Via Francigena (France)

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Calais (English Channel) → Jougne (Col de Jougne, 1,010 m, Swiss border)
• Length: 1,007.0 km — after the Via Turonensis, the second-longest route through France in our database; the only external measurement with the same route (Calais → Jougne) comes to 1,005 km, thus confirming our track measurement to within 0.2 percent
• Elevation gain: ↗ 30,921 m / ↘ 30,050 m — the total elevation gain and loss from a very high-resolution track across undulating farmland; in practical terms, this means: no mountain pass, no climbing sections, and just one real climb with a gain of +937 m on the final stage
• Duration: 47 stages (official breakdown: VFF01–VFF47), about 7 weeks straight—most people hike it in sections, and that’s factored in
• Sections: 5 sections with a station at both ends: Calais–Arras (approx. 209 km), Arras–Reims (approx. 204), Reims–Bar-sur-Aube (approx. 259), Bar-sur-Aube–Besançon (approx. 233), Besançon–Jougne (approx. 101, return trip from Pontarlier)
• Waymarking: GR 145, white-and-red stripes, marked continuously since 2018 — the AEVF itself describes the signage as “rare, inconsistent, and sometimes contradictory”: A GPS tracker is part of the equipment
• Historical basis: Archbishop Sigerich of Canterbury’s list of stations from the year 990 (British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius B.V.) — about 25 of its 79 stations are located along this section
• UNESCO: The route itself is not on any UNESCO list (the Tentative List nomination includes only Italy)—but five World Heritage sites along the route were inscribed for other reasons: Reims (1991), the Belfry of Arras (2005), Vauban’s Citadel in Besançon (2008), the Bassin minier (2012), and Champagne (2015)
• Connection: A route to Rome, not the Camino de Santiago: first, the Via Francigena (England) to Dover, then the Via Francigena (Switzerland) from Ballaigues—from Jougne, there are still about 1,215 km to St. Peter’s Basilica
• Character: The quietest part of the Rome Trail: the only section for which no one publishes pilgrim numbers; about 350 listed lodging options over 1,007 km — booking in advance is standard practice here, not just a matter of courtesy

Overview

In the year 990 Sigerich, the newly consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury, travels to Rome to receive the pallium from the pope. He visits 23 churches, has lunch with John XV—and, on his way home, has someone write down where he is staying. The result is now housed in the British Library, Cotton MS Tiberius B.V, folio 23v, and begins with the sentence Iste sunt submansiones de Roma usque ad mare. — These are the stops along the way from Rome to the sea. The list has 80 numbers, but only 79 stops, because the number XXIII appears twice: a thousand-year-old accounting typo. About 25 of these stops are in France, and you’re going to visit them all — Rems is Reims, Atherats is Arras, Bysiceon is Besançon, Punterlin is Pontarlier, Antifern is Jougne. No other long-distance route in Europe has a schedule dating back to the year 990—and one of its sections is now a meadow.

You're leaving 1,007.0 Kilometers From the English Channel to the Col de Jougne at 1,010 meters — the only external measurement using the same route comes in at 1,005 kilometers, confirming our track measurement to within 0.2 percent. Stage 47 in eight departments, divided into five sections with train stations at both ends: Calais–Arras, Arras–Reims, Reims–Bar-sur-Aube, Bar-sur-Aube–Besançon, Besançon–Jougne. Technically, the route is easy—undulating farmland, chalk plateaus, forest trails, and the only real climb comes right at the end:+937 meters on the final stage. What he demands is independence: This is A route to Rome, not the Camino de Santiago — no conch shell, no hotel chain, no Compostela —, and it’s the only section of the entire Via Francigena for which no one publishes pilgrim statistics. The French umbrella organization itself notes that “the pilgrim’s record” is missing. But here, for days on end, you have a road all to yourself—one that’s been in use since 876: first the Pallium, then the Fairs of Champagne, and now you. At the end of this stretch, France hands the route over to the Via Francigena (Switzerland)—from Jougne, there are still about 1,215 kilometers to St. Peter’s Basilica.

The city that no longer exists is still on the list

Line LXXVII of the list reads Teranburh. That was Thérouanne: the Roman city of Tarvanna, capital of the Morini, a bishopric since the 7th century — 58 bishops in an unbroken line, along with an early Gothic cathedral, on par with Saint-Denis. 1553 After the city surrendered, Emperor Charles V took it—and instead of allowing it to be looted, he had it razed to the ground. The authoritative archaeological study bears his order as its title:“Il commanda qu'elle fust rasée et démolie jusques aux fondemens.” — He ordered that it be razed and torn down to its foundations. The destruction was systematic, not war damage: The cathedral was deliberately demolished, and in 1559 the diocese was dissolved and divided among Ypres, Saint-Omer, and Boulogne. Today, the site is home to a village with about 1,000 residents, an archaeological museum with 175 artifacts—including pilgrim ampoules—a pilgrim’s lodge, and a meadow where a cathedral once stood. Excavations have been ongoing since 1898 and continue to this day. Your Stage 6 takes you past a stop at kilometer 990, which no longer appears on any map.

And then the 20th century. If you superimpose Sigerich's map onto a modern map, it covers the Western Front. His Duin is Doingt near Péronne, in the heart of the Somme battlefield of 1916—over a million casualties in four and a half months. His Corbunei Corbeny is located at the eastern end of the Chemin des Dames; the village and priory were completely destroyed during World War I. Near Berry-au-Bac, on your Stage 18, on 16. April 1917 The first 128 French tanks in history went into battle—81 were left behind. And at Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, Stage 9, lies France’s largest military cemetery, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, next to which, since November 11, 2014, stands the Anneau de la Mémoire: an ellipse made of 500 steel plates with 576,606 Purpose — All those who fell in Nord-Pas-de-Calais, listed alphabetically, without rank or nationality; the first memorial in the world to list both friend and foe in a single list. Two lists flank this path: one from 990 listing 79 locations and one from 2014 listing 576,606 people.

What remains of the 990 is spread out over a thousand kilometers—and every leg of the journey is worth it. In Corbeny On the day after their coronation, the kings of France touched the relics of Saint Marcoul and recited the formula to the sick“Le roi te touche, Dieu te guérisse.” — The king touches you, God heals you; Louis the Saint made a pilgrimage here himself in 1229, and Louis XIV put an end to the practice. They rode from Reims to the relic—you walk the same route in the opposite direction, from the relic to the coronation church. Near Leffonds, you’ll pass the Maison-Dieu de Mormant, 1121 Built as a hospital-church, specifically to “welcome pilgrims and help the poor,” and later run by the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar: a building constructed for people like you—it still stands, though the ground level is now 1.80 meters higher. And just before the Swiss border, in Jougne, stands the Chapelle Saint-Maurice with its Carolingian crypt — a place older than Sigerich’s journey, the only structure along the entire French route that the man with the “990” list could have seen with his own eyes. That is where France ends: at 1,010 meters, at a pass where tolls were already being collected in the Middle Ages.

Other Names

This trail does not have a French name—it goes by the name the Italians gave it. 876, more than a hundred years before Sigerich, appears in the Actum Clusio, a parchment document from the Tuscan Abbey of San Salvatore al Monte Amiata, a"via francisca" on: the road that comes from the land of the Franks. An Italian name from an Italian perspective—and France has never come up with its own. Anyone who asks for directions there is asking for the Via Francigena or after the Chemin de Sigéric, the man with the list. On the hiking trail network, you'll walk along the GR 145 the FFRandonnée, which has been continuously marked since 2018; the official AEVF stage guides include the codes VFF01–VFF47. Cyclists know this axis as EuroVelo 5“Via Romea Francigena.” German provisional names like “Frankenstraße” or “Romweg” aren’t widely used—stick with Via Francigena, and that way the lists of accommodations will find you, too.

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

This route is for you if you’re not afraid of long distances and don’t mind crowds. You’ll cover 1,007 kilometers through eight départements, follow a route based on a 990 manuscript, pass five World Heritage sites along the way—and face just one real climb: the last one. It’s ideal for your second or third major pilgrimage: If you’ve already walked for weeks and are wondering what comes next, you’ll find the most definitive answer here—a route with a destination farther away than Santiago, and a history older than any Compostela. And for those who enjoy planning on their own, making phone calls, reading maps, and piecing together a journey from fragments, this route offers more freedom than any highly organized, mass-tourism trail.

To be honest, though, it’s not for you if you’re expecting Spanish-style infrastructure. There’s no chain of hostels and no “pilgrim menu” culture—the French umbrella organization itself notes that there are no inns offering a “pilgrim’s plate.” The AEVF describes the signage on its own French section as “rare, inconsistent, and sometimes contradictory,” and an official topographic guide exists only for the first half of the route, up to Reims. There will be days when you won’t encounter a single other pilgrim, and stage destinations where there’s one room available, not twelve. It’s also not for you if you need company to stay motivated: No one publishes pilgrim numbers for this section—because there are hardly any to count. If you want to decide spontaneously in the evening where you’ll sleep, you’re in the wrong place; you plan around such gaps in advance, not while you’re on the road.

Route & Landscape

The trail begins by the water and ends in the mountains. From Calais It first heads west along the chalk coast to Wissant — to the port from which Sigerich sailed to England in 990 —, then inland through the Forest of Guînes, the hilly Boulonnais region, and the Lys Valley, past the meadow of Thérouanne and through the Artois coalfield, which has been designated as Bassin minier is a World Heritage Site. From Arras It winds its way across the chalk plateaus of the Somme and the Aisne: vast fields, straight country roads, treeless horizons—and in between, names familiar to anyone who has read anything about 1916. In Laon he climbs a hundred meters up a cathedral-like mountain, in whose western towers stand sixteen stone oxen, and in Reims He arrives in Champagne.

Past Reims, the route crosses the Montagne de Reims—through Verzenay and Verzy, two of Champagne’s seventeen Grand Crus—down to the Marne Canal, then through the “humide” region of Champagne with its half-timbered churches and lakes to the Côte des Bar. After that, the landscape becomes wooded and quiet: the Haute-Marne with Clairvaux and Mormant, the Plateau de Langres, where, at Récourt, the waters of France divide into three—a raindrop there decides whether it will flow into the Atlantic, the North Sea, or the Mediterranean; you chose Rome—the wine-growing hills of the Haute-Saône, the Ognon Valley. In Besançon You’ll be welcomed by a town nestled in a river bend and crowned by a rocky outcrop topped with a Vauban citadel. Then the final hundred kilometers: the Loue Valley, the Gorges de Nouailles, the Haut-Doubs plateau, the Pontarlier Gorge between two fortresses—and the Col de Jougne at 1,010 meters, beyond which Switzerland begins.

Stages, Terrain & Difficulty

Stage 47 These are the official and the “honest” paces—the AEVF (VFF01–VFF47) and the FFRandonnée divide the route independently of one another, with an average stage length of about 21 kilometers. Resist the temptation to combine sections: Every merger results in 35-kilometer days in areas where there is demonstrably nothing between the stage locations—the accommodations simply don’t allow for it. The track measurements in our route database are binding: 1,007.0 km; the distances for stages 1–11 and 47 have been officially published; all others are approximate values marked with “approx.” Technically, the route is almost entirely flat—no mountain passes until the final stage, where there’s a single climb of +937 meters. The most important planning tip is therefore this: Each of the five sections has a station at both ends — Calais–Arras (approx. 209 km), Arras–Reims (approx. 204), Reims–Bar-sur-Aube (approx. 259), Bar-sur-Aube–Besançon (approx. 233), Besançon–Jougne (approx. 101, return trip from Pontarlier). You can complete this route in five vacations without missing a single meter. Two additional items should be included in every itinerary: Water on the sun-drenched plateaus of the Somme and the Aisne — and that Phone call the night before, because many accommodations are two-room chambres d'hôtes.

Section 1 — Calais → Arras · approx. 209 km · 10 stages · Train: Calais-Fréthun (TGV/Eurostar) ↔ Arras (TGV)

1. Calais → Wissant — 20.5 km — along the chalk coast to Cap Blanc-Nez; the destination is Sigerich Harbor Sumeran — From here, he sailed home to England in 990.
2. Wissant → Guînes — 26.5 km — the longest stage of this section; Guînes is Sigerich’s “Gisne”; in the forest stands the Colonne Blanchard (site of the first balloon crossing of the English Channel, 1785).
3. Guînes → Licques — 16 km — near Balinghem, in 1520, the Camp du Drap d'Or: Henry VIII and Francis I, 2,800 tents, 250,000 fish — and politically, almost nothing.
4. Licques → Tournehem-sur-la-Hem — 15 km — the shortest stage of the section, the hills of the Boulonnais.
5. Tournehem-sur-la-Hem → Wisques — 20.5 km — The destination is the two Benedictine abbeys of Wisques: Monastery beds for pilgrims.
6. Wisques → Delettes — 17.5 km — Lys Valley; along the way Thérouanne, the Sigerich Station, which was razed in 1553 — an archaeology center and pilgrim lodge.
7. Delettes → Amettes — 24 km — The destination is the birthplace of Benoît-Joseph Labre (1748), the canonized perpetual pilgrim.
8. Amettes → Bruay-la-Buissière — 22.5 km — Sigerich’s “Bruwaei” now a World Heritage mining district; Cité des Électriciens, built in 1856.
9. Bruay-la-Buissière → Ablain-Saint-Nazaire — 26.5 km — Notre-Dame-de-Lorette and the Anneau de la Mémoire: 576,606 names.
10. Ablain-Saint-Nazaire → Arras — 20 km — Sigerich's “Atherats”; the Belfry (UNESCO 2005) and the Carrière Wellington beneath the city.

Section 2 — Arras → Reims · approx. 204.5 km · 9 stages · Train: Arras (TGV) ↔ Reims (TGV)

11. Arras → Bapaume — 25.5 km — Chalk Plateau; the Somme battlefield begins.
12. Bapaume → Péronne — approx. 25 km — "History of the Great War" (1992) at the Château de Péronne.
13. Péronne → Trefcon — approx. 23 km — an Doingt Gone, Sigerich's “Duin.”
14. Trefcon → Seraucourt-le-Grand — approx. 17 km — Sigerich's “Martinwaeth.”
15. Seraucourt-le-Grand → Tergnier — approx. 25 km — along the Oise Canal to the rail hub (option to get off).
16. Tergnier → Laon — approx. 27 km — the longest leg of this section; at the end, a 100-meter climb up to Kathedralberg, home to the 16 stone oxen.
17. Laon → Corbeny — approx. 24 km — down from Kathedralberg to the Chemin des Dames; Corbeny is Sigerich’s “Corbunei”—and the “Station of the Kings.”
18. Corbeny → Berry-au-Bac — approx. 14 km — a short day; the tank monument commemorates April 16, 1917.
19. Berry-au-Bac → Reims — approx. 24 km — Arrival in the Coronation City (UNESCO 1991).

Section 3 — Reims → Bar-sur-Aube · approx. 259 km · 13 stages · Train: Reims (TGV) ↔ Bar-sur-Aube (Paris-Est–Belfort line)

20. Reims → Verzy — approx. 23 km — across the Montagne de Reims: Verzenay and Verzy, two Grand Cru villages right along the route.
21. Verzy → Condé-sur-Marne — about 19 km — from the vineyards down to the Marne Canal.
22. Condé-sur-Marne → Châlons-en-Champagne — approx. 22 km — Sigerich's “Chateluns”; Notre-Dame-en-Vaux, the World Heritage Site with the Way of St. James landmark.
23. Châlons-en-Champagne → Saint-Germain-la-Ville — approx. 17 km — Marne-Aue.
24. Saint-Germain-la-Ville → Saint-Amand-sur-Fion — approx. 21 km — The half-timbered church of Saint-Amand.
25. Saint-Amand-sur-Fion → Vitry-le-François — approx. 17 km — Canal junction with rail connection.
26. Vitry-le-François → Saint-Rémy-en-Bouzemont — about 24 km — into the region of Lac du Der.
27. Saint-Rémy-en-Bouzemont → Outines — approx. 20 km — Half-timbered villages of the Champagne Humide region.
28. Outines → Montmorency-Beaufort — approx. 22 km — across the border into the Aube department.
29. Montmorency-Beaufort → Précy-Saint-Martin — approx. 18 km — near Brienne-le-Château (where Napoleon attended school from 1779 to 1784) and Brienne-la-Vieille, Sigerich’s “Breone.”
30. Précy-Saint-Martin → Dienville — approx. 21 km — The Aube Lake District.
31. Dienville → Dolancourt — approx. 15 km — the shortest stage in Champagne.
32. Dolancourt → Bar-sur-Aube — approx. 20 km — Sigerich's “Bar,” the wine-growing town of Champagne, in the heart of the Côte des Bar; winegrowers’ neighborhoods can also be found in the neighboring town of Baroville.

Section 4 — Bar-sur-Aube → Besançon · approx. 233 km · 11 stages · Train: Bar-sur-Aube ↔ Besançon-Viotte / Besançon Franche-Comté TGV

33. Bar-sur-Aube → Orges — approx. 22 km — past Clairvaux: St. Bernard's Abbey, founded in 1115; served as a prison from 1808 to 2023.
34. Orges → Richebourg — approx. 21 km — via Châteauvillain through the forests of Haute-Marne.
35. Richebourg → Faverolles — approx. 21 km — at the Maison-Dieu de Mormant (1121) Gone: the pilgrims' hostel, which has survived both as a historical document and as a building.
36. Faverolles → Langres — approx. 21 km — up to the plateau; 3.5 km of walkable city wall; Diderot’s birthplace.
37. Langres → Culmont-Chalindrey — approx. 14 km — the shortest day of the route, a major rail hub.
38. Culmont-Chalindrey → Coublanc — approx. 22 km — Border crossing into the Haute-Saône, near Sigerich's “Grenant.”
39. Coublanc → Champlitte — approx. 21 km — A small wine-growing town with a Mexico museum: A village along the Rome Trail helped found a city in Veracruz.
40. Champlitte → Dampierre-sur-Salon — approx. 20 km — Salon Valley, near Seveux (Sigerich’s “Sefui”).
41. Dampierre-sur-Salon → Bucey-lès-Gy — approx. 28 km — the longest flat stage of the trail, a wine-growing village in the foothills of the Pre-Jura.
42. Bucey-lès-Gy → Cussey-sur-l'Ognon — approx. 21 km — Sigerich's “Cuscei.”
43. Cussey-sur-l'Ognon → Besançon — approx. 22 km — into the Doubs Loop, Sigerich’s “Bysiceon”; at the top, the Vauban Citadel (UNESCO 2008).

Section 5 — Besançon → Jougne · approx. 101 km · 4 stages · Train: Besançon; return trip from Pontarlier (TER) or Vallorbe (CH)

44. Besançon → Foucherans — approx. 26 km — from the river bend to the first Jura hills.
45. Foucherans → Mouthier-Haute-Pierre — approx. 25 km — Loue Valley and Nouailles Gorges.
46. Mouthier-Haute-Pierre → Pontarlier — approx. 22 km — Ascent to the high plateau; Sigerich's “Punterlin” the absinthe town.
47. Pontarlier → Jougne — 28.1 km, +937 m — the longest stage and the only real climb on the route: through the Cluse de Pontarlier between Château de Joux and Fort Larmont, over the Col de Jougne (1,010 m) to the Chapelle Saint-Maurice with its Carolingian crypt — Sigerich’s “Antifern.” Border.

The total distance for the stages (approx. 1,006.6 km) is, naturally, just slightly less than the track measurement—the official distance is 1,007.0 km. To summarize: Section 1 is ten days of coastline, war, and coal, featuring two World Heritage sites; Section 2 follows Sigerich’s stops across the old front line; Section 3 is the Champagne region, from the Grand Crus to the half-timbered villages; Section 4 covers the quietest two weeks, featuring Clairvaux, Mormant, and Langres; Section 5 is the four-day Jura finale with the only climb. And once again, because it saves money and stress: Don’t combine these sections—there’s often simply nothing between the stage locations.

Highlights Along the Way

• Wissant — Sigerich's Harbor — Item LXXX on the list, “Sumeran”: the landing site from which the archbishop crossed over to England in 990. The harbor silted up, and Calais rose to prominence at the end of the 12th century—and in 1347, when Calais was handed over to Edward III, two of the six citizens with nooses around their necks were named “de Wissant.” The old harbor was still reflected in their surnames.
• Thérouanne — the station that no longer exists — Roman provincial capital, home to 58 successive bishops, and one of the earliest Gothic cathedrals in France. Demolished “down to its foundations” in 1553 by order of Charles V; the diocese was also abolished in 1559. Today: a village, an archaeological museum with 175 artifacts, including pilgrim ampoules—and a pilgrim’s gîte on the site of the vanished city.
• Amettes — the birthplace of the Holy Vagabond — Benoît-Joseph Labre was born here on March 26, 1748: rejected three times by monasteries, he then spent his life traveling on foot — to Rome, Loreto, Einsiedeln, and even Santiago. He died of exhaustion in Rome in 1783, was canonized in 1881, and is now the patron saint of the homeless. The route passes by the house of the man who made walking his life’s work—and ends in the city where he died.
• Ring of Remembrance, Ablain-Saint-Nazaire — Next to France’s largest military cemetery, Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, an ellipse with a circumference of 345 meters, made up of 500 steel plates, has stood since November 11, 2014: 576,606 names—all those who fell in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region from 1914 to 1918—listed alphabetically, without rank or nationality—the world’s first memorial to list both friend and foe in a single list.
• Arras — The Belfry and the City Beneath the City — The Belfry has been a World Heritage Site since 2005, with the two Flemish gable squares serving as the backdrop. Beneath it lies the Carrière Wellington: Beginning in September 1915, New Zealand tunnelers connected medieval chalk quarries into a 20-kilometer network, where 24,000 British soldiers awaited the attack on April 9, 1917.
• Laon — 16 oxen in the tower — The cathedral (1155–1235), one of the very first Gothic cathedrals, towers a hundred meters above the plain. In its west towers stand sixteen life-size stone oxen—according to legend, a token of gratitude to the draft animals that hauled the stones up the mountain. A cathedral that thanked its oxen by placing them in the tower.
• Corbeny — The Ultimate Formula — Sigerich’s “Corbunei” had housed the relics of Saint Marcoul since around 900. The day after the coronation in Reims, the kings rode here and touched those suffering from scrofula: “Le roi te touche, Dieu te guérisse.” This practice continued from Louis X to Louis XIV; the priory was dissolved in 1790, and the village was wiped out during World War I—all that remains is a memorial chapel on the outskirts of town and the quirk that you walk the coronation route in the opposite direction.
• Reims — 32 coronations, one genuine baptism — The cathedral, Saint-Remi Abbey, and the Palais du Tau have been a World Heritage Site since 1991; 32 kings were crowned in Reims, 25 of them in this building; in 1429, Joan of Arc brought Charles VII here. Regarding the famous baptism of Clovis, scholars candidly state: “On n'en connaît ni le lieu, ni la date, ni les circonstances précises”—neither the place, nor the date, nor the precise circumstances are certain, and the excavated baptismal font could hold three people, not 3,000 francs. Beneath the Coteau Saint-Nicaise: 57 kilometers of Gallo-Roman chalk galleries filled with champagne.
• Verzenay and Verzy — the Grand Cru stage — The route leaves Reims, crosses the Montagne de Reims, and passes through two of Champagne’s seventeen Grand Cru communes (a 2015 World Heritage Site). And here’s a little note of clarification: Hautvillers, home to Dom Pérignon’s abbey, lies 20 kilometers to the west and isn’t part of the route—instead of the legendary site, you’ll get two authentic 100-percent single-vineyard locations as stops along the way.
• Notre-Dame-en-Vaux, Châlons-en-Champagne — the most beautiful irony of the journey — The collegiate church (1114–1217) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it was designated as a stop on the “Chemins de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle en France” in 1998: The only World Heritage marker directly on the French Way to Rome is listed for the other pilgrimage. Its carillon, with 56 bells and donated in 1858, still plays the original program from the mechanical drum—every quarter hour.
• Bar-sur-Aube — where the pilgrimage route became a trade route — Sigerich’s “Bar” was one of the four fair towns in Champagne, as attested in charters from 1137, 1164, and 1176: Italian merchants set the exchange rates here; silk was shipped north, Flemish cloth south—along the same route an archbishop had noted in 990. First came the pallium, then came the money.
• Clairvaux and Mormant — Abbey and Inn — Near Ville-sous-la-Ferté, you’ll pass Clairvaux, founded in 1115 by Bernard, the mother house of over 60 monasteries — and, from 1808 to 2023, France’s most famous prison. Two stages further on is the Maison-Dieu de Mormant: built in 1121 as a hospital-church “to welcome pilgrims and help the poor,” it was later home to the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar. The building still stands—built for people like you.
• Langres — Wall, Encyclopédie, Watershed — 3.5 kilometers of walkable city walls with seven towers; the birthplace of Denis Diderot (1713), the mastermind behind the 28 volumes of the Encyclopédie. And on the plateau south of the city, near Récourt at an elevation of 453 meters, lies France’s only maritime triple watershed: the Seine → Atlantic Ocean, the Meuse → North Sea, and the Rhône → Mediterranean Sea.
• Besançon — Vauban, Hugo, and 30,000 gears — The citadel (built in 1668, designated a World Heritage Site in 2008) stands 100 meters above a city that is almost entirely surrounded by the Doubs River—Caesar had already described the location in “De Bello Gallico”. Victor Hugo was born here in 1802: “Alors dans Besançon, vieille ville espagnole”—the Free County was under Spanish rule until 1678. In the cathedral: the astronomical clock from 1857, with 30,000 parts and 122 displays.
• Château de Joux and Pontarlier — Prison and Absinthe — Toussaint Louverture, the leader of the Haitian Revolution, died on April 7, 1803, in the Vauban Fort overlooking the Cluse. Down in Pontarlier around 1900, twenty-five distilleries provided a livelihood for 3,000 of the town’s 8,000 residents; In 1910, 36 million liters of absinthe were produced; it was banned on March 16, 1915—and it wasn’t until May 17, 2011, that it was once again permitted to be called absinthe in France. A drink that remained nameless for 96 years.
• Jougne — the space that Sigerich saw — The Chapelle Saint-Maurice (12th century) above the Col de Jougne has a Carolingian crypt that predates the journey of 990: it is the only structure along the entire French route that the man with the list could have seen with his own eyes. Also, the remains of the gate and walls of the medieval customs post—Station LVI, “Antifern.” Beyond it: Switzerland.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

The classic approach is by water—just like 990, only in the opposite direction. The Via Francigena (England) It takes you 172 kilometers from London via Canterbury to Dover; then you cross over to Calais by ferry or through the Eurotunnel, and you’ll find yourself at kilometer zero of this route. Sigerich had his list written down from Rome to the sea; you’ll walk it from the sea to Rome—the most fitting way to begin this journey takes two extra weeks and starts at a cathedral. Those starting without an English leg of the journey begin directly in Calais: Calais-Fréthun is a TGV and Eurostar station (Paris-Nord, Lille, Brussels, London), Calais-Ville is located in the city center.

And since 1,007 kilometers isn't a single vacation for most people, the second most important mode of transportation is the train: Arras, Reims and Besançon These are TGV cities and lie exactly at the junctions of the five sections; Châlons-en-Champagne, Vitry-le-François, Bar-sur-Aube, Langres, Culmont-Chalindrey, and Pontarlier can be reached by regional train. If you only want one section, choose based on character: Calais–Arras offers ten stages of coastline, war, and coal; Reims–Bar-sur-Aube is Champagne; Bar-sur-Aube–Besançon offers the quietest two weeks; Besançon–Jougne is four days in the Jura with the only real climb. To be honest, however, there is no feeder route for the Camino de Santiago—none of our Santiago routes verifiably intersect this path: It belongs to a different network, the one leading to Rome.

Continue the pilgrimage?

In Jougne, France ends—but that's all. Beyond the border, in Ballaigues, the Via Francigena (Switzerland): 195 kilometers via Orbe, Lausanne, and along the shore of Lake Geneva up to the Great St. Bernard — Sigerich's LV station is called "Urba" and is Orbe, so you'll stay on the same list. At the top of the pass, the Via Francigena (Italy) 1,020 kilometers through the Aosta Valley, the Po Valley, and Tuscany to St. Peter's Basilica. From Jougne, that leaves you with about 1,215 Kilometers — and at the end, there’s no Compostela waiting, but rather the Testimonium, exhibited in Rome.

Go ahead and calculate the entire route: 172 kilometers in England, 1,007 in France, 195 in Switzerland, 1,020 in Italy — 2,394 kilometers from London to St. Peter's Basilica, and France, at 42 percent, is by far the longest single section. Once you’ve made it through this section, you’ve left the biggest—and quietest—part behind: starting in Switzerland, the number of pilgrims increases; in Tuscany, the path gets crowded; and in Rome, over 12,000 Testimonium recipients arrived during the Jubilee Year of 2025. The days when you didn’t encounter a single soul were all in France. They are the quietest thousand kilometers one can walk on the way to Rome.

Preparation & Practical Information

The season runs from May through September; the final leg of the Jura route extends into October, after which there is snow at 1,010 meters. Northern France is wet in the spring, and the GR 145 runs for long stretches on chalk and clay paths—the FFRandonnée explicitly warns of mud. Bring shoes that you can wash in the evening, and in summer, expect long, shade-free stretches on the Somme and Aisne plateaus, with little drinking water available between villages—there, you’ll need to fill up in the morning for the entire day.

The trail is marked as GR 145 with white-and-red stripes, continuous since 2018 — on paper. In practice, the AEVF describes the signage on its own French section as “scarce, inconsistent, and sometimes contradictory,” and a French long-distance hiker lost an hour on the final stage because the guidebook had the left and right sides reversed. Download the GPS track — This is about gear, not comfort. The official FFRandonnée Topoguide only covers the route from Canterbury to Reims; for the second half, you’ll use the AEVF stage guides (VFF01–VFF47) and the annual accommodation booklet from the Fédération Française de la Via Francigena. You can also get your pilgrim passport there — carnet de pèlerin, Italian: credenziale: not a key to opening doors in France, but welcome in monasteries and a prerequisite for the Testimonium in Rome.

You plan your overnight stays in advance, not while you're on the road: Around 350 listed accommodations 1,007 kilometers and 47 stages—that’s sparse, but not empty. There are monastery lodgings (Wisques), municipal Gîtes d’étape, individual pilgrim lodgings such as those in Thérouanne, and campgrounds; the norm in Champagne, Haute-Marne, and Haute-Saône is the Bed and breakfast, reserved by phone the day before. The French umbrella organization itself notes that there are no inns offering pilgrim meals—so: bring your own lunch, stock up on groceries the day before, and don’t expect to find anything at all in small villages on Mondays. Plan your daily stages in advance, because lodging options are limited, unevenly distributed, and often only available by phone—the easiest way to do this is directly in the Camino Ninja app, where you can put together your stages and plan suitable accommodations at the same time.

What the journey will cost you

France is more expensive than Spain, and this route is more expensive than a French Way of St. James because it lacks affordable pilgrim infrastructure. Realistically, the options are 55 to 75 € per day (As of August 2026), if you’re staying mainly in chambres d’hôtes—double rooms range from 55 to 85 €, single occupancy from 45 to 65 €, often as half-board for 60 to 80 € per person. On the lower end: municipal gîtes d’étape and pilgrim beds, 15 to 25 euros; camping, 10 to 18 euros; monasteries, by donation; with a tent, self-catering, and a bit of phone work, you’ll spend 30 to 40 euros a day. For the 47 stages, that works out to roughly 2,400 to 3,400 € in the comfortable version and 1,400 to 1,900 € Inexpensive, not including travel to and from the starting point. Small fixed expenses: the carnet de pèlerin costs about 5 to 10 €, the Topoguide Canterbury–Reims is about 18 €, and the accommodation booklet costs 10 to 12 €. And one expense that saves you more here than any discount: Since there’s often nothing between the stage towns, every missed reservation costs a taxi ride—two phone calls the night before are the cheapest “equipment” you can buy.

Getting Here

The starting point has excellent transportation access: Calais-Fréthun is a TGV and Eurostar station—Paris-Nord is less than two hours away, as are Lille, Brussels, and London— Calais-Ville It’s located in the city center and is connected to Boulogne, Lille, and Arras via the TER. If you’re traveling via England or plan to start with the English leg of the route, take the ferry or the Eurotunnel from Dover. From German-speaking countries, the fastest train route goes via Paris or Brussels/Lille; spend the first night in Calais and set out in the morning—the coastal stretch to Wissant is the most beautiful start to the route.

For intermediate connections, the cable is triply wired: Arras (TGV from Paris-Nord), Reims (TGV from Paris-Est) and Besançon (Besançon-Viotte within the city, Besançon Franche-Comté TGV just outside) are located exactly at the junctions of the sections; in between, Châlons-en-Champagne, Vitry-le-François, Bar-sur-Aube, Langres, and Culmont-Chalindrey provide service with regional trains. At the end of the route: Jougne itself does not have a train station. The most convenient point of return is Pontarlier — TER to Dole and Besançon, RegioExpress to Neuchâtel, via Frasne Connection to the TGV Lyria Paris–Lausanne; anyone who still crosses the border will have to deal with Vallorbe the nearest Swiss train station.

• Getting to the starting point: Calais — TGV/Eurostar to Calais-Fréthun (Paris-Nord, Lille, Brussels, London), TER to Calais-Ville; from Dover by ferry or through the Eurotunnel.
• Intermediate entry: Arras (Paris-Nord TGV), Reims (Paris-Est TGV), and Besançon (Viotte / Franche-Comté TGV) at the junctions of the five sections; plus Châlons-en-Champagne, Vitry-le-François, Bar-sur-Aube, Langres, Culmont-Chalindrey, and Tergnier via TER.
• Return trip: From Pontarlier (TER Dole/Besançon, RegioExpress to Neuchâtel, via Frasne on the TGV Lyria Paris–Lausanne) — Jougne itself does not have a train station; alternatively, Vallorbe (CH) just across the border, for anyone continuing on to Switzerland anyway.