• Remove ads on the forum by becoming a donating member. More here.

Search 69,459 Camino Questions

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?
 
3rd Edition. More content, training & pack guides avoid common mistakes, bed bugs etc
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!)
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
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.
 
Ideal sleeping bag liner whether we want to add a thermal plus to our bag, or if we want to use it alone to sleep in shelters or hostels. Thanks to its mummy shape, it adapts perfectly to our body.

€46,-
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
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
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.
 
A selection of Camino Jewellery

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Most read last week in this forum

We will have 2 full days (3 nights) after we finish the Camino, spend a couple days in Santiago, and take a day trip to Finisterre before we need to be back in Barcelona. Any recommendations for...
Can anyone help me find information about a bus from Leon to virgen del camino please. Am going round in circles on Alsa website and google maps not working for me either. I was hoping to go...
Hello, my mom and I are walking the Norte currently and she has developed plantar fasciitis. She can walk some, but would like to bus or taxi some each day. I plan to walk as much as I can. What...
Has anyone successfully changed a Renfe Elige type ticket online? We got elige tickets and are trying to change trains to a different time but it seems to just ask us to buy the tickets again and...
Many months ago we mailed a parcel at Pamplona via Correos with excess baggage home to Canada. Unknowing we failed to have someone at home retrieve this item from the post office. We assumed it...
Good day everyone, I am arriving in Biarritz this weekend and I am wondering what is the best way to go to Irun: 30 km might be a bit too much for the first day so I am wondering if I should do...

❓How to ask a question

How to post a new question on the Camino Forum.

Forum Rules

Forum Rules

Camino Updates on YouTube

Camino Conversations

Most downloaded Resources

This site is run by Ivar at

in Santiago de Compostela.
This site participates in the Amazon Affiliate program, designed to provide a means for Ivar to earn fees by linking to Amazon
Official Camino Passport (Credential) | 2024 Camino Guides
Back
Top