Cosmos Tours

Fatima, Lourdes & Shrines of Spain Reviews

5 Fatima, Lourdes & Shrines of Spain reviews from past travellers that booked with Global Journeys.
4.20
AVG. RATING 4.20 / 5
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This trip was amazing   1 , QLD, Australia, Nov 2022
This trip was amazing. The Tour Director and Driver were very professional. Roxanne our Director was very knowledgeable with in-depth information at each destination. Felt very safe with driver Antonio.This was a bucket list tour and all my expectations are were achieved. All aspects of the tour were great. Even the three long drives appear to go quickly ...read more with plenty of two hours stops to refresh.
A literally fulfilling pilgrimage tour - Fatima, Lourdes and the Shrines of Spain 8 , VIC, Australia, Apr 2018
Highlights for me: Seeing Fatima, Lourdes and a chance meeting with the niece of Sr Lucia of Fatima.
The tour itself covered a lot and I did and saw more than I could have expected (the itinerary did not leave a lot of alone time).

Between the optional excursions, some long distance travelling days (time to catch up with sleep on the bus), local ...read more included tours, daily masses, nightly processions at Fatima and Lourdes, meals with the group, pretty much every day was full on. However, you could choose to skip some of the activities (eg. optional excursions) if you wanted to but why would you!

I attended 3 out of the 4 optional excursions and they did not disappoint - they are a must do whilst in that region of the world. If you come for a pilgrimage, then this tour would suit you. Just note that some of the paths of the places visited are uneven and you must be able to climb up and down steps, otherwise you're just going to miss out on seeing some of the good stuff - wear comfortable shoes. Also, expect a lot of walking at certain places.

Suggestion: If you want to see more of Lisbon and Barcelona, take extra days before/end of the tour.
I personally would have liked more time in Lourdes because there were many things to see and do.

We were fortunate enough to have a priest travelling with us on the tour (unplanned but greatly appreciated) because he provided the private English-spoken masses at some beautiful, rustic old churches along the tour and in some of the quaintest chapels around. That's why we were privileged to be able to have more than the scheduled masses on the tour. The other masses were public ones and usually in one or more foreign languages.

Our tour director, Ines, worked hard on organising a lot of these private masses throughout the tour (as well as other things) and was very knowledgeable of the history of the regions we visited. Our driver, Sandro, was expert and skilled at manoeuvering our large coach through some of the region's narrowest and smallest streets and laneways as well as providing a safe journey throughout the tour - so thanks to them both for their hard work!

The local guides (including those on optional excursions) were also very good to excellent quality speakers and knowledgeable about their subject matter. A special mention to Julia (in Lisbon) and Sonia (in Tomar) for their enthusiasm and they kept good pace.

The accommodation throughout the tour was mixed but generally good. Fatima hotel - great location. Burgos hotel - good location but I had a tiny, unbearably hot room which I could not control. Santiago de Compostela hotel - outside the main town centre but the most luxurious-looking hotel of the lot.

Lisbon and Barcelona hotels - located away from the main downtown areas (which I personally preferred because they were quieter and closer to the airports for the start/end of the tour). Also, Hotel Porta Fira (Barcelona) had a great breakfast selection.

Lourdes hotel (Quality Hotel Christina) - sadly, the worst accommodation of the tour due to: its bad location (about 850m walking distance one way to the sanctuary, according to Google Maps); a good brisk 10 - 15 minute walking pace (for an able-bodied person). As I had visited the Lourdes sanctuary many times throughout the day and night, the location was not ideal (especially when walking in the rain). The food served at this hotel was also average and minimal (at breakfast). This hotel was also very crowded with tour groups and pilgrimages (some of them young, excited, screaming children/teenagers) which made it difficult to get a lift to our rooms on the top floor. But having said that, I guess being on a pilgrimage tour means that you sometimes need to contend with being a little less comfortable.

The tour I took started on 24 Apr in Lisbon and the weather there was good at the time but as you get up in the mountains, along the Pyrenees (think Lourdes), then expect it to be cold, windy, rainy, sometimes hail and snow. As we went back down to Barcelona, the weather was a bit warmer but still some patchy showers.

As for Global Journeys handling of my booking, there was initially a bit of a mix up with the premature closing of my booking quote but when Georgie returned to work to handle it, there weren't any problems. It was pretty much straightforward from then on.

Overall, a very fulfilling pilgrimage tour. I managed to see and do everything that I wanted to (and then some). And made a lot of friends along the way.
A great Faith based tour -Fatima, Lourdes & Shrines of Spain 3 , VIC, Australia, Oct 2017
Jemma was prompt and great in handling my tour query and booking. The tour itself was very good. Only 2 hotels were way out of the city area ( Lisbon and Barcelona ) and hotels for Fatima and Lourdes were in excellent location.
Very good Fatima - Lourdes - Barcelona tour 7 , SA, Australia, May 2017
Our main purpose of this trip was spending most of our time at Fatima Church and Lourdes in order to absorb the atmosphere of other pilgrimages. Orientation of each place in the afternoon when we arrived allowed us to familiarise ourselves with the big place so we could participate on the event of the first night, but fully involved with all of the ...read more church activities on the second day.

Another point was both hotels were located about 150 meters from the main entrance, so between the events, we could quickly walk back to the hotel, have a shower, or get changed, or have a rest, or even a diner, then return back to the church to participate with other events in no time. Visiting other different places gave us a more interesting trip.
Hotels are well outside the CBD 4 , Australia, Oct 2014
The hotels are well outside the CBD in most cities except for Burgos, Fatima and Lourdes. This added to the cost of taxis to the airport in Madrid (8 euros) or to get to the city centre in Barcelona and Madrid if you couldn't catch buses. Being in Santiago De Compostella for approximately 6 hours of say exploring or touring time is just so short it ...read more is ridiculous. I understand from the guide that it will change next year. In the main, two night stays means a very short first night eg 6 hours, plus a day. The included tour in Barcelona was poor and that was discussed at the time with the guide. I have been to both Barcelona and Madrid before. Not to go to Park Guell in Barcelona was a big mistake but I knew from the description of what was proposed to be covered that was not included. So much time wasted on that included tour it was frustrating! I thought the extra tours provided value for money and I was happy with those. Michelle White was my contact at Global Journeys and she did an amazing job to help me. There was confusion with the link from the email going to the wrong trip so I nearly had booked a return flight from Barcelona and not Madrid. Thank goodness I rang Michelle to confirm everything and that's where we discovered the error. The fine print in her email was correct, but I was using the map as my guide. Michelle was very responsive, to my calls and if she wasn't there someone else from Global Journeys responded. A big thank you to the Global Journeys team!
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