Via Jacobi Bregenz

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Bregenz on Lake Constance (Austria) / Rapperswil-Jona on Lake Zurich (Switzerland)
• Length: 106.8 km, about 18 km of it in Austria and about 89 km in Switzerland
• Duration: 5 stages averaging a good 21 km; split the long first and last stages and 6 to 7 days is comfortable
• Elevation: ↗ 2,744 m / ↘ 2,735 m
• Highest point: 1,084 m at km 63.6, near Risi above Schwellbrunn
• Landscape: Lake Constance shore and Rhine Delta, then the Appenzell hills with scattered farmsteads, Toggenburg pastures, and finally views of Lake Zurich
• Waymarking: from Rorschach on, SwitzerlandMobility's national route 4 ViaJacobi, signed with the number 4 and a scallop shell; in the Vorarlberg section, Way of St. James signage
• Traces of St. James: pilgrim house on the St. Gall Abbey Plan around 825, Notker's entry on the apostle's tomb from 896, St. James on a cabinet in St. Gallen Cathedral, pilgrim figure on the oriel window at Kugelgasse 8, Holy Spirit Hospital in Rapperswil
• Accommodation: pilgrim hostels in St. Gallen and Rapperswil, plus inns, hotels and the odd pilgrim room; no continuous chain of hostels in between
• Connecting routes: Via Jacobi from Rapperswil-Jona, Schaffhauser-Zürcher-Weg ends in Rapperswil-Jona, Appenzeller Weg touches the route between Schönengrund and St. Peterzell
• Best time: May to October; the Rapperswil hostel is open April 1 to October 31, and the hill country often has snow in winter

Overview

The Via Jacobi Bregenz is the eastern Swiss gateway into the country's pilgrim network. What makes it special is the sequence: first a full day flat through the Rhine Delta, then the Abbey District of St. Gallen, then two days in which you get to know what feels like every single Appenzell hill personally. Honestly, that splits the route in two—a stroll up front, a proper hike at the back with a good 2,000 meters of climbing over 60 kilometers.

The real namesake of this route isn't St. James but an Irishman. Around 610, Columbanus and Gall were active in Bregenz; in 612 they parted ways: Columbanus moved on to Italy, while Gall, ill, stayed behind and settled on the Steinach River, where the Abbey of St. Gall later grew. So for the first 45 kilometers you're retracing his move exactly—except that what awaits you at the end isn't a bear but a pilgrim hostel with ten beds. From Rapperswil, Einsiedeln is just one more day's walk along the Via Jacobi.

Other Names

In Switzerland the stretch from Rorschach is simply called ViaJacobi, officially Wanderland Route 4; pilgrim websites and municipalities speak of the Rorschacher Ast or Rorschacherweg (the Rorschach branch), because the Rorschach–Einsiedeln section is the second feeder from the Lake Constance region alongside the Konstanz branch. German and Vorarlberg portals list the Bregenz–Rorschach section as the final stage of the Münchner Jakobsweg (Munich Way of St. James), and some call it the Bregenzerweg. In the opposite direction it's also a stage of the Kolumbansweg (Columbanus Way). In English you'll see Via Jacobi from Bregenz or Rorschach branch.

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

Ideal if you're coming from the east and want to start your Camino right on your doorstep: Bregenz is a direct train ride from Munich, Vienna or Zurich. Ideal if culture and landscape appeal to you in equal measure—with the Abbey Library of St. Gallen on day two and Appenzell timber houses after that. And ideal as a trial week before the Via Jacobi.

Honestly, though, it's not for you if you expect a hostel network like Spain's: between St. Gallen and Rapperswil you'll mostly sleep in inns and hotels, and in Switzerland those cost real money. Not for you if you underestimate the hills: the Appenzell backcountry isn't the mountains, but it's a constant 150 meters up and back down again. And not for you if you want silence from the very first step—in the Rhine Delta you'll walk in places alongside the highway and its noise barriers.

Route & Landscape

Bregenz to Rorschach (km 0–29.6): From the lakeside promenade in Bregenz you pass Mehrerau Abbey, founded in 1097 by Benedictines from Konstanz, cross the Bregenzer Ach, skirt Hard (0.9 km off the route) and cross the New Rhine to Fußach and Höchst. Then comes the border game: at km 13.5 you cross the Rhine into St. Margrethen, via Gaißau you're briefly back in Austria, and at Rheineck (km 19.1) you're in Switzerland for good. Past Altenrhein and its little airfield you reach Rorschach at the harbor—all of it almost dead flat at around 400 meters.

Rorschach to Rapperswil-Jona (km 29.6–106.8): From Rorschach the route climbs past Goldach (0.8 km off the route) to 672 meters in St. Gallen (km 44.8). Via Herisau (km 55.1) and past Waldstatt it heads up to Schwellbrunn and the high point near Risi (1,084 m, km 63.6), then along the Chäserenstrasse near Schönengrund into the Neckertal to St. Peterzell (km 69.6). Over the Scherrer (985 m) you descend steeply to Wattwil in the Toggenburg, continue via Walde (839 m) to St. Gallenkappel, Neuhaus and Eschenbach (km 97.4), and drop over the last nine kilometers to the lake at Rapperswil-Jona (km 106.2). The track ends 600 meters farther on in the old town.

Stages, Terrain, and Difficulty

We show the route in 5 stages. Distances come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 106.8 km. The first and last stages are long; if you'd rather walk shorter days, stay overnight in Rheineck (km 19.1) and Eschenbach (km 97.4) and make it 7 days.

1. Bregenz → Rorschach (29.6 km) — flat through the Rhine Delta, via Fußach and Höchst, with three border crossings between St. Margrethen, Gaißau and Rheineck.
2. Rorschach → St. Gallen (15.2 km) — the first climb, nearly 300 meters up into the city; short enough to visit the Abbey District in the afternoon.
3. St. Gallen → Schwellbrunn (16.8 km) — via Herisau and past Waldstatt up onto the ridge; this is where the Appenzell ups and downs begin.
4. Schwellbrunn → Wattwil (17.5 km) — the high point near Risi right at the start, then into the Neckertal to St. Peterzell, over the Scherrer and steeply down into the Toggenburg.
5. Wattwil → Rapperswil-Jona (27.7 km) — via Walde, St. Gallenkappel and Eschenbach down to Lake Zurich and into Rapperswil's old town.

Nothing here is technically difficult: asphalt in the Rhine Delta and in the towns, otherwise farm and forest tracks, meadow paths and lots of cattle gates. What wears you down is the rhythm of the hill country: between St. Gallen and Wattwil you collect most of the 2,744 meters of climbing, often on wet meadow trails.

Pilgrim Beds on Parchment: St. Gall Planned the Hostel Before It Knew Santiago

In the Abbey Library, under shelfmark Cod. Sang. 1092, lies the St. Gall Abbey Plan, drawn around 825 on Reichenau Island: five pieces of parchment sewn together, 112 by 77.5 centimeters, some fifty buildings with 333 inscriptions. It is dedicated to Abbot Gozbert: "Haec tibi dulcissime fili cozberte de posicione officinarum paucis exemplata direxi"—"This brief sketch of the arrangement of the monastery buildings I have sent to you, my dearest son Gozbert." Right at the monastery entrance a separate house for pilgrims and the poor is drawn in, with a dormitory, chambers, its own bakery and brewery. Above it is written: "Hic peregrinorum laetetur turba recepta"—"Here let the welcomed crowd of pilgrims rejoice."

The punchline is in the date. When the plan was drawn, the apostle's tomb in Galicia had only just been discovered, and no one in St. Gall knew about it yet. The pilgrims on the plan were coming to the tomb of Gall. Only in 896 did the St. Gall monk Notker the Stammerer enter in his martyrology what had been heard about Santiago: "Hujus beati apostoli sacratissima ossa ad Hispanias translata, et in ultimis earum finibus, videlicet contra mare Britannicum condita, celeberrima illarum gentium veneratione excoluntur"—the most holy bones of the apostle had been brought to Spain and laid to rest at its farthest edge, facing the British Sea, where the peoples there hold them in the highest veneration. So St. Gall had the beds before it knew the destination.

The monastery was never built exactly to plan. Since June 2013, people have been trying at Campus Galli, a building site near Meßkirch north of Lake Constance, using 9th-century tools. In St. Gallen itself, the association Pilgerherberge Sankt Gallen opened its own hostel in 2008 at Linsebühlstrasse 61: ten beds in three rooms, one night only, pilgrim passport required. The inscription from 825 still applies there, more or less.

In practice that means: keep the second stage short and take the afternoon for the Abbey District. You enter the library's Baroque hall, built from 1758 to 1767, in felt slippers; above the door, since 1781, the Greek words "Psyches Iatreion" read "healing place of the soul." The ticket for the World Heritage district costs 18 CHF (approx. 19 €) (as of October 2026). You can view the Abbey Plan online on e-codices anytime.

Highlights Along the Way

• Bregenz (km 0) — Church of St. Gall above the town, named for the Irishman who arrived here with Columbanus in 610; today's Baroque building dates from 1737, designed by Franz Anton Beer.
• Rhine Delta (km 7–24) — the New Rhine is a man-made river: the 1892 treaty between Austria and Switzerland produced the Fußach cut, opened around 1900; the Old Rhine at Rheineck is the former riverbed.
• Rorschach (km 29.6) — harbor town with the Baroque Kornhaus (granary) of 1746 to 1749, built by Johann Caspar Bagnato for Abbot Cölestin Gugger; above it, the Mariaberg monastery building.
• Abbey District of St. Gallen (km 44.8) — cathedral, Abbey Library and Abbey Plan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983; in the cathedral, the head of St. James is depicted on a cabinet at the back on the right, and at Kugelgasse 8 there's a pilgrim figure on the oriel window.
• Herisau (km 55.1) — mentioned in 837 as Herinisauva, Late Gothic Church of St. Lawrence from 1516 to 1520; the de facto capital of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, even though the canton officially has none.
• Schwellbrunn (km 61.6) — a one-street village on a narrow ridge, the highest village in the canton, first mentioned in 1268 and voted Switzerland's most beautiful village in 2017.
• St. Peterzell (km 69.6) — confirmed in 1178 as cella sancti Petri, Baroque church of 1722 with figures of St. Ida and St. Elizabeth of Thuringia; shared by both Catholic and Protestant congregations until 1963.
• Wattwil (km 79.1) — St. Maria der Engel convent, first mentioned in 1411, on the Wenkenrüti since 1621; the community dissolved in 2010.
• St. Gallenkappel (km 93.5) — the name comes from a 9th-century chapel of St. Gall; parish church of 1754 to 1764 by Jakob Grubenmann.
• Rapperswil (km 106.2) — the "Town of Roses" with its castle; the Holy Spirit Hospital on Fischmarktplatz, founded in the 13th century for the poor, the sick and pilgrims and first documented in 1274, stands next to today's pilgrim hostel.

Gall Before James: An Irishman Paves the Way

On this Camino you'll run into Gall more often than St. James. His church stands in Bregenz, his monastery in St. Gallen, and shortly before the finish an entire village bears his name. Legend has it that in 612 Gall stumbled into a thornbush on the Steinach and took it as a sign to stay; a bear is said to have brought him firewood and received bread in return—the bear sits in St. Gallen's coat of arms to this day. In 719 Otmar turned the hermitage into a monastery, and that, at the latest, was the beginning of the town.

In the Middle Ages, pilgrimages from this region went mainly to Einsiedeln. As early as 1337, the knight Tumb von Neuburg issued a letter of safe conduct for pilgrims from Vorarlberg to Einsiedeln, as documented by Vorarlberg regional historian Helmut Tiefenthaler. And not everyone got through unscathed: in 1778 the Vorarlberg government complained that pilgrims from Alberschwende had been pelted with stones in Protestant Urnäsch. The confessional border ran right through Appenzell; Ausserrhoden had been Protestant since the Reformation of 1529.

Rorschach has its own history with stones, too. Starting in 1486, Abbot Ulrich Rösch wanted to move the Abbey of St. Gall down to the lake, to Mariaberg. On July 28, 1489, some 1,200 men from Appenzell and 350 from St. Gallen tore down the new building, because the town feared for its linen trade. Mayor Ulrich Varnbüler died in exile; Mariaberg was rebuilt from 1497 and completed in 1518—as an administrative seat, not a monastery.

The route has been waymarked anew since the Holy Year of 1999: that year ViaStoria, Swiss Hiking Trails and the cantons signed the route continuously from Lake Constance to Geneva, prompted by the Council of Europe's 1987 declaration that made the Camino routes the first European Cultural Route. In 2008 it became SwitzerlandMobility's national route 4. The hostels followed: St. Gallen in 2008, Rapperswil in 2009.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

Most arrive in Bregenz by train and set off from the lakeshore. Those already on foot usually come from Bavaria on the Münchner Jakobsweg (Munich Way of St. James), whose final stage takes the same Bregenz–Rorschach route; from Vorarlberg, other pilgrim trails lead through the Rhine Valley to Lake Constance.

In the middle of the hill country the Appenzeller Weg touches the route between Schönengrund and St. Peterzell—if you're coming from inner Appenzell, this is where you join. And if you start in Rorschach or St. Gallen, you shorten the route to about 77 or 62 kilometers respectively; both towns have direct rail connections.

Continue the pilgrimage?

In Rapperswil-Jona you join the Via Jacobi, Switzerland's main axis toward Geneva, which the Konstanz branch also meets here. The continuation starts with a highlight: the wooden footbridge across Lake Zurich to Hurden, 841 meters long, opened on April 6, 2001. It replaces the wooden bridge pilgrims crossed from 1358 to 1878 and passes the little bridge chapel Heilig Hüsli. Beyond it, over the Etzel Pass, Einsiedeln Abbey awaits.

Rapperswil-Jona is also the endpoint of a second feeder route:

• Via Jacobi — onward via Einsiedeln, the Brünig, Fribourg and Lausanne to Geneva and France
• Schaffhauser-Zürcher-Weg — the feeder from Blumberg via Schaffhausen and Winterthur, which also ends in Rapperswil-Jona

Preparation & Practical Information

Pilgrim passport and app. As on all Swiss Camino routes, you'll need a pilgrim passport (credencial) to stay in pilgrim hostels and collect your stamps all the way to Santiago, where you'll receive your 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; in Switzerland it's issued by the association Pilgerherberge Sankt Gallen for 12 CHF (approx. 13 €), or 15 CHF (approx. 16 €) with shipping (as of October 2026). With the Camino Ninja App you have 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 as you go.

Hostels. The St. Gallen pilgrim hostel has 10 beds, takes only pilgrims with a passport, for one night; sleeping bag required, cash only. The Rapperswil pilgrim hostel at Seestrasse 5 has 12 beds in one dormitory, is open April 1 to October 31, check-in between 4 and 7 p.m., no breakfast but with a kitchen. In between you'll stay at inns in Herisau, Schwellbrunn, St. Peterzell and Wattwil—book the day before, as the places are small.

Season and weather. May to October is ideal. In the Appenzell hills the weather turns quickly, and the meadow paths get slippery after rain. In winter there's often snow above 900 meters, and the hostels are closed.

What the journey will cost you

Switzerland is expensive, Vorarlberg less so. The St. Gallen pilgrim hostel costs 20 CHF (approx. 21 €), the Rapperswil pilgrim hostel 25 CHF (approx. 26 €) with a pilgrim passport, or 35 CHF (approx. 37 €) without, passport included; sleeping-bag rental is 3 CHF (approx. 3 €) at each (as of October 2026). At inns and simple hotels, expect 90–140 CHF (approx. 95–150 €) for a single room with breakfast; in Bregenz you pay in euros.

Budget 100–160 CHF (approx. 110–170 €) per day with an inn, breakfast and one hot meal; on hostel days when you cook for yourself, 50–70 CHF (approx. 53–74 €) will do (as of October 2026). Honestly, these five days cost more than two weeks in Galicia—but in return, the train runs on time if you need to cut things short.

Getting Here

To the start. Bregenz has a train station right on the lake, with connections via Lindau to Munich, via Feldkirch to Innsbruck and Vienna, and via St. Margrethen to St. Gallen and Zurich. The route begins at the lakeside promenade. From the finish. Rapperswil has a station on the edge of the old town, with S-Bahn trains to Zurich and direct trains toward St. Gallen and Lucerne. If you need to stop early, Rorschach, St. Gallen, Herisau and Wattwil each have a station on the route.

• Swiss rail: sbb.ch — timetables and tickets from Bregenz, Rorschach, St. Gallen and Rapperswil
• Austrian rail: oebb.at — connections to Bregenz
• Route and stages: schweizmobil.ch — national route 4 ViaJacobi