Pilgrimages & More

Pilgrimage is one of the oldest Catholic spiritual practices — from medieval journeys to Santiago de Compostela to modern group trips to the Holy Land, Lourdes, Fátima, and Rome. Catholic pilgrimage companies organize faith-centered travel experiences that go far beyond tourism. A Catholic pilgrimage includes daily Mass, spiritual direction, guided prayer at sacred sites, and the companionship of fellow pilgrims. Catholic travel companies handle the complex logistics of group travel to international destinations while keeping the spiritual focus front and center. Beyond international pilgrimages, Catholic travel businesses also organize domestic retreats, shrine visits, and mission trips. The United States itself has dozens of significant Catholic pilgrimage sites, from the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, D.C. to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Catholic travel agents can also help with individual bookings, helping families plan vacations that include visits to Catholic sites along the way. A pilgrimage changes you in ways a vacation never will.

The Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain has seen a tenfold increase in pilgrims since 1990, with over 400,000 people completing the journey in recent years — many of them American Catholics.