Lourdes

In my opinion, no, unless you’re on a pilgrimage for some specific reason. To me, one full day is more than enough if you’re only going to see the grotto, the church, and watch the pilgrims hoping for a miracle. We’ve never spent a night there, so can’t help with hotels.

On my first trip there in 1978 I was very impressed with all the patients and pilgrims. On my second trip there in 1994 there were very few patients and pilgrims. Mostly, there were tourists visiting to tourist stores. The last time we visited was just a quick stop to see the church and grotto again since we didn’t know if we’d ever get back there. At that point I felt the place was overrun with tourists and tacky tourist shops. We had a rental so have no idea about getting there using public transportation. It is in a fairly remote location.

I am with Jaime on this one. Lourdes centers around religious tourism. I went because I wanted to go to the shrine. I think we stayed two nights. Three to five days would be too many. Town is not very big, easily walkable and has a train station. I was there in winter and lots of restaurants( some hotels and shops were closed. Very few visitors. I remember there is a big fortress-museum overlooking the town with great views of surrounding countryside. By all means go if your primary reason is to visit the religious sites but I would choose another town for a longer stay. I was there about 12 years ago. The hotel we stayed at was good but its ratings today are mediocre.