This is the Camino for anyone who would rather leave the crowds behind. The Caminho Português Interior runs through the interior of Portugal, over hills and ridges, through villages where you still stand out as a pilgrim. It is a tough route, with a lot of climbing and descending. In return, you get space and silence.
Officially, you start in Viseu. The stretch before that, from Coimbra, is not formally part of the route. Even so, many pilgrims walk it, especially those coming from the Caminho Português Central who branch off at Coimbra. That lead-in shows you straight away what to expect: more than 300 metres of climbing in five kilometres. After that, you follow the hills to Lamego and the Douro wine region, and on to Vila Real. Further north the terrain becomes wilder and higher, reaching almost 1000 metres. Via Vidago and Chaves, you walk to the border at Vilarelho da Raia. In Verín, you join the Camino Sanabrés, which leads to Santiago via Ourense.
The best time to walk is April to June and September to October. The conditions are pleasant then, even when you are climbing for days on end. Expect a route where you spend a lot of time with your own thoughts and occasionally meet a fellow pilgrim. That is exactly why people walk it.