Assisi to Lourdes to Fatima

It's pretty clear that religious pilgrimage is the main point of the trip, and you have enough time. But do you understand how much ground you are covering, and how out-of-town your stops are? In fact, there are plenty of other Catholic and Christian sites to be visited, but it gets very tedious by public transportation. We need to know the month, in case it's during high season, Holy Week, or holidays. I don't think $100 is realistic anymore, but perhaps in smaller towns. You don't get charm for $100.

Simply going to Portugal adds days to the trip. Madrid is not near anything in Portugal, and transportation is not at the level of France or Germany. Assisi is no where near Lourdes. You need to start looking at bargain airlines, their alternate-airports and their baggage rules. This is an imposing itinerary, and I suggest you simplify it. For example, Italy is rich in holy sites. Maybe you should limit the trip to two countries. Would you please add your home country and city to your visible Profile?

Another difference today is the number of long-distance trains that are all-reserved. That adds a level of cost and effort, and reduces flexibility. Have you read any of our host's books? Older editions in the public library can be very useful, if you don't want to buy.

Some say Camp Nou is a religious site.

Just a note to say that Assisi is so much more then just the Basilica. All the churches and chapels deserve some time. I really like Santo Stefano. I return there almost every day when I am in Assisi.

The Rome2Rio website may be helpful in giving you a vague idea about transportation options. It will suggest flight legs that might make your itinerary manageable, though still a slog. (All-ground transportation would take incredibly long.) You cannot, however, trust that the fares and trip times will be exactly correct, or even almost correct.

For more precise train info, the Deutsche Bahn website is pretty easy to use, though you will not be able to buy tickets there.

For airline schedules, use Skyscanner.

For driving routes, tolls and times, check ViaMichelin. However, driving will probably not be practical because there's usually a very large extra charge (many hundreds of euros) for picking up a car in one country and dropping it in another.

Ferries will not help you.

Even for a non-religious person, Assisi is a lovely place. I agree that It's worth extra time.

You could visit parts of the Via Francigena.

Last year, I was on a tour that went to both Lourdes and Fatima. I didn't find Fatima so tacky; it was peaceful and prayerful. I thought Lourdes was a bit tackier. Our tour stopped in Avila (home of St. Therese) on the way from Madrid to Fatima, and it was lovely.

I'm only replying in re the logistics of reaching Lourdes and Fatima. "Easiest" way to reach Lourdes from Italy is the BGY airport. Ryanair flies direct to Lourdes from there. So you will have to train it from whichever Italian city to Bergamo. Flights aren't daily, so you will have to adjust your schedule accordingly, perhaps skip Genova. From Lourdes, take the 2 hour train to Toulouse. Trains are daily every hour. Then fly to Lisbon direct from Toulouse Blagnac airport. I believe there are daily flights to Lisbon from there. As you can see, you have a lot of traveling to do to get to Lourdes and Fatima.
I recommend you stay in Lourdes, as the evening procession is very moving for the faithful.
Hotels are pretty cheap in both towns.

To the Rick Steves Team ... and to everyone

Thank you. Yes, I have searched a few of your travel guides with nary a word about Lourdes or Fatima, so if you can advise me of any particular source, I'll get it. And, I realize the trip, as described is troublesome. This is exactly why I am here.

The flights were arranged by an agent booking the Assisi pilgrimage. She arranged this without too much input from us at pretty much the last moment. To keep costs down, she booked with one airline, so Madrid was her best option for a return.

We are not so impressed with the outcome. However, given this, now, we are trying to make lemonade from the lemons we have. The Lourdes and Fatima visits are included because we want to visit sometime. When we'd get back again is unknown, so we have tacked on the two sacred sites to this trip.

My guess is that we'll take a train from Genoa to Nice. Spend a day. Then train to Toulouse or all the way to Lourdes. Then all the way to Fatima.

Our options for some side trips are limited. So, we look for some that are convenient ... Not necessarily religious.

Good to learn that Fatima is not too tacky. One guide suggested that we not stay there at night.

I hope your trip works out for you and you see everything you'd like.
I suggest you take a close look at the time you will be spending on trains to get everywhere. It may be very tiresome.
Lourdes is not my cup of tea. It's like Disneyland for Catholics. However, it's my mom's favorite place on earth, even before the Vatican.

Once again, thank you to ... Tim, jkc, Zoe, Dianne ... anyone I forgot.

Our pilgrimage to and in Assisi will be well planned, thorough and spiritually oriented with a fine mentor. The visits to Lourdes and Fatima are also of spiritual intent. Primed for meditation, contemplation and prayer. The healing of any geriatric defects, of course, is bonus-ish.

Other movement can be of either secular or spiritual tilt with Portugal, now, of greater interest for extracurriculars. So, a couple tedious train rides aside, our jaunt ought to be manageable.

Our travel agent royally screwed up our reservation for returning (only by 6 months!) - amazing! - so, if we can reschedule through Lisbon for the return, without prohibitive cost, everything may be beyond manageable. "Comfortable" may become a possibility.

Thank you all.

We have visited all three sites, but not on the same trip. We went from Lisbon to Fatima and the easiest way is by bus as the train station is 22 kms. from Fatima. May 12-13 2017 marks the 100 th anniversary of Mary's first appearance in Fatima. Any time around then will be frantic and hotels will charge highly inflated prices. Fatima and Lourdes are very moving places. To me Fatima is in flat dry agricultural area.. The beauty of Fatima is the tremendously moving devotion of the Portugese people for Mary. Stay in Lourdes, there are many affordable hotels.. The scenery is beautiful high in the mountains with a river running through the site. I was blown away seeing all the selfless young people who dedicated themselves to wheeling people in wheelchairs to services, to me that is the miracle of Lourdes. Assisi is magic because of the incredible St Francis and his love for all. What a trip you will have! We have been blessed to visit these places. i'm sure you will feel the same

Thank you, Hank. We plan to stay in Lourdes. Not sure about staying in Fatima or commuting. Depends on timing.

Fatima is covered in Rick's Portugal book, since it's not that far out of the way for a trip focused on Portugal, but is from any other country. Even though I grew up in a parish named for Our Lady of Fatima, I found it to be just a big church. The meaningfulness of both Fatima and Lourdes will depend a lot on the faith that you bring to it. Cutting Portugal from your plan would save a lot of transit time.

Alternatively, if you were to pick a up a car on the Spanish side of the border at Irun, you could drive via Santiago de Compostela and Portugal and return the car in Madrid (keeping pick up and drop off within Spain). But I haven't checked the driving times; see www.viamichelin.com for that. (Don't attempt to include Santiago by train - that would make bad connections even worse.)

By train, Lourdes-San Sebastian or Lourdes-Barcelona (back through Toulouse) are more manageable travel days than all the way to Madrid or anywhere in Portugal

Rick chooses not to cover Lourdes, nor much of the surrounding area, for a "best-of" month or 6 weeks in France. In the north, the France book covers Taize and Cluny. I've not been to Lourdes, just always associated it with tackiness since that's what my mother remembers of her visit in 1965.

Of the three, I've only been to Lourdes. I highly recommend the Chateau Fort Museum in the center of the town. Lourdes is beautifully situated in the Pyrenees foothills. The town itself is over the top, but I think you just gotta go with it. Seek the reason you're there; ignore the rest of it. I'm Catholic, and to me It's all a bit too commercialized but the mountains around it, the color of the streams...the region is lovely. We were there on a rainy Wednesday in the shoulder season, and we could walk right up to the grotto.

I took the TGV from Paris. It takes about 6 hours one-way. My destination was the Pyrenees, so I have no advice on connections to Spain or Italy.

To Laura: Thank you. Our trip to Lourdes and Fatima is after a week's pilgrimage to Assisi, so we are still on a spiritual bent. "Tackiness" doesn't matter so much as the high vibration. Thus, the craziness of the itinerary to include Fatima. Wise? We'll discover how much or how little.

To Rachel: Thanks. Yes, there are reports of commercialization about Lourdes, Fatima and just about everywhere. Part of the price of doing business these days. So, as you suggest we'll accept the sideshows and I plan to enjoy them. Laughs.

I figure The Blessed Virgin is sharing some chuckles upon what she has wrought.

The sacred and the profane ... No reason to expect otherwise. We'll dwell upon the sacred. If these spots were good enough for The Divine Mother and her miracles, they are good enough.