Camino Portuguese 01: Lisbon to Vila Franca

Monday, June 2, 2025

Camino Portuguese: Day 01 – Lisbon to Vila Franca de Xira

Let the Camino Portuguese commence! I have been wanting to do this Camino route for several years and, after having to cancel it the previous two years, I was finally going to do the 690km walk from Lisbon, Portugal to Santiago de Compostela, Spain!

I woke up this morning at 05:30 and hurriedly finished packing my backpack. With my laptop included, the weight of the bag was very heavy and I was skeptical of my ability to carry it for the next 13 days to reach Porto. Once in Porto, I will have daily luggage transfers from lodging to lodging, allowing me to carry far less in my backpack each day.

After checking out of the hotel, I hailed an Uber to drive me over to the cathedral. At 06:30 I arrived at the cathedral and began the Camino! I messaged Thinh, as well as my friend Lotta (who I met during the Camino Frances in 2022) as I began the day’s walk. The route leading out of Lisbon itself was not very well marked with arrows or shells. Thankfully I had the Buen Camino app on my phone that perfectly displayed the route, allowing me to easily navigate my way through the city. I walked through a few streets that were colorfully decorated for some sort of festival, and which I found very pretty in the early morning light.

Walking through Lisbon took me through some neighborhoods and areas that seemed slightly sketchy. I didn’t feel unsafe, but I also didn’t feel entirely comfortable. I put in my headphones and began listening to music and then podcasts to help pass the time.

Soon the route entered an area along the waterfront which was a very welcome change to mundane cityscape. The path took me along the boardwalk area with trees that provided some shade from the sun. It was a breezy morning as well, for which I was thankful. I followed the boardwalk for a while and was surprised that I had yet to see any other pilgrims walking this morning. I know that the route from Lisbon to Porto is not very popular, but I still expected to see at least a few pilgrims.

I stopped to examine a sign for the Camino that appeared to list out places for food, rest, etc. As I stood there a man approached me to wish me a “Buen Camino!”. We got to talking and it turned out that he was walking the Camino Portuguese as well! His name is Alan and he is from Canada (though originally from the Philippines). We started walking together as spent much of the time chatting, getting to know one another. I was glad for the company to help pass the time, though I also wished that I could continue listening to my podcast.

We followed the yellow arrows and found ourselves on a lengthy, winding wooden boardwalk along the waterfront. We stayed on this section for nearly 7km. It was a very pretty area to walk this morning, but there weren’t any places to stop for a coffee or a proper rest along the entire route. Two cyclists rode past us at one point and shouted “Buen Camino!” to us – they had shells on their backpacks too! This boardwalk route was the main cycling path and we had deviated from the main Camino walking path – this was what the woman at the pilgrim office in Lisbon had advised me to do to avoid adding several kilometers to the walk.

When we finally reached the end of the wooden path, Alan and I were happy to find a nearby café where we could get a coffee and rest for a short time. The café was small, but the coffee was good and that was the most important thing! I had two coffees, as well as a Fanta, while we rested. They didn’t have any food options that we could see, though it may have been too early for them to start serving food. Alan was surprised that I had booked all of my accommodations for the Camino, but I soon saw that he was curious where I would be staying over the next few days. As we relaxed, he searched for my hotel for the night in Vila Franca de Xira… and decided to stay at the same place! The number of places to stay between Lisbon and Porto is limited, so I had no problem helping him.

Alan and I set back out after a 30-minute break, walking through the small town and then along a busy road. There was a sidewalk along the majority of the road, allowing us to stay safe while walking along the road. An hour or so later we heard two women shouting “Buen Camino!” at us – more pilgrims! One of them was from Georgia in the USA and the other was from Chile. They were slightly lost, but we helped them get back on the path. It was at this point that the arrows and shells began to appear with regularity, pointing us on the right path.

The route went through some small fields for a brief spell, and I felt like we were finally on the proper Camino – this is what I remembered from the Camino Frances. It was short lived though and we soon returned to the busy road. The sidewalk vanished, forcing us to walk on the shoulder of the road, which made us both a bit nervous. Cars and trucks whizzed past us as we walked. We had to continually dash across the road when the shoulder narrowed too much to be safe for us to walk.

We came to a bridge that led into a small town and the arrows pointed us in that direction, leaving the roadway behind us. Soon we were back along the waterfront and the nice breeze. It was after noon by this time and both Alan and I were feeling hungry (I had yet to eat anything today). Just as we were remarking that there weren’t any public water fountains around to refill our water bottles, we stumbled across one! Fortuitous timing!

I’d hoped to find a café somewhere in the small town, but everywhere was closed. Alan and I eventually found some picnic tables in the shade and decided to take a short break. My back was hurting quite a bit from carrying the heavy backpack – I had now resolved to spend the exorbitant amount of money to ship my bag along the longest stages between here and Porto. As we finished our break, the two women from earlier caught up with us and we talked for a few minutes. Alan and I had only 4km left to walk today, but the two women were continuing for another 20km! We had already walked around 32km since leaving Lisbon, which meant the women would be walking over 50km on the very first day! That distance is much too far at any point along the Camino, let alone on day one.

It was nearing 15:00 by the time we reached Vila Franca de Xira. We were still walking along the waterfront, but we now had to deviate from the path to enter the town itself. Between us and the town ran the train tracks, which required us to go over a pedestrian bridge. I was relieved when I saw that there was an elevator to reach the bridge – neither Alan or I had the energy to climb the several flights of stairs. Once over the bridge, it was a short walk to reach the hotel itself – which was easy to identify because it had a large Camino shell logo on the outside.

Checking in was simple and quick. The staff were friendly and I got a stamp in my Camino passport. Alan and I went to our separate rooms after making plans to meet later in the evening for dinner. My room was simple, with a large bed and attached bathroom. A small nook off of the main room contained a smaller twin bed, which is where I threw my backpack.

My legs and feet ached after the long start to the Camino. We had walked over 38km today – far longer than either of us had anticipated. I also got a lot of sun throughout the day and my face was very red. The shower was a massive relief though and I felt slightly revived after cleaning up.

At 19:00, I met up with Alan and we went over to a nearby kebab place for dinner. I ordered a medium kebab pizza and a Shandy beer (the drink of the Camino!). The pizza was delicious and I devoured the entire thing. We then walked over to a nearby 24/7 vending machine that sold hot food to see if there was anything we wanted to eat for breakfast. When we returned to the hotel, we made plans to meet at 05:30 in the morning to set off on the next leg of the Camino.

The rest of the night was spent relaxing and resting. The first week or so on the Camino is always the worst, as your body adjusts to the physical demands of the daily walks. I was already questioning my sanity, but I knew that it would be well worth it by the time I reached Santiago at the end of June.

Distance Walked: 36.3 km
Steps Walker: 47,916