Blog home / The Way, Her Way: New Camino Film Puts the Portuguese Camino in the Spotlight
The Way, Her Way: A New Camino Film Puts the Portuguese Camino in the Spotlight
A new Australian film is about to send people looking for the Portuguese Camino who have never heard of it before. The Way, Her Way, from director Bill Bennett and producer Jennifer Cluff, began filming in Portugal on 13 October 2026. It follows a woman walking the Portuguese Camino after her marriage ends, and it's a sequel to Bennett's 2024 film The Way, My Way.
Walk it yourself: UTracks runs the Portuguese Camino across all three route variants, with self-guided trips on the Central Route, the Coastal Way and the Spiritual Variant, or browse 20+ itineraries for walking the Portuguese Camino.
If the film brought you here, or you've started researching the Portuguese Camino for yourself, here's what's worth knowing: the story behind the film, the route's history, and how the three variants compare.
The film: The Way, Her Way
The story follows Anna, 39, who learns on her fifteenth wedding anniversary that her husband is leaving her for his 23 year old paralegal. She googles what to do after being cheated on, finds "walk the Camino" at number seven on the list, and a few days later is in Porto starting the Portuguese Camino with brand new gear and no walking experience. The Camino, and the pilgrims she meets along it, change her, and when her husband later asks for another chance she has to choose between the marriage and the life she's found on her own. The filmmakers describe it as a story of female empowerment, and executive producer Marc Wooldridge calls it "the first ever Camino based feature film about a woman's experience" (an English-language first is the more defensible claim, since Spanish and Portuguese-language Camino films already exist).
Geraldine Hakewill, the Australian actress known for Wanted and the title role in Ms Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries, was announced as Anna on 12 October 2026, on the eve of filming. As with the first film, the cast mixes professional actors with real pilgrims: Marie, Steve and Patty are drawn from the group Bennett and Cluff walked with on the Portuguese Camino in 2014.
Bennett directs and co-writes with his partner Jennifer Cluff, who also produces. The pair have walked the Portuguese Camino twice, and the script draws on true stories from their nine Caminos combined. Camino author Johnnie Walker, who has walked 57 Caminos and written 19 guidebooks, is an executive producer and advised on the script; he points out that more than half of all pilgrims on the Camino are women, which he and the filmmakers say the genre has overlooked until now.
Principal photography runs along the coastal route to Vila do Conde, then inland through Padrón into Galicia to Santiago and on to Finisterre, continuing to mid-November 2026 before a week of filming in Australia. Bennett says cinemas are "expected" in May 2027, and the production is also aiming for a May 2027 screening at Cannes, though neither date is confirmed. Worth noting for anyone researching further: the casting, box office and release details circulating online come largely from Bennett's own blog and the film's own website, which also carries financing and investor pages, so they're presented here as the filmmakers' own statements rather than independently verified facts.
A short history of the Portuguese Camino
Pilgrims have been walking from Portugal to the tomb of St James in Santiago de Compostela since medieval times, and the Portuguese Camino is now the second most walked of all the routes to Santiago, behind only the Camino Francés. It grew alongside Porto itself: the city's rise as a trading port on the Douro, and Portugal's independence in the 12th century, shaped the towns and bridges the route still passes through today.
A record 530,987 pilgrims received a Compostela certificate at the Pilgrim's Office in Santiago in 2025. Of those, CaminoWays reports 51,572 walked the Central route and 41,644 the Coastal route, together making the Portuguese Camino the busiest set of approaches to Santiago after the French route. Women made up 53% of all pilgrims in 2025, and American Pilgrims on the Camino puts the figure at 61% among US walkers. That gender split is exactly the gap The Way, Her Way is aiming to fill on screen.
Three ways to walk the Portuguese Camino
The Portuguese Camino isn't one path but three, and the film itself crosses between two of them, starting on the coast before cutting inland through Padrón to Santiago. Here's how the routes differ, based on UTracks' own trip notes.
Central Route
The original and most walked of the three, running inland from Porto through Barcelos, Ponte de Lima and across the Alto da Portela Grande, the highest point on the route at 430m. Our Central Route itinerary, Porto to Santiago, covers it in 14 days (13 nights), around 230km of walking through market towns, vineyards and eucalyptus woods before crossing into Spain at Tui and finishing at the cathedral in Santiago.
Coastal Way
A quieter, flatter alternative that hugs the Atlantic on the Senda Litoral, passing fishing villages such as Vila do Conde and Póvoa de Varzim before crossing into Spain by ferry near Caminha. Our Coastal Way itinerary, Porto to Baiona, covers this leg in 9 days (8 nights), around 140km, and it's this stretch the The Way, Her Way production crew is following for its opening scenes.
Spiritual Variant
The least known of the three and arguably the most atmospheric. It branches off the Central route at Pontevedra, follows the Ruta da Pedra e da Auga past old mills and the Monastery of Armenteira to Vilanova de Arousa, then swaps boots for a boat: a crossing of the Arousa estuary to Pontecesures that's recognised as an official stage of the Camino, complete with its own pilgrim stamp. Our Spiritual Variant itinerary combines this with the coastal walk north of Porto for a 16 day (15 night), roughly 270km journey to Santiago.
Walking it with UTracks
However you come to the Portuguese Camino, there's a version that fits. The full Central Route and the Coastal Way with Spiritual Variant are both available as complete self-guided walks, and shorter sections (Porto to Tui, Porto to Baiona, Lisbon to Porto) suit a first taste of the route or a tighter schedule. There's also a guided option designed for senior travellers, and self-guided cycling itineraries from Lisbon to Porto and on to Santiago for those who'd rather pedal the Camino than walk it. All of our self-guided trips include accommodation, luggage transfer, route notes and GPX files, and a pilgrim's passport for the Compostela certificate at the end. Browse 20+ itineraries for walking the Camino Portuguese..
Frequently asked questions
How long is the Portuguese Camino? It depends which route and starting point you choose. Our Central Route from Porto to Santiago covers around 230km over 13 walking days, while the Coastal Way from Porto to Baiona is a shorter 140km over 8 days. Starting from Lisbon adds several hundred kilometres more.
Which variant should I walk? The Central Route is the classic choice, with the widest range of towns and the most pilgrim infrastructure. The Coastal Way suits walkers who want flatter terrain and sea views over historic towns. The Spiritual Variant is best added on by those who've walked a Camino before and want something quieter, including the boat crossing to Pontecesures.
When does The Way, Her Way come out? There's no confirmed release date. Director Bill Bennett says cinemas are expected in May 2027, with the production also targeting a Cannes screening that month, though both remain unconfirmed as filming only began in October 2026.
Sources