Grotto of Massabielle · Lourdes, Occitanie, France
Go, drink of the spring and wash in it, she said, and the sick of the world are still coming.
Be the first to check in
Coming up: Assumption and the French National Pilgrimage · 15 AugEntry tended 11 Jul 2026
Open daily 6 am to 1 am Spring water free at 18 taps Torchlight procession · 9 pm Our Lady of Lourdes · 11 Feb Three basilicas · 1876 to 1958 Entry free
The Gave de Pau runs fast and cold beneath the rock of Massabielle, and over the sound of the river comes the sound of Lourdes: wheels. Wheelchairs and rolling carts by the hundred, drawn by volunteers toward a grotto where candles burn day and night. Pilgrims file along the cliff in silence, trailing their fingers across stone polished to a shine by a century and a half of hands, then cup spring water to their faces at the taps. Almost every shrine receives the sick. This one belongs to them.
The spring Bernadette uncovered with her own hands on 25 February 1858 has never stopped flowing. It feeds the eighteen taps beside the grotto, one for each apparition, and the baths where pilgrims drink and wash as Our Lady asked.
Seventy-two cures have been recognised as miraculous after years of medical and Church scrutiny, out of more than 7,000 dossiers recorded by the Bureau of Medical Observations since 1883. The seventy-second was declared in 2025.
Every day in season the sanctuary moves in procession, the Blessed Sacrament at 5 pm and the torchlight Marian procession at 9 pm, answering word for word what the Lady asked on 2 March 1858: that people come here in procession.
The wind in the rock and the girl who dug the spring
On 11 February 1858 a girl of fourteen named Bernadette Soubirous came down to the rock of Massabielle to gather bones and dead wood. Crossing the stream barefoot, she heard a noise like a gust of wind and looked up: in a niche of the rock stood a small lady in a white dress and white veil, a blue belt at her waist, a yellow rose on each foot. Bernadette made the Sign of the Cross and prayed her Rosary with her. The lady came eighteen times in five months, asking for penance and prayer for sinners, and then, on 2 March: Go and tell the priests that people are to come here in procession and to build a chapel here.
On 25 February, before three hundred watchers, the lady told her to go, drink of the spring and wash in it. There was no spring; Bernadette scratched at the mud until water rose, cloudy, then clear, and it has never stopped. On 25 March she asked the lady her name and heard, in the dialect of Lourdes: Que soy era Immaculada Concepciou. I am the Immaculate Conception. She carried the words, not understanding them, to her parish priest; the Church had defined that dogma only four years earlier.
The chapel was built, and built, and built again: the Crypt in 1866, the Neo-Gothic Upper Basilica rising straight from the grotto rock in 1876, the mosaic lined Rosary Basilica in 1901, and in 1958 the vast underground Basilica of St Pius X, holding 25,000. Bernadette became a Sister of Charity at Nevers and died in 1879, aged 35. She was canonised on 8 December 1933, not for having been chosen, the Church says, but for the way she responded.
What you'll actually see
1
The Grotto of Massabielle
A shallow cave beneath a sheer grey cliff, with the white statue of Our Lady standing in the tall niche where Bernadette saw her. Pilgrims pass through in a slow single file, touching the rock face worn smooth by generations of hands, past the spring rising at the back of the grotto. Candles burn here around the clock, in every season.
2
Three churches on one rock
The 70 metre spire of the Upper Basilica of the Immaculate Conception seems to grow straight out of the rock above the grotto, with the Crypt of 1866 beneath it. Below, the Neo-Byzantine Rosary Basilica opens its two long curved ramps like arms around the square, its fifteen chapels lined with mosaics of the Mysteries of the Rosary.
3
The taps and the baths
Along the rock beside the grotto run eighteen drinking fountains, one for each apparition, where pilgrims drink the spring water and wash their faces. Beyond them are the baths, kept by the volunteers of the Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes, where sick and healthy pilgrims alike are received, and full immersion in the spring water has been offered again since 2024.
The Grotto of Massabielle, and the torchlight procession on Rosary Square · photos CC BY-SA 4.0 Thomon and public domain Laurence Goff, Wikimedia Commons
THE PROCESSION THE LADY HERSELF ASKED FOR
The torchlight procession · every evening at 9 pm, April to November
Once night falls, thousands of pilgrims gather before the grotto with candles in paper wind shields printed with the Lourdes hymn. A statue of Our Lady is carried at the head, the groups follow behind their pilgrimage banners, and the river of flames moves to the esplanade of the Rosary Basilica as the Rosary is prayed and the Ave Maria of Lourdes is sung in many languages. Earlier the same day, at 5 pm from April to October, the Blessed Sacrament procession crosses from the sanctuary meadow into the underground Basilica of St Pius X, ending in adoration and the blessing of the pilgrims, the sick first and foremost.
Anyone may join: be in front of the grotto a little before 9 pm; from November to April a quieter torchlight Rosary is prayed at 8:30 pm instead.
Plan your visit
By air
Tarbes Lourdes Pyrenees Airport (LDE), 10 km from town, about 10 minutes by taxi.
By rail
Lourdes station has direct TGVs from Paris in just under 5 hours, around four a day; the sanctuary is a walk downhill through town.
Timings
The sanctuary is open daily from 6 am to 1 am; entry is free.
Mass
International Mass in the underground Basilica of St Pius X on Sundays and Wednesdays at 9:30 am; Rosary at the Grotto daily at 3 pm.
The baths
Sessions 9 to 11 am and 2 to 4:30 pm on the current schedule; free, no booking, join the queue and the volunteers guide you.
Best time
Early morning at the grotto, before the day pilgrimages arrive; the full life of the processions runs from April to November.
Confession
Heard in several languages at the Reconciliation Chapel, 10:30 am to 12 noon and 3 to 6 pm.
The Lady spoke to Bernadette not in French but in the dialect of Lourdes: Que soy era Immaculada Concepciou, I am the Immaculate Conception.
The sanctuary itself is plain that scientific analyses have found no special property in the water; as Saint Bernadette said, just one drop is enough.
Water from the taps by the arches is free to collect and take home, and the sanctuary never sells it; bring your own container.
In bad weather the 5 pm Blessed Sacrament procession moves inside the underground Basilica of St Pius X, so it is never simply cancelled.
Questions pilgrims ask
Do pilgrims go to Lourdes expecting a miracle?
Most do not, and the sanctuary is honest that the water has no documented curative property. What Our Lady asked for was prayer, penance and processions. Of the more than 7,000 cures reported to the Bureau of Medical Observations since 1883, seventy-two have been recognised as miraculous after years of scrutiny, most recently the healing of Antonietta Raco, declared in 2025.
Can anyone go to the baths?
Yes, sick and healthy pilgrims alike, free and without booking. Volunteers of the Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes receive you; full immersion has been offered again since 2024, and the accompanied water gesture at the Chapel of the Good Samaritan lets anyone drink the spring water and wash their face and hands. Sessions run 9 to 11 am and 2 to 4:30 pm on the current schedule.
Is the sanctuary open in winter?
Every day of the year, from 6 am to 1 am. The grotto, the taps, Masses and confessions continue year round. The great torchlight procession runs from April to November at 9 pm; from November to April a torchlight Rosary is prayed at 8:30 pm, and the full procession returns for the February feast days, including the 11th.
Can I take Lourdes water home?
Yes. Fill any container freely at the taps by the arches near the grotto. The sanctuary does not sell the water and asks that no one else does; pilgrims carry it home for themselves and for those who could not travel.
Do I have to be Catholic to visit?
No. Entry is free and open to all, and no one is asked their faith at the gates. Anyone may walk to the grotto, drink at the taps, watch or join a procession; Mass, confession and the sacraments are there for Catholics, celebrated in many languages.
The Sthan in photographs
Darshan from afar
From the temple's own channels. Nothing loads until you press play.
Dharamshalas and guest houses near this Sthan, shared by devotees. Adisthan takes no bookings and no money; contact each stay directly.
No stays are listed here yet. Know one that serves pilgrims well?
Are you of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, its chaplains, or the Hospitality of Our Lady of Lourdes? Claim this page to keep Mass times, bath hours and procession seasons true for the pilgrims planning their journey.
