Read our complete Slow Travel Guide to walking the Portuguese coastal trail the Rota Vicentina |
Or if you like, read our personal journal entries from walking |
So the Rota Vicentina is a 450km network of trails zig-zagging all around the south west of Portugal. We walked it in February and found it all pretty amazing, but now know the best bits of the whole route, which we’ve collected here. Hopefully it’ll inspire you to walk or visit, even if it’s just a part!
By the way, this list is in order of start to finish. We’re not sure we could order them from most to least liked! (We’d probably disagree anyway, ha.)
Our 6 best bits of the Rota Vicentina:
1. The windmills of … everywhere
Santiago do Cacém, Moinhos do Paneiro, Odeceixe, Vila do Bispo – all of these small places are on the Rota Vicentina, and all of them are crowned with the most rustic, beautiful windmills. We never got tired of spotting those long wooden wings on the brows of hills as we walked along.
2. Porto Covo & the coast beyond
This is the first village on the Fishermen’s Way (part of the Rota Vicentina) and is basically everything you’d imagine a ‘fisherman’s village’ to be. It’s blue and white pretty, stuck round a cove where little boats and buoys bob. And then the next 100km of walk to Odeceixe is truly beautiful: all cliff walk and dunes. The visibility is so good it felt like we could see to the craggy edges of the world.
(To be honest though all the coast, from beginning at Porto Covo to the end at Cape St Vincent, is stunning, sticking dramatically close to the edge and SO worth doing.)
3. Blood red rocks of Alentejo
On the way to Cavaleiro the rocks change from sandy yellow to rust red. You walk right on the top of them too, and can see the thick blood layers running through the exposed cliff. This was perhaps our favourite bit of land to walk of all our Rota Vicentina highlights. Particularly at sunset where everything seems to catch fire.
4. Stork nests spotting on the craggy coast
Whilst we spotted a couple of stork nests outside of Porto Covo, we saw way more between Zambujeira do Mar and Odeceixe. The storks are everywhere, flying around overhead or out to sea. The nests themselves teeter right on the tops of rocks just offshore, and we were stunned how many there were!
We know, we know, bird nerds. But once you see the storks and their nests you’ll be adding them to your Rota Vicentina highlights list too!
5. Sand dunes of Bordeira
This is an awesome spot and one of our real Rota Vicentina highlights: a giant sand dune beach. You spot it from miles away and from afar it just looks like a desert. It even has a half-buried beach bar stuck in the middle of it.
We stayed in the nearby town of Carrapateira and wandered back for sunset (it takes about twenty minutes) – incredible.
6. The village of Pedralva
Our final highlight, only a few days from the end of the trail, is such an interesting place. The village of Pedralva was once a farming community, but was left completely derelict for many years before being entirely renovated and transformed into holiday lets. If that sounds a bit soulless, it isn’t! They’ve still retained all their rural charm, and local people have come back to work in the restaurant/cafes and on the houses. They’re all rightly very proud of what the village has now become. It’s without doubt one of the Rota Vicentina highlights.
And there you have it, our favourite bits. Which one of these highlights of the Rota Vicentina appeal to you? Do they tempt you to walk in Portugal?
Don’t forget to read our Slow Travel Guide for the Rota Vicentina
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Fantastic wild unspoilt places – amazing that it is not more frequented. And one of the few places you can walk in February in Europe without freezing. Love the villages along the way. A walk to savour..
We are planning a trip to Portugal and only have time to stop by the coastal Alentejo region. Porto Covo looks interesting, would you recommend to stop here and walk around? How far before you see some of the stupendous cliff views?
Hi Stella, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. We’ve been out walking!
Porto Covo is nice, worth a stop, a coffee, a nata and a quick walk round to see its harbour. But make your way further south and go for a walk from Cavaleiro in the later afternoon. Just follow the path north from Cavaleiro for a couple of kilometres to see some of the best of the Rota Vicentina. When done simply turn around and head back to Cavaleiro.
Enjoy!
Luke