Basilica of Guadalupe
Mexico City, Mexico
Entry is free to everything on the hill: the modern basilica, the old baroque one, the chapels up the slope and the…
16 tickets & tours
By type
Best shrines & sanctuaries to visit worldwide
Shrines and sanctuaries are places of pilgrimage built around an apparition, a relic or a saint’s life, and they draw millions of visitors who come to pray rather than to sightsee. The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City is the most visited Marian shrine in the world; Fátima in Portugal and Lourdes in France grew around the visions of children; Jasna Góra in Częstochowa keeps the icon of the Black Madonna; and the Divine Mercy Sanctuary in Kraków, Loyola in the Basque Country, San Giovanni Rotondo, the home of Padre Pio, and the stairway of Bom Jesus do Monte in Braga complete the group.
Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte
Braga, Portugal
The Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte stands on a wooded hill above the city of Braga in northern Portugal, about five…
2 tickets & tours
Blessed Virgin of the Rosary Sanctuary
Pompei, Italy
The shrine stands in the modern town of Pompei, a few hundred metres from the entrance to the ruins, and that proximity…
1 ticket or tour
Divine Mercy Sanctuary
Krakow, Poland
Entry to the basilica, the old convent chapel and the grounds is free;
1 ticket or tour
Jasna Gora Monastery
Czestochowa, Poland
Entry to the monastery, the basilica and the chapel of the Black Madonna is free.
1 ticket or tour
Sanctuary of Fátima
Fatima, Portugal
The Sanctuary of Fatima lies in the town of Fatima in central Portugal, about an hour and a half north of Lisbon by car…
1 ticket or tour
Sanctuary of Loyola
Azpeitia, Spain
Entry to the basilica is free. The Santa Casa, the tower house where Ignatius was born and converted, is visited on a…
1 ticket or tour
Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy
The Sanctuary of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina is in San Giovanni Rotondo, on the Gargano promontory in Puglia, and it is…
1 ticket or tour
Church of All Nations
East Jerusalem, Palestine
The church stands at the foot of the Mount of Olives, beside the garden of Gethsemane, about fifteen minutes downhill…
No online ticket
Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes
Lourdes, France
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes lies in the town of Lourdes in the foothills of the Pyrenees in south-western…
No online ticket
Sanctuary of Sant Salvador, Felanitx
Felanitx, Spain
The Sanctuary of Sant Salvador stands on the summit of the Puig de Sant Salvador, about five hundred metres above sea…
No online ticket
Santuario di Santa Rosalia, Palermo
Palermo, Italy
The Sanctuary of Santa Rosalia stands high on Monte Pellegrino, the mountain overlooking Palermo, about fourteen…
No online ticket
Entry to the shrines themselves is almost always free, so what can be booked is usually the journey and a guide: day trips from Lisbon to Fátima, from Mexico City to Guadalupe, from Kraków to Częstochowa. The pages say when the big feast days and processions fill the sanctuary and when a quieter visit is possible.