Eifel-Camino

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Namedy near Andernach on the Rhine → Trier (Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias)
• Length: 155.8 km
• Elevation: 2,471 m ascent, 2,395 m descent
• Highest point: 508 m between Kaisersesch and Breitenbruch (km 53.8)
• Stages: 7 (the operator divides into 8)
• Duration: 7–8 days
• Difficulty: moderate – many short, sharp climbs, technically unproblematic
• Waymarking: yellow scallop on blue, plus pilgrim stones and steles of basalt lava (since 2008)
• Best time: April to October; the pilgrim hostel in Klausen is closed from 1 November to 28 February

Overview

This route is waymarked with the scallop and means Matthias. Its destination is no tomb of St James but the abbey of St. Matthias in Trier – by medieval tradition the only apostle's tomb north of the Alps, relics discovered in 1053, church consecrated by Pope Eugene III on 13 January 1148. That is not a confusion but the more honest description: no provable stream of Santiago pilgrims ran along this line in the Middle Ages; the old long-distance route Cologne–Trier lay further west. What carries the route is the walking pilgrimage of the Eifel's Matthias confraternities to Trier, which lives to this day: more than 140 groups and around 5,000 pilgrims a year, many of whom walk the distance back again afterwards.

155.8 kilometres, seven stages, from the Rhine bank at 63 metres over extinct volcanoes to 508 metres and down to the Moselle. The route links exactly two places the Romans already linked: the basalt quarries of Mayen, where stone was cut for 7,000 years, and the Rhine port of Andernach, through which Mayen millstones travelled as far as Britain and North Africa. Whoever walks up from Andernach to Mayen today walks the millstone road backwards – and the waymarks that guide them are hewn from the same basalt.

Other Names

Officially it is the Eifel-Camino; the Eifel tourism portal also lists it as the Matthiaspilgerweg – and that is no marketing variant but a description of what it is. In books and on maps you will also find simply Jakobsweg Andernach – Trier. Do not confuse it with the Via Coloniensis, the old pilgrim route Cologne–Trier through the northern Eifel, nor with the Mosel-Camino, which follows the river from Koblenz – both also end in Trier, both are different routes. From Klausen onwards, though, Eifel- and Mosel-Camino run jointly waymarked to the abbey.

Ideal For – and Less So For

The Eifel-Camino is for you if you want a whole pilgrim week but no flight: seven days, a starting station on the left-bank Rhine line, a finishing station with connections to Cologne and Luxembourg, and in between a landscape that shifts from the Rhine valley over volcanic cones and maar lakes to the Moselle. It is also something for people who like geology: you walk over tuff, basalt and slate, bathe in 24,800-year-old water and stand before basalt columns that look like stacked cheese wheels.

Honestly, though, it is not for you if you expect the Spanish hostel network. Along the whole route there are exactly three pilgrim hostels – Kaisersesch, Klausen and, off the route, Speicher – everything else is inns and guesthouses at German prices, and in the Volcanic Eifel you choose your stage ends by beds, not by mood. Nor is it for you if you are after St James romance: no medieval St James patronage on the route, no pilgrim badge find. The route was waymarked in 2008, on a very old pilgrimage line – but a Matthias line.

Route & Landscape

You start in Namedy right on the Rhine bank, at 63 metres – the lowest point of the whole route; opposite lies the Namedyer Werth with the world's highest cold-water geyser. After four kilometres you stand in Andernach before the Round Tower and the four-towered Mariendom, then you leave the river for good: through the Pellenz with its tuff quarries near Plaidt and Kruft, past the pilgrimage church of Fraukirch, up to Mayen. From here you are in the Volcanic Eifel. Via the Alter Monrealer Weg, where a five-metre St James column has stood since 2011, you reach Kaisersesch; shortly beyond, at kilometre 53.8, lies the highest point at 508 metres.

The second part is a long descent with intermediate highs. Via Alflen and Gillenbeuren you walk to Lutzerath, then steeply down into the Üßbach valley to Bad Bertrich, Germany's only Glauber's salt spa. Via Hontheim, Olkenbach and Neuerburg you reach Wittlich, and with Klausen comes the place where the route is truly old. From there you share the waymarking with the Mosel-Camino: via Klüsserath, Ensch and Schweich along the Moselle, through Ehrang and Trier-Pallien to Trier. The 2,471 metres of ascent come not in great passes but in many ramps of 80 to 150 metres – the Eifel serves them in portions, but constantly.

Stages, Terrain & Difficulty

Seven days of 15 to 31 kilometres; the operator divides into eight and adds a night in Kruft, which makes the first two days short. Technically there is nothing to it – field and forest tracks, farm roads, a few village passages – what counts are the ramps and the bed situation: between Kaisersesch and Wittlich there can be 20 kilometres between two places to sleep, and not every village still has a shop. Kilometres from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 155.8 km.

1. Namedy → Mayen (31.3 km) – From the Rhine bank through Andernach's old town up into the Pellenz, past the tuff quarries of Plaidt and Kruft and the Fraukirch to Mayen; if you want to split it, stay in Kruft.
2. Mayen → Kaisersesch (19.0 km) – Past the St James column on the Alter Monrealer Weg and over the heights of the Elz valley into the Kaisersesch country.
3. Kaisersesch → Lutzerath (20.1 km) – The highest section: at km 53.8 the crest at 508 m, then via Alflen and Gillenbeuren into the Volcanic Eifel.
4. Lutzerath → Wittlich (28.0 km) – The longest stage, down into the Üßbach valley to Bad Bertrich and via Hontheim and Olkenbach into the "Säubrenner" town.
5. Wittlich → Klüsserath (20.6 km) – Via Klausen, where the route meets the Mosel-Camino, and down to the Moselle.
6. Klüsserath → Schweich (15.0 km) – Short wine stage through Ensch along the river; a good day for a late start.
7. Schweich → Trier (21.8 km) – Via Ehrang and Trier-Pallien into the city; the finish is the Benedictine Abbey of St. Matthias.

A Wayside Shrine That Became a Pilgrimage

In 1440 the day labourer Eberhard from Esch set up, in an uninhabited spot, a wayside shrine „zwölf Fuß hohen Bildstock“ – twelve feet high – with a small Pietà. By 1442 his cell stood beside it, „drei Schritt lang, zwei breit und drei hoch“ – three paces long, two wide, three high. In 1444 Archbishop Jakob von Sierck approved the demolition of the little Marian house in favour of a church, which he consecrated on 25 March 1449; Eberhard died in 1451, and on 14 September 1459 Archbishop Johann von Baden transferred the shrine „mit allen Rechten, Gütern und Einkünften“ – with all rights, goods and revenues – to the Windesheim canons. In 1536 one of them did the count: 110 miracles from the years 1447 to 1490, plus around 600 more. From the 17th century into the 1980s, 200 to 330 processions came each year, mainly from the Eifel and Hunsrück. The place is still named after the man and his cell: Eberhardsklausen. Of all the stations on this route, Klausen is the only one where the pilgrim trail really reaches back into the Middle Ages – and it is exactly there that the Eifel-Camino meets the Mosel-Camino.

The destination holds the second old story. Around 1050 Archbishop Eberhard learned in Rome that the Empress Helena had brought the bones of the apostle Matthias to Trier; in 1053 monks found relics in the monastery of St. Eucharius, during the rebuilding from 1127 the sarcophagus was recovered, and in 1148 the Pope consecrated the church. The abbey itself soberly concedes today that „die historische Forschung bestreitet das Vorhandensein von Matthiasreliquien in Trier“ – historical research disputes the presence of Matthias relics in Trier – which has done the pilgrimage no harm. And the waymarks that lead you there are as old as the landscape: since 2008 pilgrim stones of basalt lava with a carved scallop have been set, the tenth on 4 May 2017 in Kaisersesch, hewn from the Mendig lava flow. A route through volcanic country whose signposts come from the volcano.

Highlights Along the Way

• Andernach Geyser (opposite km 0.6) – on the Namedyer Werth, in the Guinness Book since 9 November 2008 as the world's highest cold-water geyser: fountain up to 60 metres, eruption roughly every two hours.
• Round Tower, Andernach (km 4.8) – completed in 1453, 56 metres high, walls about four metres thick; in 1689 the troops of Louis XIV tried to blow it up – the crater in the south-west wall is still there, and so is the tower. Beside it the four-towered Mariendom, consecrated around 1220.
• Meurin Roman Mine (near Kruft, km 16.9) – one of the largest Roman underground tuff mines north of the Alps, under a 44.8 by 54.5 metre protective roof; awarded the Europa Nostra Prize in 2003.
• Fraukirch near Thür – small pilgrimage church in the Rhenish transitional style, first mentioned in the 13th century; an altarpiece of 1667 tells the Genoveva legend, first written down by a monk of Laach in the 16th century.
• Genovevaburg and Grubenfeld, Mayen (km 31.3) – castle of around 1280 with the 34-metre Goloturm, Eifel Museum since 1921; in the quarry field 7,000 years of stone cutting, in Roman heyday around 600 workers on millstones that reached Volubilis in Morocco.
• St James column on the Alter Monrealer Weg – five metres high, inaugurated in September 2011, the landmark of the route between Mayen and Kaisersesch.
• Bad Bertrich (km 79.3) – Germany's only Glauber's salt spa: 32-degree water, around 24,800 years old, from 2,300 metres down; the bathhouse was built in 1787 by Clemens Wenzeslaus, the last Elector of Trier. Beside it the Elfengrotte with basalt columns like stacked cheese wheels.
• Wittlich (km 98.4) – the "Säubrenner" town: around 1397 a gatekeeper bolted the Himmeroder Tor with a turnip, a pig ate it, the town fell; since 1950 the whole thing has been celebrated as a fair.
• Pilgrimage church of Klausen (km 110.5) – consecrated in 1449, high altar of around 1480, one of the earliest surviving Antwerp retables; pilgrim hostel Eberhardsklause with 35 beds.
• Klüsserather Bruderschaft (km 119.0) – the vineyard above the village climbs from 120 to 280 metres and has borne its name since the 17th century after a monastery brother who owned it.
• St. Matthias Abbey, Trier (km 155.8) – the finish: apostle's tomb by medieval tradition, church consecrated on 13 January 1148, centre of a pilgrimage with more than 140 groups a year.

How Pilgrims Reach This Route

The start in Namedy lies not just anywhere but on another route: the Linksrheinischer Jakobsweg from Cologne to Bingen passes Namedy at its kilometre 99.6 and Andernach at 103.9. Anyone walking in from Cologne or Bonn simply turns off here and trades the Rhine valley for the Eifel.

Everyone else comes by rail: Andernach lies on the left-bank Rhine line Cologne–Koblenz–Mainz, and for the first four kilometres there is even the dedicated halt of Namedy right at the starting point. The operator has also waymarked three feeders to Mayen, from Nickenich, Lonnig and Münstermaifeld, plus variants to Maria Laach Abbey – the abbey is not on the main route but a detour west of Kruft.

Continuing the Pilgrimage?

In Trier you finish at one of Germany's biggest pilgrim hubs. Here the Mosel-Camino from Koblenz, the Via Coloniensis from Cologne (241.8 km through the northern Eifel) and the Hunsrücker Jakobsweg, which joins the Way of St. James Fulda – Bingen at Bingen, converge. Westward it continues towards France: on Trier – Le Puy to the Via Podiensis or on Trier – Vézelay to the Via Lemovicensis.

That makes the Eifel-Camino the short diagonal between two rivers: Rhine at Andernach, Moselle at Trier – and from there you can walk through to Santiago if you wish. Most Matthias pilgrims do it differently: they walk back.

Preparation & Practicalities

The best time is April to October. The hardest limit is set not by the weather but by the hostel in Klausen, closed from 1 November to 28 February. Reserve ahead in general – with 35 beds in Klausen, one pilgrim room in Kaisersesch and otherwise inns, the supply is modest. For the lonely sections between Kaisersesch and Wittlich take water and provisions.

You do not need a pilgrim passport (credencial) here for a bed, but you will want one: the route has its own stamp system with place-specific motifs in almost every stage town. The route's own passport is issued by the St.-Matthias-Bruderschaft Mayen; alternatively the international one by the St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft Rheinland-Pfalz-Saarland or by the St. Jakobusbruderschaft Trier, which even keeps its own passports for the regional routes. It is best to order it in advance so that it reaches you in time for the start. And remember: the operators state expressly that the stamp points cannot be available „nicht Tag und Nacht zur Verfügung stehen“ – day and night; stamping is volunteer service.

Stages, elevation profiles and suitable accommodation are easiest to put together directly in the Camino Ninja app, where you plan your stages and accommodation at the same time – especially on this route, where finding beds is the real planning work.

What the Route Costs

Reckon with German prices, not Spanish ones. Overnight stays in inns and guesthouses are in practice 40 to 70 euros for a single room, in Bad Bertrich and Trier rather more; the three pilgrim hostels are considerably cheaper but do not publish their prices – in Kaisersesch and Klausen you enquire directly, Klausen accepts bookings by e-mail only. With food and drink you realistically reach 60 to 90 euros a day (as of September 2026).

The small items: the route's own pilgrim passport costs 3.50 euros plus postage from the St.-Matthias-Bruderschaft Mayen, the international passport of the St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft Rheinland-Pfalz-Saarland 5 euros as a donation, the guidebook „Eifel-Camino von Andernach nach Trier“ (Conrad Stein Verlag, 2nd edition 2021) 12.90 euros (all prices as of September 2026).

Getting There

To the start: Andernach is a stop on the left-bank Rhine line between Cologne, Koblenz and Mainz, served by Regional-Express and Regionalbahn; from Cologne you are there in a good hour, from Koblenz in about 15 minutes. If you want to save the first four kilometres, get off at the Namedy halt, right at the starting point.

From the finish: Trier main station is well connected, among others towards Koblenz, Cologne, Saarbrücken and Luxembourg. If you do not stop here but walk on, you will not need it anyway.

• Rail, start and finish: Deutsche Bahn – stations Andernach, Namedy (halt) and Trier Hbf
• Buses in the Pellenz and Volcanic Eifel: Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Mosel (VRM)
• Route information, stamp points, GPS tracks: eifel-camino.info