CaminoWays.com Reviews 512

The Portuguese coastal route was an amazing 12 day experience and a great introduction to the Camino. Maybe the French route is next….

The Camino is a very overwhelming experience on its own in all ways. From inspirational to the dark night of the soul. I loved it all. Caminoways made it possible for me to experience the pilgrimage without any worry about accommodation issues or luggage snarls. Though not every hotel was perfection there was a lovely balance of rustic rural and urban deluxe.

CaminoWays was fantastic. Their customer service people were incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, the itinerary they suggested was perfect for my timeframe and fitness level, and the accommodations they set up were wonderful.

Everything worked well - no hassles. Luggage moved from city to city perfectly. Accommodations were always in order and felt prioritized for early check-in. I wish the app was easier to navigate. Too much scrolling instead of automatically knowing based on date where I am in the itinerary. Also, having to look one place for distances and another for accommodations was frustrating. But it is a lot to work out and overall I would use them again.

Excellent communication and ease of planning a group trip .

It was a fantastic and challenging trip and planned to perfection.

Mark Auchincloss is the best guide! Perfect disposition to herd the cats, patient with novices, and encouraged the hobbled!

Great company to use for walking the Camino. Everything went smoothly from airport transfers, accommodations, and luggage transfers. Questions were answered very quickly and were true to the question asked. I wouldn't hesitate to use this company again for our next Camino. You have to watch as walking the Camino can become very additive, in a good way!

This is our first Camino trip. CaminoWays arranged the hotels and luggage transportation. Everything went smoothly. All the hotels booked were nice enough. I can't wait to book our next walk with CaminoWays.

This was the second Camino I booked through Camino Ways. The arrangements were once again flawless. I would definitely recommend Camino Ways to anyone wanting assistance with their next Camino.

Experience great
Accommodation great
Meals gteat
Weather, wet for 4 days, but atmosphere still great

Everything was so smooth running, between the hotels easy to find, spotless, staff fabulous in each one, food amazing and luggage taking with care to each hotel beforehand, it took the stress out they had every detail covered.
We had nothing to worry about other than the walking each day.

We had a wonderful 2025 Camino.

All the accommodation was great.
Except, maybe, for Hotel Franco in Teo: the young girl who ran it was fabulous but we did feel the hotel looked in need of some tlc. We stayed there in 2022 and it was in much better condition. I’m not really comfortable mentioning that - but??
However it didn’t spoil our Camino👍

Also the walk from the Port in Vigo to our hotel was a hard walk🤣, especially in the heat. Perhaps you could mention a taxi would be a good choice🙆‍♀️

The food in all the accommodations was good:-
especially a BIG mention to Anna our hostess in Armenteira - she, the accommodation and the food were exceptional🌟

We appreciated all the help Caminoways gave us.

There were five very happy ladies walking the Portuguese Coastal Camino 2025

Thank you

6-Day Portuguese Coastal Camino Starting in Vigo, Spain

WHAT WORKED WELL
The luggage transfer and hotel check-ins were perfect. No complications. Very smooth. Liked the FaceTime meeting to answer questions before the trip. Paperwork/information/itinerary were processed efficiently. Good.

LUGGAGE
The packing list provided by Camino Ways was extremely helpful.
There is a 1-bag/20ks limit. I needed a second bag for an extended trip. Pre-trip information was a bit confusing about adding a second bag (weighing no more than 20 ks) for a charge of 70e.

CAMINO WAYS PORTAL
Cumbersome to use. Having to go to a website to access information is unnecessarily complicated. Needs redesign with links to relevant information and each day’s route.

CAMINO WAYS GUIDE
The guide was indispensable in telling us where to rest and eat on hikes where there were few stopping places. Super important! But you need to access the website portal then scroll through the entire guide to get to information on the route you were doing on that day. Very old-fashioned and clunky.

CAMINO WAYS MAP FUNCTION
The Camino Ways map function was very difficult to use (even with the explanatory video). We ended up relying on Camino Ninja instead. Great app. Then we used Google Maps to guide us to our hotels once we were nearby in town.

Be sure to get an international phone plan to avoid obscene cellular roaming charges for navigation.

The Portuguese Camino route is extremely well marked, so we used Camino Ninja to check our location on the camino, figure out the distance we’d walked and how much more to go, and study topography/elevation before the day’s hike.

FYI: Much of the camino goes through flat or mildly rolling fields and forests, but parts of it go through towns and alongside busy multi-lane roads, especially the route into Santiago.

PILGRIM CREDENTIAL
We were DENIED our Pilgrim Credential in Santiago because the CW information page does NOT specify needing to have our passport STAMPED IN VIGO, our starting point. (We were told in Santiago that our passport reflected that we had walked 85 ks instead of 100.) Disappointing.

LODGING AND FOOD
With the help of Google Maps, all the hotels were on the camino and easy to find.

Things that were disappointing:
1) Camino Ways information states: "Country Cottages or Casas Rurales are beautifully restored country homes and farmhouses in the heart of peaceful rural communities."
We paid for "cottage" accommodations but
there were NO beautifully restored
rural lodgings on our itinerary. All the places we
stayed were modest, 2-star, in-town lodgings
on the camino itself.

2) The quality of the hotels and meals:
- Hotel Puerta Gamboa, Vigo
(very nice/great location/nice staff)
- Duarte Arcade, Arcade
(barely adequate/no hair dryer/awful
dinner (good salad, terrible hake or deli-
meat-like pork slices -- embarrassing)
- Hotel Rias Bajas, Pontevedra - very nice
- Hotelero Via XIX, Caldas de Reis -
nice staff, comfortable, quiet
(bad dinner at a depressing nearby
hotel/restaurant: entrée consisted
of one roasted chicken drumstick with
a glob of white rice)
- Hotel Corona de Padrón, Padrón -
very nice rooms, very pleasant restaurant
- Pombal Rooms Santiago, Santiago - nice
staff, comfortable, quiet, convenient
location
3) Camino Ways information states: "Our Country
Cottages are renowned for their exceptional
food."
Not in our experience. The dinner
entrées were repetitive and uninspired,
broiled hake (fish) or a cooked meat
with potatoes or plain rice. Nothing
particularly Spanish or interesting about
the preparation.
Generally good salads and desserts.
Totally satisfactory breakfasts.

Conclusion: My friend and I enjoyed our trip and are glad that we chose an organization to plan the lodging and route rather than having to figure everything out ourselves. We had glorious weather and knew that hotel arrangements and luggage delivery were reliably taken care of by Camino Ways.

But we don’t recommend Camino Ways because of the misrepresentation of the “Country Cottages” (which we paid for and didn’t get) and “exceptional food” (which is an outright lie). We also wish that the information Camino Ways provided was more complete and less complicated to use.

My wife and are were traveling with our 4-20 something children so we use Camino Ways to make traveling in a group easier. We had airport pickups and luggage transfers and all of our hotels arranged in advance. Everything was perfect! We will use CaminoWays again if we do another Camino. They are top notch and made our vacation an extraordinary collection of top notch memories that will last a lifetime.

Very good trip! The walking was outstanding, such a beautiful part of the world to visit and experience at walking pace. Some lovely towns and villages along the way. Good time of year to do this in terms of temperature (we started in san Gimignano mid October) Everything worked out seamlessly in terms of our accommodation bookings, breakfasts and dinners and luggage transfers. the hotel rooms were all clean but basic. Hotel staff were friendly and helpful.

The out of the way accommodations were exceptional! Very reliable service.

Problem with distances quoted

From the first contact with CaminoWays I was reassured that I had chosen a reputable company to handle my trip to Spain for my Camino.
My requests were dealt with promptly and professionally. All paperwork was sent via email in a timely manner and the Teams call a couple of weeks before departure was very useful and informative.
On our arrival in Santiago airport we were met by our taxi driver and taken to Sarria which was our starting point. The entire trip was handled seamlessly and without delay. All hotels were spotless and clean and offered a decent filling breakfast to set us up for our days walking. My gluten intolerance was well catered for and I was offered bread and cakes. Our luggage was collected and delivered to our hotel every day with no delay. I did not have the need to contact CaminoWays for assistance using the WhatsApp number but did send them a message to let them know we were having a great time. I was impressed how quickly they responded. This further demonstrated to me how easy it was to contact them if needed in the event of an emergency.
I am already thinking about my next Camino and will be looking to CaminoWays to arrange it for me.

We had a terrific experience walking part of the Camino with Camino Ways assistance. We let them know which routes we wanted to do, what average miles we wanted to do in a day and a few of the towns we wanted to stop in. They couldn’t have been more helpful! If we had any questions we emailed them and they got back to us by the next morning. Also I’m told by others you can call if you need an immediate answer while on the trail. We were very happy with all the hotels they booked for us and are considering another Camino route next year. If so, we will absolutely be booking with Camino Ways.