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And why so many people come home changed by one
A journey to a holy place, made for prayer. Christians have been doing it since the first of them walked to Jerusalem, and the reasons have barely changed in two thousand years.
A pilgrimage is a journey to a holy place, made for prayer. Five things separate it from every other kind of travel.
Not a scenic destination, a holy one. A place where God acted, where a saint lived or died, where the Church has prayed without interruption for centuries. Jerusalem, Rome, Fatima, Lourdes, Santiago, Guadalupe. The ground itself is part of the point, which is why a pilgrimage cannot simply be moved somewhere more convenient.
You will see extraordinary things, and a good guide will explain them properly. But you are not there to look. Pilgrims pray at the sites, and the difference between praying at a place and photographing it is obvious within a day of arriving.
A pilgrimage travels with a priest, and Mass is celebrated every day, wherever possible in the church the day is built around. Confession is available throughout. For most pilgrims this is the part they did not expect to matter as much as it does.
Early starts, long days, unfamiliar food, a coach instead of a car, and your ordinary comforts left at home. The effort is not a flaw in the arrangement. Sacrifice has been part of what a pilgrimage is since the first Christians walked to Jerusalem, and it is what separates the journey from a holiday.
Pilgrims travel as a group. They pray together, eat together, sit through the same delays, and by the end of it they know one another. A surprising number of groups travel together again the following year, which is not something people say about a holiday.
The shape of a pilgrimage day is much the same whether the group is in Rome, Nagasaki or the Holy Land.
Most groups pray the rosary or morning prayer as the coach pulls away. It takes ten minutes and it sets the tone for everything that follows, which is why experienced group leaders never skip it.
Wherever it can be arranged, Mass is celebrated at the shrine, basilica or chapel that the day is about. Standing at the altar of a church you have read about since childhood is the single thing pilgrims mention most often afterwards.
A local guide takes the group through the history and the archaeology, so that what you are looking at makes sense. On our pilgrimages the guide is chosen for knowing the Catholic significance of the place, not just its dates.
Every day leaves unstructured time at the major sites. Some people light a candle, some sit, some go to confession, some walk the grounds alone. This is the part of the day that a packed sightseeing itinerary quietly removes.
Most days include a group dinner, and it is where the group actually becomes a group. Dietary requirements are handled in advance rather than negotiated at the table.
Some groups keep the evening free. Others gather for a talk from the chaplain, adoration, or the torchlight procession at Lourdes and Fatima. Nobody is made to attend anything, and most people come anyway.
Both involve flights, hotels and a coach. Almost everything else is different.
Canterbury runs pilgrimages and nothing else. If what you want is a holiday, we are the wrong company, and we would rather tell you that now than sell you the wrong trip.
A handful of destinations account for most first pilgrimages. Each one answers a different question.
Every route we run, in every country, is listed on the destinations page.
If you would rather read what a pilgrimage was actually like than what it is in theory, start here.
Deacon Ed Sheffer leads twenty-eight pilgrims through Egypt, from the Great Pyramids to Mass in a church carved under Garbage City.
Fifteen days through Catholic Japan: cherry blossom season, the martyrs of Nagasaki, and a Church of 430,000 in a country of 120 million.
Dan Burke on what a holy journey does that daily prayer alone cannot, and why the practice quietly went out of fashion.
Most run between eight and fifteen days. The Holy Land is usually ten or eleven, Italy eight to eleven, and a Fatima, Lourdes and Santiago route around eleven. Walking pilgrimages on the Camino run longer because the distance sets the pace rather than the coach. Our destinations pages give the length of every route we operate.
It depends on the destination, the season and the length, and on whether flights are included. What matters more than the headline figure is what sits inside it. Every Canterbury price covers hotels, most meals, coaches, guides, entrance fees and the arrangements for daily Mass, so the number you are quoted is close to the number you actually spend. The Pilgrim Support Center sets out what is and is not included.
You need to be able to walk unaided for a couple of miles across a day, manage stairs and stand for stretches at a time. Holy sites are old, and old buildings have uneven ground, steps and no lifts. Tell us in advance about anything that affects your mobility and we will tell you honestly whether the route works for you rather than finding out on day three.
No. Every pilgrimage carries people who are not Catholic, and they are welcome at everything. Non-Catholics attend Mass with the group and simply do not receive Communion, which is the practice everywhere in the Church.
Both work. Many pilgrims join a scheduled departure alone and travel with a group of strangers who do not stay strangers. If you would rather not pay a single supplement we can look at pairing you with a roommate.
A Jubilee is a holy year called by the Pope, most recently in 2025, when the Holy Doors of the papal basilicas in Rome are opened. Passing through them, under the usual conditions of confession, Communion and prayer for the Pope, carries a plenary indulgence, which is the remission of the temporal punishment due to sin already forgiven. It is not a pardon for sin and it cannot be bought.
For a parish or diocesan group, eight to thirteen months. Waiting is the single most common mistake, because the flights and the hotels near the shrines are the constraint, not the interest. If you are thinking about leading a group, start with how leading a pilgrimage works.
Tell us what you have in mind and we will build the itinerary, the pricing, and the promotional materials around it. There is no deposit and no financial commitment from you.
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