Portugal’s tourist hotspots are overwhelmed with visitors. A new hiking trail aims to restore balance. Plans are afoot to create the world’s longest circular route, the 3,000 km Palmilhar Portugal (Walking Portugal).
Developed to encourage tourists off the beaten track and away from familiar (and oversubscribed) destinations such as Lisbon and the Algarve, the route will ultimately cross through 100 lesser-known up, down and across the country. Still a project in progress, the inaugural section of the loop will open in tiny Alenquer, just north of Lisbon, this July. The next section will be created in coastal Alentejo in the south of Portugal, followed by mountainous Trás-os-Montes in the north, with 15 routes expected to be open by the end of the year and the trail completed within three years.
The ‘360-degree’ route is the brainchild of and communication design consultant Ricardo Bernardes, who hopes the loop will “redistribute tourism to parts of Portugal that are currently little known”. Though it won’t be the world’s longest trail - that honour goes to Canada’s 24,000 km Great Trail - Palmilhar Portugal will be the world’s longest circular walk. It will be roughly the length of Europe’s (the ancient pilgrimage from Canterbury to Rome).
“The idea came to me when I was walking along a trail and wondered, what if this trail went round the whole country and returned to the same point without interruption?”, explains Bernardes. Though it’s dubbed.
