Rota Vicentina: Walking Portugal's Wildest Coast

The Fishermen's Trail runs along the southwest coast of Portugal, from Porto Covo down toward Sagres, and it is one of the great European walks that somehow still is not crowded. It follows the paths that local fishermen use to reach their spots on the cliffs, which means it hugs the edge the whole way, sand underfoot, Atlantic swell below, and almost no shade.

The walking is harder than the distances suggest. Soft sand drains your legs, the wind comes straight off the ocean, and there are days where you climb in and out of four valleys before lunch. Do it in spring, when the cliffs are covered in wildflowers and the temperature is kind, or in October. Summer is doable but the middle of the day is brutal.

Stages run roughly fifteen to twenty kilometres and end in villages that have not been rebuilt for tourism: Almograve, Zambujeira do Mar, Odeceixe with its river beach split between two districts. You arrive salt-crusted, drop your bag in a family guesthouse, shower, and eat grilled fish at a place where the menu is whatever came in that morning. Prices are still fair.

Carry more water than you think, because there is nothing between villages. Start early. Watch where you put your feet near the edge, especially on windy days, and keep an eye out for the white storks that nest on sea stacks here, the only place in the world they do it.

You can walk the whole thing in ten or eleven days, or pick three stages and use one village as a base. Either way you will finish sunburnt, tired and already looking at maps for next year.