Camino Portuguese - Senda Litoral & Variante Espiritual

We just finished one of the Portuguese routes of the Camino de Santiago - the Senda Litoral, to which we added the Variante Espiritual. This 350+ km combination of the coastal and the spiritual variants from Porto to Santiago took us 19 days to complete. Although we weren’t very lucky with the weather, with lots of rain and cold, we enjoyed it greatly.
Soundtrack:
Azul - Jesse Cook
Libre - Jesse Cook
Rattle and Burn - Jesse Cook
Bogota By Bus - Jesse Cook
Breeze From Saintes Maries - Jesse Cook
Taxi Brazil - Jesse Cook

[@anxomillaraveiga9404]

beautiful places

[@ciclocidade8937]

I love the video, congrats from Brazil. Here we ahve a beautiful Camino, Caminho da fé, you should try it.

[@evaianev]

Thank you! And thank you for the recommendation. I didn't know about it, I'll put it on the list!

[@evaianev]

@martiposchek5266 From Baiona we walked through San Pedro de Ramallosa, Praia America, Nigran, Praia de Patos and Plaia de Samil towards Vigo.

[@shu-chinwu6758]

I love the way you took your time to enjoy the beaches, churches, towns and places along the time. It is very different from others. This style gives me a lot of encouragement to do this route also. Would you mind sharing where you stay along the way and the recommendations. Thanks.

[@evaianev]

I would encourage you to do this route - it is not too challenging, it's beautiful, it's longer than the Central Portuguese route (we estimate we've walked about 350 km with a detour through the Variante Espiritual). Note that we intentionally stretched it over five more days that are strictly needed, so that we can enjoy the views, start late in the morning, have a rest day in Pontevedra, etc. While our average mileage was about 18 km per day, some stages were just 12 km, others - over 25 km. Here are the places we stayed in - some were brilliant, some just OK, and there were a couple of disappointing ones too. We didn't stay in albergues though (with just two exceptions), as I need my own room and bathroom. I pre-booked via Booking and AirBnB. Matosinhos - Harbour Inn Design Townhouse (recommend) Mindelo - ON THE WAY - Mindelo Beach/Guest House (highly recommend) Apúlia - Casa do Vale (OK) Antas - Antas Guest House (recommend) Viana do Castello - A Botoeira da Praça guest house (OK) Vila Praia de Âncora - Albergaria Quim Barreiros (recommend) A Guarda - Hotel Monumento Convento de San Benito (highly recommend) Oia - Casa Toñi (OK) Baiona - Pazo de Mendoza (highly recommend) Nigran - Hostal Montevideo (NO!) Vigo - Exe Vigo (highly recommend) Redondella - Pilgrim Rooms (OK) Pontevedra - Apt Pleno Centro Entrada Casco Antiguo (recommend) Armenteira - Villa Laredo (OK) Vilanova de Arousa - Arco da Vella apartamentos (recommend) Padron - Hostel & Rooms Murgadan (NO) Milladoiro - Casa Rural as Bentinas (recommend) I hope that helps. Buen Camino!

[@amynelson5637]

Are those painted trees on the camino to A Guarda? Also, in A Guarda it looks like you went to some kind of museum....?

[@evaianev]

Yes, the painted trees are in a park/forest (O Muino) on the way from the boat landing into A Guarda. Answering your second question - it's not a museum, but the wonderful Hotel Monumento Convento de San Benito, where we stayed the night and which I highly recommend. It's a 16th Century former convent converted into an excellent hotel, full of authentic artefacts.

[@amynelson5637]

Well thank you for the response and recommendation. I will follow your lovely advice.

[@margoyoung5658]

Wonderful. And no talking

[@evaianev]

😆 A picture says a thousand stories ...

[@john1954avai]

Boa tarde Já fez o Caminho San Salvador

[@evaianev]

No, not yet. Do you recommend it?

[@joaquinmadrid3642]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us. By the way, I like the image quality of your video. What equipment did you used? Any filters? Thanks again!

[@evaianev]

Hi! Glad you liked it. We shot on our iPhones (13 Pro), but we used a Black Magic camera app (free) and the footage was later edited in DaVinci Resolve, with colour grading + a film look applied. I hope that helps :)

[@anxomillaraveiga9404]

very complete repor

[@TomCole-qg1ti]

What time of year did you do this?

[@evaianev]

Just last month - from 29 April till 17 May. We weren't lucky with the weather - there was so much rain (way more than shown in the video) and it was unseasonably cold most of the time. Of 19 days on the road we had about 5 days without rain, and quite a few when it did rain all day.