Hiking the Rota Vicentina: The Fishermen's Trail, Stage by Stage

The Fishermen's Trail is the coastal half of the Rota Vicentina, and it does something most long walks in Europe cannot: it keeps the Atlantic on your right shoulder for days. You follow the paths that fishermen cut down to the rocks, past storks that nest on sea stacks and nowhere else in the world, through gorse and cistus that smell like warm resin by ten in the morning.

The stages that matter

Porto Covo to Vila Nova de Milfontes, around 20 km, is the classic first day and the one most people book. It ends with a boat or a long road bridge over the Mira estuary, so check the timetable before you set off. Almograve to Zambujeira do Mar, roughly 22 km, is the wildest stretch, with the Cabo Sardão lighthouse and the stork cliffs about two thirds in. Odeceixe to Aljezur suits tired legs, and Carrapateira to Vila do Bispo delivers the Bordeira dune fields that photographers come for.

If you only have a weekend, walk Almograve to Zambujeira on day one and Odeceixe to Aljezur on day two. That gives you the cliffs and the river beach without a single dull kilometre.

What the sand does to you

Everyone underestimates this. Perhaps a quarter of each stage crosses soft, dry sand, and it turns a flat 18 km into something that feels like 25. Start at seven, walk the sand while it is still firm from the night air, and take the exposed cliff sections before the wind picks up in the afternoon. Trail runners with good drainage beat heavy boots here, because you will get wet feet at some point anyway.

Sleeping and eating

Book ahead from March onwards. Guesthouses in Milfontes, Almograve and Zambujeira are small, family run, and full by February for the spring weekends. Dinner is usually grilled fish, tomato rice and a jug of white wine for well under 25 euros a person. Odeceixe and Carrapateira have small shops but no supermarket, so buy your trail food in the bigger towns.

Practicalities

Rede Expressos runs coaches from Lisbon to Porto Covo and Odemira, then local buses fill the gaps, though Sunday services thin out badly. Waymarking is a blue and green stripe and it is reliable, but download the offline map anyway because fog rolls in fast on the cliffs. Dogs are welcome on lead, and the whole route sits inside a natural park, so wild camping is not allowed.

If you want mountains instead of coast, our guide to snowboarding in Serra da Estrela covers Portugal's only ski area, and the Peneda-Gerês guide has the granite and waterfall version of this walk.