Day-by-day trail itinerary

Fishermen's Trail (Trilho dos Pescadores): 12-day itinerary

The trail starts at Praia de São Torpes with the Sines industrial zone still behind you, and the first ten kilometres of low cliff and small coves into Porto Covo are the gentlest walking it ever offers. From Porto Covo the real character sets in: dune track, frequently loose enough to sink into, running above one beach after another past Ilha do Pessegueiro and the Malhão sands. That is nearly 20 km of it to Vila Nova de Milfontes, and the surface rather than the climbing is what decides the day, so signed timings and your own tend to part company. Milfontes is the largest town of the northern half and sits on the Mira, which the marked route crosses by the road bridge at the edge of town, about two kilometres of tarmac either side. Past Praia das Furnas the going firms up onto sandy track and low cliff for the run down to Almograve. Villages and cafés come more often on this stretch than anywhere else on the route.