Costs

The cost of the pilgrimage varies but our aim is to keep it as low as possible.

Since the advent of low cost airlines it is cheaper to book online and usually we find that by booking a flight in around Oct/Nov the flight to Paris into Charles de Gaulle usually works out at about EUR120.

The next expense is the Hotel in Paris and to date this has been the most difficult part of the pilgrimage itinery to organise as many hotels will not accept group bookings. However, we hope to keep the cost at around EUR50 per person sharing. We of course, also have a meal in Paris on the Friday night which normally works out at EUR20. Other expenses in Paris include metro fare from the airport -around EUR5.

The organisers of the pilgrimage, Notre Dame de Chretiente have a registration fee of EUR45 which goes toward covering the cost of organising the pilgrimage.

The hotel we stay in in Chartres is very reasonable and starts at EUR27 per person or EUR45 for a single room. The meal is EUR20 and breakfast is EUR5.

The remaining costs then are money for collection at Masses, spending money for lunch on Monday in Chartres( we normally have lunch in Chartres) and money for return train ticket EUR15 to Paris and for bus EUR10 to Charles De Gaulle airport.

Overall total is normally around EUR350

This includes everything except contribution to collections at Mass and any voluntary contribution to the pilgrimage fund which goes towards subsidising a pilgrim who may not be in employment yet such a school goer or student.

The organiser of the Irish pilgrims to the Walk collects the following :

• Registration fee
• Hotel and dinner in Paris
• Hotel, dinner, breakfast in Chartres

All other expenses must be paid for by the pilgrims themselves during the pilgrimage.