Porto to Santiago: the Camino Portugués day by day, and who walks it with you

By August Frederik Kramer · Last updated 1 October 2026

Porto to Santiago is the Camino Portugués as most people walk it: 246.4 km in 13 days on our plan, half in Portugal and half in Spain. Porto is the second-busiest start on any Camino, after Sarria: 72,343 pilgrims set out from it in 2025. And the path you leave on is not the path you arrive on. It fills up three times, until the last days carry about five times as many people as the first.

Two countries, one walk

The first 7 days are Portugal: 124.1 km from Porto to Valença, on the bank of the Minho. On the morning of day 8 you cross the bridge to Tui, and the last 6 days, 122.3 km from Valença, are Galicia. Here is the whole walk, drawn to scale.

Portugal does the climbing. Its 7 days climb 1,671 m against 1,505 m for the Spanish 6, and the high point is there: 395 m on day 6, Ponte de Lima to Agualonga, which is also the steepest day of the walk, 408 m up in 15.5 km. Altogether you climb 3,176 m, about nine-tenths of Mulhacén, the highest peak on mainland Spain, climbed from the sea (91%). That is 12.9 m per kilometre, more than the 10.5 of the whole route from Lisbon, because the half everyone skips is the flat one: the Porto or Tui guide puts the two halves side by side.

How many days from Porto to Santiago?

13 on our plan, at 19.0 km a day. We count from Vila Nova de Gaia, our stage end on the south bank of the Douro; from the centre of Porto it is 243.2 km. The longest day is the last, Infesta to Santiago, 28.3 km, and with 36 places to sleep along it, it splits easily. Every day is in the table at the end.

The path fills up three times

Leave Porto in September and about 191 people a day walk with you, for a whole week. Then the path fills up three times. On day 8 the people starting in Valença and Tui join, and it is about 498. On day 9 O Porriño adds a few more: 516. On day 10, at Redondela, the coastal route joins, and from there to the cathedral it is about 975 a day.

So the walk ends almost as busy as the Camino Francés out of Sarria, 88% of it, while its first week carries a fifth of that. If you want company, it comes; if you want quiet, enjoy it in Portugal. The coastal route itself, and whether it suits you, is in the coastal guide.

How this is counted: everyone the Pilgrim’s Office recorded as finishing the central Camino Portugués in 2025, less those it names as starting further on, and from Redondela everyone who finished the coastal route too, spread over the months the way all Compostelas were. The office names only its 20 biggest starting towns, the smallest with 3,646, so anyone starting in a smaller town such as Barcelos or Ponte de Lima is counted from Porto: the Portuguese days are a ceiling, not a census.

Know these words before your Camino. Spanish is preparation, the same as boots and stages. Try the free topic

How many people start in Porto?

In 2025, 72,343. The Pilgrim’s Office lists Porto three times, for the city, the coast and the way via Tui, and we add them up, as where the Camino starts does. Only Sarria, with 161,922, sends off more, and Porto sends off more than twice as many as Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (30,337). About a third of Porto’s pilgrims, 25,087, set off on the coast.

When is it busiest?

In September, as on every big route. About 191 people a day leave Porto then, against about 8 a day from December to February: roughly 24 times as many. Whatever the month, the shape of the drawing stays the same, because it comes from where people start, not from when.

Where to sleep

There are 199 places to sleep on these 13 days, mapped within 300 m of the track: from 76 on day 1, out through Porto, to just 2 on day 2 into São Pedro de Rates. We do not add up beds here, because only 17% of the places on this route publish a bed count. For every stage of every route, see where the beds are.

Does Porto get you the Compostela?

Easily: Porto is 246.4 km out, 146.4 km more than the 100 the Compostela asks for. The line itself falls 18 minutes into day 9, just after O Porriño, the tightest legal start on the route: start a day later and you would be short. See where the last 100 km starts on every route.

The rule of two stamps a stage is only for people who walk the bare minimum: someone starting in O Porriño needs 10, over 5 stages. From Porto it does not apply to you; a stamp a day where you sleep is plenty. What counts is in the credencial guide. If you have 6 days rather than 13, Tui to Santiago is the same walk from the border.

The 13 stages

Stage ends are from our own plan, generated from the route, so a guidebook may split it differently. The whole Camino Portugués from Lisbon is on the Camino Portugués page.

Common questions

How many days is Porto to Santiago?

13 days on our plan: 246.4 km at about 19.0 km a day, 7 in Portugal and 6 in Spain.

How far is Porto from Santiago?

246.4 km from Vila Nova de Gaia, our stage end on the south bank of the Douro, and 243.2 km from the centre of Porto, measured on the waymarked track.

Is the Camino from Porto hard?

It climbs 3,176 m in 13 days, 12.9 m per kilometre, and never goes above 395 m. The one real climb is day 6, Ponte de Lima to Agualonga: 408 m up in 15.5 km.

Is the Camino Portugués busy from Porto?

Quiet in Portugal and busy in Spain. In September about 191 people a day walk out of Porto, and about 975 a day from Redondela, where the coastal route joins.

Do I get the Compostela walking from Porto?

Yes, with 146.4 km to spare. The 100 km line is 18 minutes into day 9, just after O Porriño.

Keep reading

Take it with you

Caminantes is free, works offline, and plans your stages around your own legs rather than a guidebook's.

All guides · Compare all 10 Camino de Santiago routes