Religious Travel
The meaning of religious travel varies from pilgrim to pilgrim. The Web provides resources on each of the many ways that people undertake religious trips, including volunteer trips with religious organizations, religious spas and baths, pilgrimages such as the Muslim Hajj, and journeys to religious cities and sites around the world. This guide explores the various forms of religious travel and provides essential online tools to aid your travel planning.
Expand All Guide SectionsLearning about Religious Tourism
The international religious travel market now takes in a reported $18 billion every year. To learn ... read more »
Types of Religious Vacations
Taking a religious vacation can be quite leisurely, such as a Christian cruise with musical ... read more »
Historic Religious Travel
Certain routes and cities carry great historical significance, whether immortalized in religious texts or living on through storytelling. The sites in this section provide historical context and travel information for a few well-known pilgrimages and locales.
Dulcinea's Insight
- To plan a visit to a historic religious area of the world, use the findingDulcinea Travel Web Guide to book a flight, find a hotel, and learn more about passports and various international travel requirements.
- The Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, doesn’t permit non-Muslim pilgrims to make the journey. We’ve found accounts of non-Muslims being fined for driving too close to Mecca. The penalty for actually entering Mecca as a non-Muslim is uncertain, though most sources point to deportation.
Dulcinea's Picks
For Christian pilgrimages …
Journey of the Magi
is a site dedicated to chronicling the original journey of the Magi, or wise men, to visit Christ, as well as the retracing of this journey by a group of pilgrims in 2000. Read an excellent discussion of the story of the original Magi, and the historical versus symbolic interpretations of it. Also find a photo journal of the 2000 trip.
Franciscan Cyberspot’s
section on the Holy Sepulchre gives a fascinating history and description of this Christian holy site, along with photos, and is available in English, Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese.
For Jerusalem …
Go Jerusalem
is an online culture and tourism portal that organizes educational tours and pilgrimages to religious sites of interest for Christians, Muslims and Jews. Jerusalem archaeological and historic sites are also listed, including religious places of interest like chapels, synagogues and religious museums.
The Noble Sanctuary Online Guide
gives an overview of the mosques and other sites housed in the sanctuary, known in Arabic as Al-Haram al-Sharif, in Jerusalem. These structures include the Dome of the Rock, the most famous Muslim site in Israel and one of the most important mosques in Islam.
For learning about the Hajj …
CNN.com
published an article about the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. Travelers may be surprised to learn that the journey draws a “melting pot” of ethnicities and backgrounds, and the atmosphere is celebratory and lively for the most part.
The BBC
“Religion & Ethics” section on Islam is a complete resource with a “Guide to going to Mecca,” that outlines requirements of participants and describes different legs of the journey. The “History of the Hajj” section is also detailed.
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