Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros: Braga to Caldelas – 18.7km

We woke just after six, excited at the prospect of setting off on the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros – our very first experience of walking any caminho in northern Portugal. This 239-kilometre caminho from Braga is the newest offering from what is becoming a hugely successful pilgrimage economy.

The caminho website estimates that, in the first half of 2025, only 673 pilgrims walked the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros. For comparison, 303,747 pilgrims arrived in Santiago de Compostela between 1 January and 5 August 2025 from all caminhos combined. In fact, pilgrim numbers are soaring generally. In 2024, 95,453 pilgrims walked the 260–270 kilometre Camino Português from Porto to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (up from 88,729 in 2023).

We’re not included in those 673 pilgrims who walked the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros because we didn’t arrive in Santiago de Compostela and present ourselves for the much-coveted Compostela certificate – I was actually surprised to learn that you only need to walk 100 kilometres to acquire it. As this holiday will see us walking over 350 kilometres, with much of it along caminho routes, I feel we will have earned pilgrim status by the end of our trip.

We’ll be following the first four sections of the Caminho da Geira e dos Arrieiros but leaving it just after Castro Laboreiro. As we were to realise later on during our backpacking trip, our chosen route represented an oasis of tranquillity in what has become a frenetic network of pilgrim trails and the many businesses set up to service their needs.

We set off under a beautiful blue sky and soon spotted what would become the familiar yellow seashell of Portugal’s numerous pilgrim routes. In fact, we received our first friendly ‘amigos’ shout (from a car) within the first fifteen minutes.

I’d been super-strict with packing, so my new Osprey 34-litre rucksack didn’t feel too heavy (except when walking up steep hills!). It’s now over a decade since we started backpacking and we’ve learned a lot in that time, e.g. if you’re not too choosy you can usually obtain food every day. We have also abandoned hiking boots for the much-lighter trail running shoes (easier to dry when they get wet too). Blisters are now a thing of the past!

We followed a shady and well-maintained historic walkway below road level and emerged at the point where Braga’s four caminhos go off in their separate directions. It wasn’t long before the distant peaks of the Peneda-Gerês national park began to line up on the horizon.

Getting out of a city often involves some pretty boring walking, but directing pilgrims along such a busy road for so long seemed a strange decision. Having wondered if alternative, more scenic routes had been considered and if so, why they’d been ruled out, those unpleasant kilometres only finally made sense when we reached the narrow road bridge to cross the Rio Cávado. Clearly, there’s no other point where pedestrians are able to cross the river.

Escaping city roads

On the other side, the scenery almost immediately improved. After three hours of walking, the landscape began to open up and the road walking became less frequent. With every step, those mountains were looking closer – and their peaks were worryingly high.

We stopped for a breather outside the Monastery of Santo André de Rendufe. Interestingly, at one point it looked like the monastery might be renovated and transformed into a 50-room hotel under the government’s ‘Revive’ programme – much like the many beautiful pousadas across Portugal – but the company involved changed its mind in 2024.

There followed an uphill walk along an amazing historic lane with towering drystone walls, where the ‘cobbles’ were enormous, smooth chunks of stone. Sights like these are the ‘gems’ of northern Portugal, which many tourists miss. The guarantee of getting off the beaten track is just another reason why we enjoy backpacking so much.

By 12 noon, we were emerging into a more alpine landscape. One so green, in fact, that we could having been hiking in Wales. The vegetation didn’t look dissimilar with the oak trees, and an abundance of ferns and brambles. Today’s destination – Caldelas – came into view long before we reached it. Nestling in the valley with its church spire, this pretty spa town wouldn’t have looked out of place in Austria or Switzerland.

Arriving in Caldelas

It was too early to check-in when we arrived in Caldelas so we headed for beers at the higher end of town. It was when we were setting off downhill to the hotel that a Portuguese fellow pilgrim approached us. She’d seen us passing with our rucksacks and thought we were struggling to find our accommodation. We later learned that this lovely lady was 75 years old and is an enthusiastic pilgrim who hikes a caminho every year. Her companions were decades younger. No excuses for me now!

After we’d checked into our hotel, we set off to explore.

Caldelas is a delightful thermap spa town, which dates back to Roman times. The old spa building dominates the hillside and dates back to the 19th century or even earlier. A new building sits below it. While I’m not a huge fan of the whole ‘wellness’ industry, I was surprised at how reasonable the prices are here in Caldelas (although I guess I’m comparing them to Algarve prices). For example, a thermal experience starts at 32 euros for one day, with two-day programmes available from 75 euros.

After stocking up on food for tonight and tomorrow, we joined the Trilho do Alvito, a well-maintained wooded walkway running alongside the Ave River. Naturally, the route came to its end at the exact point we’d first entered Caldelas, which meant reacquainting ourselves with the steep footpath into town. At least we weren’t carrying our rucksacks this time around, just the shopping.

We’d considered eating out, however the place we’d chosen failed to open at the advertised time so instead we returned to our hotel, nibbled on fruit and nuts and had a generally lazy evening. We needed to reserve our strength for a much tougher day’s hiking tomorrow.

Our accommodation

We stayed at Corredoura Garden where we paid 65,70 euros for a double room with an en-suite bathroom. Our room overlooked the car park so there were no real views, although the hotel is surrounded by delightful gardens where you can sit with a drink.

Check-in was easy with an English-speaking receptionist. Later, when I requested a cup of tea, he was extremely obliging and didn’t charge me as I provided my own teabag (despite a good search, he wasn’t able to find any).

The highlight of the hotel for me was the incredible buffet breakfast. I wish I could have stayed there all day grazing. There was just so much choice. In fact, the breakfast was up there with my all-time favourite buffet at the Loulé Jardim Hotel.

Our route

This stage is mapped at 17.6km with 263 metres of ascent.

Tracking with Outdoor Active, I recorded 18.7 km with 292 metres of ascent.

Download the GPX file of our hike here.