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Porto to Santiago de Compostella - one extra night to stay someplace in between - but where?

Hi,

I realized I messed up my itinerary. I am arriving in Porto on June 28th, picking up a rental at the airport and was planning to drive straight to Santiago deCompostella for 3 nights. I realized that I booked the hotel starting the 29th, instead of the 28th by mistake. I can't change the reservation, so I find we have a extra night to play with.

We get into Porto early, about 9:30am, and so I figured we might as well go someplace interesting along the way to our first destination, Santiago de Compostella (see itinerary below.) So, we'll have from say noon to noon, wherever we decide to spend that first day/night. Where would you want to spend a full day along the route from Porto to S de C. Could be Guimaraes, Braga, Pontevedra, Comburra, etc...

Since we'll probably be a little jet lagged (overnight flight,) I figure someplace enjoyable, but not to taxing, would be nice for that first day. Nothing to taxing/stressful, but something enjoyable in a laid back kind of way! A nice village or small city to walk around with charming street life (that's all I really ask for!)

Here's our itinerary:

To Be Determined (1 night) after arriving at Porto Airport at 9:30am
Santiago de Compostella (3 nights)
Porto (4 nights)
Fatima (2 nights)
Lisbon (4 nights)
Sao Martinho do Porto (4 nights)

If anyone has any favorite restaurants or day trips from any of the above, please feel free to share them with me. Thank you!!!

Posted by
1078 posts

Look at Tui or Velanca (across from each other on the border of Spain and Portugual. Valenca has a walled city with lots of character while Tui is more Urban with more hotels. Both are on the Camino, and about half way to Santiago. We stayed in Tui when we walked the Camino 2 years' ago.

Posted by
11156 posts

Stay in Galicia Spain at Baiona at the ocean front Parador there or in the Rias Baixas at O Grove.

Posted by
6893 posts

I really agree with the above suggestions and can't come up with anything better. To add my 2c, I prefer Tui to Valença, found the latter to be tackier (full of shops selling linens to tourists and day trippers). And I prefer Baiona to O Grove, the latter feels more resort-y.