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Although the town has just 17000 inhabitants, 5 million visitors go there each year. In the hotel trade, Lourdes is second only to Paris in importance.
The commercialisation in the town presents another picture, but it is-kept away from the religious sites. The town of Lourdes presents the face of mass tourism - with over 850 hotels and pensions. Its tourist shops are unbelievable in their range of taste - and lack of it!
There are several narrow streets leading down to the Grotto. These are full of souvenir shops and although these at first seem tacky and out of character, they soon become an integral part of the visit to Lourdes. As in most French towns there are numerous cafes and bars which are open to all ages. Quite a number of the inhabitants of Lourdes are Basques.
On the plus side, however, a variety of unusual solutions have evolved to deal with the huge numbers of sick people who are attracted to Lourdes. For instance, the town now has wheelchair priority lanes on its roads and an alternating one way system to even out the effects of vehicle pollution in the town. As in other resorts throughout the world, the local medical services have a temporary resident problem, but in Lourdes they come in thousands and they are sick even before they reach their destination.
Lourdes itself is an amazing place - even if you have no faith. It is not the first but it is the largest healing shrine in Europe, and it has its own unique atmosphere.
Superficially it appears to be some kind of religious theme park where French architecture had gone mad. It all centred on three basilicas built on top of each other like a Disneyland castle with the Grotto in the rock beneath. The Basilicas, the Spring’s, the Baths and the Grotto are situated in the Domain while, across the River Gave, there is a new 900 bedded "Hospice", Accueil Notre Dame de Lourdes, with further chapels.
The sound of the gushing river pervades the silence of the Grotto with its associations with St Bernadette and the apparitions of the Virgin Mary. There is a soothing atmosphere even when thousands of people are present.
Pilgrims can visit the original Spring inside the Grotto discovered by Bernadette as she dug with her hands into the ground at Our Lady's request. This spring is now channelled into baths where many people have been miraculously cured and where you are invited to bathe, to drink from special taps and to bottle the water to bring home.
Department stores are open 0900-1830 Monday to Saturday. Most shops are closed between 1200-1430. Food shops are open 0700-1830/1930. Some food shops (particularly bakers) are open Sunday mornings, in which case they will probably close Monday. Many shops close all day or half-day Monday. Hypermarkets are normally open until 2100 or 2200. Most of the shops near the Domain remain open all day until about 9.00pm.
Opening hours: 0800-1900 Monday to Friday; 0800-1200 Saturday.
Credit cards: American Express, Diners Club,Visa and MasterCard are widely accepted. Travellers cheques are accepted almost everywhere.
0900-1200 and 1400-1600 Monday to Friday. Some banks close Monday and some are open Saturday. Banks close early (1200) on the day before a bank holiday; in rare cases, they may also close for all or part of the day after.