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Travel to Lourdes

Angel-hart

Member
Time of past OR future Camino
April, May 2016
Hi we are doing our Comino de Santiago spring of 2016. Coming into Paris (Louvre). I see that Lourdes (shrine) is also in the foothills of the Mountains close to SJPP. Anyone take this side trip? If so we would like ideas of how to get their and on to SJPP?
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Hi Angel. I have walked from Lourdes to Pamplona and it is a wonderful walk! We flew into Barcelona, then took a bus to Toulouse, then Moissac, then Lourdes. You can read about it on my blog starting at this link:

http://caminosantiago2.blogspot.com/2012/05/from-barcelona.html

I would say it would be best to travel from Paris to Lourdes by train.
You might consider walking the Aragones instead of the Frances if you have the time.
Fewer people and BEAUTIFUL scenery, especially in Spring!

Buen Camino!
 
There are 5 or 6 trains from Paris to Lourdes per day, and the journey takes about 6 hours - you can get schedules and buy tickets on the SNCF website (although they only list tickets a month or so in advance). On the same website you can also get info about buses and trains to Saint JeanPP from Lourdes - although note they all take a detour via Bayonne!

Otherwise, as Annie suggests you could just walk it - the beautiful hiking trail 'Voie du Piemont' runs through the Pyrenees and crosses Lourdes and SJPP. You could stop off in Oloron Ste Marie and do the beautiful Via Aragones (I did this a few years ago, it was incredible), or even veer off before then at Arudy (as this person is doing at the moment: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/day-one-lourdes-to-asson.33318/#post-299666)

(As an aside: I had a very mixed experience at Lourdes: on one level it's almost like a theme park, with a Disneyesque cathedral, rows of tour buses offloading big groups wearing matching t-shirts, waving national flags, and taking selfies, souvenir shops everywhere, queues of people in wheelchairs or on stretchers, and groups frenetically filling up plastic bottles or even tubs with 'holy water' that comes out of a row of very ordinary-looking taps... However in the grotto itself there's an amazing atmosphere of silence and reverence... anyway wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole thing, best you come to your own conclusions!)
 
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Hi we are doing our Comino de Santiago spring of 2016. Coming into Paris (Louvre). I see that Lourdes (shrine) is also in the foothills of the Mountains close to SJPP. Anyone take this side trip? If so we would like ideas of how to get their and on to SJPP?

The way we did it was to fly from the U.S. To Madrid then one hour flight to Lourdes airport. Easier than another eight hour train ride from CDG airport in Paris.
 
Hi. I just arrived back from Santiago last night, walking form Leon this time with my young nephew.
Six years ago walked starting from Lourdes. I took the train from Paris. Plenty of choice: I came overnight and spent a night in Lourdes (where I had been many many times before). It depends if you want to spend a day there. I agree with Jan. A curious mix of Disney-Catholicism (I am a priest) and a very serious Eucharistic emphasis and a wonderful silence in the grotto and the "Domain". It depends what you are looking for.
It is a fantastic walk from Lourdes to SJPP. Very quiet and 'deserted': just five other people I met walking in a week. We met up each evening in the albergue. I carried on from Oloron St Marie up to SJPP. Would be interested to try the other route through Somport another time.
Just one word: it depends on your expectations. I had already walked Camino Frances. If from Lourdes to SJPP is your FIRST experience, you may find it not what you are expecting. It is VERY quiet. And really strange then coming into SJPP. It is like turning on to a pedestrian freeway as you meet the 'crowds' heading in from the Le Puy route.
If you are at all tempted, and you have the time (about 6 days), I would say walk from Lourdes to SJPP.
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
There are 5 or 6 trains from Paris to Lourdes per day, and the journey takes about 6 hours - you can get schedules and buy tickets on the SNCF website (although they only list tickets a month or so in advance). On the same website you can also get info about buses and trains to Saint JeanPP from Lourdes - although note they all take a detour via Bayonne!

Otherwise, as Annie suggests you could just walk it - the beautiful hiking trail 'Voie du Piemont' runs through the Pyrenees and crosses Lourdes and SJPP. You could stop off in Oloron Ste Marie and do the beautiful Via Aragones (I did this a few years ago, it was incredible), or even veer off before then at Arudy (as this person is doing at the moment: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/day-one-lourdes-to-asson.33318/#post-299666)

(As an aside: I had a very mixed experience at Lourdes: on one level it's almost like a theme park, with a Disneyesque cathedral, rows of tour buses offloading big groups wearing matching t-shirts, waving national flags, and taking selfies, souvenir shops everywhere, queues of people in wheelchairs or on stretchers, and groups frenetically filling up plastic bottles or even tubs with 'holy water' that comes out of a row of very ordinary-looking taps... However in the grotto itself there's an amazing atmosphere of silence and reverence... anyway wasn't quite sure what to make of the whole thing, best you come to your own conclusions!)

Thank You all for the input and valuable info. I know what you mean about Disneyesque atmosphere at a religious place of importance. We are planning for spring 2016. Louvre(Paris), Normandy, Lourdes are on the list so far. I have an Uncle buried in France who past in WWII during the Battle of the Bulge. I don't know yet if we'll go there.

I also liked the idea of flying into Madrid and flying to Lourdes. That could be benefical on the return home post Comino.

Thank you all for your comments

Rob
 
What is the best way to get to Lourdes from SJPdP and back. I would just want to spend a couple of days in Lourdes, then go back to SJPdP and walk the Camino. Not interested in walking to SJPdP from Lourdes.
Is it just train service, or do they have a bus as well?
 
What is the best way to get to Lourdes from SJPdP and back. I would just want to spend a couple of days in Lourdes, then go back to SJPdP and walk the Camino. Not interested in walking to SJPdP from Lourdes.
Is it just train service, or do they have a bus as well?

Transports64 offers bus service between SJPdP and Lourdes

810 from SJPdP to St Palais

809 from St Palais to Orthez (at which point you can catch the SNCF trains)

801 from Orthez to Pau

805 from Pau to Lourdes

Transports64
http://www.transports64.fr/transports-64?lang=fr
 
Perfect memento/gift in a presentation box. Engraving available, 25 character max.
Ah, okay. Thanks.
My understanding is that the train goes from SJPdP to Bayonne and then to Lourdes. That may be an easier option.

I'd consider the schedule to Orthez and try catching the train there (if only because the trains from Bayonne AND Dax pass through there) ... but otherwise the -autocar (bus)- that currently operates the SJPdP to Bayonne route seems the more practical option.
 
I'd consider the schedule to Orthez and try catching the train there (if only because the trains from Bayonne AND Dax pass through there) ... but otherwise the -autocar (bus)- that currently operates the SJPdP to Bayonne route seems the more practical option.
Yeah, that does sound most viable. Bus to Bayonne. Train to Lourdes. Thanks.
 
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