Bed, Breakfast and Grub Rating
Fri 6 Sept
Holiday Inn Lisbon Continental
Overnight in a HI in need of a refresh, but good breakfast
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sat 7 Sept
Solar dos Poetas, Lisbon
Lovely pub, very chic décor, a bit hipster on the edge of the commercial. Great staff, great breakfast, comfortable room.
Recommended eating:
Solar 31 da Çalcada, excellent. Delicious Portuguese seafood, simply cooked over coals.
Recommended: Lisbon walking tour, Alfama walking tour, traditional boat sunset cruise.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tues 10 Sept
Casa Carolina, Porto
The biggest room we’ve ever stayed in. It had a garden and was a bit of an oasis as it had been a mansion that had been converted; as it was about ten minutes walk from the Douro in an area that wasn’t touristy but had lots of eating options. Again, a great breakfast.
Recommended eating:
Badio Gold
Tours:
Find a proper wine experience. The tour we took was scenic but touristy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fri 13 Sept
B&B Hotel
Vila do Conde
This was not a bad spot after the first day on the Camino. It was a new chain hotel with spacious rooms, but breakfast was basic. However, it was next to a massive supermercado and only ten minute’s walk from the restaurants and bars in the old part of town. No character, but sometimes a comfortable bed is more important. Good value.
Recommended eating:
Restaurante Republika was a little up-market, but the food and service were outstanding and very reasonably priced.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sat 14 Sept
Suave Mar
Esposende
We spent two nights here. Lovely location in a seaside town with a range of options for food and amenities, but the pub could have used a few quid in refreshing the paint. Comfortable and quiet rooms, but the restaurant was pricey and opened quite late for pilgrims, who were very obvious in the bar. Breakfast was good.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mon 16 Sept
Hotel Laranjeira
Viana do Castelo
A very modern makeover, almost a pod hotel, with small and the bathrooms had glass walls, which made privacy dependent on observing strict protocols. Great location, good staff, and an reasonable cooked breakfast, especially as the space was small.
Recommended eating:
Restaurante Bote d’Agua, which was a highlight, as we shared a Portuguese Seafood Stew that was to die for. A great town for food.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tues 17 Sept
Hotel Meira
Vila Praia de Ancora
Another two night stop in a lovely location, although the beach views were dimmed by bushfire smoke. The hotel is well set up for pilgrims, with a bar and helpfu staff, but like many places in the area, the restaurant had already closed for the winter. Breakfast was a good mix of hot and cold, and fruit was plentiful. There was a pool and day spa for the beauty conscious.
Recommended eating:
Try the bars, but there is plenty of choice.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thur 19 Sept
Hotel Restaurante Glasgow
Villadesuso (first night in Spain)
This was a welcome relief after a very long day. Options around this area are limited and the hotel catered very effectively for pilgrims, who we noticed were becoming far more numerous. The rooms are comfortable, the staff had excellent first aid skills, and dinner was cheap and tasty (the fixed menu included a bottle of wine per person). Breakfast was fine, but given the number of pilgrims, was a bit like half-time in an under-12 Rugby match.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fri 20 Sept
Hotel Avenida
Sabaris
On reflection, we should have stayed in Baiona, which had a bit more class and nightlife. The hotel was clean but dated and we were stuck on the second floor in a loft and there was no lift. Hardly the way to greet a tired walker. No breakfast or dinner, but a great bakery café just down the road and an amazing local bar which served stunning tapas and good quality wine.
Recommended eating:
Fidalgo Méson was a real find. We had local food in a local setting. When we arrived at 7:30 pm, there were ten people. By the time we left, most of the town had arrived and were tucking in or imbibing. The café (Yamon) deserves a better than normal mention for its bakery.
⭐️⭐️
Sat 21 Sept
Aqua de Mar
Vigo
Note the unwary: do not confuse this with Hotel del Mar or you will be retrieving your luggage in a taxi. This was a pretty upmarket hotel (****) which won our hearts with fluffy white robes and slippers and room service. We had two nights here and its location in the centre meant we had lots of choices, even if dinner was served (as elsewhere in Spain) early the next morning. Breakfast was a great choice and cooked to order if desired.
Recommended eating:
By now we were in Spain and you could eat anywhere if you were there when they opened at 8 pm, as no local showed interest in food until 9 or later. Restaurante Casa Vella didn’t disappoint and we shared a delicious Galician seafood rice dish.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mon 23 Sept
Hostal Antolín
Cesantes
Redondela has few choices for accommodation, which is why we ended up over two kilometres out of town (but still on the path). This meant that the hotel restaurant was the only choice for food. The location was lovely, but there was an excess of thin walls, stairs, hard beds, noisy Northern Europeans and an absence of a decent breakfast.
Recommended eating:
The seafood was fine, but stay in Redondella to have some choices.
⭐️
Tues 24 Sept
Hotel Boa Vila
Pontevedra
This hotel was not well-rated, but had good comments, and it certainly was better than some. Don’t be fooled by the foyer, or the interesting señora on the desk (see blog for a more detailed description). The rooms were large with four poster beds, contained a fridge, and the bathroom was clean and spacious with a great shower. It had a washer and dryer in the foyer. Breakfast was only a snack and nothing else as open at the the time we left.
Recommended eating:
We had tapas as we had lunched in a local café on the menu a dia.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wed 25 Sept
Via XIX
Caldas de Reis
This was a lovely building but the check-in time was strictly enforced (as in, no one was there until 3 pm). The rooms were very nice but small and the town itself was a little limited for pilgrims. No fine dining here! Breakfast was not as generous as walkers might like.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thur 26 Sept
Hotel Scala
Padron
If there was a race to the bottom, this was the complete arse-end of the hospitality scale. It was over two kilometres outside Padrón, which wasn’t worth the visit in the first place. By 7 pm, the place was over-run by demented pensioners and over-sharing Americans. Plastic mattresses designed to remove any comfort from normal sleep added to the atmosphere capped off thin walls with noisy guests.
Breakfast was like bedlam in a famine and we couldn’t wait to get out of the joint.
⭐️
Fri 27 Sept
Hotel Universal
Santiago De Compostela
This was very pleasant digs away from the old town, but close enough to enjoy it. Apart from an infestation of that bane of the traveller, drunken (middle-aged female) Americans, it was fine. What is the difference between American tourists and bedbugs? One you can get eliminate with a hot wash cycle. Good shopping nearby, ten minutes to the cathedral, and one should always find restaurants where the pilgrims don’t eat. Breakfast was solid but Spanish. The Portuguese seem to eat more fruit.
Recommended eating:
A Noiesa Casa de Comidas is in the tourist/pilgrim area but the service and food were very high quality. Traditional Galician food and a good selection of wine (Albariño at its best).
O Sendeiro, a good sized restaurant well off the pilgrim path (the boutique hotel above it looked interesting): probably the most-outstanding meal of the whole camino. Modern Galician food, with amazing ingredients and delicate flavours, and fabulous service.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mon 30 Sept
Holiday Inn Airport Express Lisbon
No complaints about the room or the sleep, and there was a shuttle to the airport. The restaurant was a disaster and we walked out and found a local café that served good food (churraso). Breakfast was included but we were not able to take advantage of it as we left very early, but we binned the dreadful breakfast boxes.
⭐️⭐️
