Jacobsweg Nieumeghen

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Hasselt (Overijssel), Grote of Sint-Stephanuskerk / 's-Hertogenbosch (Noord-Brabant), Sint-Janskathedraal
• Length: 207.2 km
• Duration: 10 days
• Elevation: ↗ 416 m / ↘ 411 m
• Highest point: 95 m on the Veluwezoom near De Steeg; lowest point 1 m below sea level
• Stages: 10 — stages 1–7 follow the stage ends of the Genootschap guidebook, 8–10 are Camino Ninja's division of the Nijmegen–'s-Hertogenbosch section
• Landscape: IJssel valley, Hanseatic towns, Veluwezoom, Nederrijn and Waal, Maasland, Brabant sands
• Guidebook: "Jacobswegen in Nederland, deel 2 (Oost)", 2018
• Waymarking: thin and patchy — guidebook, GPX and offline map are essential
• St James traces: Sint-Jacobskapel Nijmegen (1438), scallop shells and Sint-Jacobsbroederschap (1430) in 's-Hertogenbosch
• Accommodation: no hostel network; Pelgrims voor Pelgrims (members only), Vrienden op de Fiets, hotels and B&Bs
• Feeder route: the Jacobspad Groningen ends in Hasselt; sister way to the west Jacobsweg Amsvorde
• Onward from Nijmegen / 's-Hertogenbosch: Nijmegen – Maastricht, Via Brabantica
• Best time: April to June and September to early November

Overview

This way bears the name of a town as it was written five hundred years ago. "Nieumeghen" is the Middle Dutch form of Nijmegen, behind which lies the Roman Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum, "new market" — and the name is no invention of ours but appears as such in the walking guide of the Nederlands Genootschap van Sint Jacob, which names all its Dutch Ways of St James after the historical names of their key towns. You start in Hasselt, where the two feeder routes from Friesland and Groningen converge and where, alongside Amsterdam, lies the only other "Heilige Stede" in the Netherlands, and follow the IJssel: to Zwolle, where since 2006 the shrine of Thomas a Kempis has stood beneath the rood screen of the Peperbus, via Windesheim, the mother house of the Modern Devotion, to Deventer, where Geert Grote was born in 1340 and died of the plague in 1384.

Then Doesburg, the Veluwezoom with the 95 metres this way offers by way of height, Arnhem and the John Frostbrug, the Betuwe and the Waalbrug up to the Valkhof of Nijmegen — where in 1438 a priest founded the "suncte Jacobs gasthuys". From Nijmegen the axis changes: along the Maas to Grave, through the Brabant sands to 's-Hertogenbosch, where the town archaeologists have dug scallop shells of the 15th century from the ground and Hieronymus Bosch painted exactly such a shell on a pilgrim's hat. To be honest, this is a guidebook way, not a signpost way: the waymarking is thin, there is no hostel network, and whoever walked all the stages to Nijmegen in 2024 had to keep looking at the book. In return you get eight towns with their own chronicles, four of them Hanseatic, 416 metres of elevation over 207 kilometres and a railway station at every stage end.

Other Names

In Dutch the way is called Jacobsweg Nieumeghen, and "Nieumeghen" is not romanticised but the old spelling of Nijmegen: Noviomagus became Nieumeghen, Nieumeghen became Nimwegen and finally Nijmegen. The Genootschap names its ways consistently this way — hence the siblings Jacobsweg Amsvorde (Amersfoort), Jacobsweg Amstelredam (Amsterdam), Jacobsweg Die Haghe (The Hague), Jacobsweg Thuredrecht (Dordrecht) and Jacobsweg Audenzeel (Oldenzaal). In the Genootschap's scheme this way is the eastern branch of the "Jacobswegen from Hasselt"; the western one is the Jacobsweg Amsvorde.

Our cut is the core section. The Stichting Pelgrimswegen en Voetpaden gives the full Nieumeghen route as 512 kilometres from Sint Jacobiparochie in Friesland to Eijsden near Maastricht; the printed guide describes "Jacobsweg Nieumeghen: van Hasselt naar Nijmegen", and the Genootschap names the continuation as the eastern line "Nijmegen → Den Bosch → Maastricht". Our 207.2 kilometres are Hasselt to 's-Hertogenbosch — the guidebook way plus the first section of its continuation. What comes before is Jabikspaad and Jacobspad; what comes after is the Nijmegen – Maastricht route.

Who It's Ideal For – and Who It's Not

Ideal if you like town history and not just landscape: in ten days you walk through Hasselt, Zwolle, Deventer, Doesburg, Arnhem, Nijmegen, Grave and 's-Hertogenbosch — eight towns with their own chronicles, four of them Hanseatic, one the oldest in the country. Ideal if church history interests you in a form you can walk: this way traces the Modern Devotion end to end — Geert Grote's Deventer, the mother house of Windesheim as waypoint number seven, the shrine of Thomas a Kempis in Zwolle, who died on 25 July 1471, St James's Day. Ideal if you love flat: 416 metres of elevation over 207 kilometres, lowest point one metre below the sea. And ideal if you travel by train — Zwolle, Deventer, Arnhem, Nijmegen and 's-Hertogenbosch are all IC stations, you can walk each stage separately.

To be honest, though, it is not for you if you expect shell signs you can follow without thinking. The waymarking is thin; the Dutch walker who did all the stages to Nijmegen in 2024 noted that he constantly had to consult the guide, and on the first stage there were not even any stamping points. Without guidebook, GPX and offline map this will be no pleasure. Not for you if you want mountains — 95 metres, that is the Veluwezoom, and nothing more comes. And not for you if you need a hostel network: there is Pelgrims voor Pelgrims, the Genootschap's private host network, but only for members, only with advance notice and, as the association itself writes: „verblijf is een gunst, geen recht." Gaps like these are planned away beforehand, not on the trail.

Route & Landscape

You start in Hasselt at the Sint-Stephanuskerk, where the Jabikspaad from Friesland and the Jacobspad from Groningen converge, and walk via the Stenen Dijk, Genne and Haerst to Zwolle — just under 17 kilometres, almost all on dykes, to the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwebasiliek the people of Zwolle call the "Peperbus". From there the way belongs to the IJssel: via Harculo and Windesheim, where the mother house of the Windesheim congregation stood, to Wijhe, then via Olst, Welsum and Terwolde to Deventer. This is classic IJssel country — dyke crests, floodplains, rows of poplars, country estates behind them; the stretch across Landgoed Windesheim is muddy when wet, the walking reports say so. Beyond Deventer the river stays your companion: Gorssel, Eefde, past the edge of Zutphen through Warnsveld and Bronsbergen — you brush the old town, you do not enter it — then via Brummen, tiny Bronkhorst and Steenderen to Doesburg, where the Oude IJssel flows into the IJssel.

Then comes the only thing on this way resembling relief: the Veluwezoom near Ellecom and De Steeg, forest and heath, at 95 metres the highest point of the whole route. In Arnhem you stand at the Eusebiuskerk and cross the Nederrijn on the John Frostbrug, the bridge of 1944. Via Elden, Elst, Ressen and Lent you go through the Betuwe, then over the Waalbrug up to the Valkhof and the Stevenskerk in Nijmegen. From here everything changes: you leave the IJssel axis and follow the Maas via Nederasselt to the fortified little town of Grave, and after that it becomes Brabant — Escharen, Zeeland, Slabroek, Nistelrode, Vinkel: sandy soils, pines, remnants of heath, country roads between farms. At the end the wooden crossing tower of the Sint-Jan rises above 's-Hertogenbosch. Surface: dyke crests, riverside paths, estate paths, forest tracks on the Veluwezoom, plus an honest share of tarmac through villages and the industrial edges of Zwolle and Arnhem.

Stages, Terrain & Difficulty

We divide the way into ten stages. The first seven follow the stage ends of the Genootschap guidebook — Zwolle, Wijhe, Deventer, Zutphen, Doesburg, Arnhem, Nijmegen — the last three are our own division of the Nijmegen–'s-Hertogenbosch section, which the guide does not cut into day pieces. The kilometres are calibrated to the 207.2 kilometres of our route data; externally documented are only the first stage („krap 17 kilometer") and the seventh („ongeveer 23 kilometer"), the rest we have derived from the waypoint chain. Difficulty: technically none — 416 metres of elevation over ten days is a good 40 metres a day, most of it in stage 6 on the Veluwezoom.

1. Hasselt – Genne – Haerst – Zwolle (17.0 km) — Stenen Dijk, dykes, the Peperbus with the shrine of Thomas a Kempis; in 2024 without a single stamping point.
2. Zwolle – Harculo – Windesheim – Wijhe (21.0 km) — Landgoed Windesheim with the remains of the mother house and the brewhouse that became a village church; muddy after rain.
3. Wijhe – Olst – Welsum – Terwolde – Deventer (22.0 km) — IJssel dykes and floodplains; destination the Lebuinuskerk with its crypt of 1040.
4. Deventer – Gorssel – Eefde – Warnsveld/Bronsbergen (23.0 km) — past the edge of Zutphen; many junctions in the fields, thin waymarking.
5. Bronsbergen – Brummen – Bronkhorst – Steenderen – Doesburg (23.0 km) — tiny Bronkhorst, the Hanseatic town of Doesburg with Coehoorn's fortification lines.
6. Doesburg – Ellecom – De Steeg – Arnhem (22.0 km) — Veluwezoom, forest and heath, 95 metres; destination the rebuilt Eusebiuskerk.
7. Arnhem – Elden – Elst – Ressen – Lent – Nijmegen (23.0 km) — John Frostbrug, Betuwe, Waalbrug, Valkhof, Stevenskerk; long and urban.
8. Nijmegen – Nederasselt – Grave (20.0 km) — the Sint-Jacobskapel as farewell, then to the Maas and the fortified town.
9. Grave – Escharen – Hoefkens – Zeeland (15.0 km) — Brabant sands, pines, remnants of heath; the short stage.
10. Zeeland – Nistelrode – Vinkel – 's-Hertogenbosch (21.2 km) — country roads between farms, at the end the wooden tower of the Sint-Jan.

The way becomes tiring not through gradient but through length, surface and navigation. The hardest days are stages 4 and 5 — 23 kilometres with thin waymarking and many field junctions — and stage 7, because Arnhem–Nijmegen is easy but long, urban and crosses two great river bridges. Take a rain jacket and waterproof shoes for dyke and estate, a power bank for navigation and a paper map as backup. The stage towns have stations: whoever wants to shorten or skip a stage can do so almost any day.

The Shell in the Ground, the Picture on the Wall

The hardest evidence on this way lies at its two ends and in the town that gives it its name. In 's-Hertogenbosch the town archaeologists found a complete scallop shell in the spoil from the building pit at Burgemeester Loeffplein, dated to the first half of the 15th century; in all the town counts two complete shells and five fragments. They are Pecten maximus from the Galician Atlantic beaches, with drilled holes for fastening to hat or bag — „De bedevaartgangers kochten de Jacobsschelpen in Santiago en namen deze als souvenir mee naar huis", writes the municipal heritage office: proof of a completed pilgrimage. And in the Last Judgement triptych of Hieronymus Bosch, painted around 1482 in the same town, exactly this shell sits on a pilgrim's hat. Add to that a documented Sint-Jacobsbroederschap from 1430, and to this day Sint-Jacobstraat, Sint-Jacobskerkhof and Sint-Jacobshof stand on the town map — the Genootschap's Jacobalia database lists over forty entries for Den Bosch. The proof lies in the ground, the picture hangs on the wall, and you arrive on foot in between.

In Nijmegen stands the house that belonged to the pilgrims. In 1438 the priest Hendrick van Hovelwick founded a guesthouse that the town documents call „suncte Jacobs gasthuys tot Nymeegen geleegen in die Heesellstraat" — a hostel for travellers and pilgrims to Santiago, built so that the sick could see the chapel's altar from their beds; plus an almshouse with about twelve chambers, bakehouse, mill, brewery, gardens. After the Protestant turn it became a glassworks, a warehouse, a cowshed, rented flats — until in 1965 the town architect restored the chapel and in 1998 a circle of friends brought it back to life. Today the Sint-Jacobskapel stands at Glashuis 4 and serves among other things as a stage. The town that gives the way its name has not lost its pilgrim hostel; it merely used it as a cowshed for a few centuries. A few steps further, in the Stevenskerk that Albertus Magnus consecrated on 7 September 1272, a pilgrim stamp waits whose printing block is said to be over a hundred years old.

And between Zwolle and Deventer the way traces the cradle of a European devotional movement in its own order. In Deventer, Geert Grote, born in October 1340, set up the first community of women in his own house in 1374 and the first brother house in 1380; in October 1383 the bishop forbade him to preach, and on 20 August 1384 he died of the plague. Waypoint number seven is Windesheim: monastery church consecrated on 17 October 1387, papally recognised in 1395, in 1511 with 86 men's and 13 women's houses the centre of a network that reached as far as Zurich; destroyed in 1581, what remains is a brewhouse that has been the village church since 1634. And in Zwolle stands the reliquary shrine of Thomas a Kempis, who wrote the Imitatio Christi on the Agnietenberg between 1418 and 1427 and died on 25 July 1471 — St James's Day. The movement that placed the inner life above travel has settled a pilgrim way from end to end. We know of no named Santiago pilgrim from Zwolle, Deventer or Arnhem; the people this way really yields are called Grote, a Kempis, van Hovelwick — and Koen Dircksen, who walked to Santiago in 1985 and co-founded the Genootschap on 25 July 1986.

Highlights Along the Way

• Hasselt, Heilige Stede — alongside Amsterdam one of only two Dutch towns with a "Heilige Stede"; according to tradition a host fell to the ground during a dispute over a priest, and a church had to be built in penance. Pilgrimage since the 13th century, the "Hasselter Aflaat" is still celebrated on the second Sunday after Pentecost. Town rights 1252, Hanseatic member, printing before 1500.
• Onze-Lieve-Vrouwebasiliek Zwolle ("Peperbus") — here since 4 June 2006 the Baroque reliquary shrine of Thomas a Kempis has stood beneath the rood screen, built in 1673 by Hermannus van Arnhem, with the inscription „RELIQUIAE PII THOMAE A KEMPIS".
• Agnietenberg near Zwolle — chapel 1395, convent from 1399; Thomas a Kempis lived here from 1399 until his death on 25 July 1471 and wrote the Imitatio Christi between 1418 and 1427. Today a restaurant on the Haersterveerweg.
• Windesheim — monastery founded 1386, church consecrated 17 October 1387, papally recognised 1395; in 1511 the Windesheim chapter counted 86 men's and 13 women's houses. In 1572 people from Zwolle smashed the altars, in 1581 the mother house was destroyed. What remains are cellar remnants — and the brewhouse, which became the village church in 1634 and still is one.
• Lebuinuskerk Deventer — crypt around 1040 under Bishop Bernulfus, the oldest surviving part; Gothic hall church 1450–1525, the tower remained unfinished until 1613, when Hendrick de Keyser added the lantern. Lebuïnus crossed the IJssel in 768 and built a wooden church here, which the Saxons burnt in 770.
• Deventer, Geert Grote — born October 1340, died 20 August 1384 of the plague; first community of women in his house in 1374, first brother house in 1380, preaching ban in October 1383. From 1374 to 1378 he lived in the Carthusian monastery of Monnikhuizen near Arnhem — also on the way.
• Doesburg — first mentioned 1053–1071, town rights 1237, Hanseatic member 1447; from 1702 to 1730 Menno van Coehoorn laid out the Hoge and Lage Linie, officially a fortress until 1923, garrison until 1945.
• Eusebiuskerk Arnhem — the first mention of an Arnhem church stands in four words in 893: „Est in Arnheym ecclesia". In 1453 the skull and tongue of St Eusebius came from the Abbey of Prüm, expressly to boost flagging attendance; burnt out on the night of 19 to 20 September 1944, rebuilt 1947–1964, today with glass balconies.
• John Frostbrug, Arnhem — the bridge of the Battle of Arnhem 1944; the way crosses it.
• Valkhof Nijmegen — Charlemagne's palace hill above the Waal with the Sint-Nicolaaskapel and the Barbarossa ruin; as Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum Nijmegen is the oldest town in the Netherlands.
• Stevenskerk Nijmegen — building began around 1254, consecrated on 7 September 1272 by Albertus Magnus; in 1591 around thirty altars were removed and stone figures beheaded, bombed in 1944, reopened in 1969. Pilgrim stamp with a printing block said to be over a hundred years old.
• Sint-Jacobskapel Nijmegen, Glashuis 4 — founded in 1438 by Hendrick van Hovelwick as the „suncte Jacobs gasthuys"; the sick saw the altar from their beds. Later glassworks, warehouse, cowshed; restored in 1965, circle of friends since 1998.
• Grave — fortified little town on the Maas with a preserved historic core and its own walking-tour brochure "Wandelen in Historisch Grave".
• Sint-Janskathedraal 's-Hertogenbosch — origins 1200–1220, complete rebuilding from around 1350, nave 1400–1490; in 1521–1529 a wooden crossing tower instead of the planned stone one, the western extension was never built. Inside, the Zoete Lieve Vrouw, an oak Madonna of around 1280, whose Mirakelboek records "481 wonderen" between 1382 and 1603; smuggled to Brussels in 1630, back in 1855.
• The shells from the soil of Den Bosch — two complete scallop shells and five fragments of the 15th century, a Sint-Jacobsbroederschap from 1430, Sint-Jacobstraat, Sint-Jacobskerkhof and Sint-Jacobshof — and the shell on the pilgrim's hat in Hieronymus Bosch's Last Judgement.

How Pilgrims Reach This Way

Hasselt is no random start but a junction. Here the two great northern Dutch feeder routes converge: the Jabikspaad from Sint Jacobiparochie in Friesland (150 km) and the Jacobspad Groningen from Uithuizen (200 km). Whoever has walked one of them stands in Hasselt before the only real decision of this family of ways: east or west. East is this way — via Zwolle, Deventer, Arnhem and Nijmegen to 's-Hertogenbosch. West is the Jacobsweg Amsvorde, which leads from Hasselt via Elburg, Amersfoort, Utrecht and Breda to Kapellen near Antwerp; as far as Zwolle both run on the same line.

Whoever does not come from the north has it easy: Zwolle, Deventer, Arnhem, Nijmegen and 's-Hertogenbosch are IC stations, you can join and leave this way at almost every stage end. From Germany you come on the IC Berlin–Amsterdam to Deventer and stand directly on stage 3 — or you continue to Zwolle and take the bus to Hasselt. This makes the Nieumeghen one of the most plannable long-distance ways in the Netherlands, also for weekend pilgrims who walk it in pieces.

Walking On?

Yes — and you have a real fork. In Nijmegen the Nijmegen – Maastricht route branches off, the classic eastern way: it corresponds to the Jacobspad Limburg, around 283 kilometres in about ten stages from Nijmegen to Eijsden near Maastricht, with sections through the German Reichswald and a loop across Belgian territory; with it the 512-kilometre full Nieumeghen route is complete. On the Maas it passes Thorn, where the Via Limburgica branches off towards Tongeren and Wallonia — the Vlaams Compostelagenootschap writes expressly that it „sluit in Thorn (NL) aan op de Jakobsweg Nieumeghen".

Whoever walks to 's-Hertogenbosch takes the Via Brabantica on from there to Antwerp and Brussels, or the Via Brabantica Breda Variant via Breda to Kapellen. And whoever wants to collect the Dutch family of ways: Jacobsweg Amstelredam (Den Oever – Roermond), Jacobsweg Die Haghe (Haarlem – Ghent) and Jacobsweg Thuredrecht (Schipluiden – Kapellen) are the three western siblings of the same scheme. None of them earns the Compostela — that is issued in Santiago.

Preparation & Practical Matters

Guidebook and navigation are no side issue here but the core preparation. The way lives from the printed guide "Jacobswegen in Nederland, deel 2 (Oost)" of the Nederlands Genootschap van Sint Jacob, 2nd edition 2018, 190 pages ring-bound — 12.50 € from the association, 19.95 € in bookshops (as of September 2026). GPX tracks are partly free online, partly only available with a code from the book. Expect thin waymarking and plan navigation as part of the day. The best time is April to June and September to early November; walkable all year, but the dyke and estate sections, especially Windesheim, are muddy after prolonged rain, and in winter many private hosts are closed. Rain jacket, waterproof shoes, power bank, paper map. Language: Dutch; English works everywhere, German mostly too in the larger towns.

Accommodation: there is no hostel network. Three routes lead to a bed: Pelgrims voor Pelgrims, the Genootschap's private hosts — members only, list only after login, contact at least 24 hours in advance, show your credencial, and „verblijf is een gunst, geen recht"; Vrienden op de Fiets, the great Dutch host network for cyclists and walkers; and hotels, B&Bs and campsites in the towns, most easily planned directly in the Camino Ninja app together with your stages. The credencial: the Genootschap issues the Pelgrimspas to members only — the first is free in the welcome pack, each further one costs 3 €; non-members cannot order it. Stamps are available in churches, monasteries, tourist offices and lodgings, but do not rely on it: on the first stage there was not a single stamping point in 2024.

What the Way Costs

To be honest, the biggest item is not the bed but the membership, if you want to use the host network. All amounts as of September 2026. Documented: Vrienden op de Fiets 27.50 € per night with breakfast (children up to 12 years 15 €); Genootschap membership 29.50 € a year (co-resident members 16.75 €); the first Pelgrimspas free, each further one 3 €; the guidebook 12.50 € from the association or 19.95 € in bookshops; the train 's-Hertogenbosch – Nijmegen 10.90 € second class, with 40 percent off-peak discount 6.54 €. Guide values: a Pelgrims voor Pelgrims host 0–25 € by arrangement, a simple hotel or B&B alone 60–95 €, a city-hotel double room in Zwolle, Arnhem, Nijmegen or Den Bosch 90–150 €, camping with a tent 12–20 €. A broodje on the way 5–9 €, a simple dinner 15–25 €, a day's supermarket shopping 9–14 €.

Realistic daily budget: frugal with Vrienden op de Fiets or camping and self-catering 40–55 €, mid-range with host or B&B and one hot meal 60–90 €, comfortable with city hotel and restaurant 120–180 €. For ten stages roughly 400–550 € frugal, 600–900 € mid-range, 1,200–1,800 € comfortable, excluding travel. One-off on top: guidebook, membership and credencial — together around 42 € if you join the Genootschap.

Getting There

To the start (Hasselt): Hasselt has no railway station of its own. You travel to Zwolle — one of the most important hub stations in the Netherlands with direct connections from Amsterdam, Utrecht, Groningen, Leeuwarden and via Deventer from Germany — and take the regional bus from there for the last 15 kilometres or so to Hasselt. From Germany the obvious option is the IC Berlin–Amsterdam to Deventer or Amersfoort and then on to Zwolle.

Along the way and from the finish: Zwolle, Deventer, Zutphen, Arnhem and Nijmegen have IC connections and lie directly on or at the edge of the way — every stage can be walked on its own. 's-Hertogenbosch is an IC hub on the Amsterdam–Utrecht–Eindhoven–Maastricht axis: to Amsterdam from 20.40 €, to Nijmegen 10.90 €, off-peak 6.54 € (as of September 2026). The off-peak discount of 40 percent applies outside Mon–Fri 6:30–9:00 and 16:00–18:30, all day on public holidays.

• Rail Netherlands: ns.nl — Zwolle, Deventer, Arnhem, Nijmegen, 's-Hertogenbosch
• Rail Germany: bahn.de — IC Berlin–Amsterdam to Deventer or Amersfoort
• Operator, guidebook, Pelgrimspas, Pelgrims voor Pelgrims: santiago.nl — Nederlands Genootschap van Sint Jacob
• Host network: vriendenopdefiets.nl — overnight stay with breakfast