Our Tour Itinerary

In the afternoon, your Fresco Tours guides meet and greet you at Guimarães, the birthplace of Portugal as an independent country. In 1100, Portugal’s first King, Afonso Henriques, was born inside the thick walls of the medieval castle that overlooks the town. Before dinner, we sit down for our orientation meeting to discuss our journey along the Camino de Santiago followed up by a stroll around town with our local expert.

After breakfast, we hop in the van and shuttle to Vitorino where we hit the trail and have a warm up of our week to follow. We lace up our boots to take our first steps on the Camino, getting our first stamp in the parish town of Vitorino de Piães! We finish in the lovely river valley town of Ponte de Lima. What are all those Roman soldiers doing here?

From the fortress town of Valença, we cross over the River Miño and enter into Spain. As both Portugal and Spain are European Union members, the only passport you'll need is your Pilgrim's Passport, but remember that the word for stamp will change from carimbo to sello. Once across the border, we admire the 12th century Santa Maria Cathedral in Tui.

In the morning, we pass through O Porriño, a town known for its unique city hall architecture andnits prized granite cutting mills. We continue on to Mos, where the Louro River and the quiet Galician countryside keep us company. We end our day with an excursion that takes us back over 2000 years to the Celtic remains of the Castro de Santa Tecla, where the views of the Atlantic and Portugal are unmatched!

Today we get the blood pumping with a good climb up to the Monte de Santiago de Antas, where we find another Roman mile marker to remind us that we are getting closer. The Camino then takes us to Redondela. Here we get our first glimpse of the Estuary of Vigo, where mussels and scallops are farmed on floating barges!

Our walk takes us by the beautiful stone arches of the old Ponte Sampaio, the scene of an important town battle against Napoleonic troops in 1809. Back in Pontevedra for the evening, we must stop in and get a stamp at La Peregrina, the 18th century chapel whose floor is in the shape of a scallop shell!

Leaving the city of Pontevedra, we quickly return to nature, crossing through quiet, wooded paths where we come to the granite Cross of Amonisa with the carved figure of Santiago facing our destination. We finish our day in Caldas de Reis, whose natural thermal springs have made this a place to soak your weary feet for thousands of years.

Wander along the Camino through one of Galicia’s best treasures today: the pleasant vineyards that produce the Rias Baixas region’s most popular white wine, Albariño. A favorite story, but with little truth, is that the Albariño grape was brought to the region by German pilgrims on their way to Santiago. While it’s true origin remains a mystery, its flavor continues to captivate many.

Padrón (or pedrón – Galician for big stone) pays homage to the famous rock where the boat that contained Saint James was moored to upon its arrival from Jerusalem after he had been martyred. Padrón is also famous in culinary circles for its little green peppers, some which are hot and others that are not.

8 days, 129 kilometers, and we have arrived in Santiago de Compostela. Congratulations! You are going to love this magical city filled with fantastic monuments and a lively buzz from the international pilgrims and university students that fill its medieval streets. After requesting our Compostela certificates at the Pilgrims' Office, we head to our hotel and get ready for our evening celebratory dinner!

After a buffet breakfast, our local historian gives us a closer look at the amazing Cathedral that has seen so many transformations since the original chapel built in the 9th century. After the tour, we sadly say our last buen camino as we leave you at the Cathedral in time for the Pilgrims' Mass at noon.

* Please note: This itinerary is subject to slight modifications due to hotel availability, weather, festivals and other occurrences.