Fatima to Lourdes

I would suggest that Portugal is slightly isolated for such a long trip to France. It would be helpful to know your budget and time frame before making suggestions. And how (that is, will you be in a car, or an organized religious or tourist outing) will you have gotten to Fatima? Is your luggage light enough for "bargain airlines?" What is your next stop after Lourdes, and how will you fly home?

I have not been to Lourdes. But I would comment that Portugal is historically very Catholic, and there are a lot of shrines and monuments that might be of, collectively, as much interest and significance as Lourdes. Even though we are not particularly religious, we included Fatima on a full-day Lisbon bus tour, and stopped during the car portion of our trip, at Bom Jesu. In fact, we were unable to justify driving as far as (relatively nearby to Portugal) northwest Spain, for the Pilgrim's Hospital and Cathedral of Santiago de Campostella. But that is a much more "practical" inclusion with Fatima than Lourdes. We also saw locations associated with the Crusades, such as Knights Templar buildings. And we stayed in a modernized converted monastery in Guimares.

These are the primary options:

• Drive with a rental car, but return it to the same country where you got it to avoid huge fees.
• Travel 17-18 hours by train with 3 connections, including the overnight train from Hendaye to Coimbra.
• Break the above train ride with a couple of nights in San Sebastian, again departing on the overnight train to Coimbra.
• Fly from Toulouse or Bordeaux to Porto or Lisbon. Check various flight options at www.skyscanner.com.

I think that these two visits depend a lot on the faith that you bring to them. If they're not really important to you, then neither one is worth a long detour from the rest of your plans.

We purchased airline tickets round trip from USA to Lisbon with the intention of doing just that.
Download Rome to Rio app for all your travel options.

We were going to book round trip flights Lisbon - Toulouse until we found a religious tour that fit our exact dates, other than flying back to Porto for 3 days then back to Lisbon home.
If we rented a car we would follow this.; We will be in Fátima 2 nights, Salamanca Spain, Burgos Spain then onto Lourdes for 3 nights.