Fishermen’s Trail: hiking in Southwest Portugal part 1

Over Easter, I hiked the Fishermen’s Trail with my hiking guide and amiga, Julie. It’s a five-section five-day hike that totals 125 kilometers aka 77.6 miles. It’s part of an even longer trail called the Rota Vicentina.

Right now there’s very little documentation on the Fishermen’s Trail, so I decided I’d keep track of our trip. I split it into 2 parts to make things a bit more digestible. In part 2 I also added a quick guide with links to everywhere we ate and slept. So here it goes…

The Fishermen’s Trail Part 1

Getting to the Fishermen’s Trail

After missing our €16 bus from Lisbon airport to Porto Covo, we opted for a 2-hour taxi. Whatever you do… don’t miss your bus. I vowed to never mention again how much this cost us, but it was certainly the most expensive and unwelcome part of our adventure. We arrived after 9pm, had dinner at a fairly decent Italian restaurant with an astounding 648 Google reviews, Bella Vita, and were off to sleep.

Day 1 | Porto Covo to Vila Nova de Milfontes

Apart from a minor to averagely terrible zipper-shorts tan for Julie, an extremely uneven chest burn for me… oh and those wildly blotchy patches on our forearms, we survived day one. The hike between Porto Covo and Vila Nova de Milfontes is said to be the most strenuous of the Fishermen’s Trail because of the monstrous sand dunes that go on for miles.

Vicentina Transfers

We woke up at 8, resituated our bags and left our suitcases for Sagres with our host. Miming to explain that we were leaving our bags in the room was tricky. Apart from that, all went well. Since we were spending five days in Sagres at the end of the hike, we used Vicentina Transfers. They charge €15 per bag to go to your next or final destination of the Fishermen’s Trail.

We breakfasted at Maria Conserveira. Toasted bread with fresh cheese or grilled cheese were the only options, so we had one of each. Both came with an ample sprinkle of oregano. We soon learned all food in Portugal is sprinkled with oregano. To our pleasant surprise, two cappuccinos and our carbo-load totalled to just €8.

Praia da Baía

We took a left out the door of Maria’s and another left that led us straight to the jagged coast. Following the water’s edge, we happened upon our first trail marker. We followed it onto Praia da Baía passing some fishing boats and a few other hikers. Within 15 minutes we were already taking our first pitstop to de-robe and reapply. Much warmer than we ever expected. Once we were situated we pushed our way up into the dunes. We followed them onto the beach since it was low tide and wet sand is much easier to walk through than dry.

Once we got to the Forte Pessegueiro (fort), we walked up to it and along a dirt road – the ocean on our right and the countryside on our left. From the dunes, we walked down to the wet sand again on Praia do Queimado. Passing many beautiful inlets and going up and down from the wet sand to the dunes throughout the day.

Praia Malhão

We came upon some surfers and puppies so of course made a brief pitstop to say hello before moving onto Praia Malhão. This was a much busier public beach with RV parking. There was a boardwalk where we stopped to dump out the mountains of sand in our shoes and share a snack.

After this long stretch of sandy beach, the coast gets rugged and you need to go much higher into the cliffs. If you want to take a swim or dip your big toe in, definitely do it here. This part of the hike could’ve easily been the most stunning.

Angra da Cerva

My favorite beach was Angra da Cerva. Protected from the wind, not a footstep in sight, but still plenty of waves to splash around in. I could’ve stayed here all day. This part of the coast is known for the endemic plants i.e. species of plants that can only be found here. We were oohing and awwing just like you would fireworks on the 4th of July.

Rest at Porto das Barcas

We stopped at Porto das Barcas to have a cold drink with fellow trail mates and dump what seemed like the entire praia out of our boots. This is where the trend appeared, Julie’s left boot always filled up while it was always my right. We assumed we had about an hour to go, but turns out it was a mere 30 minutes. The rest of the route goes inland through fields of red poppies and tall grass.

We checked-in to Apartamentos Dunam ar, stripped down, checked out those terrible new tan lines, threw all our clothes in a bucket full of soap and headed straight to the beach for a quick ice bath.

Evening in Vila Nova de Milfontes

Vila Nova de Milfontes was much larger than some of the later towns. It had plenty of restaurants, a few shops and friendly locals. After our dip, we went on a mission: find Julie shorts. We found white rhinestone studded jean shorts and a few other flashy numbers Julie, of course, had to try on – but nothing hike-appropriate. Mission failed, onto mojito drinking at Cá P’Ramim, since it was the only spot still kissed by the sun. We blew off our dinner reservation at Tasca do Celso, known for having the best seafood in town, for decent burgers, more mojitos and a great view at Riverside Pub.

Day 1: Total distance, 15 miles (including walks around town)

Day 2 | Vila Nova de Milfontes to Cavaleiro

As Julie loves to say, after day two, “the dogs were barking” i.e. we could barely make our way to town for dinner that evening.

We woke up around 8 but didn’t get going until 11 due to Julie’s double Jerry moments. First, camera issues. We found out over mojitos that she couldn’t transfer the photos from her camera over WiFi to her phone. We begged the lovely front desk lady to use her computer. The terribly slow WiFi didn’t help, but success, we were able to see the photos so we knew they were there. Second, she still needed shorts. Luckily, over our overly sweet but utterly delicious chocolate croissants at Mabi I spotted a surf shop. We stopped there and again, success – non-rhinestone studded shorts.

Water taxi

We lugged our stuff down the road to the Forte de São Clemente, or what locals refer to as the castle. Just below the castle, we hopped on a tiny boat to cross the Mira River to Praia das Furnas to continue along the Fishermen’s Trail. Since we chose to pass Almograve and end our day in Cavaleiro, the river taxi was a great choice. It saved about an hour’s worth of hiking along the main road. It cost €5 each and was just a five-minute ride. The taxi runs every 30 minutes during peak season.

After hopping off we hugged the coast until we saw a bar up in the dunes. Behind the bar, was the trail. For a while, we strolled through pastures of wildflowers until we reached some fields of man grown grass. This part of the day did drag on. It was mostly inland and though we could hear the powerful ocean in the distance, we couldn’t see it. We were eager to get back to the views of yesterday.

Rest at Praia do Brejo Largo

Some ducking and weaving through jungle-like trees and eventually, we reached the dunes again. It was worth it. The views were breathtaking, this may have been my favorite stretch of the entire hike. We couldn’t resist the Praia do Brejo Largo.

We took the muddy staircase down to the wide beach, stripped down, took a dip and rested. Some familiar faces were doing the same. After our rest, we decided we’d continue south along the water’s edge rather than dealing with that staircase again. Wrong choice. The beach faded behind us and quickly turned into a Game of Thrones set. There was no way to cross to the next beach so we turned back and climbed the stairs.

Almograve

Within an hour, we were approaching Almograve. This is where most Fishermen’s Trail hikers choose to spend the night. The beaches here are large and full of locals. Perfect for a family picnic and scouting for starfish. We walked on the beach until we couldn’t go any further. At the far end we walked up the stairs and continued along a straight road for some time. After this road we saw no hikers for the rest of our journey to Cavaleiro.

This leg of the hike featured the most majestic rock formations. The trail truly felt like it was ours to be explored. There was so much to discover.

Farol do Cabo Sardña

Just before the Farol do Cabo Sardña (lighthouse) is the Praia do Cavaleiro. Here there are many storks nesting atop the striking cliffs. Rather than continuing to the lighthouse, we took the street passed the riding school into town. We’d spend the night here. The walk into town was about 15 minutes followed by about 15 more to our B&B, Casa Nova da Barreira, at this point in the day, an eternity.

Luckily, an angel came to save us. Our B&B host had tried to contact us earlier in the day to let us know she could pick us up in town. We’d missed her call, but luckily she found us anyways – struggling to make those final steps to her house. Though not exactly on the water or in town, her hospitality was incredible, as was her rock garden. I just wanted to give her a hug.

Evening in Cavaleiro

Well, not too much. There is precisely one restaurant in town that goes by three or four different names depending on who you ask or which menu you read. Surprisingly this restaurant serves up quite tasty Nepolese and Indian cuisine. Search for Costa Alentejana and you’ll find it.

Day 2: Total distance, 15 miles (including the walk to and from dinner)

Ps not only does Julie hike, but she also takes great photos. Most of the photos in both parts 1 and 2 were taken by her.