Jakobsweg Österreich

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Wolfsthal on the Slovak border / Rankweil Basilica in Vorarlberg
• Length: 853.0 km
• Duration: 39 stages, averaging just under 22 km; a good six weeks with rest days, and many walk it in sections, one year at a time
• Elevation: ↗ 18,673 m / ↘ 18,353 m
• Highest point: 1,856 m at km 786.6, just before St. Christoph am Arlberg
• Landscape: Danube floodplains and Roman country, the Vienna Woods, the Dunkelsteinerwald and the edge of the Wachau, the Mostviertel, the lake-dotted Alpine foothills, then the Saalach Valley, the Kaiser Mountains, the Inn Valley, the Stanzertal, the Arlberg, the Klostertal and the Walgau
• Operator / Waymarking: no central body; sections are looked after by dioceses, regional associations and clubs, in Tyrol by the Pillerseetal regional development agency; yellow shell on a blue background, with gaps in the east
• Traces of St. James: St. James churches in Schwechat, Purkersdorf and St. Jakob am Arlberg, and St. James Cathedral in Innsbruck with its St. James frescoes by Cosmas Damian Asam
• Accommodation: inns, guesthouses, private rooms and monastery guesthouses; true pilgrim hostels are rare
• Connecting routes: Camino Slovakia in Wolfsthal, Weinviertler Jakobsweg in Mautern, Innviertler Jakobsweg and Voralpiner Jakobsweg in Salzburg, Jakobsweg Brenner in Innsbruck, Jakobsweg Tirol-Allgäu in Stams, Appenzeller Weg in Rankweil
• Best time: May to October; realistically, the Arlberg is snow-free from mid-June to early October

Overview

The Way of St. James in Austria is the great crossing of the country, from the Pannonian Danube plain all the way over the Arlberg. It begins in Wolfsthal, a village already mentioned in the Göttweig chronicle in 1083 that today mostly houses commuters from Bratislava. It ends 853 kilometers later in front of the pilgrimage basilica of Rankweil, where the view across the Rhine Valley already reaches into Switzerland. In between lie Carnuntum, Vienna, the abbeys of Göttweig, Melk and St. Florian, Salzburg, Innsbruck and a pass that travelers have been trudging over, cursing, since the Middle Ages.

Nobody invented this route at a desk. Starting in 1997, the Innsbruck author Peter Lindenthal searched the terrain for a medieval east–west connection and began by nailing small wooden signs to trees; his guidebook later appeared as „Von Pressburg bis Feldkirch in 28 Etappen“ (From Pressburg to Feldkirch in 28 Stages). What came of it is not a single unified trail but a patchwork of sections that dioceses, tourist boards and Leader projects waymarked one by one – on July 25, 2016, St. James's Day, the Vienna city section was added as the last big piece. Austria didn't plan its Way of St. James, it pieced it together – and that is exactly why it connects so much.

Other Names

The common names are Jakobsweg Österreich and Österreichischer Jakobsweg; in guidebooks you will also find Jakobsweg Wolfsthal–Feldkirch, because Lindenthal's route ends in Feldkirch, while the Camino Ninja map closes in Rankweil. Individual sections have names of their own, such as Jakobsweg Göttweig–Melk or Jakobsweg Tirol. Internationally it is called the Austrian Way of St. James, in Spanish Camino de Santiago austriaco.

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

Ideal if you want a long route with culture and mountains and are good at being alone. You pass three abbeys that rank among the largest monastic complexes in Central Europe, walk through two World Heritage cities and finish over an Alpine pass – and on many days you won't meet another pilgrim. Also ideal for section pilgrims: many walk it state by state over several summers.

Honestly, though, it's not for you if you're looking for the Spanish Camino feeling: 10-euro hostels and a pilgrim menu in the evening with people from twelve countries. Not for you if you want to rely on continuous waymarking – in the east, shells are missing at crucial junctions, and without a GPS track you will get lost. And not for you if you're not sure-footed or can't wait for a weather window: the Arlberg stage climbs above 1,800 meters, and snow still lies up there in June.

Route & Landscape

Danube and Alpine foothills (km 0–469.1): From Wolfsthal you head through the Hainburg Gate to Carnuntum and through the Danube floodplains via Fischamend and Schwechat to Vienna, straight across the city and into the Vienna Woods at Purkersdorf. Across the Tullnerfeld you climb to Göttweig Abbey; at Mautern you don't cross the Danube but stay south in the Dunkelsteinerwald all the way to Melk. Then the route switches to the north bank for the basilica of Maria Taferl, crosses back at Ybbs and runs through the Mostviertel hills via Wallsee to Enns and St. Florian. Linz stays off to your right; across the Traun and past Wels you continue to Lambach, Vöcklabruck and via the Irrsee and Wallersee lakes to Salzburg.

Mountains (km 469.1–853.0): Beyond Großgmain the route runs about 20 kilometers through Bavaria and returns to Austria at Unken. Through the Saalach Valley via Lofer into Tyrol, via St. Johann along the Wilder Kaiser to Wörgl and into the Inn Valley: Rattenberg, Jenbach, the climb to St. Georgenberg, then via Gnadenwald to Innsbruck. The Upper Inn Valley leads via Stams to Zams and Landeck, and up the Stanzertal to St. Anton am Arlberg. After the highest point near St. Christoph you descend via Stuben into the Klostertal, to Bludenz and through the Walgau to Rankweil.

Stages, Terrain, and Difficulty

We show the route in 39 stages; the kilometers come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated to exactly 853.0 km. Stage towns are places with an inn, private rooms or a monastery guesthouse nearby; Wels and Henndorf lie just off the route. From Lofer it turns Alpine, and from Landeck come the mountain stages.

1. Wolfsthal → Petronell-Carnuntum (18.9 km) — into Roman country.
2. Petronell-Carnuntum → Haslau an der Donau (16.9 km) — Danube floodplains.
3. Haslau an der Donau → Schwechat (21.5 km) — via Fischamend to the St. James church.
4. Schwechat → Vienna (18.4 km) — entering the city.
5. Vienna → Purkersdorf (18.5 km) — to the St. James church on the edge of the Vienna Woods.
6. Purkersdorf → Sieghartskirchen (17.8 km) — over the Riederberg.
7. Sieghartskirchen → Langmannersdorf (21.8 km) — rolling hills.
8. Langmannersdorf → Stift Göttweig (26.5 km) — the climb to the abbey.
9. Stift Göttweig → Maria Langegg (22.8 km) — via Mautern into the Dunkelsteinerwald.
10. Maria Langegg → Melk (26.3 km) — views of Aggstein.
11. Melk → Maria Taferl (20.8 km) — up to the basilica.
12. Maria Taferl → Neustadtl an der Donau (27.9 km) — via Ybbs into the Mostviertel.
13. Neustadtl an der Donau → Wallsee (25.4 km) — via Ardagger Stift.
14. Wallsee → St. Pantaleon (20.9 km) — square farmsteads and orchards.
15. St. Pantaleon → Ansfelden (29.0 km) — via Enns and St. Florian.
16. Ansfelden → Wels (24.1 km) — along the Traun.
17. Wels → Lambach (17.5 km) — a short day to the abbey.
18. Lambach → Vöcklabruck (24.0 km) — via Schwanenstadt.
19. Vöcklabruck → Frankenmarkt (21.9 km) — meadows and hamlets.
20. Frankenmarkt → Henndorf am Wallersee (28.2 km) — Irrsee and Wallersee.
21. Henndorf am Wallersee → Salzburg (20.0 km) — via Eugendorf.
22. Salzburg → Großgmain (17.6 km) — at the foot of the Untersberg.
23. Großgmain → Unken (20.7 km) — through Bavaria.
24. Unken → Waidring (20.9 km) — via Lofer into Tyrol.
25. Waidring → St. Johann in Tirol (15.7 km) — a short valley walk.
26. St. Johann in Tirol → Söll (22.8 km) — beneath the Wilder Kaiser.
27. Söll → Breitenbach am Inn (22.3 km) — via Wörgl into the Inn Valley.
28. Breitenbach am Inn → Jenbach (26.0 km) — via Rattenberg.
29. Jenbach → Terfens (18.0 km) — via St. Georgenberg.
30. Terfens → Innsbruck (25.5 km) — via Gnadenwald.
31. Innsbruck → Inzing (20.7 km) — along the valley floor.
32. Inzing → Stams (19.6 km) — to the Cistercian abbey.
33. Stams → Karrösten (22.7 km) — Imst lies 1 km off the route.
34. Karrösten → Zams (20.2 km) — the narrow Inn Valley.
35. Zams → Strengen (19.0 km) — steeply up into the Stanzertal.
36. Strengen → St. Anton am Arlberg (19.7 km) — via St. Jakob.
37. St. Anton am Arlberg → Klösterle (19.3 km) — pass stage over 1,856 m.
38. Klösterle → Bludenz (24.6 km) — the Klostertal.
39. Bludenz → Rankweil (28.6 km) — the Walgau, the basilica.

Little of it is technically difficult: asphalt, forest roads and hiking paths alternate, and in the east you are often on bike paths along the Danube. What makes it tough is the total of 18,673 meters of climbing and stages 35 to 37, where you climb from 766 meters in Zams to over 1,800 meters. For the Arlberg you need good weather, sturdy shoes and, when in doubt, a plan B: buses run between St. Anton and St. Christoph.

A Swineherd with 15 Guilders, a Pope in the Snow: the Arlberg

For medieval travelers, the Arlberg was a death trap. A foundling from Kempten who worked as a swineherd for the innkeeper Jäcklein Überrein watched for years as people froze to death in the snow on the pass. Heinrich Findelkind scraped together 15 guilders of savings, obtained written permission from Duke Leopold III in Graz on December 27, 1385, and on St. John's Day, June 24, 1386, began building a hospice at the top of the pass. In the first winter he saved seven people; after seven years it was fifty. To raise money, from 1393 he sent messengers with collection books across the Empire – this became the Brotherhood of St. Christoph, in which princes and burghers entered their coats of arms. In 1397 Pope Boniface IX permitted a chapel, and in 1398 it was consecrated.

How badly it was needed is shown by one prominent fall. In the autumn of 1414, Pope John XXIII crossed the Arlberg on his way to the Council of Constance; on the pass his carriage overturned and he landed in deep snow. His words have come down to us: „Hic iaceo in nomine diaboli“ – "Here I lie, in the devil's name." In Constance he then lost his office as well. No other sentence in church history sums up the Arlberg so neatly.

The hospice survived everything except the 20th century. With the Arlberg Railway, the pass lost its traffic in 1884; in the hospice, skiers founded the Ski Club Arlberg on January 3, 1901; and in 1957 the entire building, chapel and all, burned down. The new owner, Arnold Ganahl, rebuilt it; at Christmas 1959 the hospice reopened as a hotel, and in 1962 the chapel was reconsecrated – the condition for the brotherhood being allowed to revive.

In practical terms: in St. Christoph you stand in a tradition of more than 600 years of helping travelers, and the step over 1,856 meters just before it is the highest of your journey. If you continue from Rankweil through Switzerland and France to Santiago, you will never get this high again – even the Cruz de Ferro on the Camino Francés sits at around 1,500 meters. Start early in St. Anton, check the forecast, and take the bus if there is fresh snow.

Highlights Along the Way

• Carnuntum (km 18.9) — Roman city; the 15-meter Heidentor (Heathens' Gate) was built in the 350s under Constantius II as a victory monument, not a city gate.
• St. James churches of Schwechat and Purkersdorf (km 57.3 and 94.2) — start and end of the Vienna Way of St. James section, opened on St. James's Day 2016: from St. James to St. James right across the capital.
• Göttweig Abbey (km 160.3) — founding charter dated September 9, 1083, rebuilt by Hildebrandt after the fire of 1718, Imperial Staircase with Troger's fresco from 1739; part of the Wachau World Heritage Site since 2000.
• Melk Abbey (km 209.4) — since October 13, 1014, the tomb of the Irish pilgrim Coloman, who was hanged in Stockerau in 1012 as a supposed spy while on his way to Jerusalem; Baroque building by Jakob Prandtauer.
• Maria Taferl (km 230.2) — a pilgrimage site since 1633, with around 300,000 pilgrims a year, Austria's most important Marian shrine after Mariazell.
• St. Florian Abbey (km 324.4) — above the grave of the martyr Florian, who was drowned in the Enns in 304; Anton Bruckner lies directly beneath his organ.
• Salzburg (km 469.1) — Baroque World Heritage old town, meeting point of three Ways of St. James.
• St. Georgenberg (above Stans, km 623.0) — pilgrimage monastery on a rock above the Wolfsklamm gorge.
• St. James Cathedral in Innsbruck (km 658.6) — documented since 1180, Baroque building from 1717 to 1724 with St. James frescoes by Cosmas Damian Asam, Cranach's Mariahilf painting on the high altar since 1650; a cathedral since 1964.
• Stams Abbey (km 698.9) — founded in 1273 by Meinhard II and Elisabeth of Bavaria as the burial place of the Tyrolean princes.
• St. Jakob am Arlberg (km 777.9) — St. James church built from 1773 to 1778, with a spire from 1888, two kilometers before St. Anton.
• Rankweil Basilica (km 850.8) — fortified church on the Liebfrauenberg with a battlement walk and arrow slits, miraculous image from 1470, Basilica minor since 1985: the finish.

The Austrian Way That Goes Through Bavaria – and Skips Linz

Two things surprise almost everyone who looks closely at the map for the first time. First: the Way of St. James in Austria does not go through Linz. Between St. Florian and Wels it stays south of the state capital, via Ansfelden and Haid an der Traun; if you want to see Linz Cathedral, you need a detour or a tram ride. Second: between Großgmain and Unken the route leaves Austria and runs about 20 kilometers through Bavaria, via Bayerisch Gmain, past the edge of Bad Reichenhall and through Schneizlreuth. It takes the Saalach Valley because that is the easiest way into the mountains; in Bad Reichenhall you have a train station and shops, and you cross a national border twice in one day without noticing.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

The most direct feeder route comes from the east: the Camino Slovakia leads from Košice via Bratislava straight to Wolfsthal, the last 13.5 kilometers across the Danube. Other feeder routes join along the way:

• Weinviertler Jakobsweg — from Mikulov through the Weinviertel, over the Danube bridge at Stein to Mautern
• Innviertler Jakobsweg — from the Czech border via Passau, sharing the same route from Eugendorf to Salzburg
• Jakobsweg Brenner — from South Tyrol over the Brenner Pass to Innsbruck
• Jakobsweg Isar-Loisach-Leutascher Ache-Inn — from south of Munich via Mittenwald and Telfs into the Upper Inn Valley

At Maria Ellend, 1.3 kilometers off the route, the Jakobsweg Burgenland also begins, heading toward Lake Neusiedl. Between Innsbruck and Zirl you share the route with the Via Romea Germanica (Austria), a Rome-bound pilgrim route that turns off here toward the Brenner.

Continue the pilgrimage?

For Santiago pilgrims, Rankweil is not the end. The Appenzeller Weg leads 52.6 kilometers across the Rhine into the Appenzell region to St. Peterzell, where the Via Jacobi takes over via Einsiedeln to Geneva; from there you continue through France and Spain. All told, it is around 3,400 kilometers from Wolfsthal to Santiago.

There are two turn-offs before that. In Salzburg the Voralpiner Jakobsweg begins, leading through the Bavarian Alpine foothills to the Hoher Peißenberg. And in Stams the Jakobsweg Tirol-Allgäu leaves the Inn Valley and takes you 137.1 kilometers over the Fernpass and Gaichtpass into the Allgäu, to the Munich Way of St. James toward Lake Constance – the alternative if you want to skip the Arlberg.

Preparation & Practical Information

Pilgrim passport and app. As on all Ways of St. James, you need a pilgrim passport (credencial) to use pilgrim lodgings and monastery guesthouses, collect stamps and, if you keep going, receive the Compostela in Santiago at the end. It's best to order it online in advance so it reaches you in time for the start of your trip; Jakobsweg Tirol, for example, sells it for 10 € (as of October 2026), and you can get stamps in parish offices, abbeys and many inns. Waymarking is good in Tyrol and Vorarlberg and patchy in the east – take the GPS track with you. The easiest way to do that is right in the Camino Ninja App, where you put together your stages and plan suitable accommodation at the same time.

Accommodation and season. Pilgrim hostels are the exception; you'll sleep in inns, guesthouses, private rooms and abbey guesthouses. In small villages, call ahead – many inns have closing days. The best time is May to October; the Danube stages get hot in high summer, and for the Arlberg the window runs from mid-June to early October.

What the journey will cost you

Austria is not Spain. A simple room in an inn or guesthouse usually costs 40 to 70 € per person with breakfast, more in Vienna, Salzburg, Innsbruck and St. Anton; youth hostels in the cities offer cheaper dorm beds (as of October 2026). With lunch at an inn and provisions, you'll spend 60 to 90 € a day. Monastery guesthouses and parishes sometimes take in pilgrims for a donation – it pays to ask early.

Where you can save is on getting around: many stage towns have a train station, so bailing out only costs a regional ticket. Honestly, that's the biggest advantage over Spain: no day here forces you into a stretch you don't want to walk.

Getting Here

To the start. You can reach Wolfsthal on ÖBB's S7 suburban line from Vienna Central Station via Vienna Airport in just over an hour. Vienna is served by night trains and long-distance trains from all over Europe.

From the finish. Rankweil lies on the Feldkirch–Bregenz railway line; from Feldkirch there are direct trains to Zurich, Innsbruck and Vienna.

• Austrian railways: oebb.at — S7 to Wolfsthal, long-distance trains, Nightjet
• Jakobsweg Tirol: jakobsweg-tirol.net — pilgrim passport, brochures, Tyrol section