Sacred & spiritual destinations.
Temples, monasteries, pilgrim routes.
Conques
This tiny village in Aveyron whose Romanesque abbey church and its treasury — including a gold statue of Sainte Foy — earned UNESCO World Heritage status in…
Re
This modest Piedmontese village near the Swiss border, Re is home to a pilgrimage sanctuary built after a reported miracle in 1494, dedicated to the Madonna…
Unquera
Small village in western Cantabria, on the estuary of the River Deva at the Asturian border, Unquera is known across Spain for its pies and serves as the mai…
Admont
Admont Abbey, a monastery founded in 1074, anchors this little Styrian village set in the valley of the Enns River within Gesäuse National Park.
Rocamadour
Medieval pilgrimage village in the Lot département of southwestern France, Rocamadour clings to a cliff face rising steeply above the Alzou valley, with a co…
Brisighella
Three rocky spurs rise above this little Emilia-Romagna town, each topped by a landmark: the 14th-century Rocca Manfrediana fortress, an 18th-century sanctua…
Batalha
A pocket-sized Portuguese town in the Leiria region whose skyline is dominated by an elaborate Gothic and Manueline monastery — all soaring pinnacles, lace-l…
Monte Sant'Angelo
The Sanctuary of San Michele Arcangelo, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has drawn Christian pilgrims since the 6th century, sits at the heart of this pocke…
Ponte da Barca
Sitting on the Lima River in northern Portugal's deep Vinho Verde country, Ponte da Barca is a particularly photogenic small town with a café and restaurant…
Mondsee
A modest lakeside town in Upper Austria's Salzkammergut region, Mondsee is best known for the medieval Mondsee Abbey, whose church served as the wedding loca…
Chacas
Founded in 1572 in the Conchucos zone of Ancash, Chacas is a high-altitude Peruvian town whose colonial centre has kept its original Andean-Andalusian archit…
Waterways
This pocket-sized Melbourne suburb where roughly 40% of the land is water and 20% parkland, Waterways was built around artificially created wetlands along Mo…
Puente La Reina – Gares
Where the French Way and the Aragonese Way of the Camino de Santiago converge, Puente la Reina — whose Spanish name means "the Queen's bridge" — sits on the…
Neuville-sous-Montreuil
The Chartreuse Notre-Dame-des-Prés, a Carthusian monastery founded in 1325 and the largest preserved Carthusian monastery in France, sits in this small villa…
Tywyn
Home to the Talyllyn Railway and the Cadfan Stone — an early medieval cross bearing the oldest known written Welsh — this small seaside town sits on the Card…
Alcobaça
The Monastery of Alcobaça, built on the orders of Portugal's first king to mark the 1147 Conquest of Santarém from the Moors, is one of the country's great G…
Maria Saal
A pilgrimage village in Carinthia, Austria, known above all for its Marian church, which draws visitors to the historic Zollfeld plain — a wide valley of the…
Cordes-sur-Ciel
Built in 1222 by Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse, on a ridge high enough above the Cérou valley to earn the name "sur-Ciel" (above the sky), this medieval for…
Le Puy-en-Velay
One of the principal starting points for the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, Le Puy-en-Velay is a heritage-dense town in south-central France's A…
Bobbio
Founded around the Abbey of San Colombano in 614, Bobbio is a medieval village in the Trebbia River valley in Piacenza province, with a historic centre that…
Copacabana
A small Bolivian town on the shore of Lake Titicaca, Copacabana draws visitors to its 17th-century Basilica of Our Lady of Copacabana — home to the image of…
Aguilar de Campoo
A small town in northern Palencia where the River Pisuerga runs through the historic centre, Aguilar de Campoo has an unusually dense concentration of histor…
Varallo Sesia
Dominated by the Sacro Monte di Varallo — one of the major Catholic pilgrimage sites in Piedmont — this compact town in Valsesia sits along the Sesia river,…
Cluny
Founded in 910 by Duke William I of Aquitaine, the Benedictine Abbey of Cluny shaped this little Burgundian town into one of medieval Europe's great centres…
Felgueiras
This compact Portuguese town in the Tâmega e Sousa uplands, with a broad formal garden boulevard at its centre, a hilltop sanctuary visible above the red-til…
Dietkirchen
The Basilica of St.
Villafranca Montes de Oca
This little Burgos hamlet lies directly on the French Way of the Camino de Santiago, making it a natural stop for pilgrims crossing the Montes de Oca in Cast…
Graus
A small Aragonese town at the confluence of the Esera and Isabena rivers in the Pyrenees, Graus is home to the Basilica de Santa Maria de la Peña and a nearb…
Lobbes
This compact Wallonian town on the Sambre river in Hainaut, Belgium, Lobbes grew up around an abbey established here around 650 AD.
Rumburk
Rumburk's Loreto Chapel, built in the early 18th century within a Capuchin monastery complex, is claimed to be the northernmost Marian pilgrimage site of its…
Mariazell
Austria's most significant Catholic pilgrimage site, Mariazell is a small Styrian mountain village whose Basilica of the Nativity of Mary houses a lime-wood…
Villafranca del Bierzo
A small wine-country town in the El Bierzo comarca of León, Villafranca del Bierzo sits at the confluence of the Burbia and Valcarce rivers on the Camino de…
La Romieu
A member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, this small Gers village in southwestern France is anchored by the 14th-century Collégiale Saint-Pierre, whose…
Greccio
Saint Francis of Assisi staged the first living Nativity scene here in December 1223, and the tradition continues in this little Lazio hilltown on a spur of…
Lorvao
Modest Portuguese town in upland country, Lorvão is dominated by a grand white baroque monastery with a domed church tower, set beside a tree-lined garden sq…
St. Gallen
The Abbey of Saint Gall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site whose library holds manuscripts dating to the 9th century, is the centrepiece of this eastern Swiss city.
Kudowa-Zdrój
One of Europe's oldest spa towns, Kudowa-Zdrój sits in the foothills of the Table Mountains on Poland's southwestern border with the Czech Republic, where it…
Kamieniec Zabkowicki
A small town in Lower Silesia whose abbey and palace together form a Historic Monument of Poland, Kamieniec Ząbkowicki sits on a river in the foothills of so…
Trondheim
Founded in 997 as a trading post, Trondheim served as Norway's capital through the Viking Age and remains the site of Nidaros Cathedral, the country's great…
Limenaria
Waterfront village on the southern end of the Greek island of Thasos, Limenaria has drawn summer visitors since the 1960s.
San Miguel del Milagro
This small village in Tlaxcala, Mexico, San Miguel del Milagro is home to the Santuario Nacional de San Miguel Arcángel, one of the two most visited Catholic…
Garsten
This small Upper Austrian market village on the water is best known for the former Garsten Abbey, a heritage landmark that now serves as a prison — an unusua…
Lincang
A multi-tiered pagoda rises above a green lakeside park at the heart of this sprawling southwest Yunnan city, where traditional architecture meets a modern s…
Wiltz
A modest town in the forested hill country of northern Luxembourg, Wiltz sits alongside a river and is known internationally for its festival.
Castel di Tora
Sitting on the north-eastern shore of Lake Turano, this pocket-sized Lazio hamlet is a member of Italy's "most beautiful villages" association and offers a h…
Sanqing
This Taoist sacred mountain in Jiangxi Province, Mount Sanqing takes its name from its three main summits — Yujing, Yushui, and Yuhua — representing the Taoi…
Bad Staffelstein
This small spa town in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, sits along the Main river and is anchored by three landmarks: the Basilica of Vierzehnheiligen, designed by…
Licciana Nardi
This small Tuscan village in the Province of Massa-Carrara that sits within the Tusco-Emilian Apennine National Park and along the Via del Volto Santo pilgri…
Novalesa
Novalesa Abbey, a Benedictine monastery founded in 726 and strategically positioned to control the Via Francigena, anchors this modest Piedmontese hamlet nea…
Sankt Florian
Sankt Florian, a small town in Upper Austria a short distance from Linz, is home to St.
Vallerano
This small Lazio village in the Province of Viterbo holds several historic churches for its size, including the 17th-century Sanctuary of the Madonna del Rus…
Mauriac
A tiny town in the Cantal department of south-central France, Mauriac grew from a 6th-century abbey whose buildings still stand, now repurposed as public off…
Lanciano
Lanciano, a town in Abruzzo's province of Chieti, is known as the site of the first recorded Catholic Eucharistic Miracle, drawing pilgrims to its historic c…
Orani
Small Sardinian village in the Barbagia region, at the foot of Mount Gonare, known for its stonework, carpentry, metalwork, and tailoring in traditional Sard…
San Juan de los Lagos
One of Mexico's most visited pilgrimage destinations, San Juan de los Lagos in Jalisco's Los Altos region draws millions of visitors each year to the Basilic…
Absam
This little Austrian town in Tyrol with an unusual concentration of churches for its size, Absam is a pilgrimage stop on the Camino de Santiago (Jakobsweg) w…
Santarcangelo di Romagna
A little town in Emilia-Romagna with a notably dense café and restaurant scene, Santarcangelo di Romagna sits on the Via Emilia in the province of Rimini, cr…
Katsuragi
This town in Nara Prefecture where traditional temple complexes with red-and-dark-timber halls, stone lanterns, and forested hillside backdrops sit close to…
Real de Catorce
Once a booming silver-mining settlement high in the Sierra de Catorce of northern San Luis Potosí, Real de Catorce has reinvented itself as a destination aft…
Champlitte
This wine-country commune in Haute-Saône, eastern France, Champlitte sits within the Communauté de communes des 4 Rivières and holds the labels Cité de Carac…