Caminho Central Português — Stage 2: Alhandra to Azambuja
24 km of flat, easy walking from Alhandra through Vila Franca de Xira's bullfighting country to the farming town of Azambuja.
This stage has a genuine official albergue — €10/night, 16 places, open year-round — the first confirmed one on the whole route so far.
📍 Stage 2 Overview Map
Start and end points are exact. The connecting line shows general direction only — it is not the walking trail itself. Click a marker for a Google Maps link.
Alhandra → Azambuja
From Alhandra, the Camino continues close to the Tagus into Vila Franca de Xira, a lively market town famous across Portugal for its bullfighting tradition and the annual Colete Encarnado festival. Beyond the town the trail flattens out through quiet farmland, passing Castanheira do Ribatejo, Carregado, and Vila Nova da Rainha before arriving in Azambuja, a working agricultural town and a good overnight stop.
Historic sights en route
Where to stay
Official pilgrim albergue
Rua Vítor Cordon, 69, Azambuja · €10/night · 16 places · check-in 3:00 PM–7:00 PM, open year-round · credential required · microwave available.
Towns You'll Pass Through
Vila Franca de Xira
Vila Franca de Xira is a proper town rather than a village — around 20,000 people — and the beating heart of Ribatejo bullfighting culture. It's famous nationwide for the Colete Encarnado festival each July, when bulls run through the streets, and for the Praça de Toiros Palha Blanco bullring. Away from that tradition, it's a pleasant riverside town with a lively municipal market, a handful of good cafés, and the Museu do Neo-Realismo, dedicated to the mid-20th-century Portuguese art and literary movement.
Castanheira do Ribatejo
Castanheira do Ribatejo is a small riverside parish, part of the Vila Franca de Xira municipality, strung along the Tagus floodplain. It's quiet and residential, with a modest church and a scattering of farms, and mostly serves as a calm stretch between the bustle of Vila Franca and the open country beyond.
Carregado
Carregado (now officially joined with Cadafais as a single parish) sits in the Alenquer municipality, just off the Tagus. It grew up as a transport hub — the old Estação Real, a 19th-century railway station, is a small but notable landmark — and today it's a workaday town best known locally for road and rail links rather than monuments.
Vila Nova da Rainha
Vila Nova da Rainha is a small farming village in the Azambuja municipality, named after a Portuguese queen historically associated with the area. It's a simple, low-key stop with a parish church at its centre, surrounded by the flat agricultural land typical of this stretch of the Ribatejo.
Azambuja (end of Stage 2)
Azambuja is where today's walk ends — a sizeable agricultural town of around 8,000 people and the seat of its own municipality. It's long been an important market centre for the Ribatejo's farming economy, and the old town has a handful of modest churches and a relaxed, unhurried feel. For pilgrims it's a practical, well-equipped overnight stop, with the official albergue, several guesthouses, and enough cafés and shops to restock before the next stage.