The Portuguese coast is beautiful and offers two long-distance treks. I walked both of them. First, the coastal Portuguese route of the Camino de Santiago (at the end of August and beginning of September), and just under a year later, the Fishermen’s Trail (at the end of May). I’d assumed they’d be quite similar, so I was surprised by just how different they actually were. I loved both of them, but each had something different to offer. The Fishermen’s Trail certainly has unbeatable views.
What are these two trails all about?
Both routes follow the Portuguese coastline: the Camino takes the northern route, whilst the Fishermen’s Way takes the southern one. Before I get into the differences, I’ll just summarise the basics of what each trail is like. The Camino has two Portuguese routes: the coastal route and the inland route. I’ll be comparing the coastal route, as it is the coastline that makes the two routes similar.
Camino de Santiago (Portuguese Coastal Route)
The Portuguese Coastal Route is one of the many branches of the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage that can begin practically anywhere (ideally ‘at home’), but ends at St James’s Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The Camino has a centuries-old tradition of pilgrimage and leads to an official certificate upon completion.
The route runs north from the city of Porto to Santiago de Compostela.
Fishermen’s Trail
The Fishermen’s Trail forms part of the wider Rota Vicentina network of trails in Portugal. It runs along the wild Atlantic coast through the Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina Natural Park — one of the best-preserved stretches of coastline in Europe. It is a relatively new trail, having been established as recently as 2012. It has no specific destination; here, the journey itself is the destination.
You head south from the town of Sines or Porto Covo to Lagos.
Differences between the Camino and the Fishermen’s Trail
I expected it to be similar, but it turned out to be quite significantly different in almost every respect. What both routes have in common is that they were a brilliant experience. And they’re both roughly the same length: the Camino is about 240 km to 280 km (depending on the route), and the Fishermen’s Trail is about 226 km. Both can be adapted by starting from a later point or ‘skipping’ certain sections by bus or train. But let’s get to the differences.
| Camino | Fishermen’s Trail | |
|---|---|---|
| route length | 240–280 km (12–14 days) | 226 km (11–12 days) |
| terrain | varied, easy, gentle inclines | paths, deep sand, gentle inclines |
| weather | rainy weather in Galicia | direct sunlight |
| accommodation | pilgrims’ hostels, hostels, hotels | hostels, hotels |
| food and water | drinking fountains along the way, plenty of places to grab a bite to eat | water to take with you, long stretches without food |
| prices | lower | higher |
| equipment | trekking | trekking boots + sand gaiters |
How beautiful the routes are
The Camino is varied, and the Fishermen’s Trail offers unbeatable views of the ocean.
Whilst the Fishermen’s Trail runs almost entirely along the coast and the views of the cliffs, waves and long, deserted beaches are truly breathtaking, the Camino also offers a few such views, though not as many and not all the way along the route. On the other hand, you walk along the coast for a while, through the woods for a while, climb up to a viewpoint for a while, and often pass through pretty Portuguese and Spanish towns and villages, sometimes even with festivals taking place. I really enjoyed that as well.
So if you want to spend most of your journey away from people, out in the countryside, go for the Fishermen’s Trail. If you prefer a bit more action and enjoy a stroll through the town, go for the Camino.
Terrain and difficulty
Both routes are generally classified as fairly easy. Both follow the coastline and are essentially flat. But whilst the Camino has a few long, gradual hills, the Fishermen’s Trail never really climbs very high – its highest point is barely 150 metres above sea level – but the ascents and descents often alternate on certain sections – down to the beach, up onto the cliff and back down to the beach again.
But the even more significant difference is the terrain. At the start, the Camino has wooden walkways over the sand by the coast, paved paths, roads; it often passes through towns and occasionally through woodland. Nothing too difficult. The Fishermen’s Trail, however, has a large part of the route in sand. Deep sand. Like walking along a beach where the sand hasn’t been trodden down. For kilometres on end. Even without the potential for sand getting into your shoes, this is very unpleasant, especially going uphill – I felt as though I was standing still, as if the sand were pulling me back. It really makes your calves ache.
Weather
The weather depends quite a lot on when you go. Neither trail is recommended in the height of summer, when it’s simply too hot in Portugal. The Fishermen’s Trail is, however, more challenging in the heat. The vast majority of the route is in direct sunlight. I knew this in advance, mind you, but I still imagined myself sitting there, gazing out at the ocean. Thinking there’d be a bit of shade here and there. Well, no. In fact, on most sections, it’s in the sun from start to finish. Around Aljezur, too, a very strong wind picked up for a few days; I had my work cut out to battle my way through it.
As the Camino heads north towards Galicia, the weather cools down slightly; on average, it’s 4–5 degrees cooler there. The further away from summer, the greater the difference will be. The Fishermen’s Trail has a fairly consistent climate.
As far as rain is concerned, the Fishermen’s Trail has a very dry climate; it hardly ever rains in summer – I didn’t see a single drop during my 11 days there in May either. To be honest, walking on that sandy terrain in the rain with nowhere to take shelter would be quite a challenge (December is the rainiest month). In contrast, the Camino in Galicia is often rainy, particularly from October to April. It rained a few times on my journey, but it was quite bearable (it wasn’t until I reached Fisterra that I got caught in a massive, all-day downpour).
Accommodation
On the Camino, there are pilgrim hostels (albergues), costing around 10 to 15 euros a night. These are completely absent on the Fishermen’s Trail, so the cheapest options remain hostels, followed by traditional accommodation in hotels, guesthouses, etc. Of course, both routes are the same in this respect, and bookings can be made easily on Booking.com.
Whilst the Camino had accommodation practically everywhere along the route (meaning you only occasionally had to walk 10 km to the next available place to stay), the Fishermen’s Trail, as it winds along the cliffs, sometimes means that an entire stage doesn’t even pass through any town apart from the destination. That’s also one of the reasons why many people walk the Fishermen’s Trail ‘strictly by stage’. Because often, skipping one town means walking two stages in one go.
On both routes, I didn’t book accommodation in advance for most nights, but I wasn’t (and didn’t want to be) reliant on staying only in albergues or hostels. On the Fishermen’s Trail, there are fewer accommodation options, and in some towns it was already impossible to book a hostel several days in advance. So if you’re travelling on a budget, I’d recommend booking in advance.
Food and water
Whilst I treated the Camino a bit like a food tour and only carried a half-litre bottle of water, things weren’t nearly that simple on the Fishermen’s Trail.
The Camino is (at least for foodies) brilliant because it passes through little towns. Or even along beaches with café-bars. There’s simply always somewhere where you can at least get a sandwich with Spanish ham, cheese or avocado and something to drink; or, if you’re lucky, a delicious Spanish meal. And even in places where there’s nothing for a few kilometres, there might be an ‘honesty stall’ where you could help yourself to a banana or an energy bar and pop some money into the till. What’s more, there are drinking fountains with fresh water along the route in both the Portuguese and Spanish sections, where you can top up your water bottle.
On some sections of the Fishermen’s Trail, there are no refreshment stops at all; on others, perhaps just one. I often ended up having a pastel de nata and some orange juice. However, the villages here are fishing villages and the menu in the restaurants reflects this, so fish, prawns or mussels are a common pilgrim’s snack here. I only spotted two drinking fountains the whole way, though. With the heat and direct sunshine, you need to carry more water on most stages.
People and the community
On both routes, you’ll meet lovely people, see them time and again, and strike up friendships. But I sensed a different underlying tone on each trail. Whilst on the Camino it was that sense of pilgrim camaraderie – shared dinners at the albergues, for example – and simply the meaning of the journey, even though that meant something different to everyone and wasn’t necessarily spiritual. We greeted each other not with a simple “hi”, but with “buen camino”.
That’s not the case on the Fishermen’s Trail, but I did like something else about it – lots of people were doing exactly the same stages. They were covering the route at the same pace. This is because accommodation is typically available every 20 km or so, and lots of people stuck to this pattern (some, of course, only walked part of the route, combined two stages into one day or skipped a section, but there were actually quite a lot of people who walked the same route day after day). As the little towns were really small, we often bumped into the same people at the same hostel or in the same restaurant for dinner in the square.
I’d never met the same people on the Camino on the first and last days before, but I did on the Fishermen’s Trail, and it was lovely that we’d sort of shared the whole experience together.
Prices
I’ll go by my gut feeling here, as I didn’t keep track of my expenses, but generally speaking I’d say that Portugal is more expensive than Spain (and so is the Portuguese section of the Camino).
It struck me that, as the Fishermen’s Trail is sometimes really the only (or one of the few) places where you can stop for a bite to eat, this is reflected in the price – I found it quite expensive. Both the food and the accommodation. Not exorbitantly so, but simply more expensive (by about 30 per cent, perhaps?).
On the Camino, you have the option of cheap accommodation (albergues) and pilgrim’s set meals (menú del peregrino), which are generous and often cost around 12 euros, including a drink and dessert. You’d never get that for that price in southern Portugal. But even ordinary meals in restaurants are cheaper in Spain (and there are also smaller and cheaper tapas here).
Route markings and map
Both routes are perfectly signposted, apart from the odd spot where you might miss a sign. The Fishermen’s Trail has a green and blue stripe. The Camino has a yellow arrow and a shell.
The Camino also has an app (or rather, several different ones – Buen Camino, Camino Ninja), which shows not only the route but also albergues, other accommodation options and restaurants. The Fishermen’s Trail doesn’t have an app; I followed the route using the Mapy.com app, where you can look up the route.
Sense of achievement
One thing worth mentioning. The Camino has a pilgrim’s passport in which you collect stamps at each stop. It has that famous cathedral, in front of which all the pilgrims arriving that day gradually gather. And at the end, you also receive a certificate of completion. None of this is on the Fishermen’s Trail; it lacks that pilgrim atmosphere. Even the finish is such that you’ll actually feel a sense of joy when you step into Lagos, and then the journey sort of ends when you arrive at the hotel. In this respect, I preferred the Camino, where my emotions were running high as I approached the cathedral.
Facilities
I had the same kit for both walks, apart from my shoes – or rather, my shoe covers. Because of the deep sand, shoe covers are recommended on the Fishermen’s Trail so you don’t end up with sand in your shoes all the time. Despite this recommendation, I’d say that roughly half, perhaps two-thirds, of the people I met were walking without gaiters and managed just fine. Because of the gaiters, I took a different pair of shoes for the Fishermen’s Trail – ones specifically designed for them (Altra Lone Peak 8) – rather than the ones I’d worn on the Camino (Vivobarefoot Primus Trail FG 3.5). Both pairs of shoes were brilliant and I didn’t get any blisters.
The only things I didn’t end up using on the Fishermen’s Trail were my jacket and the rain cover for my rucksack, but that was just a stroke of luck – I wouldn’t have dared not to pack them anyway.
