Those coming into the Tarbes-Lourdes airport can reach the city by shuttle bus to the train station (€6 one way) or by taxi (€22 to the city centre). Lourdes' gare SNCF is on the northeast edge of the town centre, at the end of avenue de la Gare; the gare routière is in the central place Capdevieille, and the not terribly helpful tourist office is in place Peyramale (Easter to mid-Oct Mon–Sat 9am–7pm, Sun 10am–6pm; mid-Oct to Easter Mon–Sat 9am–noon & 2–6pm; tel 05.62.42.77.40, www.lourdes-france.com). Lourdes has more hotels than any city in France outside Paris. A good, comfortable hotel choice, opposite the food halles, some 300m south of place Peyramale, is the two-star Hôtel d'Albret (tel 05.62.94.75.00, [email protected]; closed mid-Nov to mid-Mar; €30–40), with the Taverne de Bigorre on the ground floor offering a range of menus (€16 gets you three hearty courses). Hôtel Majestic, 9 av Maransin (tel 05.62.94.27.23, fax 05.62.94.64.91; under €30; closed Nov–Mar), offers tastefully modernized rooms and decent home cooking downstairs, though it's in a somewhat noisy location. There are masses of cheap accommodation possibilities in the small central streets around the castle, while hostel accommodation can be had at the Centre Pax Christi, 4 rte de la Forêt (tel 05.62.94.00.66, fax 05.62.42.94.44; closed mid-Oct to Easter), on the western edge of town. The nearest campsite is the Poste, 26 rue de Langelle, just south of the gare SNCF (tel 05.62.94.40.35; closed mid-Oct to March).
|
