Elisabethpfad 1 (Frankfurt – Marburg)

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Deutschordenskirche in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen / Elisabethkirche in Marburg; the Camino Ninja map starts in Frankfurt am Main and ends in Marburg an der Lahn
• Length: 135.9 km according to the Camino Ninja map; depending on the source, the association gives 130 to 145 km
• Duration: 7 stages, averaging just under 20 km; the association divides the trail into 8 sections
• Elevation: not recorded in our database for this route; for the Taunus section alone, from Oberursel-Weißkirchen to Hüttenberg, Taunus Touristik gives ↗ 1,217 m / ↘ 1,134 m
• Highest point: not recorded in the database; the biggest climb on the route is the crossing of the Taunus ridge at the Marmorstein between Oberursel and Usingen
• Landscape: Frankfurt's green belt, the beech forests of the High Taunus, the Usingen basin, the hills around Cleeberg, the Lahn valley at Wetzlar, meadows and villages in the Marburger Land
• Operator / Waymarking: Elisabethpfad e.V., Marburg; red waymark as far as Altenberg Abbey, then mostly a white E on a black sign from the Oberhessischer Gebirgsverein
• Traces of St. Elizabeth: the Deutschordenskirche at the start, Altenberg Abbey with the tomb of her daughter Gertrude, the Elisabethkirche with the Shrine of St. Elizabeth at the finish
• Accommodation: inns, guesthouses, hotels, youth hostels in Wetzlar and Marburg, a few simple pilgrim quarters in parish halls; no network of albergues like in Spain
• Connecting routes: Elisabethpfad 2 (Eisenach – Marburg) and Elisabethpfad 3 (Köln – Marburg) in Marburg, Way of St. James Fulda – Bingen in Frankfurt, Lahn-Camino from Wetzlar
• Best time: April to October; the association's pilgrim passport, a stamp in the sexton's office of the Elisabethkirche, no Compostela

Overview

The Elisabethpfad 1 is the southernmost of the three Elisabethpfade that converge on Marburg, and the only one that starts in a big city with an airport. You set out from the Deutschordenskirche in Sachsenhausen, a house of the very order that took over Elizabeth's hospital in Marburg in 1234 and began building the Elisabethkirche over her tomb in 1235. At the other end that church awaits you, consecrated in 1283 and one of the first purely Gothic churches in Germany. In between lie the Taunus, Wetzlar and an abbey above the Lahn where Elizabeth's youngest daughter was handed over at the age of two—and which she went on to lead as abbess for almost half a century.

The trail is young. In 1994 the Oberhessischer Gebirgsverein and the hiking educator Rainer Brämer laid out a hiking trail from Marburg to Altenberg Abbey; from 2000 the Protestant Church in Hesse and Nassau extended it to Frankfurt and marked it with the red pilgrim sign. Since 2002 the Elisabethpfad e.V. has looked after it. A Protestant pilgrim trail to a Catholic saint, ending in the very church whose shrine the Protestant Landgrave Philip had emptied of her bones in 1539: the trail is the friendlier answer to that history.

Other Names

Officially the route is called Elisabethpfad 1, or E1 for short; on signs and in guidebooks it often appears as Elisabethpfad Frankfurt – Marburg. Locally you will also read Frankfurter Elisabethpfad and, with the old linking e, Elisabethenpfad. It is not a Way of St. James and carries no scallop shell; its pilgrim emblem is the association's seven-pointed Elisabethstern (Elizabeth star).

Who It's Ideal For—and Who It's Not So Ideal For

Ideal if you're looking for a pilgrim week in Germany without a long journey to get there: start and finish are on long-distance rail lines, and S-Bahn, U-Bahn and regional trains stop along the way, so you can split or cut short stages as you like. Ideal, too, if history tempts you more than mileage: Elizabeth, the Teutonic Order and Goethe give almost every day a thread to follow.

Honestly, though, it's not for you if you expect pilgrim community like on the Camino Francés: you'll mostly meet hikers, rarely pilgrims, and dormitory hostels are practically nonexistent. Not for you if you want to rely blindly on the waymarks—the change of signs at Altenberg and parallel hiking trails in the Taunus call for a map or an app. And not for you if you want a certificate like the Compostela at the end: at the tomb you get a stamp, no indulgence and no certificate.

Route & Landscape

Frankfurt to Usingen (km 0–45.0): From the Deutschordenskirche on the riverbank, the trail crosses the Main and leaves the city through the Anlagenring promenade and Grüneburgpark. It only skirts the edges of Steinbach am Taunus (km 18.3) and Oberursel (km 21.3, center 2.7 km off the trail), heading for the forest toward Hohemark. Then comes the only real mountain, the Taunus ridge at the Marmorstein, and on the north side the trail passes the Hessenpark on its way to Usingen (km 45.0).

Usingen to Wetzlar (km 45.0–79.5): Beyond Usingen the land opens up. At Eschbach (km 47.5) the quartz crags of the Eschbacher Klippen jut out of the meadow; via Hasselborn (km 54.2) and Waldsolms (km 57.7) you reach Cleeberg (km 63.9) below its castle. In Volpertshausen (km 71.8) you pass the house where Goethe danced in 1772, then the trail drops into the Lahn valley to Wetzlar (km 79.5) with its cathedral and old town.

Wetzlar to Marburg (km 79.5–135.9): Upstream along the Lahn, Altenberg Abbey sits on its hill; the map places the village of Oberbiel itself 1.8 km off the route. Via Hermannstein and through Biebertal (km 101.1, village point 1.4 km off the trail) at the foot of the Dünsberg, it turns quiet and rural: Krumbach (km 107.4), Kirchvers (km 111.1), Weipoltshausen, Altenvers and Damm (km 117.8) are villages between fields and forest edge. Via Stedebach, Niederwalgern (0.8 km off the trail) and Oberweimar (km 126.6) the trail climbs one last time and descends through Ockershausen into Marburg's old town and the Elisabethkirche.

Stages, Terrain, and Difficulty

We show the route in 7 stages; the distances come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 135.9 km. The association itself divides it into 8 sections with overnight stops in Oberursel, Usingen, Cleeberg, Wetzlar, Hermannstein, Fellingshausen and Damm; our breakdown combines Wetzlar to Fellingshausen into a single day.

1. Frankfurt am Main → Oberursel (21.3 km) — From Sachsenhausen across the Main and through parks and green belt to the edge of the Taunus; Oberursel's center lies 2.7 km off the trail, and the U3 runs from Hohemark back into the city.
2. Oberursel → Usingen (23.7 km) — The toughest day: the climb over the Taunus ridge at the Marmorstein, then down past the Hessenpark into the Usingen basin.
3. Usingen → Cleeberg (18.9 km) — Via Eschbach and its crags, Hasselborn and Waldsolms through open hill country; simple pilgrim quarters in the Cleeberg parish hall by arrangement.
4. Cleeberg → Wetzlar (15.6 km) — Short, so there's time left for Volpertshausen and Wetzlar's old town.
5. Wetzlar → Biebertal (21.6 km) — Up the Lahn to Altenberg Abbey, then via Hermannstein into Biebertal at the foot of the Dünsberg.
6. Biebertal → Damm (16.7 km) — Through Krumbach, Kirchvers, Weipoltshausen and Altenvers: quiet villages and little infrastructure.
7. Damm → Marburg (18.1 km) — Via Stedebach, Niederwalgern and Oberweimar to Marburg, finishing at the Elisabethkirche.

Technically nothing is difficult. The only strenuous part is the Taunus: for the section from Oberursel-Weißkirchen to Hüttenberg, Taunus Touristik gives 1,217 meters of ascent, on a surface of 23 percent asphalt, 21 percent gravel and plenty of unpaved forest track. After that it gets gentler, but never flat. At Altenberg the waymark switches to the black E sign of the OHGV, and that's exactly where other hiking trails run in parallel.

A Path to Elizabeth's Daughter—and Why Her Altarpiece Waits at the Start

On September 29, 1227, Gertrude was born, a few weeks after her father, Landgrave Louis IV, had died on his way to the Crusade. Elizabeth, twenty years old, moved to Marburg in 1228, built a hospital outside the town and, when the child was about two, gave her to the Premonstratensian nuns of Altenberg above the Lahn. Elizabeth died on November 17, 1231, at 24. Gertrude stayed: at 21 she became abbess in 1248, had the Gothic abbey church built around 1260/1270, gathered relics of her mother and made the abbey a place of pilgrimage with some seventy sisters. By around 1270 Altenberg was already celebrating Corpus Christi, just a few years after Pope Urban IV had introduced the feast in 1264. She died on August 13, 1297, almost seventy years after her arrival.

Her tomb from 1334 still bears the inscription: "ANNO DOMINI MCCXCVII IN DIE BEATI YPOLITI OBIIT BEATA GERTRVDIS FELIX MATER HVIVS CONVENTVS FILIA SANCTE ELISABET LANDGRAVIE THURINGIE"—in the year of our Lord 1297, on the day of blessed Hippolytus, died blessed Gertrude, happy mother of this convent, daughter of Saint Elizabeth, Landgravine of Thuringia. In 1994 the Oberhessischer Gebirgsverein followed exactly this thread: Marburg–Altenberg, by tradition the path Elizabeth walked to visit her daughter. That walk is not documented; that she had a child in this abbey is. And that is what sets the E1 apart from its siblings: it leads not only to a saint's tomb but to her daughter's abbey.

And then the twist you take with you from Frankfurt: in 1802 Altenberg was secularized and passed to the Counts of Solms-Braunfels, and its furnishings were scattered. The wings of the Altenberg Altarpiece, painted around 1330 for the high altar above Gertrude's tomb, were bought by the Städel Museum in 1925. In January 2026, with 1.25 million euros from the Kulturstiftung der Länder (the German states' cultural foundation), the Städel also acquired the enthroned Altenberg Madonna from the shrine, carved in limewood around 1320/1330, 132 centimeters tall and on loan to the Bavarian National Museum since 1981. The Städel stands on the Sachsenhausen bank of the Main, one kilometer from the Deutschordenskirche. Spend an hour in the museum before you set off, and you'll see first what you'd look for in vain on the Lahn six days later.

So plan an extra half day in Frankfurt and an hour in Altenberg for the church and the tomb. Today the abbey is home to a Protestant community; deaconesses from East Prussia set up their motherhouse here after a fire in 1952, and the last of them moved to Wetzlar in 2009. According to the association, you currently can't stay overnight at the abbey, but you can in Oberbiel.

Highlights Along the Way

• Deutschordenskirche, Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen (start) — in 1221 the Teutonic Order took over the house, hospital and church here, and in 1309 Archbishop Peter of Mainz consecrated the Gothic building; in 1943 the order's house burned out, and in 1965 the rebuilt ensemble was consecrated.
• Taunus ridge at the Marmorstein (between km 21.3 and 45.0) — the only major climb, with beech forest and long views over the Main plain.
• Hessenpark (before Usingen) — open-air museum with more than a hundred half-timbered houses relocated from all over Hesse, opened in 1974.
• Goethehaus Volpertshausen (km 71.8) — the former hunting lodge where Goethe met Charlotte Buff on June 9, 1772; open on the second Sunday of each month.
• Wetzlar (km 79.5) — the unfinished cathedral, shared by both denominations since the Reformation, plus the Lottehaus in the Teutonic Order's courtyard and the old town above the Lahn.
• Altenberg Abbey (near Oberbiel, km 84.6) — Gothic church from around 1260/1270, tomb of Blessed Gertrude, Elizabeth's daughter.
• Elisabethkirche Marburg (finish) — begun in 1235, consecrated in 1283, towers completed around 1330; the golden Shrine of St. Elizabeth in the choir, stamps in the sexton's office.

Werther, Lotte and the Order: Wetzlar at the Halfway Point

The Teutonic Order runs through the E1 like a second thread: Frankfurt, Wetzlar and Marburg each had a house of the order. In Marburg the order took over Elizabeth's hospital in 1234, and that same year her brother-in-law Conrad of Thuringia joined it. He was present in 1235 when Pope Gregory IX canonized Elizabeth at Pentecost in Perugia, became Grand Master in 1239 and has lain in the Elisabethkirche since 1240. On May 1, 1236, Emperor Frederick II, barefoot and in a penitent's robe, himself lifted Elizabeth's coffin at the elevation of her relics—the most prominent pilgrim Marburg ever had.

In Wetzlar, the order's courtyard became a literary stage in 1772. Goethe arrived that spring as a trainee at the Imperial Chamber Court, which sat in Wetzlar from 1689 to 1806. The administrative building of the Deutschordenshof was home to the bailiff Heinrich Adam Buff and his children, among them Charlotte, known as Lotte. At the ball in Volpertshausen on June 9, 1772, Goethe met her, fell in love with the fiancée of Johann Christian Kestner and left Wetzlar on September 11 without saying goodbye. In 1774 "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers" (The Sorrows of Young Werther) was published. The Lottehaus has been a museum since 1863. So in a single day you walk from the hall where Werther began to the house where Lotte lived—both times, without meaning to, on the order's ground.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

Most people arrive in Frankfurt by train and set off right away. Those already on the road come via a Camino route: the Way of St. James Fulda – Bingen runs through Frankfurt, and in Wetzlar the Lahn-Camino begins, heading down the Lahn.

The Elisabethpfade form a small network with a shared destination. Together, the association looks after some 570 kilometers:

• Elisabethpfad 1 (Frankfurt – Marburg) — this trail, the oldest of the three, via the Taunus, Wetzlar and Altenberg Abbey
• Elisabethpfad 2 (Eisenach – Marburg) — from the Wartburg, opened in 2007 for Elizabeth's 800th birthday and waymarked with Camino signs
• Elisabethpfad 3 (Köln – Marburg) — from the Rhineland, also since 2007, signposted in the opposite direction as a Way of St. James to Cologne

Continue the pilgrimage?

In Marburg the E1 comes to an end, and this is where you choose a direction. Heading west, the Elisabethpfad 3 leads as a Way of St. James to Cologne, where you can join further Camino routes toward Aachen and France. Heading east, the Elisabethpfad 2 takes you to the Wartburg in Eisenach, back to Elizabeth's own beginnings—and there onto the network of Camino routes in Thuringia.

Preparation & Practical Information

Pilgrim passport and app. The Elisabethpfad is not an official Way of St. James, and there is no Compostela here. The association does, however, issue its own pilgrim passport, in which you collect stamps from churches, inns and parishes; you get the final stamp in the sexton's office of the Elisabethkirche. Best to order it in advance from the association's pilgrim shop so it reaches you in time; a Camino credencial works too if you plan to continue from Cologne or Eisenach. With the Camino Ninja App you carry the map and track offline—especially handy at the waymark change near Altenberg; the easiest way to plan the route is right in the app, where you put together your stages and plan suitable accommodation along with them.

Accommodation. The association keeps an online accommodation list for the E1. In Usingen and Cleeberg, private hosts and the Protestant parish help out with simple sleeping spaces by arrangement; otherwise you'll sleep in inns and guesthouses. Between Biebertal and Damm options are thin—book at least a day ahead here.

Season and guidebook. The best time is April to October; in spring the Elisabethkirche holds a pilgrims' service to open the season, with a personal blessing, and in September there's usually a pilgrim gathering. The association's pilgrim guide came out in a new edition in October 2025, with 22 maps at 1:50,000. The Elisabethkirche is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from April to September, and until 4 p.m. in winter (as of October 2026).

What the journey will cost you

The formalities are cheap: the association's pilgrim passport from 1.20 €, the pilgrim guide 15.80 €, admission to the Elisabethkirche free (as of October 2026). The nights cost more. At the Landgasthaus Wildhof in Cleeberg a single room with breakfast costs 55 €, a double 80 €, with a pilgrim discount of 3 or 6 € respectively; in Wetzlar hotels range from 40 to over 100 €, and in Kirchvers a vacation apartment for two runs about 50 €. The Marburg youth hostel charges adults aged 27 and over 47.80 to 57.30 € with breakfast, and you'll need a DJH (German Youth Hostel Association) membership (as of October 2026).

Budget 65 to 90 € per day for a room, breakfast, provisions and one dinner, or 35 € on days with a parish-hall bed and the supermarket. Honestly, that makes a week on the E1 roughly twice as expensive as a week on the Camino Francés—but you save yourself the flight.

Getting Here

To the start. You can reach Frankfurt by long-distance train or by plane; from the airport the S-Bahn takes about 15 minutes into the city. The Deutschordenskirche stands in Sachsenhausen at the southern end of the Alte Brücke (Old Bridge), about a 25-minute walk from the main station.

From the finish. Marburg is on the Main-Weser railway; regional trains take about an hour back to Frankfurt, and long-distance trains run toward Kassel and Hamburg. Along the way you can reach the railway at several points: the U3 from Oberursel-Hohemark, the Taunusbahn in Usingen, Wetzlar station, the regional train in Niederwalgern. The Deutschlandticket, at 63 € a month (as of October 2026), covers all regional trains as well as Frankfurt's U-Bahn and S-Bahn.

• Rail: bahn.de — connections to Frankfurt and Marburg, Deutschlandticket
• Local transit: rmv.de — Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund, timetables for the Taunus and the Lahn
• Trail and accommodation: elisabethpfad.de — Elisabethpfad e.V., accommodation list, pilgrim guide and pilgrim passport