passionate about hiking
Portugal is a great place for walkers, particularly during the winter when it is generally mild and sunny. Spring and autumn are also good for hiking.
There are plenty of way-marked walks, ranging from long-distance trails like the Via Algarviana and the Rota Vicentina in the Algarve and the Portuguese Way from Lisbon or Porto.
Northern Portugal is more mountainous and is home to the Peneda-Gerês National Park, while the Silver Coast and Algarve provide hikers with some spectacular coastal scenery.
Inland, there are cork forests, eucalyptus groves, white-washed villages, lakes and rivers.
Praia da Vieira was already bustling with visitors when we booked out of the delightful Hotel Cristal Vieira Praia & Spa at around 10am. Really, it’s a good job we’re hiking every day because I eat far too much at these amazing buffet-style breakfasts. … Continued
There are a lot of station stops along the regional railway line that links Coimbra and Figueira da Foz, with the result that the forty-ish kilometres to the Silver Coast took well over an hour. Still, after several days of hard hiking, … Continued
For some reason – and I’m struggling to remember what it was now – I didn’t include Coimbra on the list of places I wanted to visit on our hiking trip around Central Portugal. With hindsight, it seems unimaginable that this university town midway between … Continued
It was raining heavily as we made our way down the Palácio da Lousã‘s grand staircase, the wooded hills shrouded in low-lying mist. This was not good, not good at all. The thought of another drenching encouraged me to sink back under our … Continued
