This route is for walkers who enjoy racking up the kilometres. The stages are long, the pace is steady and the Camino takes you from the capital to the country’s second city. If you’ve walked a shorter Camino before, you’ll soon notice that this one is a serious undertaking. You’ll climb around 3700 metres in total, spread across the whole route.
First you leave Lisbon behind and follow the river landscape of the Tejo. It’s open and flat, with fields and straight paths. In Golegã, Portugal’s horse village, and in Tomar, with its Templar monastery (Convento de Cristo), you’ll be tempted to linger for a while. After that the terrain becomes hilly, with olive trees and forest paths leading towards Coimbra. This old university city is also where the Caminho Português Interior begins, via Viseu. After Coimbra you’re surrounded by more houses and more asphalt. The stages get shorter, which is a welcome change.
Walk this route in May or October. The weather is pleasant for walking then, without the heat of summer. December is cool and wet. We advise against August: during the day it gets almost too hot to walk. In Porto you carry on towards Santiago.