Pilgrimage Fatima/Lourdes

Travel overnight to Portugal, one of Europe’s most hospitable countries. Here, you can enjoy a superb climate, historic sites, and beautiful scenery.
Hotel Name: Hotel de Fatima

Your tour begins in Fatima, Portugal’s world-famous religious center.
Dinner Included

Visit Area: Fatima
Whatever your beliefs, you can’t help but be impressed by the vast reserves of faith that every year lead as many as 6 million people to the glade where, on May 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary is said to have first appeared to three awestruck peasant children. Where sheep once grazed there are now two huge churches on opposite ends of a vast 1km-long esplanade. For Catholic pilgrims, Fátima has a magnetic appeal like few places on earth, and a trip here will provide any visitor with new insights into Portugal’s religious facet.

You may celebrate Mass* before traveling to the original town of Fatima and the parish church where the children Francisco, Jacinta, and Lucia were baptized. Continue to Aljustrel, where the children lived, and view the site of the fifth apparition in Valinhos. Later, return to Fatima** to enjoy free time for personal worship and to explore the basilica and its grounds. You may want to join an optional experience to the centuries old capital of Lisbon.

Breakfast Included
Dinner Included
Hotel Name: Abba Hotel

Visit Area: Aljustrel
Close to the town of Fatima lies the tiny hamlet of Aljustrel, the home of the three child seers and their families. It was in the home of Jacinta and Francisco Marto that Our Lady appeared four times—three times to Jacinta and once to her and Francisco. It was in the home of Sister Lucia dos Santos, the last living seer of Fatima and the last child in a family of seven, that the first interrogations of the shepherd children took place.

Attend a morning Mass* before traveling east to Burgos, known as the cradle of the Castile region. Situated on the Pilgrims Road, Burgos stands on the banks of the Rio Arlanzon with the slender, elegant spires of its famous cathedral rising into the sky. Mass* is available this evening.

Breakfast Included
Dinner Included

Visit Area: Valinhos
The fourth time Our Lady appeared was at the pasturage at Valinhos on the 19th of August, 1917. Coming to the children shortly after they had been abducted and unjustly imprisoned in the nearby town of Ourem, the Blessed Virgin told the seers that they must continue going to the Cova da Iria on the 13th of each month.

Join a local expert on a walking tour of Burgos’ medieval town center. Spend time at Burgos Cathedral, a masterpiece of Spanish Gothic architecture and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cathedral, the third largest in Spain, offers such masterpieces as the filigree work in the spires of the towers, the starry dome, the choir, the sarcophagi, and the golden staircase. Next, visit a monastery and learn about monastic life and architecture. Mass* is available this evening.

Breakfast Included
Hotel Name: Mercure Imperial Hotel

Admittance: Cathedral of Burgos
The extraordinary Gothic cathedral of Burgos is one of Spain's glittering jewels of religious architecture and looms large over the city and skyline. This Unesco World Heritage–listed cathedral is a masterpiece. A former modest Romanesque church, work began on a grander scale in 1221. Remarkably, within 40 years most of the French Gothic structure had been completed.

Today, travel northeast through the Pyrenees mountains to Lourdes. This is where the Virgin Mary appeared in the Grotto of Massabielle to the poor shepherd girl Bernadette a total of 18 times between February 11 and July 16, 1858. Since then, this little market town has been a world-renowned pilgrimage site. Tonight you may wish to partake in a candlelight procession.**

Breakfast Included
Dinner Included

Visit Area: Lourdes
This sprawling town, 43km southeast of Pau, has been one of the world’s most important pilgrimage sites since 1858 when 14-year-old Bernadette Soubirous was visited 18 times in a rocky grotto by the Virgin Mary. The visions were subsequently confirmed by the Vatican, and Bernadette was beatified in 1933. Now known as the Sanctuaires Notre Dame de Lourdes, the grotto is considered one of the holiest sites in Christendom. Over six million people arrive in Lourdes every year, hoping to be doused in the miraculous waters.

After morning Mass,* enjoy a walking tour of Lourdes, visiting the places associated with the life of St. Bernadette: the “Boly Mill" (the site of her birthplace), the "Cachot" (the former prison where she and her family lived), and the parish church housing the saint’s baptismal font. Later, enjoy some time at leisure to explore the town's rich historical and natural heritage. Become immersed in the atmosphere of the time of the apparitions and revel in the spirit of brotherhood that is still present today.

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Dinner Included
Hotel Name: Occidental 1929 Hotel

Visit Area: Grotto of Massabielle
The spiritual centre of Lourdes is the subterranean grotto where Bernadette Soubirous experienced her visions in 1858. From the Porte St-Joseph , a broad boulevard sweeps towards the gilded spires of the Basilique du Rosaire and the Basilique Supérieure. Underneath is the fabled Grotte de Massabielle , where people queue for hours to enter and take a blessed dip in the cave’s icy-cold baths, while other pilgrims content themselves by lighting candles of remembrance outside.

Celebrate Mass* before crossing back into Spain on your way to Barcelona, one of Europe's most fascinating cities.

Breakfast Included

Visit Area: Barcelona
Barcelona is an enchanting seaside city with boundless culture, fabled architecture and a world-class drinking and dining scene. Barcelona's architectural treasures span 2,000-plus years. Towering temple columns, ancient city walls and subterranean stone corridors provide a window into Roman-era Barcino. Fast forward a thousand years to the Middle Ages by taking a stroll through the shadowy lanes of the Gothic quarter, past tranquil plazas and soaring 14th-century cathedrals. In other parts of town bloom the sculptural masterpieces of Modernisme, a mix of ingenious and whimsical creations by Gaudí and his Catalan architectural contemporaries for which this city is so well known. Barcelona has also long-inspired artists, including the likes of Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, whose works are in bold display in the city's myriad museums.

Get to know Barcelona with a panoramic tour showcasing the Columbus Monument and Parc de Montjuic and end the morning among the narrow streets of the Gothic Quarter. Spend this afternoon at leisure exploring the city further or choose an optional excursion to the quaint mountain village of Montserrat. This evening, gather with your fellow travelers for a dinner celebrating the end of a memorable tour.

Breakfast Included
Dinner Included

Admittance: Barcelona Cathedral

Return home eager to share vivid memories of a beautiful land with an old, rich, and diverse cultural heritage.

Breakfast Included