Practical matters

What to know before you reserve and before you leave. The dates are on Departures, the shape of each pilgrimage on The pilgrimage, and more detail in the practical planning guide. For anything not answered here, write to us.

Before you leave

Passports and entry: Citizens of the United States and Canada need no visa for a stay of up to 90 days in any 180-day period in the Schengen area. Your passport must have been issued within the last ten years and remain valid for at least three months after you leave the Schengen area. At your first entry, the European Union’s Entry/Exit System records your fingerprints and photograph. The European Union is also preparing a travel authorization called ETIAS, whose start date has not been set; we will tell you before departure whether you need one.
Flights: Flights to and from France are not included, and you can fly from your own city with any airline. We tell you the airport and the times that suit the program. Arrive the day before if you can, to rest after the flight; we can book the extra night.
Health and insurance: Travel and medical insurance is included on Via Cathedralis. Carry your medicines in your carry-on bag, with a copy of your prescriptions, and tell us in confidence of anything the priest or the tour manager should know.
Fitness: Most ways ask for a few miles on foot each day, often on cobblestones, stairs and stone floors, and for some standing in churches. Via Conchae walks a stage of the road to Compostela on six of its eight days. If you walk with a cane or have reduced mobility, write to us before you reserve and we will tell you plainly which way suits you.

Language: Everything is in English. When a rector, a sister or a curator speaks to the group in French, their words are translated live.
Mass and confession: The priest of the group celebrates Mass every day, most often in the shrine itself, and hears confessions along the way.
Rooms: Comfortable hotels close to the shrines, in double or twin rooms. A single room can be reserved for a supplement. On some ways, one night is spent in a monastic guest house.
Meals: Breakfast every day, and the lunches and dinners listed for each way. Tell us of any diet or allergy when you reserve, and we pass it on to every table.
Luggage: One suitcase and one small bag each. The minibus carries the luggage from hotel to hotel, and the tour manager sees it to your room.
Getting about: A private minibus and its driver travel with the group between the stages; some ways begin or end with a train from Paris, as each program says. On Via Conchae, the minibus carries the luggage between stages while the group walks.

Clothes: Comfortable walking shoes, a light raincoat and a warm layer: churches stay cool even in summer. In the shrines, shoulders and knees are covered.
Weather: In spring and fall, days in northern France run from about 50 to 70 °F, with showers. Provence, the Pyrenees and the Southwest are warmer, and the evenings at Lourdes can be cool.
Money and power: France uses the euro, and cards are accepted almost everywhere. Outlets are 230 volts with round two-pin plugs: bring an adapter for American and Canadian plugs.
Time and telephone: France is six hours ahead of New York for most of the year. Ask your carrier about an international plan before you leave; every hotel has Wi-Fi.

Deposit and balance: A deposit of 30% secures your place, and the balance is due ninety days before departure. The price is sent on request, with the booking and cancellation conditions.
Group size: Our own departures take thirteen pilgrims at most and need at least ten to run; a group already formed travels at the size it chooses. If one of our departures has not reached ten pilgrims ninety days before, we offer you another date or refund what you have paid.
Your protection: Your journey will be organized by Francia Sacra, run by Laurent Frémont, whose registration with Atout France, the French register of travel operators, is in progress. Reservations open once it is granted, with the financial guarantee and the professional liability insurance required by French law; until then, no deposit or payment is taken.

Facts checked against these sources on November 3, 2026.