Camino de Portuguese Day 6: Barcelos to Tomel
Porto to Barcelos | Hiking the Camino de Portuguese from Barcelos to Tomel | June 2026
This morning, we enjoyed our final breakfast at our hotel in Porto, then packed up our backpacks and checked out. We loved our time in Porto, even though it felt like we spent all of our days hiking away from the city. We weren’t sure how long our hike would take and how much time we’d have after, but we knew we were open to returning to Porto for a couple days if we had enough time afterwards. We had grown familiar with the historic downtown area and felt like we knew our way around, yet were still fascinated by the scenery and architecture in the area. After leaving the hotel, we made our way to the train station and boarded our train to Barcelos.
Our planned train ride was supposed to be a reverse of the night before, but things didn’t go quite as planned. We hopped off the train for our connection in Nine, but were confused by the signage here. It wasn’t clear which platform we were supposed to go to, and with a short connection time we started to become anxious that we might miss the train due to being on the wrong side. But when the arrival time came and went, Curtis went to investigate in the station, and learned that this line was actually on strike and wouldn’t be operating until after 6pm that night. We knew that there was a nation wide strike the next day and had specifically made sure our plans wouldn’t be affected by it, but I guess it started early for this lesser used line.
But since this is Europe and not the US, I was convinced that there still had to be a way for us to reach Barcelos via public transit in a reasonable time frame, so I pulled up Google Maps and did a quick search. Sure enough, I found that if we walked 1.5km into the town of Nine, we could take a bus up to Barcelos and still be there in an hour. And so we walked to town, found a bus stop, and took the bus to Barcelos where we hopped off just South of the river we had crossed the night before. We retraced our steps over the bridge and through the town, following the yellow arrows through the downtown area. As today was our first day really on our own on the trail, with no reservations or idea of how this backpacking adventure would turn out, I was quite proud of myself for my quick problem solving and keeping us on track! And even though it was an inconvenience for us, we support the workers on strike. After all, it was an inconvenience of less than an hour and about 10 extra Euros spent for us, for them it is their livelihood.
After making it through the historic downtown of Barcelos, the North side of the city turned from businesses to neighborhoods, and eventually thinned out into quieter roads and more spread out homes. As we left the city behind, we enjoyed the more picturesque scenery of rolling hills with small villages tucked closely together between them, with the steeples of the beautiful little churches standing above the rest. There were also flowers and farmland, quieter roads, and lots and lots of grape vines.
For today’s hike, we planned to walk only about 7 miles, for a couple of reasons: first, we had a late start due to commuting from Porto (made slightly later than planned due to the strike), and second, we were hoping to stay in a public Albergue (Hostel specifically for Pilgrims walking the Camino and run by the local governments) along the trail and it just so happened to work out that the first one was 7 miles North of Barcelos, and the next one after that was 25 km away. So we went into the walk knowing that it would be an easier day; mentally preparing ourselves for a much longer day the next day.
We made it to the Albergue in Portela de Tamel around 3 and went inside to inquire about space. The worker there was very warm and welcoming and made us feel very comfortable with our first Albergue experience. To explain a little more about Albergues, there are many along the different Camino routes, usually run by churches or the local municipal governments. They are intended only for pilgrims, so they don’t take reservations and you can only stay one night. The system comes largely from the medieval hospitality/alms code used by monasteries. The credential (book of stamps) is really all you need to prove that you’re on a pilgrimage, though we also needed our US passports to check in. As they are on a first come first served basis, it can sometimes feel like a race to get a bed, and while there were definitely days we felt that way, this one wasn’t as popular so we weren’t too concerned. We had arrived an hour or so after the doors had opened, but there were still plenty of beds available. It cost 5 Euro per person for a bunk and access to all the facilities — bathrooms, showers, laundry, kitchen, and lounge space.
After we found our beds and settled in, we showered, washed our clothes by hand and hung them out to dry, then hung out in the common area so we could charge our phones, journal, and plan out our next day. There wasn’t much to eat or do in this area, but there was a restaurant right across the road that served pilgrim dinners which we were excited to partake in. The only downside was that it didn’t open until 7, and we were starving and also hoping to get to bed earlier to prepare for an earlier start the next day.
Above: Pilgrim dinner / Below: a sign showing all the public Albergues along the Camino de Santiago – central route
But let me tell you, it was so worth the wait! We went over right at 7 and ended up at a table with two other pilgrims, a man from Germany and a woman from Latvia (the woman would end up being someone we saw almost every day of our hike!). The meal was 10 Euro per person, which included a drink (we both had drafts of Super Bock) a main dish of either chicken or fish, and very large portions of fries, salad, and rice. A lot of food under normal circumstances, but we both devoured it all and were very satisfied. The rice had shredded carrot mixed in and was actually delicious, the salad had a tasty vinaigrette dressing, the fries were perfectly crispy, and we loved the breaded fish. It also included a small coffee at the end of the meal, but we both declined because we were ready for bed. (This is a European custom I doubt we’ll ever get behind). Along with all that, we had lovely conversation with the other pilgrims, and were feeling so excited to have made our first friends on the trail.
After dinner, we returned to the Albergue and prepared for bed. I had been a little nervous about how I would do sleeping in a hostel setting, as I can’t even remember the last time I would have been in a situation like this (maybe Mauna Loa in 2018?) but with the aid of ear plugs and an eye mask, I think I was asleep before everyone in our room was even settled down!
