I was reading The Trepidatious Traveler's blog on the Camino Portugués which runs from Lisbon to Santiago de Compostela. That route is appealing for its comparative obscurity (not as crowded), its proximity to the coast which I hope makes it less mountainous, and thus hopefully warmer. However, since fewer people travel it, there are fewer accommodations and I'm not sure if there is a luggage transport system and that is something we would definitely want this time. It was much more delightful walking without a 27 pound pack.
The Camino Portugués (Caminho Portugués) is 615 kilometers so it is shorter than the Camino Francés which is 800 Km from St. Jean Pied de Port. The Trepidatious Traveler did it in 27 days while Camino Ways has a self-guided tour for 28 days. Camino Ways divides it into 5 sections and the last section, from Tui at the Portuguese border to Santiago, is 110 kilometers. There are some ups and downs in the last section but the highest elevation is only 255 meters at the end when you reach Santiago. In all the Camino Portugués, the highest elevation is 472 meters. The last 100 km of the Camino Frances has a high point of 723 meters, and if we started from O Cebreiro, at the border between Galicia and Leon, the altitude is 1300 meters but from there it is downhill followed by ups and downs of lower elevations. Of course with mountains come views so that might make for more spectacular scenery.
Maybe we can do O Cebreiro to Santiago this year and the Camino Portugués next year.
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