Camino de Portuguese Day 4: Angeiras to Vila do Conde

Day 4 in Porto, Portugal | Hiking the Camino de Portuguese from Angeiras to Vila do Conde | May 2026

This morning, we allowed ourselves to sleep in and take a long breakfast before our hike. I had been struggling with waking up in the middle of the night and being wide awake for several hours, then falling back asleep and waking up exhausted when it was time to get up. To make matters ‘worse,’ I would try to read myself back to sleep, but I loved the book I was reading so much that it only kept me up longer. Thankfully my sleep issues would be resolved by the time we checked out of the hotel, but it was a struggle for a few days. At least I got plenty of caffeine at breakfast, and the breakfast was always worth getting out of bed for.

Today’s walk would be pretty straightforward: We would return to the place we had left off two days ago in Angeiras via metro and bus, then follow the coast all the way up to Vila do Conde, then take the metro right back to Porto. It was a beautiful, sunny day for our walk, not too hot and a good ocean breeze the whole way. Perfect for our last day of walking on the Coastal route. We returned to the Roman baths in Angeiras, took a little time to see them and take pictures, then started making our way North. Today’s path took us largely on boardwalk, with short sections of cobblestone sidewalks in the small beach towns. We saw so many more pilgrims today than we had the day before.

There was so much about today’s walk that was both scenic and interesting, more than just ocean beach. There were rocky outcroppings, nature preserves, and beach towns. We walked through a large area with sand dunes, and at some points the boardwalk appeared to have been pushed over by the sand, or the pylons had collapsed, and so the path was at a steep angle. I clung to the upper railing as I walked through those parts. There were plenty of flowers and interesting plants blooming along the path, including large hydrangea bushes, calla lilies, and prickly pear cacti. In beach towns, we spotted several camper vans along with all the usual beach goers that you would expect to see on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

We took a couple breaks at benches or scenic areas, but overall the walking was easy and we made good time. When we arrived in Vila do Conde, the trail veered away from the coast and into the town to cross a river. We were around a lot of pilgrims at this point, more noticeable now that we were no longer around the beach goers. As we approached the town, we spotted the Roman aqueduct we had seen the day before. The large convent and historic hotel sat on top of a hill over the river where the aqueduct ends, dominating the view, and we couldn’t resist walking steeply up a road to get a closer look, and to take in the view from this vantage point.

Unfortunately the main convent that caught our attention was closed for renovations, but because we needed another stamp for our credential today, we wandered into another nearby church, just across the street because we had heard that churches had stamps. This turned into a rather awkward encounter with… the pastor? Caretaker? Old man who hangs out at the church? The language barrier was very evident, but we somehow communicated that we were looking for a stamp. He took his time stamping and talking away in Portuguese. Curtis thought he was asking for a donation for the stamp, so he stood to go drop some coins into a donation box, but he quickly said “No no no” and then we realized he wanted us to pay him directly to ‘buy him a coffee.’ If he was joking about that, it didn’t come across through our poor translating, and we left shortly after, resolved to try to get our stamps from cafes over churches from now on because then at least we’d be the ones getting the coffee we paid for!

After that, we meandered our way over to the metro station, which was quite crowded, as to be expected from a beach town on a beautiful Sunday. We returned to our hotel, where we showered and rested before venturing out for dinner. Our total mileage from today’s walk from Angeiras to Vila do Conde was about 8 miles.

For dinner, we ended up at a Kebab restaurant across from the Church of St. Ildefonso, which was delicious. After that we went for a long wandering walk to see more iconic Porto sights: churches, blue and white tile murals, and finally crossed the Ponte Luís Bridge all the way to the South side of the Duoro River. It turned out to be extremely busy as the nearby park is a well-known spot to watch the sunset, and though the sunset was still over an hour away, the entire hillside was packed with people. Instead of joining them there, we wandered up to the historic Monastery to the East to take in the view of the Duoro and beautiful Porto. From this vantage we made a unique observation. There were almost 50 cranes all over the city. So many more than I think we’ve seen anywhere else. Instead of waiting another hour or so until sunset, we left our vista, got more gelato, and returned to our hotel for a much needed rest.