at Mute hostel. You can bring in your pizza, buy a bottle of wine and head to the rooftop for an awesome view of the ocean.
Stayed at Casa de Porto Covo Guest House 👌. Perfect location. Tiny room and bathroom. Clean and we had AC and English TV, so not complaining.
DAY 1 - Porto Covo - Vila Nova de Milfontes
Hike: 12 miles, walking 5 1/2 hours
Let the trek begin
Beautiful coast line walk. Lots of deep sand to walk through. Today was rated difficult but for us it was very doable. Just plan to slog through lots of sand. Tight fitting gaiters to shoes very helpful to avoid shoes filling with sand every 20 minutes. Definitely bring lots of water. We thought we had lots, and finished ours. Trail signs easy to follow. Great first day.
Vila Nova de Milfontes is bigger than Porto Covo. Found “Stress free” restaurant for dinner at 5:30pm (early dinners continued to be hard to find, but available). Shrimp Pasta and chocolate torte very good.
Hotel was fine - Alojamentos Vitinho 👌. Larger room and bathroom than night before. No AC. Too hot. Nice host. Location to get onto the bridge next day was very good. Luggage waiting in our room.
DAY 2 - Vila Nova de Milfontes to Cavaleiro
Hike: 13.5 miles, walking 6 1/4 hours
Mixture of fields, forest and amazing cliff side views. Did also walk one section on the beach. Lots of sand today. Hiked an extra few miles, since recommended town for stop today had no available lodging when we looked.
First of many cork trees
Stayed at Travessa Do Cavaleiro, apartamento (Airbnb). Right on the route. Bedroom upstairs, but was able to open large deck doors to cool it off. Large living space downstairs. Bonuses we had a washing machine and were a block from the only restaurants in town. Not great restaurant ambiance, but awesome food.
DAY 3 - Cavaleiro to Zambujeira do Mar
Hike: 7.6 miles, walked a little over 3 hours. Much in the rain. Glad we had rain covers for packs and rain jackets with hoods. Thin shorts worked well. Shoes got soaked.
Sunshine before the rain
Stayed at Alojamento Local Mira Mar (via booking.com). Great location right on the main pedestrian street and hiking route. Found some sun to dry out shoes and were able to catch a sunset nearby. Good size room and huge bed. AC. Bountiful breakfast included.
DAY 4 - Zambujeira do Mar to the Odeceixe
Hike: 12.45 miles, walking 5 hours and 45 minutes
This was the first trickier day with some steeper ups and downs. Needed a helping hand to clear some sections.
Coast views continued to amaze.
Dinner at Ao Largo outside on a lovely square. We basked in the sun at 6pm and had a delicious salad and tuna sashimi, decent house wine, and tasty dessert for only 40 euros. Stayed at Casa Morais. Small room with no AC. Charming little old lady who speaks zero English was our host. Typical Portuguese breakfast included.
DAY 5 - Odeceixe to Aljezur
Hike: 14.25 miles in a little under 6 hours
Today was only a little coastline; mostly inland and flat gravel roads.
Entering the town of Aljezur (which is bigger than the others thus far) there was a very steep long dirt road downhill
Stayed at Quarto Nº1/Casa de banho privada fora do quarto (Airbnb) 👌. Clean. Pictures as expected. Bonus balcony to sit on after a long day of walking. Up early this morning with the roosters, church bell, nearby road and dogs barking. No AC, so open window let in the noise.
Ate dinner and breakfast at Cafetaria Da Maria, ten minute walk near hilltop church. Portions were tremendous, good and reasonably priced. Breakfast held us over to dinner.
DAY 6 - Aljezur to Arrifana
Hike: Just under 13 miles in 5 and half hours
First part of hike had some steep ups and downs but on dirt roads so very doable. Lots of fishermen on the shear cliffs -looked like a long way to reel up a catch. Walked a lot on main roads with speeding traffic and minimal shoulder. Gorgeous coastline and beaches midway through. Last few miles lots of sand.
Stayed At Utopia guest house. About 30 minutes off the trail, but the lovely pool and nice large room with balcony made up for it. Note: In the morning having to walk an additional 1.5 miles to the start of the trail, wished we had booked something closer to trail.
Dinner in the garden of Arte Bianca. Portuguese seem to love pizzerias. Food and wine were great and we loved that we could eat at 6pm.
DAY 7 - Arrifana to Carrapateira
Hike: About 14 miles in a little over 6 hours
We hiked the extra 1.5 miles to get to start. The trail is normally very well marked but somehow we lost it above the beach. We talked to someone that lived in the town for 18 years and he said to walk down the beach with all its surf schools. He advised we could then climb up and rejoin the path, so we did but would not recommend climbing up the cliff for the faint of heart. It was very steep although the views along this section were gorgeous
We did eventually hook up to the fisherman’s trail which was mostly inland across rolling hills, fields and small towns. Lots of gravel roads with some steep ascents and decents. Lots of deep sand, one car width roads that a couple jeeps were actually driving. We walked through one area that had significant burns from a fire in August. Of course we encountered several more miles of walking in the sand before the last mile or so of the walk that was on a main road without a shoulder and the cars driving by very fast. Fortunately only 20 minutes of that.
Lodging - Casa da Olívia 👎Not my favorite. On the trail and clean but had a smell, rough sheets and towels. Lots of street noise and no AC.
DAY 8 - Carrapateira to Villa do Bispo
Hike: 10 miles in a little under 5 hours
Today we didn’t follow our blogger for the inland trail, which was longer, but chose the shorter route - Fisherman’s trail, and it was a hard day. Had 4 miles along the coast of consistent steep ups and downs. I wished I had my hiking poles. After that was mostly flat gravel roads. But if we had hiked the inland route, we would have missed the beautiful coast. Small price to pay.
Stayed at Casa Mestre 👍. Right on the trail. Rooms and property had character. Small common deck and outdoor pool.
DAY 9 - Villa do Bilos to Sagres
Hike: 13 miles in 5 hours and 40 minutes
Fairly easy day. First part was high on cliffs. Last section along the road to get to the cape, and then back to Sagres. Many tourists at the cape. Unable to go into lighthouse so not sure what all the excitement was about. Coast views beautiful, but similar to what we’ve been seeing.
Celebratory dinner at Three Little Birds which is across the street from our Airbnb. Also got lucky that the bus to Lagos was a 5 minute walk from our Airbnb.
