Step into adventure: Portugal unveils 3,000-kilometre hiking trail. Image: Palmilhar / José João M Henriques / Facebook.
Portugal has an exciting new plan in the works: a circular hiking trail spanning the entire country, measuring 3,000 kilometres in total.
Named Palmilhar Portugal, this trail promises an all-encompassing view of the nation for those adventurous enough to complete it.
While the exact finish date remains uncertain, the first section is set to debut in July, starting in Alenquer, just north of Lisbon.
Central Portugal
From there, the trail will wind through Alentejo in central Portugal before reaching the northern region of Trás-os-Montes.
This ambitious undertaking will involve one-third of Portugal s municipalities and may cost up to €3.5 million.
What sets this trail apart is its accessibility, even for hikers with mobility limitations.
Retracing your Steps
The brains behind this endeavour is Ricardo Bernardes, a communication design consultant who was struck with inspiration while hiking and desiring a way back to his starting point without retracing his steps.
While Portugal attracts many tourists, particularly during the summer, most tend to concentrate in Lisbon and along the Algarve coast.
This leads to overcrowding in these areas, leaving other parts of the country overlooked.
Distributing Tourism
The circular hiking route aims to change this by distributing tourism more evenly and benefiting lesser-known communities along the way.
For comparison, Canada boasts the world s longest non-circular walking trail, the Great Trail, stretching 24,000 kilometres from coast to coast, unveiled in 2017.
Sign up for personalised news
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our
Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Originally from Derbyshire, Anna has lived in the middle of nowhere on the Costa Blanca for 19 years. She is passionate about her animal family including four dogs and four horses, musicals and cooking.
Leave a comment Cancel reply
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Website
Comment for robots
Known as the PEOPLE’S PAPER, Euro Weekly News is the leading English language newspaper in Spain. And it’s FREE!
Covering the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Almeria, Axarquia, Mallorca and beyond, EWN supports and inspires the individuals, neighbourhoods, and communities we serve, by delivering news with a social conscience. Whether it’s local news in Spain, UK news or international stories, we are proud to be the voice for the expat communities who now call Spain home.
With around half a million print readers a week and over 1.5 million web views per month, EWN has the biggest readership of any English language newspaper in Spain. The paper prints over 150 news stories a week with many hundreds more on the web – no one else even comes close.
Our publication has won numerous awards over the last 25 years including Best Free Newspaper of the Year (Premios AEEPP), Company of the Year (Costa del Sol Business Awards) and Collaboration with Foreigners honours (Mijas Town Hall). All of this comes at ZERO cost to our readers. All our print and online content always has been and always will be FREE OF CHARGE.
Sign up for personalised news
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Close
