Elisabethpfad 2 (Eisenach – Marburg)

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: the Wartburg and Eisenach's old town / Elisabethkirche in Marburg; the Camino Ninja map starts in Eisenach and ends in Marburg an der Lahn
• Length: 194.0 km according to the Camino Ninja map; the association gives 193 km, and the parallel Way of St. James variant measures about 178 km thanks to its own shortcuts
• Duration: 10 stages, averaging just under 20 km; the association divides the trail into 9 sections, each with its own volunteer trail warden
• Elevation: not recorded in our database for this route; expect constant ups and downs between the Werra valley, the Ringgau, the foothills of the Knüll and the Schwalm
• Highest point: not recorded in the database; the most striking high point is the ruin of the Boyneburg near Wichmannshausen at about 490 m, while the Wartburg itself stands at 411 m
• Landscape: the Werra valley, the limestone plateau of the Ringgau, beech forests around Waldkappel and Spangenberg, basalt cones at Homberg and Amöneburg, the open farmland of the Schwalm, and finally the Ohm valley and the Lahnberge hills
• Operator / Waymarking: Elisabethpfad e.V., Marburg; the association's red waymark, over long stretches also a yellow shell on a blue background, with extra yellow arrows at tricky spots
• Traces of St. Elizabeth: the Wartburg with the Elisabeth-Kemenate (Elizabeth's Bower) and the Elisabethgalerie, the Georgenkirche in Eisenach (her wedding in 1221), Creuzburg (birth of her son in 1222), the Elisabethkirche with her shrine at the finish; plus a St. James thread in the former convent of St. Jakob in Creuzburg
• Accommodation: guesthouses, inns, private rooms, a few pilgrim quarters in church and parish halls for a donation or a few euros; the association lists 55 stops
• Connecting routes: Via Regia and Via Scandinavica in Eisenach, Elisabethpfad 1 (Frankfurt – Marburg) and Elisabethpfad 3 (Köln – Marburg) in Marburg
• Best time: April to October; the association's pilgrim passport or a St. James credencial, a final stamp in the Elisabethkirche, no Compostela

Overview

The Elisabethpfad 2 is the easternmost and longest of the three Elisabethpfade, and the only one that follows the line of Elizabeth's own life. In November 1227 the twenty-year-old widow left the Wartburg with her maids, after her husband, Landgrave Ludwig IV, had died on September 11 in Otranto on his way to the Crusade. She spent the winter penniless in Eisenach, and in the summer of 1228 she built her hospital outside the walls of Marburg. No source records which road she took. The most obvious one was the Lange Hessen, and that is exactly the road this trail follows: you walk from the castle where a landgravine lived to the tomb where a saint lies.

Along the way you change states: beyond the Green Belt, Hesse begins—a state that wouldn't exist in this form without Elizabeth, because its first landgrave was her grandson. Then comes Homberg, where Hesse decided on the Reformation in 1526, and the Schwalm, where traditional bonnets and half-timbered houses stand closer together than anywhere else on the route. The trail has been waymarked since 2007, complete with a pilgrim guide and trail wardens; honestly, though, you'll still mostly be walking alone.

Other Names

Officially the trail is called Elisabethpfad 2, or E2 for short, and in guidebooks and on signs also Elisabethpfad Eisenach – Marburg. Since it is also waymarked as a Way of St. James, Camino maps list it as Jakobsweg Eisenach – Marburg as well. The historic road it follows is the Lange Hessen ("Long Hessians")—as opposed to the Kurze Hessen ("Short Hessians") via Alsfeld and Hersfeld. The pilgrim emblem is the association's seven-pointed Elisabethstern (Elizabeth star).

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

Ideal if a life story draws you more than a mileage goal: on no other trail in Germany do you walk so literally from one chapter of a saint's life into the next. Ideal, too, if you love half-timbered towns and castle ruins and have ten days to spare without flying to Spain first.

Honestly, though, it's not for you if you expect pilgrim community and dormitories: you'll meet more deer than pilgrims, and there are no albergues in the Spanish sense. Not for you if you want to rely blindly on the waymarks—the association itself warns about the turnoff beyond the Boyneburg that vanishes into the undergrowth between stacks of logs, and reports detours of about 5 kilometers near Waldkappel after tree felling. And not for you if you want a certificate at the end: at the tomb you get a stamp, not a Compostela.

Route & Landscape

Eisenach to Waldkappel (km 0–59.7): Below the Wartburg you leave Eisenach heading west and meet the Werra at Hörschel (km 8.3)—this is also where the Rennsteig trail begins. Next come Creuzburg (km 16.2) with its castle and Werra bridge, and Ifta (km 25.5), the last village in Thuringia. Between Ifta and Lüderbach (km 29.3) you cross the Green Belt, the former inner-German border and today a wildlife corridor. Via Netra and the Ringgau (km 36.0) the trail climbs onto the limestone plateau, passes the ruin of the Boyneburg and arrives via Wichmannshausen (km 44.6) in Waldkappel (km 59.7).

Waldkappel to Marburg (km 59.7–194.0): Through the forest you reach Spangenberg (km 80.5) below its castle, then the Fulda valley at Malsfeld (km 92.5) and Homberg an der Efze (km 110.5). Beyond lies Frielendorf (km 129.2), near which stands Spieskappel Abbey, and then the plain of the Schwalm opens up: Schwalmstadt with Ziegenhain (km 142.0) and Treysa (km 146.5). Via Momberg and Speckswinkel—the town of Stadtallendorf lies 1.4 km off the trail—you reach Kirchhain (km 173.1), climb the basalt cone of Amöneburg (km 178.7) and walk via Schröck and the Lahnberge hills down into Marburg.

Stages, Terrain, and Difficulty

We show the route in 10 stages; the distances come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 194.0 km. The association divides it into 9 sections with handover points at Creuzburg, Wichmannshausen, Waldkappel, Spangenberg, Homberg, Spieskappel, Treysa and Kirchhain; our breakdown adds a short day after Spangenberg and overnights in Ringgau, Malsfeld and Frielendorf.

1. Eisenach → Creuzburg (16.2 km) — To the Werra at Hörschel and downstream to Elizabeth's first town; visit the Wartburg in the morning beforehand.
2. Creuzburg → Ringgau (19.8 km) — Via Ifta and Lüderbach across the Green Belt into Hesse, then via Netra up onto the Ringgau.
3. Ringgau → Waldkappel (23.7 km) — Across the limestone plateau past the Boyneburg, via Wichmannshausen, Hoheneiche and Kirchhosbach; watch the waymarks carefully beyond the Boyneburg.
4. Waldkappel → Spangenberg (20.8 km) — A long forest day with few places to stop for food.
5. Spangenberg → Malsfeld (12.0 km) — The short day into the Fulda valley; time for Spangenberg in the morning.
6. Malsfeld → Homberg (18.0 km) — Via Dagobertshausen, Mosheim and Hombergshausen to the Reformation town; on the Rhünda between Dagobertshausen and Ostheim, a collapsed bridge means a detour of about 500 meters.
7. Homberg → Frielendorf (18.7 km) — Through the hills before the Knüll, with a side trip to the abbey church of Spieskappel.
8. Frielendorf → Treysa (17.3 km) — Out into the Schwalm, through the moated fortress of Ziegenhain to Treysa with its Totenkirche.
9. Treysa → Kirchhain (26.6 km) — The longest day, flat via Momberg and Speckswinkel; if you want to split it, take the train part of the way from Stadtallendorf station.
10. Kirchhain → Marburg (20.9 km) — Up to Amöneburg, then via Schröck and the Lahnberge hills to the Elisabethkirche.

Nothing is technically difficult, but the trail is only flat in the Schwalm. Between the Werra and the Efze you rack up several hundred meters of climbing every day, mostly on forest and farm tracks. For stages 3 and 4, carry food for the whole day.

First the Widow, Then the Reformer: Twice from Thuringia to Marburg

Elizabeth's farewell to Thuringia took half a year. Her brother-in-law Heinrich Raspe took over the regency in the fall of 1227, and she did not receive her widow's estate. She spent the winter of 1227/28 in Eisenach, according to her biography "unter entwürdigenden Umständen mittellos" (penniless, in degrading circumstances). In April 1228 an aunt had her taken to Pottenstein Castle to Bishop Ekbert of Bamberg, who wanted to marry her off again. Elizabeth refused. When Ludwig's remains arrived in Reinhardsbrunn for burial in May 1228, she slipped away and went to her confessor, Konrad von Marburg. Instead of the widow's estate, Konrad fought for and won a settlement of 2,000 silver marks, and in the summer of 1228 construction of her hospital began outside Marburg's walls. As its patron she chose Francis of Assisi, who had only been canonized in July 1228. Of Ludwig's death, Elizabeth is said to have said: "Nun soll mir die ganze Welt und aller Reichtum … gestorben sein." (Now the whole world and all its riches … shall be dead to me.) Still, she went to Marburg with very worldly luggage: a sum of money and a building plan.

Three hundred years later, a second famous resident of the Wartburg traveled this axis to Marburg. Martin Luther had hidden at the Wartburg as Junker Jörg from May 4, 1521, to March 1, 1522, translating the New Testament there. In the fall of 1529 Landgrave Philip, Elizabeth's descendant, invited him to the religious colloquy in Marburg. On the way, Luther spent the night of September 28–29, 1529, at Spieskappel Abbey—near Frielendorf, on the seventh day of your walk. Three years earlier, the synod in Homberg had decided on the Reformation in Hesse; Franz Lambert's theses for it explicitly rejected the veneration of saints. So you are walking to a saint through the very church where it was decided to stop venerating saints.

And the road? A charter from 1569 describes the Lange Hessen as a long-established trade-fair road between Frankfurt and Leipzig, "eine lange Zeit und weit über Menschengedenken, unverhindert gebraucht" (used without hindrance for a long time, far beyond living memory). Creuzburg, Waldkappel, Spangenberg, Homberg and Treysa were its stations—and they are your stage towns. That Elizabeth took it is likely, not proven; that merchants, princes and reformers did is documented. Plan half a day in Eisenach for the Wartburg and the Georgenkirche, an hour in Homberg for the Marienkirche, and time in Spieskappel for the Romanesque basilica, the quietest place on the route.

Highlights Along the Way

• Wartburg, Eisenach (start) — the great hall (Palas) from around 1156 to 1162, the Elisabeth-Kemenate with glass mosaics by August Oetken from 1902 to 1906, the Elisabethgalerie with frescoes by Moritz von Schwind from 1855, the Luther Room; a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999.
• Georgenkirche, Eisenach (start) — Elizabeth's wedding in 1221, Johann Sebastian Bach's baptism in 1685.
• Creuzburg (km 16.2) — castle of the Ludowingian dynasty, Elizabeth's favorite residence, birthplace of her son Hermann in 1222; Werra bridge from 1223, Liborius Chapel from 1499, endowed by the prioress of the convent of St. Jakob.
• Boyneburg (near Wichmannshausen, after km 36.0) — ruin of the imperial castle on the 513 m mountain; Barbarossa held court here in 1166 and an Imperial Diet in 1188, and on Ascension Day the lords of Boyneburg hand out bread.
• Spangenberg (km 80.5) — castle on the hill, built from 1235, with the half-timbered town below.
• Homberg an der Efze (km 110.5) — first documented in 1231, the year Elizabeth died; the Marienkirche, built from 1340, venue of the 1526 synod; a Reformation town since 2014.
• Ziegenhain and Treysa (km 142.0 and 146.5) — Philip's moated fortress from 1537 to 1548 and the Salatkirmes festival, founded by Landgrave Karl in 1728 with a potato feast; in Treysa, the ruin of St. Martin's Church, begun around 1230.
• Amöneburg (km 178.7) — on the 365 m basalt cone, Boniface founded a monastic cell in 721; owned by Mainz until 1803, a Catholic island in Protestant Hesse.
• Elisabethkirche, Marburg (finish) — built over Elizabeth's tomb, with the golden shrine in the choir; her grandson, the first Landgrave of Hesse, is buried here too.

One Border, Drawn Twice: How Hesse Grew out of Elizabeth's Legacy

Between Ifta and Lüderbach you cross a state border that, at its core, was drawn by Elizabeth's daughter. When Heinrich Raspe died childless on February 16, 1247, Sophie of Brabant claimed the Ludowingian inheritance for her son Heinrich. After seventeen years of the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession, in 1264, the land was divided: Thuringia went to the Wettins, the Hessian part to Sophie's son Heinrich I, Elizabeth's grandson, known as "the Child," born in 1244. He now called himself Landgrave of Hesse, became a Prince of the Empire in 1292—enfeoffed, of all things, with the Boyneburg you pass on your third day—and was buried in the Elisabethkirche in 1308. Hesse is, if you like, Elizabeth's legacy with a landgrave of its own.

The second border in the same spot was harsher. Until 1989 Ifta lay within the GDR's 5-kilometer restricted zone, and in 1961, during "Aktion Kornblume" (Operation Cornflower), families deemed unreliable were forcibly resettled to the interior. Today about ten kilometers of the former border strip form a habitat of the Green Belt; Ifta's Baroque Trinitatiskirche from 1714 is worth a break before you cross over into Hesse.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

Most arrive in Eisenach by train. Those already on foot come from the east: the Via Regia, waymarked as a Way of St. James from Görlitz to Eisenach, ends here for many, and the E2 is its direct continuation westward. The Via Scandinavica also passes through Eisenach and shares the first places as far as Creuzburg with this trail.

The Elisabethpfade form a small network with one shared goal, the tomb in Marburg:

• Elisabethpfad 1 (Frankfurt – Marburg) — the oldest of the three, via the Taunus, Wetzlar and Altenberg Abbey
• Elisabethpfad 2 (Eisenach – Marburg) — this trail, coming from the Wartburg, the longest and the only one on the line of Elizabeth's own life
• Elisabethpfad 3 (Köln – Marburg) — from the Rhineland, like the E2 open since 2007 and also waymarked as a Way of St. James

Continue the pilgrimage?

In Marburg you've reached the goal. According to Wikipedia, Elisabethpfad 2 and 3 are waymarked in red all the way to Cologne, partly with the scallop shell: if you want to keep heading west, take the Elisabethpfad 3 to Cologne, where you'll find connections to the Camino routes toward Aachen and France. Heading south, the Elisabethpfad 1 takes you past the abbey of Elizabeth's daughter Gertrude to Frankfurt.

Preparation & Practical Information

Pilgrim passport and app. The Elisabethpfad is not an official Way of St. James, and there is no Compostela at the end. The association issues its own pilgrim passport, in which you collect stamps from churches, inns and municipalities; you get the final stamp in the Elisabethkirche. It's best to order it in advance from the association's pilgrim shop so it reaches you in time for the start. The pilgrim quarters accept a St. James credencial just as well. With the Camino Ninja App you have the map and track offline, especially in the forest stretches where waymarks are missing; the easiest way to plan the trail is right in the app, where you put together your stages and plan suitable accommodation at the same time.

Accommodation. The association's directory lists 55 stops. Pilgrim quarters such as the one run by the Catholic parish of St. Elisabeth in Eisenach or the parish hall in Waldkappel require a pilgrim passport and usually registration by email a few days ahead. Between Ringgau and Spangenberg the options are thin—call the day before.

Season and guidebook. The best time is April to October. The pilgrim guide came out when the trail opened in 2007; the current edition is from 2025. The Wartburg Foundation has announced extensive construction work at the castle for 2027; it will stay open, but not every room will be (as of October 2026).

What the journey will cost you

The formalities are cheap: the association's pilgrim passport from 1.20 €, the pilgrim guide 9.50 €, the Elisabethkirche free of charge (as of October 2026). For the Wartburg you pay 13 € for the interior, 9 € reduced; the castle courtyard and grounds are free. According to the association, private rooms along the trail mostly cost 15 to 35 € per person without meals, in Creuzburg 18 to 25 € with breakfast; hotels range from 40 to 85 €. In the Waldkappel parish hall you sleep on a mattress for 5 €, in the Eisenach pilgrim quarters for a donation; the country inn in Burghofen gives pilgrims a double room for 69 instead of 84 € (as of October 2026).

Budget 50 to 80 € a day with a room, breakfast and a hot meal, or 25 € with pilgrim quarters and a supermarket. Honestly, a pilgrim week in northern Hesse costs you more than one on the Camino Francés—but in return, getting there and back stays within the reach of a Deutschlandticket.

Getting Here

To the start. Eisenach is on the Frankfurt – Erfurt main line with an ICE stop. From the station it's uphill to the Wartburg, or you can take the castle bus.

From the finish. Marburg is on the Main-Weser railway; regional trains take about an hour to Frankfurt, and long-distance trains run toward Kassel. Treysa, Stadtallendorf and Kirchhain are on the same line—handy if you need to stop early. With the Deutschlandticket at 63 € a month (as of October 2026), all regional trains on the way back to Eisenach are covered.

• Rail: bahn.de — connections to Eisenach, Treysa, Kirchhain and Marburg, Deutschlandticket
• Wartburg: wartburg.de — opening hours, admission and notes on the construction work
• Trail and accommodation: elisabethpfad.de — Elisabethpfad e.V., accommodation list, pilgrim guide and pilgrim passport