Experience the best of Lourdes

Lourdes lies on the Gave de Pau river in the foothills of the Pyrenees, in the Hautes-Pyrénées. In 1858 a young girl, Bernadette Soubirous, reported eighteen visions of the Virgin Mary at the grotto of Massabielle, and the town has been a place of pilgrimage ever since. The Sanctuary stands on both sides of the river, with the Upper Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the domed Rosary Basilica and a huge underground basilica built in the 1950s.

Millions of pilgrims come each year, among them many sick and disabled people, to bathe in the spring water and join the evening torchlit procession. Above the old town, the medieval Château Fort holds the Pyrenean museum, and the funicular to the Pic du Jer gives views over the valley. The high Pyrenees begin close by: the great cirque of Gavarnie, Cauterets and the Pic du Midi de Bigorre are a drive away.

The mountains shape the local table: garbure, a stew of cabbage, beans and preserved duck, black pork from Bigorre, Tarbais beans and sheep's-milk cheeses from the high pastures. The gâteau à la broche is a spit-roasted cake of the Pyrenees. The pilgrimage season runs from spring to autumn, and the nearby ski resorts open in winter.