The Variante Espiritual, measured: what it costs to leave the Portugués

By August Frederik Kramer · Last updated 25 September 2026

The Variante Espiritual leaves the Camino Portugués north of Pontevedra and rejoins it at Pontecesures, by way of the monastery at A Armenteira and the Ría de Arousa. Walked all the way it is 74.8 km with 871 m of climbing and a high point of 423 m. Taking the Traslatio boat from Vilanova de Arousa instead leaves 41.7 km on foot.

Everything written about this variant describes the monastery, the stone-and-water path and the boat. None of it says what the detour costs, which is the only question worth asking in Pontevedra. So here it is.

The two ways, on one map

Here is the whole choice in one drawing. The grey line is the Camino Portugués, running up the valley. The coloured loop is the variant: solid for the part you walk if you take the boat, faded for the stretch the boat lets you skip. The dashed line is the Traslatio.

What it costs against staying on the Portugués

The direct line between the same two points, Pontevedra to Pontecesures on the Portugués, is 34.7 km with 347 m of climbing and a high point of 164 m. Walking the whole variant is 40.1 km further, 116% more, with 524 m more climbing: 2.5 times as much.

With the boat it is a different decision entirely. 41.7 km on foot against 34.7 km is 7.0 km more, and you get the monastery and the ría for it. That is the number nobody prints, and it is why the boat is not a shortcut so much as the whole point.

What it costs in hours

Kilometres are only half of it, because climbing costs time too. The classic way to add the two is Naismith’s rule, written down by a Scottish mountaineer in 1892: an hour for every 5 km, plus an hour for every 600 m of climbing. Here are the three ways from the fork to Pontecesures, priced in hours of walking.

The boat option costs 2h 00m more walking than staying on the Camino Portugués: one afternoon, for the monastery and the ría. Walking the whole loop costs 8h 55m more, and its extra 40.1 km are almost a marathon. That is not a detour. It is another day.

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How much of a detour it is

The simplest way to see the detour is to ask how far you walk for every kilometre you actually get closer.

From the fork to Pontecesures is 29.9 km as the crow flies. The Camino Portugués gets you there in 34.7 km: about 1.2 km of walking for every kilometre closer, as straight as a valley path gets. The variant, walked all the way, takes 74.8 km: 2.5 km for every kilometre closer. The boat that straightens it out sails up a real river, the Ulla.

The four stages, measured

Cut at the towns the track actually passes rather than at a guidebook’s overnight stops. Climbing is measured over the same profile, sampled every 100 m, that the route pages use, so these figures and a route page’s figures are comparable.

The first day is the whole climb

Stage one, Pontevedra to A Armenteira, is 17.5 km and 550 m up. That is 63% of the variant’s entire climbing on 23% of its distance. Everything after A Armenteira is either the descent to Barrantes or flat ground along the water. If you are judging this variant by whether you can climb, you are judging one morning.

The Traslatio, and why the distance still counts

The boat runs from Vilanova de Arousa up the Ría de Arousa and the Río Ulla to Pontecesures, and it is the only stretch of any Camino crossed by water. It replaces 33.1 km of the walking above, which is the stretch through Catoira on the east side of the ría.

We publish no timetable, fare or operator for it: those change every season and we cannot verify them from here. What matters for the Compostela is the distance you walked, and the boat is not walked. If the certificate is the point, count the 41.7 km and read the rules rather than a forum.

Where these figures come from

The line is OpenStreetMap relation 6,259,246, "Camiño Portugués Variante Espiritual", retrieved on 25 September 2026 and used under the ODbL. Its 362 ways form five chains joined at gaps of 18, 7, 17, 12 m where mappers had not shared a node; stitching those four joins is the only liberty taken with the geometry, and one 70 m closed stub at Ribadumia is left out. Heights are SRTM 30m sampled every 100 m, smoothed over five points, with climbs under three metres ignored. That is the same pipeline as the ten route pages, which is why the comparison above is honest.

the Camino Portugués route page

Common questions

Is the Variante Espiritual worth the extra distance?

With the boat, it costs 7.0 km more than the direct line, and that is a small price. On foot the whole way it costs 40.1 km and 524 m of extra climbing, which is a real decision rather than a detour. The figures are above; the monastery and the ría are a matter of taste.

How long does the Variante Espiritual take?

Our split is 4 stages: 17.5, then 24.2, 16.5 and 16.6 km. With the boat from Vilanova de Arousa the walking is 41.7 km, which is two long days or three comfortable ones. Walking the whole 74.8 km adds another two.

Does the Variante Espiritual count for the Compostela?

It is a recognised variant of the Portugués and its walked kilometres count. The boat does not, because the boat is not walking. Read the office’s own wording on the distance rule rather than a summary of it, ours included.

How hard is it?

The whole variant averages 11.6 m of climbing per kilometre against 10.0 m on the direct line, so on paper it is 16% steeper. In practice it is one climb: 63% of the ascent is in the first 17.5 km, and the high point is only 423 m.

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