Rota Vicentina, Portugal - 1
The Rota Vicentina is a 239-kilometre (148-mile) walk along the lovely coastline and through the pretty countryside of Southern Portugal. We did the southern half of the walk, from Zambujeira do Mar to Sagres, which takes six days. This video details the first three days of the walk, as far as Arrifana.
The walk takes you along two routes: the Fisherman's Trail along the coast and the Historical Trail through the countryside, so the scenery is ever changing but always interesting. The route winds through woodlands, past fields with cows and horses, through villages with delicious cafes serving octopus salad, fresh sardines and good wine, along the stunning coastline where you can swim on quiet beaches and around lakes full of birds.
Why go?
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Walking distances are long but not overly arduous so you stay fit without feeling completely exhausted at the end of the day. You can also, like we did, go with a Portuguese company who arranges for your luggage to be taken from hotel to hotel each morning so you just carry your daypack. I thoroughly recommend this option.
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The walk is beautiful, with ever changing scenery: wild coastline where the sea bashes against the rocks one minute, irrigation canals with fields where horses and wildflowers thrive the next.
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Outside the main tourist season (July and August), you are likely to have the walk pretty much to yourself, meaning it's a quiet, relaxing, rejuvenating experience.
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It's a photographer's paradise, with a wealth of colourful flowers, animals and birds as well as stunning scenes.
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You get right off the beaten track and spend your nights in villages where you can sample delicious Portuguese food and wine.
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You see beautiful places not known to most tourists where you can swim, relax and eat with the locals.
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It's mega relaxing, good for you, and just wonderful.
Getting there
There are various options for walking the Rota Vicentina. You can do the entire walk from Santiago do Cacem to Sagres or vice versa, which takes 12 days, or do various sections of the walk. Northern sections of the walk are easily accessible by bus from Lisbon. It took us 3 1/2 hours to reach Zambujeiro do Mar where we began the walk.
If you start the walk in the south, you can reach Sagres and Vila do Bispo easily from Faro, by train and bus.
Where to stay
You can book your own accommodation in advance at each stopping off point, although in some of the more remote villages people do not speak English. We went with a Portuguese tour operator who pre-booked all our accommodation which came with breakfast. The accommodation was excellent, clean and comfortable, with tasty breakfasts.
The walk
This video covers the first three days of the southern part of the Rota Vicentina, from Zambujeira do Mar to Arrifana.
Zambujeira do Mar
The end point for those doing the northern part of the Rota Vicentina and the starting point for us doing the southern part, Zambujeira do Mar is a lovely seaside village with a stunning coastline. Wildflowers such as daisies and samphire grow on the sand while a wild turquoise sea bashes against crags and rocky outcrops. There are friendly pubs and restaurants where you can watch the sunset and eat fresh seafood, washed down with a cold beer.
We stayed in a charming guesthouse with a courtyard where turtles sheltered under the sun loungers and swam in the little pond in the centre.
Day 1: Zambujeira do Mar to Odeceixe: 18 kilometres
(11.2 miles)
One of the best days of the entire walk for stunning coastal scenery. We walked along boardwalks, up and down cliff paths and through thick ferny vegetation past ever changing, breathtaking views. We also came across a bizarre sandy wildlfe park with ostriches, llamas and antelopes, and had lunch in a beachside cafe where we ate some of the most delicious oyster salad ever.
We were supposed to stay the night at Odeceixe but it was booked up so the local agency we'd booked the walk through arranged for us to sleep in a vineyard. Our taxi driver was a very jolly woman who told us about the madrona berry we'd see on our walk the next day. Apparently you can make a very strong alcoholic drink out of it, which our taxi driver loved.
The vineyard was a very pretty, quiet place with a friendly hostess who persuaded us to spend a lot of money on a very good bottle of wine to celebrate my brother's birthday.
Day 2: Odeceixe to Aljezur: 23 kilometres (14 miles)
A longer but flatter walk than yesterday, much of it along irrigation channels, with very clear water teeming with bright green plants and fish. We passed villages and fields full of horses and cows, and saw lots of flowering plants, birds and dragonflies.
Towards the end of the walk, we passed through a coastal national park with lots of pretty flowers and notice boards explaining the plants and insects to be seen in the area and their interdependency.
At a very interesting marshland estuary, where apparently European river otters can be seen as well as herons, egrets and other birds, we turned inland and walked along Aljezur River to the town of the same name. Here we stayed in a bright boutique hotel with a restaurant located conveniently opposite where we dined on seafood stew. Yum.
I would like to spend longer in Aljezur. Its marshland estuary and river supports a wealth of wildlife: we saw Muscovy ducks on the river. The town is painted white with blue and yellow piping and is just lovely, with a medieval castle on a hilltop. We did not have time to properly appreciate this place but reckon it would be a good place to spend a couple of days.
Day 3: Aljezur to Arrifana: 18 kilometres (11.2 miles)
After walking through the village of Aljezur, where my brother had his photo taken with the statue of a gentleman with a large brushy moustache and a sombrero, we continued on our walk through the countryside.
The route was steeper than yesterday with hills from the top of which we saw coastal views, a lovely lake we circumvented with seagulls wheeling overhead, and a strange half-built village that looked as if it had been abandoned during construction. In shady woodlands, we finally saw the famous madrona berries talked about with such gusto by our day 1 taxi driver.
Around lunchtime, we came to a busy seaside town where we dined on fresh sardines which were just divine, and watched people swimming, surfing and sunbathing.
We then followed a coastal path through pretty heathland past lovely bays with lots of rocky outcrops. We were walking on dry sand, which was quite hard work, for quite some time, then had to ascend a huge hill to Arrifana, a quiet surfing village with only a youth hostel for accommodation. However, the youth hostel was really nice with a funky bar where we relaxed, drank red wine and celebrated our wonderful walk to date.
Do you have questions or comments about this article? Email maddestinations@gmail.com or leave a comment under the video.
