Fishermen’s Trail, Portugal, October 2025

We flew to Lisbon, Portugal, and after a day of checking out the city took the bus to Porto Covo to hike 9 stages on the Fishermen’s Trail along the Algarve coast.

Day in Lisbon, Oct. 13
We spent the day strolling around town and looking at some of the main sights

Arriving in Porto Covo, Oct. 14
We took the long-distance bus from Lisbon to Porto Covo. Then we enjoyed the late afternoon and sunset at the coast.

Stage 1: Porto Covo – Vila Nova de Milfontes, Oct. 15 (18.84 km, 11.71 mi; 1455 ft, 444 m gain)

• Started the Fisherman’s Trail south.
• Lots of hiking in deep sand, even on the top of the cliffs. Some hiking on the beach, here we could take advantage of the low tide and walk on the more solid wet sand. Great views of an amazing coast.
• Quite a few people started at the same time, and we kept running into each other. Seems like everyone had a drink at the outdoor bar where pavement started in Vila Nova de Milfontes.

Stage 2: Vila Nova de Milfontes – Almograve, Oct. 16 (12.38 km, 7.69 mi; 795 ft, 242 m gain)

• Took the ferry across the river for €5/pp. Then walked to Almograve. Easier walking than the day before.
• When I got a beer in the convenience store at the roundabout entering Almograve, Srisuda heard two women talking in Thai. They were farmworkers on a tomato farm close by. They invited Srisuda over, happy to run into someone who spoke their language. I checked in, had a good chat with the host. Then went to join Srisuda about 25 min walk outside town.
• Later, an old man sitting outside a convenience store with his friends, enjoying a late afternoon espresso, remarked on my height. He then told me that he worked in Germany starting in the 1970s, close to where I grew up.
• We got some snacks and beer and went to the beach, but did not stay to sunset since there was too much haze.

Stage 3: Almograve – Zambujeira do Mar, Oct. 17 (23.86 km, 14.83 mi; 2024 ft, 617 m gain)

• Early start at sunrise after breakfast at the grocery store. We were trying to take advantage of the cool morning.
• First 2.5 miles on dirt roads, then some dunes on cliffs. After another 6 miles mostly dirt roads. We took some detours to stay on the edge of the cliffs rather than following the trail on a straight dirt road.
• Last 2.5 miles along a paved road on the sidewalk. It was hot!
• Dinner was a regional dish of octopus with clams, mussels, and shrimp over potatoes. One-pot dish.

Stage 4: Zambujeira do Mar – Odeceixe, Oct. 18 (19.43 km, 12.07 mi; 1844 ft, 562 m gain)

• More great coast. Nice, long break at 6.5 miles at Azenha do Mar. A caneca [0.5l beer mug] at the restaurant, then Srisuda discovered that the cafe across the street had some fried octopus/egg/onion dish she had seen on YouTube. So we extended the break to 1h.
• The last 3.5 miles from the coast to the town of Odeceixe were painful: hot, paved road.

Stage 5: Odeceixe – Aljezur, Oct. 19 (22.67 km, 14.09 mi; 1484 ft, 452 m gain)

• Early start to avoid hiking too much in the sun.
• Not much coast on this day. Lots of time on dirt roads through fields. In Rogil we had lunch in a “park” and were joined by a couple from the Netherlands doing the trail.
• Stayed in a double room at Amazigh Hostel in Aljezur in the old part of town. Typical Hostel feeling. Saw a number of the hikers we had seen over the previous days.
• Walked to Intermarché supermarket on the other side of the river for groceries for the next day breakfast and hiking
• Dinner at the restaurant just down the street from the hostel, Restaurante 3 GERAÇÃO. Good food for a very good price. The place had a great atmosphere. Best dining experience so far in Portugal
• Longer chat at the hostel with some of the hikers also doing the trail. This is still the cool part about a hostel stay: talking to random people from everywhere.

Stage 6: Aljezur – Praia da Arrifana, Oct. 20 (17.58 km, 11 mi; 1500 ft, 457 m gain)

• Breakfast with our supplies. Chatted with Jutta Ravenna, a sound artist recording sounds of windmills in Portugal to use them for her art installations. Another interesting Hostel contact.
• It was drizzling, and we had to hike uphill right away. I soon was soaked like never before. Not knowing how the weather would turn out, we picked the inland option for this hike and dropped our bags at the Utopia guesthouse in Arrifana. The weather cleared up, and we walked the Fisherman’s Trail to the cliffs we missed because of this route modification. It started drizzling again, and we cut back through town to the guesthouse.
• This community has a strange feel to it. Not a “real” town, just a big collection of vacation and retirement homes. Lots of foreigners from Europe (mostly Germany, UK, Netherlands).

Stage 7: Arrifana – Carrapateira, Oct. 21 (20.38 km, 12.66 mi; 1153 ft, 351 m)

• Big breakfast at the guesthouse.
• Light rain and fog for the first ~1.5 h. Including during a steep 300+ ft climb, so I was completely soaked again. Afterwards, the fog/drizzle cleared, and we hiked relatively dry. There were long stretches of dirt roads through fields and Eucalyptus trees. We got our audiobooks out for that. Apparently, the area is nice in spring when everything is green/blooming
• Just before the Fisherman’s Trail separates from the Rota Vicentina, there is a guesthouse with a cafe (Barranco da Forte). We stopped, and I had a caneca of draft beer 🙂. Hey, it was hot.
• With about 3.5 miles to go, we were close to the coast again with some cliffs. The very final stretch is on the beach, and I took a dip in the water. The waves were strong, and I got tossed around some, even though I didn’t go in deeper than mid-thigh. We walked across the beach/dunes straight to the town.
• Carrapateira is a tiny village with only 1 small convenience store and only 2 restaurants open. Ate at Microbar and we were joined by David, whom we had met a few times along the way. Food (burger and chicken fillet were pretty good)

Stage 8: Carrapateira – Vila do Bispo, Oct. 22 (16.46 km, 10.23 mi; 1588 ft, 484 m)

• Moderately heavy, brief rain showers were moving through. Some nice coast early on, then moving inland towards Vila do Bispo.
• Stayed at Casa Mestre and again met some of our fellow hikers there.
• Dinner was at a restaurant down the street, close to Aldi. Srisuda had found that they had limpids which she wanted to try. We also tried an Arroz dish, monkfish and shrimp. Dessert was Carob Cake.

Stage 9: Vila do Bispo – Sagres, Oct. 23 (20.34 km, 12.64 mi; 1237 ft, 377 m)

• At breakfast we chatted with a retired couple from Germany who have travelled Europe extensively. Later we met them on the trail just outside town and we ended up walking with them the whole day.
• It was about 5 miles to the coast where we took a break at the first point with cliff views.
• The fortress at Cabo San Vicente was closed. We did have the required brats at the “Letzte Bratwurst vor Amerika” stand. The place is even mentioned in guidebooks. As we left there was a long line.
• Just before the Cape, we watched a fisherman pulling up a fish. We were over 200 ft up! It was a small fish and he gave it to the birds.
• We saw some dolphins from the cliff also.
• The walk from the cape to Sagres was mostly along the street since the trail was just rocky, sharp limestone.
• We had an end-of-hike drink at the beach bar on Tonel beach.

This concluded our time on the Fishermen’s Trail after 172 km / 107 miles of hiking. We had a great time. We did it the “hard way” compared to almost all the hikers we met, since we carried all our stuff in our backpacks. Everyone else used luggage services that move the luggage from one accommodation to the next.