Linksrheinischer Jakobsweg

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Cologne Cathedral (Roncalliplatz) / Bingen am Rhein at the confluence of the Rhine and the Nahe
• Length: 239.0 km
• Duration: 12 stages, averaging just under 20 km; 10 to 11 days if you combine short stages
• Elevation: ↗ 4,764 m / ↘ 4,736 m
• Highest point: 461 m at km 224.5 on the edge of the Hunsrück above Niederheimbach and Trechtingshausen
• Landscape: big city and towpath as far as Bonn, views of the Siebengebirge and the fringe of the Volcanic Eifel to Andernach, the Neuwied Basin, and from Koblenz on the slate slopes, vineyards and castles of the UNESCO World Heritage Site
• Waymarking: yellow scallop shell on a blue background, put up in 2012, in North Rhine-Westphalia by the Eifelverein; unmarked in central Cologne
• Traces of St. James: St. James window in St. Georg, Cologne; St.-Jakobus-Kapelle in Koblenz (1355); St. James figure in St. Dionysius, Rhens; St. James chapel on the Jakobsberg (1892); St. James panel in the Liebfrauenkirche, Oberwesel; pilgrim stele in Rübenach
• Accommodation: guesthouses, hotels, youth hostels and a short list of private pilgrim lodgings for 15 to 25 € (as of October 2026), with a pilgrim passport only
• Connecting routes: Westphalian Way of St. James and Nijmegen – Köln in Cologne, Eifel-Camino from Namedy and Andernach, Rhein-Camino opposite on the right bank, Way of St. James Fulda – Bingen and Hunsrücker Jakobsweg from Bingen
• Best time: April to June and September to October; the operator's pilgrim certificate from 100 km

Overview

Cologne has its cathedral, Bingen its basilica, and in between the Rhine flows in a direction that at first looks wrong for St. James pilgrims: south instead of west. And yet that's exactly how they went. When the knight Arnold von Harff set out from Cologne on his great pilgrimage on November 7, 1496, he first headed up the Rhine via Bonn and Koblenz to Mainz; Rome, Jerusalem and, at the very end, Santiago came later. The Linksrheinischer Jakobsweg picks up this first stretch again and takes you 239 kilometers along the left bank to Bingen, where the Nahe flows into the Rhine.

The route is young. In March 2009 a working group met at Arnstein Abbey on the Lahn for the "Wiederbelebung des alten Jakobsweges zwischen Köln und Bingen" (revival of the old Way of St. James between Cologne and Bingen); the waymarks went up in 2012, and the route was inaugurated on April 14, 2013. Ever since, the rule has been: as far as Koblenz you walk beside the river, after Koblenz above it. The Rhine stays the same the whole time, but in the Middle Rhine Valley you climb up and down so often that you end up with almost 4,800 meters of ascent—more than on many an Alpine crossing.

Other Names

The official name is Linksrheinischer Jakobsweg; the pilgrim guide adds von Köln nach Bingen (from Cologne to Bingen), and colloquially it's also called the Jakobsweg Köln–Bingen. On the Camino Ninja map you'll find it under Köln - Bonn - Koblenz - Bingen. From the Rolandsbogen onward it runs largely on the RheinBurgenWeg (Rhine Castles Trail) and in places on the Rheinhöhenweg, which is why you'll see their signs next to the shell. Don't confuse it with the Rhein-Camino: that one runs opposite, on the right bank.

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

Ideal if you're looking for a Way of St. James on your doorstep that you can reach by train every day: the left-bank Rhine railway stops in almost every stage town, so you can also walk it in weekend chunks. Ideal if churches, castles and wine villages appeal to you more than solitude, and if for once you want to see the Middle Rhine Valley not from a boat but from above.

Honestly, though, it's not for you if you're looking for silence: as far as Koblenz you walk through one of the most densely populated areas in Germany, with federal highway B9 and the railway beside you and freight trains in the valley at night. Not for you if you expect a chain of hostels like in Spain—pilgrim beds exist only in a few private homes; otherwise you pay guesthouse prices. And not for you if you think "along the river" means flat: beyond Koblenz the route climbs the slate slopes day after day, with stairs, steep paths and some sections that call for sure footing.

Route & Landscape

Cologne to Koblenz (km 0–130.7): From the Roncalliplatz the route leads through the old town and along Severinstraße to the Rheinauhafen, then on the towpath via Rodenkirchen and Wesseling (km 17.5) to Hersel and Bonn (km 35.2). Bad Godesberg stays 0.7 km off to the side; instead, the route climbs via Ließem (km 53.6, 161 m) onto the edge of the Drachenfelser Ländchen and returns to the river at Oberwinter (km 64.9). Via Remagen (km 72.2), Sinzig (km 78.5), Bad Breisig (km 85.6) and Namedy you reach Andernach (km 103.9). Then the route leaves the bank and crosses the Neuwied Basin via Miesenheim, Mülheim-Kärlich and Rübenach; Kettig lies 0.7 km off the route. In Koblenz (km 130.7) the Moselle flows into the Rhine.

Koblenz to Bingen (km 130.7–239.0): Beyond Koblenz the Upper Middle Rhine Valley World Heritage Site begins. The route climbs through the city forest, comes via Rhens (km 150.8) and Brey to the Jakobsberg and on to Boppard (km 160.7), then via Bad Salzig and the hilltop villages of Weiler and Holzfeld (291 m) to Sankt Goar (km 184.9) below Rheinfels Castle. Via Urbar it continues to Oberwesel (km 193.7) and Bacharach (km 208.7), then via Oberdiebach and Niederheimbach up to the edge of the Hunsrück, where the highest point lies at km 224.5 at 461 meters. Via Trechtingshausen (km 228.2) and Bingerbrück you come to Bingen am Rhein, where the valley opens out toward the Rheingau.

Stages, Terrain, and Difficulty

We show the route in the same 12 stages that the operator suggests. The distances come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 239.0 km; the operator's figures are rounded and add up to a little more.

1. Cologne → Wesseling (17.5 km) — From the cathedral through the Südstadt, then towpath and Rhine meadows; flat, lots of asphalt.
2. Wesseling → Bonn (17.7 km) — Along the bank via Widdig and Hersel into central Bonn to the Minster.
3. Bonn → Niederbachem (20.6 km) — The first climb, up to Ließem, with a view of the Siebengebirge.
4. Niederbachem → Sinzig (22.7 km) — Via Oberwinter and Remagen with the Apollinariskirche to Sinzig.
5. Sinzig → Andernach (25.4 km) — Bad Breisig, Brohl-Lützing and Namedy, with the Mariendom at the end.
6. Andernach → Koblenz (26.8 km) — Across the Neuwied Basin through fields and villages, pilgrim stones in Rübenach.
7. Koblenz → Rhens (20.1 km) — Up into the city forest, back to the bank at the Königsstuhl.
8. Rhens → Bad Salzig (16.7 km) — Via Brey and the Jakobsberg to Boppard and on to Bad Salzig.
9. Bad Salzig → Oberwesel (26.2 km) — The toughest stage: hilltop villages, the climb to Rheinfels Castle, the descent to Sankt Goar.
10. Oberwesel → Bacharach (15.0 km) — Short, but with steep vineyard paths.
11. Bacharach → Trechtingshausen (19.5 km) — Up to the edge of the Hunsrück and the highest point (461 m).
12. Trechtingshausen → Bingen am Rhein (10.8 km) — Half a day via Bingerbrück to the mouth of the Nahe.

As far as Koblenz the route is technically easy, often on asphalt and riverside paths. In the Middle Rhine Valley it turns into a mountain trail in miniature: short, steep climbs of 200 to 300 meters, narrow paths on slate slopes, slippery when wet. For the stage to Oberwesel the operator names a flat shortcut that spares you the climb to Rheinfels Castle. Important for stage 7: because the Pfaffendorf Bridge is being rebuilt, a section in Koblenz is expected to remain closed until the end of 2027; the detour leads past the Electoral Palace.

"Noch 2412 km": a Way of St. James that signposts Santiago

In Koblenz-Rübenach a basalt stele with a scallop shell stands in front of a bench. The amateur sculptor Wolfgang Springer gave it the inscription "noch 2412 km" (2,412 km to go)—to Santiago de Compostela. Next to it, trail warden Heinz Bengel had a wayside cross put up bearing the words "Gott begleite Dich" (God be with you). That may be the most honest sentence about this route: it ends in Bingen, but it means Galicia. The Linksrheinischer Jakobsweg isn't a destination but a feeder route, and its churches have been telling that story for centuries.

The trail begins in Cologne. On the Waidmarkt stood the church of St. Jakob, built under Archbishop Anno II between 1059 and 1070, closed during secularization in 1803 and torn down in 1825; a plaque from the Deutsche St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft marks the spot, and in St. Georg next door a window in the westwork shows the apostle. In Koblenz the Gothic St.-Jakobus-Kapelle was built in 1355 as the cemetery chapel of the Teutonic Order; it survived World War II, when the palace next to it had to be demolished, was rebuilt from 1965 to 1968, and has door handles shaped like scallop shells. The Old Catholic congregation that uses it today has St. James the Greater as its patron. In Rhens, in St. Dionysius, whose tower dates from the 13th century, a figure of St. James stands to the right of the high altar.

Oberwesel gives away the most. In the Liebfrauenkirche, whose choir was consecrated on August 15, 1331, a 16th-century image shows St. James as a pilgrim in front of Santiago Cathedral, with a group of pilgrims kneeling before him; on a 15th-century Throne of Grace he stands beside God the Father. A confraternity here looked after pilgrims on their way to northern Spain. And one stage earlier, in Sankt Goar, the valley's history of hospitality begins: in the 7th century St. Goar set up a cell "als Herberge" (as a hostel), which grew into today's collegiate church.

In practice, this means: most churches are open during the day, but the St. James chapel in Koblenz only on Sundays in July and August from 3 to 5 p.m. Plan for it or settle for a look through the window. Pilgrim stamps are available in many churches and in shops too—in Kettig, for example, at the café.

Highlights Along the Way

• Cologne Cathedral and the Südstadt (km 0) — Start at the Roncalliplatz; on the way south, St. Maria im Kapitol with an image of St. James, St. Georg with its St. James window, St. Severin.
• Bonn Minster (km 35.2) — the collegiate church of the city's patron saints Cassius and Florentius, at the end of the second stage.
• Apollinariskirche, Remagen (km 72.2) — neo-Gothic pilgrimage church by Ernst Friedrich Zwirner, foundation stone 1839, consecrated 1857; Apollinaris has been documented in Remagen since 1295.
• St. Peter in Sinzig (km 78.5) — late Romanesque parish church, begun around 1225, altar consecrated in 1241; in the side aisle lies the "Vogt von Sinzig" (Bailiff of Sinzig), a mummy that came to light after a storm in 1700 and spent 1797 to 1815 in Paris.
• Pilgrim stones in Rübenach (km 119.9) — the "noch 2412 km" stele and the "Gott begleite Dich" wayside cross.
• Basilica of St. Kastor in Koblenz (km 130.7) — consecrated in 836, in 842 the venue for negotiating the division of the empire that was sealed at Verdun in 843; a basilica minor since 1991. Plus the St. James chapel from 1355.
• Königsstuhl near Rhens (km 150.8) — monument to the Electoral Union of 1338, destroyed in 1795, rebuilt in 1843 and moved up to the Rhine heights in 1929.
• Sankt Goar and Rheinfels Castle (km 184.9) — collegiate church with a Romanesque crypt and a late Gothic nave from 1469.
• Liebfrauenkirche, Oberwesel (km 193.7) — red-plastered Gothic with a golden altar and rood screen, St. James in front of Santiago Cathedral.
• Bacharach (km 208.7) — half-timbered houses, Stahleck Castle with its youth hostel, and the ruins of the Wernerkapelle.
• Bingen am Rhein (km 238.6) — Basilica of St. Martin at the mouth of the Nahe, with the Rochuskapelle above.

Pilgrims without St. James: Apollinaris, Roch and a false saint

The Linksrheinischer Jakobsweg runs through a landscape where people went on pilgrimage for centuries—only rarely to St. James. In Remagen, at peak times up to 100,000 pilgrims came for the Apollinaris octave in July and August; in 2014 there were still around 12,000 churchgoers. In Bingen, in the plague year of 1666, the town vowed to build a chapel for St. Roch, who himself is depicted as a pilgrim with staff and shell. French artillery destroyed it in 1795, a new building stood by 1814, and Goethe joined in the celebration of St. Roch's feast; after a lightning strike in 1889, the present building by Max Meckel went up by 1895.

The dark side lies in Bacharach. In 1287 the body of 16-year-old Werner was found near Bacharach, and the blood libel against the Jews set off persecutions on the Middle Rhine, the Moselle and the Lower Rhine. King Rudolf I recognized the accusation as baseless, yet from around 1289 a pilgrimage chapel was built for the "guten Werner" (good Werner), its choir completed in 1337. It has been a ruin since the War of the Palatine Succession in 1689, and in 1963 the Diocese of Trier struck the Werner cult from the calendar. Today it's a memorial—and a place where, as a pilgrim, you should stop for a moment.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

Cologne is the big hub in the west. These routes arrive here:

• Westphalian Way of St. James — from Osnabrück via Münster and Dortmund all the way to the cathedral
• Nijmegen – Köln — from the Netherlands along the Lower Rhine

At the cathedral you then decide on a direction, because routes heading elsewhere start here too:

• Via Coloniensis — westward through the Eifel to Trier, the direct alternative
• Köln–Aachen — west toward Aachen and Belgium
• Elisabethpfad 3 (Köln – Marburg) — the St. Elizabeth pilgrim trail heading east

Along the way, two more routes touch the Rhine. The Eifel-Camino starts at Namedy; the two share the trail as far as Miesenheim, where it branches off straight ahead toward Trier at an insect hotel. Opposite, on the right bank, the Rhein-Camino runs between Lahnstein and Kaub; between Bad Salzig and Sankt Goar it lies directly across from you and can be reached by the Rhine ferries.

Continue the pilgrimage?

Yes—heading west. In Bingen the route meets the Way of St. James Fulda – Bingen, which comes from Fulda via Frankfurt and Mainz, and the Hunsrücker Jakobsweg: also known as the Ausoniusweg, it follows the old Roman road across the Hunsrück to Trier; that's where the route toward Le Puy and Santiago begins. For you, this means: in Bingen you change only your direction, not your shell. If you want to turn off earlier, you can switch to the Eifel-Camino as early as Andernach. And the operator mentions a fork in the Koblenz city forest toward the Mosel-Camino to Trier; on our map this connection isn't recorded as a transition, so check the signage on site.

Preparation & Practical Information

Pilgrim passport and app. As on all German Ways of St. James, you need a pilgrim passport (credencial) to stay in pilgrim lodgings and—if one day you walk all the way to Santiago—to receive the Compostela at the end. It's best to order it online in advance so it reaches you in time for the start of your trip; the operator's regional pilgrim passport costs 5 € including shipping, and the pilgrim certificate for at least 100 kilometers costs 3 € (as of October 2026). With the Camino Ninja App you carry the map and track offline; 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.

Waymarking and orientation. In central Cologne the shell is missing because signs there kept being removed; the waymarking begins behind the cathedral and even later isn't as dense as on a premium hiking trail. Download the track beforehand. In the Middle Rhine Valley the RheinBurgenWeg signs give you extra help.

Accommodation and season. There are no pilgrim hostels in the Spanish sense. The operator lists private pilgrim lodgings for two to four people, for example in Bornheim-Waldorf, Remagen, Brohl-Lützing, Koblenz and Bad Salzig, often by advance booking only. Otherwise you stay in guesthouses, wine estates, hotels and youth hostels. The best times are spring and fall; in summer the wine villages are full of day-trippers, and during the grape harvest in September and October so are the rooms.

What the journey will cost you

The private pilgrim lodgings cost 15 to 20 € a night, 25 € with breakfast. The youth hostel at Stahleck Castle in Bacharach starts at 32.10 € with breakfast; guesthouses and simple hotels in the Rhine Valley mostly run between 50 and 90 € per person (as of October 2026). Budget 50 to 90 € a day, depending on how often you get a private lodging. For side trips and the journey home, the Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket is worth it: 30 € for a day of regional transport, 40 € for two people (as of October 2026). Honestly, the Middle Rhine Valley is more expensive than the Camino Francés—but you get to sleep in a castle.

Getting Here

To the start. Köln Hauptbahnhof sits right next to the cathedral and is an ICE hub with connections from all over Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium; Cologne Bonn Airport has a suburban rail (S-Bahn) link.

From the finish and along the way. The left-bank Rhine railway runs alongside the whole route: regional trains stop in Bonn, Remagen, Sinzig, Andernach, Koblenz, Boppard, Sankt Goar, Oberwesel, Bacharach and Bingen. Bingen has two stations, Bingen (Rhein) Hbf in the Bingerbrück district and Bingen Stadt; from there you travel back via Mainz or Koblenz. The Rhine ferries, such as Bingen–Rüdesheim or Sankt Goar–Sankt Goarshausen, take you to the right bank.

• Rail: bahn.de — connections to Cologne and from Bingen, Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket
• Operator: linksrheinischer-jakobsweg.info — stages, pilgrim passport, private lodgings, closures