Lourdes
France
A Pyrenean market town of about thirteen thousand people built around the grotto where Bernadette Soubirous saw the Virgin in 1858, with more hotel rooms than almost anywhere in France outside Paris
Photo by Nick Castelli on Unsplash
Photos by Nick Castelli, Nick Castelli, Annie Spratt and Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of France
April to October — the torchlight procession runs every evening of the pilgrimage season, and the town is busiest around the Assumption in high summer
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 130mm in May
Where it is
43.10°N, 0.05°W Open in Google Maps
Things to do
Several days- Walk in or watch the torchlight procession, whether or not you are a believer
- Visit the Grotto early in the morning, before the groups arrive
- Go up the Pic du Jer by funicular for the Pyrenees
- See Bernadette’s cachot, which explains the story better than the basilicas do
- Take a day to the Cirque de Gavarnie, an hour up the valley
Lourdes travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget France
Good valueEuros, and cards in the hotels, restaurants and most of the shops. A few euros in coins help for candles at the Sanctuary, which run on offerings. Nothing needs cash you would have to change for.
ATMs & cards
Bank machines in the town centre and along the boulevard to the Sanctuary. Use a bank’s own machine and refuse any offer to convert into your own currency.
Avoid these
- independent machines that offer to charge you in your own currency
Use these instead
- Crédit Agricole
- Banque Populaire
- Caisse d’Épargne
- La Banque Postale
French bank machines generally charge nothing of their own; decline the conversion whatever the screen suggests.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of France
SafeVery safe, and used to looking after the sick and the elderly. The things to manage are the crowds — the Sanctuary takes tens of thousands on a big feast day, and any crowd that size draws pickpockets — and the river: the Gave de Pau runs fast beside the Grotto and has flooded it more than once. Shops selling devotional plastic are the worst the town does to you.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (5 areas)
Comfortable, including after dark
Worth more attention
- the procession and the Grotto on feast days — very large, slow crowds with many people in wheelchairs, and pickpockets working the edges
- the riverbank by the Grotto — the Gave de Pau runs fast and cold, and rises quickly after rain in the mountains
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa France visa rules
No visa needed
Freedom of movement — no time limit, and no visa. Bring a passport or national ID card.
Other passports
No visa neededup to 90 days
90 days within any 180-day period, counted across the whole Schengen area, not per country. ETIAS, a paid online authorisation, is being introduced for these passports — check the official link for whether it applies to your travel dates.
Visa required in advance€90 (Schengen short-stay visa)
A Schengen short-stay visa is applied for before travel, at the consulate of your main destination.
How to get it: Apply at the consulate or visa centre of the country you will spend most time in, typically 15 working days ahead and no more than six months before travel.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Health & emergencies all of France
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
Getting treated
EU/EEA and Swiss visitors are treated on the same terms as residents with an EHIC or GHIC card; UK visitors use a GHIC. Everyone else pays, and travel insurance is worth having for the repatriation cover rather than the treatment.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
DecentThe hotel half-board menus that feed the pilgrimages are cheap and forgettable. For the region’s food, go up the valleys or into the old town: garbure, the bean, cabbage and confit soup of the Bigorre, Tarbes beans, and Pyrenean sheep’s cheese. Noir de Bigorre ham is the local pig.
Travel tipsGetting around
Workable- UberWorks here
- BoltWorks here
- G7Works here
- FREE NOWWorks here
G7 the taxi fleet, by app
- Against a taxi
- Much the same. The flat airport rate is a taxi rule and the apps price against it.
Time zone and your working day
Europe/Paris — 6 hours ahead of you
2 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — 09:00–11:00 your time, 15:00–17:00 theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 03:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 03:00–11:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
eSIM
A data eSIM for France, installed before you fly and working the moment you land:
Works here
Works hereRevolutIn the app
Must-see
Travel tipsNearby day trips
Travel tipsSay a few words
French
- HelloBonjourbon-ZHOOR
- PleaseS'il vous plaîtseel voo PLEH
- Thank youMercimer-SEE
- Yes / NoOui / Nonwee / non
4 more phrases
- Excuse meExcusez-moiex-koo-zay MWA
- How much is it?C'est combien ?say com-BYEN
- The bill, pleaseL'addition, s'il vous plaîtla-dee-SYON
- Cheers!Santé !son-TAY
Open with bonjour before anything else. Launching straight into a question without it reads as rude, and explains a lot of reputed French coldness.
Travel tipsReligion
Catholic, and strictly secular
Laïcité is a constitutional principle: religion is kept out of public institutions, and conspicuous religious symbols are banned in state schools. Cover shoulders in cathedrals.
Travel tipsDo's and don'ts
Do
- Say bonjour before anything else, every single time you enter a shop
- Keep your voice down in restaurants and on public transport
- Keep both hands visible on the table while eating, wrists on the edge
- Dress a notch smarter than you would at home — it changes how you are treated
Don't
- Do not ask for a doggy bag or substitutions; the dish arrives as the kitchen intends
- Do not start with English without at least attempting bonjour, parlez-vous anglais
- Do not tip more than rounding up — service is included by law
- Do not eat while walking; it reads as slightly uncivilised
Where to stay in Lourdes
No Holistay rentals in Lourdes yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Lourdes on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées LDE
15 minfrom the airport· 9 km as the crow flies
15 min by taxi or hire car.
Also worth pricing: Pau Pyrénées PUF — about 45 minutes by road, with more domestic routes; Lourdes’s own airport has a few low-cost routes and pilgrimage charters.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
