Lourdes Travel Forum

Is there a bus service from Barcelona to Lourdes?
Thinking of taking my mother there for Catholic pilgrimage in mid July 09
Or any altermative way to visit Lourdes for 2 days from Barcelona return,not too expensive
Will be very thankful for any suggestion
Orest

I am confident someone will answer your question objectively. The previous responder is obviously advertising (you can see he just joined, has no profile, and no good tips). He will be deleted.

Advertising is against VT policy.

This is not an easy journey, I'm afraid, and quite some distance.

Using www.whichbudget.com I can find no budget carriers flying Barcelona>Toulouse , or Pau, or Lourdes Tarbes (the nearest airports to Lourdes). You might like to explore www.skyscanner.net for your specific dates, to find possible carriers for each of these airports (from which you could take train or bus or taxi).

The train journey from Barcelona takes 8.5 + hours, with changes. Timetables here:

http://www.bahn.de/international/view/en/index.shtml

To find fares you will need to look at the Spanish railway website

http://www.renfe.es

French train fares are best found using the French version of their railway site (the bahn.de link will give you train times):

http://www.voyages-sncf.com/billet-train/horaires

http://www.eurolines.es/ep35/w2selciudad.csp

will give you long-distance buses from Barcelona to France, and you can book online. You can get to Toulouse for 48 euro one-way, but the journey is long......8+ hours.

I can find no direct bus between Barcelona and Lourdes, I'm afraid.

If you really want to do this then flying and then taking the train/bus/taxi would be the easiest way.but not the cheapest.

If you are lucky you may find a 'tour' bus from Barcelona but clearly this will be better booked ahead of your visit. I cannot help except to say that even by bus it's a long journey. But I guess the pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela who walked from France or further afield also had the time and the purpose to complete the mission.
You will probably find that getting to Toulouse is your first objective if you cannot find any tour.
If you look on www.alsa.es and input Barcelona to Toulouse you can get an idea of the regular bus schedule leaving at 09.00 at Barcelona Sants bus or 09.30 at Barcelona Nord, then getting to Toulouse at 15.45. You then need to get to Lourdes either the same day or early the following day. probably by train.
On the return there is a bus leaving Toulouse at 09.15 and reaching Barcelona at around 15.30.
So 2 nights in Toulouse and one full day at Lourdes?

I agree with the posters above.

This question is asked regularly on various forums.

Travelling from Barcelona to Lourdes is a fairly long and difficult journey. People do not realise that Lourdes is a small town off the major routes; it is a two hour train journey from the nearest city (Toulouse) on a secondary rail line.

The airport is used by charter flights and some scheduled flights from Northern Europe, but coming up from the south (ie Spain) or Italy etc is not easy.