Lourdes

Relax, no-one's going to ask you for your baptism certificate! And you don't need to be an expert in Christian theology to enjoy Lourdes. So, why go to Lourdes? To have a mystical experience? Better than that: to discover a place that's truly one-of-a-kind, that you simply must see at least once in your life.

Every year, millions of visitors from all over the world flock to this little town where, in 1858, a young girl named Bernadette met the Virgin Mary in a Grotto by the river. People come here to touch the rock in the Grotto, to light a candle, to splash the springwater on their foreheads... Simple things anyone can do. Call it religion, paganism or superstition, it doesn't matter: each brings their own meaning to these gestures. But what everyone really loves is the torchlight procession that blazes through Lourdes every night.

It's surely no coincidence the Virgin Mary appeared here in Lourdes, at the foot of the Pyrenees, where water and rock have sculpted the landscape just as they've shaped the scriptures. Beyond the mythical town, there's a whole world awaiting you... Go ahead and explore it!

You’re going to love:

• Feeling a singularly vague yet palpable emotion as you discover this sacred place which disarms even the most sceptical.
• Setting up base camp in one of the numerous hotels of this happy and animated town, in order to discover the vast surrounding area.
• Mixing at sundown with the thousands of visitors from all four corners of the planet, as you participate in the torchlight procession. The candles, the night, the songs, the banners and the coil of light which flutters over the church forecourt...