Hunsrücker Jakobsweg

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Bingen am Rhein at the mouth of the Nahe / Abbey of St. Matthias in Trier with the Apostle's tomb
• Length: 126.0 km
• Duration: 6 stages, avg. 21 km; just under a week
• Elevation: ↗ 2,160 m / ↘ 2,109 m
• Highest point: 595 m at km 15.5 in the Binger Wald on the Ohligsberg; on the plateau beyond Horbruch 594 m once more at km 68.7
• Landscape: the Binger Wald, the plateaus and hilltop villages of the Hunsrück, forest and slate in the Dhron valley, and finally the Ruwer valley and the Moselle
• Waymarking: yellow scallop shell since 2013, plus the white AU on a green background of the Ausoniusweg
• Traces of St. James: the Roman road itself, on which people made pilgrimages to Trier in the Middle Ages, and at the finish the Apostle's tomb at St. Matthias
• Accommodation: inns, guesthouses and holiday flats; few beds in the Hunsrück villages, and there are no pilgrim hostels
• Connecting routes: in Bingen the Way of St. James Fulda – Bingen and the Linksrheinischer Jakobsweg, in Trier the Mosel-Camino, Eifel-Camino, Via Coloniensis, Trier – Le Puy and Trier – Vézelay
• Best time: May to October; in the Hunsrück, fog and frost often already lie on the heights by the end of October

Overview

The Hunsrücker Jakobsweg is that rare case of a way that comes with its own route description – and it's a good 1,650 years old. Around 371 the poet Ausonius travelled from Bingen to Trier and wrote the "Mosella" about it. Today you walk 126 kilometres on the same Roman road across the Hunsrück, almost dead straight, over plateaus, through hilltop villages and long forests, until in Trier you pass the Porta Nigra and the cathedral and reach the Apostle's tomb at St. Matthias.

The road didn't become a pilgrim way only because of the shell. As early as the Middle Ages people made pilgrimages along it to Trier, to the Holy Robe in the cathedral and to the tomb of the Apostle Matthias. It got the name Ausoniusstraße in the 20th century, and it has been waymarked with the shell as a Way of St. James since 2013. To be honest, these are four days on which you often won't meet anyone for hours – and that's exactly why most people come.

Other Names

The way is also called the Ausoniusweg after the Roman poet, with the hiking sign AU, and Via Ausonius. Until October 2026 it was the last section of the Jakobsweg Fulda – Trier on our site; today the Way of St. James Fulda – Bingen ends in Bingen, and this way takes over. Don't confuse it with the Nahe-Glan-Camino, which also begins in Bingen but leads up the Nahe to Tholey in Saarland.

Ideal for whom – and for whom not

Ideal if you're looking for a pilgrim week that feels like a pilgrimage: silence, forest, small villages and an Apostle's tomb at the end. Ideal too as a continuation if you're coming from Fulda, Cologne or the Rhine and want to carry on to France, because in Trier the ways to Le Puy and Vézelay begin. And ideal for anyone who likes the Romans: a Roman road, a Roman tower, an archaeological park and, at the finish, a Roman imperial city.

To be honest, though, it's not for you if you want to find a bed on the spur of the moment: the villages are small, inns have rest days, and between Kirchberg and Fell there are hardly any shops. Not for you if you're looking for pilgrim community – there are no hostels, and you'll rarely meet fellow pilgrims. And not for you if long straight stretches on forest and field tracks bore you: the Romans built their roads to get somewhere, not for the views.

Route & Landscape

Bingen to Kirchberg (km 0–48.2): From the mouth of the Nahe below Burg Klopp you climb steeply right away via Weiler (km 3.4) into the Binger Wald. At km 15.5 on the Ohligsberg you reach the highest point of the way at 595 metres, then it's on via Dichtelbach (km 19.4) to Rheinböllen (km 21.3). On the Roman road you walk via Mutterschied (km 31.2) to Simmern (km 36.4), the district town with the Schinderhannes Tower, and via Ohlweiler, Schönborn and Rödern to Kirchberg (km 48.2), the oldest town in the Hunsrück.

Kirchberg to Trier (km 48.2–126.0): Beyond Kirchberg lies the plateau. Via Niederweiler (km 58.7) and Horbruch (km 63.5) you reach 594 metres once more at km 68.7; Hochscheid, Gonzerath and the Belginum Archaeological Park lie just off the route. Via Haag (km 83.3), Gräfendhron (km 87.9) and Berglicht (km 90.3) you descend into the Dhron valley, then via Talling and Büdlicherbrück (km 98.9) to Fell (km 108.1). Through Mertesdorf (km 113.7) and the Ruwer valley you come to the Moselle and to Trier: past the Porta Nigra (km 121.9) and the cathedral (km 122.4) all the way to the Abbey of St. Matthias at the end.

Stages, Terrain & Difficulty

We show the way in 6 stages; the kilometres come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 126.0 km. One day is short, two are long at almost 27 kilometres and have few places to stop for food.

1. Bingen am Rhein → Rheinböllen (21.3 km) — The big climb: via Weiler into the Binger Wald, up to 595 metres on the Ohligsberg, then down to Rheinböllen.
2. Rheinböllen → Kirchberg (26.9 km) — On the Roman road via Mutterschied to Simmern and on to Kirchberg.
3. Kirchberg → Horbruch (15.3 km) — Short plateau stage via Niederweiler; book your accommodation in advance.
4. Horbruch → Berglicht (26.8 km) — Across the plateau (594 m), past Belginum and via Haag down into the Dhron valley.
5. Berglicht → Fell (17.8 km) — Forest, slate and the last long descent via Büdlicherbrück.
6. Fell → Trier St. Matthias (17.9 km) — Via Mertesdorf into the Ruwer valley, to the Moselle and through the city to the Apostle's tomb.

The demanding parts are the climb beyond Bingen – around 500 metres of ascent in the first 15 kilometres –, the constant up and down between Gräfendhron and Fell, and the length of the Hunsrück days with nowhere to stop for food. The surface is mostly good: forest and field tracks, short stretches of asphalt through the villages.

The first route description across the Hunsrück is a Roman poem

Around the year 371 the poet and statesman Decimus Magnus Ausonius travelled from Bingen to Trier, then an imperial residence. The result was the "Mosella", 483 hexameters, the only surviving ancient poem devoted entirely to a river. It begins exactly where your way begins: "Transieram celerem nebuloso lumine Navam, addita miratus veteri nova moenia Vinco" – "I had crossed the swift Nahe in misty light and marvelled at the new walls added to old Vincum." Vincum is Bingen. Then Ausonius describes the way you walk for three days: "nemorosa per avia solum, et nulla humani spectans vestigia cultus" – alone through wooded wilderness, seeing no trace of human cultivation.

He even names the stations. Dumnissus, which he calls "dry", is today's Kirchberg, the oldest town in the Hunsrück, with a town charter since 1259; beneath the late Gothic church of St. Michael archaeologists found three older stone churches, the first from around 700. The road itself was 5 to 5.50 metres wide, with a stone foundation around 80 centimetres thick, and is marked on the Tabula Peutingeriana, the copy of a Roman road map. Near Wederath lay the settlement of Belginum, whose burial ground was used from the 4th century BC to the 4th century AD; since 2002 there has been an archaeological park there.

So you have a travel guide that is a good 1,650 years old – and on one point it's still right: between Kirchberg and Berglicht you're often alone in the forest.

Highlights Along the Way

• Bingen am Rhein (start) — the mouth of the Nahe with Burg Klopp and the Basilica of St. Martin; here Ausonius crossed the Nahe, and here his "Mosella" begins.
• Binger Wald (km 15.5) — at 595 metres on the Ohligsberg the highest point of the way, beech and spruce forest as far as Dichtelbach.
• Simmern (km 36.4) — town charter in 1330 from Louis the Bavarian; from February 1799 the robber Johannes Bückler was held in the Schinderhannes Tower and broke out on the night of 19 to 20 August; he was executed in Mainz in 1803.
• Kirchberg (km 48.2) — the Dumnissus of Ausonius, the oldest town in the Hunsrück, with a town charter since 1259 and a market square with half-timbered houses.
• Belginum Archaeological Park (near km 68.7, just off the route) — Celtic-Roman settlement on the Roman road with a burial ground spanning eight centuries.
• Trier (km 121.9–126.0) — Porta Nigra and the cathedral with the Holy Robe, UNESCO World Heritage since 1986; at the end the Abbey of St. Matthias with the only Apostle's tomb north of the Alps.

How Pilgrims Reach This Way

Two ways that end here arrive in Bingen: the Way of St. James Fulda – Bingen from Fulda via Frankfurt and Mainz, and the Linksrheinischer Jakobsweg from Cologne. If you're coming from there, you simply change direction in Bingen and carry on across the Hunsrück to Trier.

If you start here, you come by train: Bingen lies on the left-bank Rhine line between Mainz and Koblenz, a good half hour by regional train from Mainz.

Continue Your Pilgrimage?

Yes, on to France. Trier is the great hub in the west: besides you, the Mosel-Camino from Koblenz, the Eifel-Camino from Andernach and the Via Coloniensis from Cologne arrive here, and from St. Matthias two ways continue:

• Trier – Le Puy — via Metz, Toul, Langres and Cluny to Le Puy-en-Velay, where the Via Podiensis begins
• Trier – Vézelay — on the same route until beyond Vaucouleurs, then west to the Basilica of Vézelay and onto the Via Lemovicensis

From Trier you still have around 2,400 kilometres to Santiago. If you finish in Trier, you receive the pilgrim's blessing at St. Matthias and stand at the Apostle's tomb.

Preparation & Practical Tips

Pilgrim passport and app. As on all German Ways of St. James, you need a pilgrim passport (Credencial): it collects the stamps from churches, parish offices and inns. It's best to order it online in advance so that it reaches you in time for the start of your trip. In Trier the pilgrim office in the cathedral information centre issues the Trier pilgrim certificate if you can show that you walked the last 100 kilometres on foot – this way gets you there. With the Camino Ninja App you have the map and track offline; the easiest way is to plan the way directly in the app, where you put your stages together and plan suitable accommodation at the same time.

Accommodation. Bingen, Rheinböllen, Simmern, Kirchberg and Trier have enough beds. Horbruch, Haag and Berglicht are villages with few rooms, and inns have rest days. Book your Hunsrück nights before you set off.

Water and weather. Between Kirchberg and Fell there are hardly any shops: take two litres and provisions for the whole day. The plateaus above 400 metres are windy and cooler than the Rhine and Moselle valleys.

What the Way Costs

The pilgrim passport costs around €5 from the St James associations, and the Trier pilgrim certificate also €5 (as of October 2026). In guesthouses and inns expect €50 to €85 for a single room with breakfast, in Trier more like €80 to €120; youth hostels in Bingen and Trier usually cost adults between €35 and €60 with breakfast, and you'll need a DJH membership (as of October 2026).

A daily budget of €70 to €100 is realistic, in the Hunsrück more at the lower end. For getting there and back, the Deutschlandticket at €63 a month covers all regional trains, and the Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket costs €30 for one day (as of October 2026).

Getting There

To the start. Bingen has two stations: Bingen (Rhein) Stadt near the mouth of the Nahe and Bingen (Rhein) Hbf in Bingerbrück on the other side of the Nahe. Regional trains run from Mainz and Koblenz, and from Frankfurt you're there in a little over an hour.

Along the way and from the finish. In the Hunsrück you depend on buses, for example from Rheinböllen, Simmern and Kirchberg. From Trier regional trains run to Koblenz, Saarbrücken and Luxembourg; Luxembourg Airport is the nearest.

• Rail: bahn.de — connections to Bingen, from Trier, Deutschlandticket and Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket