Portugal’s tourist destinations are overcrowded with tourists, and a new hiking trail aims to restore balance.
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Plans are underway to build the world’s longest circular hiking route, the 3,000-kilometre-long “Palmijar Portugal” (Walking Portugal).
The route was developed to attract tourists to more off-the-beaten-path locations, away from the more familiar (and over-booked) tourist destinations of Lisbon and the Algarve, and will ultimately cover 100 of the most beautiful, lesser-known locations crisscrossing the country.
It’s still an ongoing project, but the first section of the loop will open in July this year in tiny Alenquer, just north of Lisbon. The next section will be built in Alentejo, along Portugal’s southern coast, before heading to Trás-os-Montes in the northern mountains. By the end of the year, 15 routes will be open, with the trail expected to be complete within three years.
Venture off the beaten path in Portugal
The “360-degree” route is the brainchild of walking enthusiast and communications design consultant Ricardo Bernardes, who hopes the loop will “redistribute tourism to areas of Portugal that are currently less known.”
While it’s not the longest trail in the world (that honor goes to Canada’s 24,000km Great Trail), Portugal’s Palmirhar is the longest circular walk in the world, almost as long as Europe’s Via Francigena, an ancient pilgrimage route from Canterbury to Rome.
“The idea came to me while I was walking the trail: What if this trail went all the way around the country and returned to the same point without any breaks?” Bernardes explains.
There’s something for everyone along the route
The €3.5 million project, called “Walking Portugal”, promises to always be on public land, mainly on unpaved paths for pedestrians, but with some areas open to bicycles and aims to include trails accessible for people with reduced mobility.
The trail will also be adding an app that will provide up-to-date information on the next locations along the route, as well as the opportunity to book accommodation, meals and tickets to sporting and cultural events.
A full-service trail requires participation and investment from local councils and businesses so nothing is guaranteed, but digital and physical “passports” that can be stamped along the route are also in the works.
Palmirhal Portugal: What to expect on your first trail
Known locally as the “Cit Town”, the amphitheatre-like Alenquer is where Walking Portugal opens in July and where you can learn all about archaeology, palaeontology and history, as well as enjoy wine tastings from local vineyards. Its main tourist event, the Ascension Festival, takes place each year in May or June.
Later this year, the route will be extended into the rural and sparsely populated southern Alentejo coast, where you’ll find 100km of national parks protecting pristine coastline, natural harbours, dolphin watching, wild horses and one of the world’s largest cork oak forests.
The remote Trás-os-Montes region in the northeast will be added to the route in late 2024. Known locally as the “Hot Lands,” this region boasts a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Biosphere Reserve, offering thirsty hikers a pastoral welcome of olive groves, orchards and vineyards. Look out for carved granite pigs, ancient almond trees and hidden valleys.
