Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Speyer

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Rothenburg ob der Tauber, St. Jakob / Speyer, imperial cathedral
• Length: 184.6 km
• Duration: 9 stages, avg. 20.5 km (Camino Ninja division); the route's operator does not prescribe a binding stage list
• Elevation: ↗ 1,588 m / ↘ 1,906 m — on balance you descend, from the Franconian uplands to the Rhine
• Highest point: 487 m at km 13.3 on the Hohenlohe plateau between Schöngras and Schrozberg; lowest point 94 m at km 181.4 in the Rhine plain before Speyer
• Stages: 9 — Camino Ninja system; can be split at eight railway stations between Rothenburg and Sinsheim
• Landscape: Hohenlohe plateau (Hohe Straße), Jagst valley with limestone slopes, the Neckar bend at Bad Wimpfen, the loess hills of the Kraichgau, the Rhine plain
• Operator: Jakobusinitiative Mühlhausen (Kraichgau), supported by the state of Baden-Württemberg and the municipalities; waymarking by volunteers of the Schwäbischer Albverein, the Odenwaldklub and local trail wardens
• Waymarking: yellow sunburst (a stylised scallop shell) on a blue field — the focal point of the rays shows the direction of travel
• Traces of St. James: St. Jakob in Rothenburg (Twelve Apostles Altar of 1466 with pilgrim legends); statue of St. James in Ailringen, St. James's church in Hohebach; St. James sculpture of 1269/70 in the collegiate church of Bad Wimpfen and a confraternity of St. James recorded into the 17th century; pilgrims' confraternity of 1451 at Reilingen; Speyer's confraternity of St. James with seals of 1418 and 1516; the Speyer Pilgrim of St. James (bronze, 1990)
• Accommodation: no chain of pilgrim hostels — private rooms, inns and hotels from the operator's accommodation directory; monastery guesthouses in Schöntal and Bad Wimpfen
• Connecting routes: the Mittelfränkischer Jakobsweg as feeder; shared with the Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Rottenburg as far as Erpfersweiler (km 24.5); from Schöntal Abbey the Nordroute via Mosbach to Sinsheim; from Speyer the Pfälzer Nordroute or Pfälzer Südroute to Hornbach
• Onward to Santiago: Speyer – Hornbach – Metz – Vézelay; alternatively via Strasbourg to Vézelay or Le Puy
• Best time: April to October, ideally May/June and September; the Hohenlohe plateau offers no shade in high summer

Overview

This route begins at an altar and ends at a crypt. In Rothenburg ob der Tauber, St. Jakob holds the Holy Blood Altar that Tilman Riemenschneider carved between 1500 and 1505; in Speyer, the crypt of the imperial cathedral holds four emperors and four kings of the Empire, from Conrad II to Albert I. In between: 184.6 kilometres that fall into three landscapes. First the Hohe Straße across the Hohenlohe plateau — a ridge road already walked by Hallstatt-era traders and marked on Etzlaub's map of 1501 as the long-distance link from Prague to Paris. Then seventy kilometres of Jagst valley with pilgrimage chapels, a Hohenstaufen castle, the Cistercian abbey of Schöntal and the river's mouth at Jagstfeld. And finally the Kraichgau, the "land of a thousand hills", until it runs out into the Rhine plain at Rot and the cathedral appears on the horizon long before you reach it.

To be honest, this route is young: it was only opened in September 2009 by Bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann, and it was created by the Jakobusinitiative Mühlhausen, an association from the Kraichgau that still runs it today with an accommodation directory and volunteer trail wardens. The operator itself calls it "one of the last gaps to be closed in Baden-Württemberg" — a section of an axis running Prague – Nuremberg – Rothenburg – Speyer – Metz – Vézelay. What is old are the traces along the way: the confraternity of St. James in Bad Wimpfen, which took pilgrims in at the collegiate foundation and the hospital; the confraternity of 1451 at Wersau Castle near Reilingen; the Speyer confraternity with seals of 1418 and 1516, which ran hospices. So you walk a newly marked route through very old pilgrim country — with railway stations at eight stage towns, without a hostel chain, and mostly alone.

Other Names

The operator calls it the Jakobsweg Rothenburg ob der Tauber – Speyer; Renate Florl's guidebook is titled Der Jakobsweg von Rothenburg ob der Tauber bis zum Kaiserdom in Speyer. To distinguish it from the Nordroute that branches off at Schöntal Abbey, the operator calls this line the Hauptroute (main route); because of its first half you will also hear "the route along the Hohe Straße". We call it the Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Speyer, after its start and finish.

One figure to put things in perspective: the operator's leaflet gives 183.7 kilometres, our route data 184.6 — the difference comes from routing through villages and how the track was recorded, and it is normal. We use 184.6 kilometres throughout. And a warning: a stage description circulates online that sends the route via Bruchsal and Philippsburg. That is a different route — this one goes from Sinsheim via Mühlhausen, Malsch and Reilingen to Speyer.

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

Ideal if you have a week to ten days and want to walk a route from beginning to end, with a destination that deserves the name: Speyer's imperial cathedral is the largest surviving Romanesque church in the world. Ideal if you prefer your history in stone rather than in display cases — the Riemenschneider altar, Krautheim Castle, the tomb of Götz von Berlichingen in Schöntal, the imperial palace at Bad Wimpfen, the imperial tombs. Ideal if you want gentle climbing: 1,588 metres of ascent spread over nine days, between 94 and 487 metres, in many small waves. And ideal if you want to keep your exit options open — eight railway stations lie on the route.

To be honest, it is not for you if you expect a chain of pilgrim hostels: you book private rooms, inns and hotels from the accommodation directory, and you book ahead. Not for you if you need panoramas — plateaus, a river valley, loess hills, pretty but unspectacular. Not for you if you are looking for pilgrim company: St. Jakob in Rothenburg counts around 1,000 pilgrim visits a year, spread across six routes, and on the Hohenlohe plateau there are days when you meet nobody. And not for you if you need shade in high summer or want to bail out spontaneously — between Sinsheim and Speyer there are 43.6 kilometres without a railway station on the route.

Route & Landscape

You start at St. Jakob in Rothenburg, leave the town across the Tauber and climb onto the Hohenlohe plateau. Via Brundorf, Enzenweiler and Schöngras you reach the highest point of the route at kilometre 13.3, 487 metres — it looks like a farm track between fields, and that is exactly what the Hohe Straße is: a ridge road that avoids the marshy valleys, lined with Hallstatt-era burial mounds. The operator calls the plateau "a landscape straight out of a picture book" — wide, sparsely settled, old farmsteads, views to the horizon. After Schrozberg with its moated castle you stay up top as far as Erpfersweiler, where the route to Rottenburg parts company, then Herrentierbach, Simmetshausen, Geroldshausen — and at Buchenbach and Heimhausen the first real descent, around 150 metres down to the Jagst.

You stay in the Jagst valley for seventy kilometres: Mulfingen, Ailringen, Hohebach, Dörzbach, Klepsau, Krautheim on its spur, Altkrautheim, Marlach, Westernhausen, Schöntal Abbey, Berlichingen, Jagsthausen, Widdern, Möckmühl, Züttlingen, Neudenau, Herbolzheim — limestone slopes, orchards, mills, a chapel by the wayside again and again, castles up on the valley rim. At Jagstfeld (km 112.7) the Jagst flows into the Neckar, and the route climbs onto the spur of Bad Wimpfen. After that the land softens: the Kraichgau via Bad Rappenau, Grombach, Sinsheim, Angelbachtal, Mühlhausen and the Letzenberg chapel above Malsch. From Rot (km 164.9) it is flat — the Rhine plain, the old imperial road, Reilingen, Altlußheim, the Rhine bridge and Speyer. Underfoot: field and forest tracks, valley paths in limestone that turn slippery when wet, village tarmac; 1,588 metres up, 1,906 down.

Stages, Terrain, and Difficulty

We divide the route into 9 stages averaging 20.5 kilometres — the Camino Ninja system; the operator does not prescribe a stage list, and eight to ten days is usual. The kilometres come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to the 184.6 kilometres of our route data. Difficulty: low to moderate — 8.6 metres of climbing per kilometre, no long ascents; the challenges are heat and lack of shade on the plateau, the 24.8 kilometres of stage five, and the rail gap at the end.

1. Rothenburg ob der Tauber – Schrozberg (18.6 km) — St. Jakob; Brundorf, Enzenweiler, Schöngras; highest point 487 m at km 13.3; Schrozberg with moated castle, town church of 1614–1618, railway station.
2. Schrozberg – Mulfingen (21.2 km) — Erpfersweiler (km 24.5, parting from the route to Rottenburg), Herrentierbach, Simmetshausen, Geroldshausen; descent via Buchenbach and Heimhausen into the Jagst valley; pilgrimage chapel of St. Anna from 1510.
3. Mulfingen – Krautheim (16.4 km) — Ailringen (statue of St. James in St. Martin), Hohebach (St. James's church), Dörzbach (three scallop shells in its coat of arms, St. Wendel zum Stein), Klepsau; climb to the Hohenstaufen castle. Shortest stage.
4. Krautheim – Jagsthausen (21.3 km) — Altkrautheim, Altdorf, Marlach, Westernhausen, Halsberg; Schöntal Abbey (km 72.1, where the Nordroute branches off); Berlichingen; Götzenburg at Jagsthausen.
5. Jagsthausen – Neudenau (24.8 km) — Olnhausen, Widdern, Ruchsen, Möckmühl (km 90.0, castle, station), Züttlingen, Siglingen, Deitingen (Gangolf chapel). Longest stage, can be split at Möckmühl (12.5 + 12.3 km).
6. Neudenau – Bad Rappenau (19.2 km) — Herbolzheim, Willenbacher Hof, Jagstfeld (km 112.7, mouth of the Jagst), Wimpfen im Tal (collegiate church of St. Peter), Bad Wimpfen (km 116.3, imperial palace, Blue Tower); spa park at Bad Rappenau.
7. Bad Rappenau – Sinsheim (19.5 km) — Babstadt, Grombach, a longer forest section, Steinsfurt (view of Steinsberg Castle), Sinsheim with Sunnisheim Abbey; here the Nordroute rejoins.
8. Sinsheim – Rot (23.9 km) — Dühren, Angelbachtal, Mühlhausen (km 155.0, seat of the Jakobusinitiative), Rettigheim (statue of St. James), Malsch and Malschenberg (Letzenberg chapel, 247 m); descent into the Rhine plain.
9. Rot – Speyer (19.7 km) — Sankt Leon-Rot, Reilingen (old imperial road, pilgrims' confraternity of 1451), Neulußheim, Altlußheim (old ferry crossing), Lußhof, Rhine bridge; imperial cathedral.

There are two tests: the first two days on the plateau, where for long stretches between the hamlets there is no shop and no shade — fill up with water in Rothenburg and Schrozberg — and the last two days, which you have to plan as a block because there is no station on the route between Sinsheim and Speyer. If you want to split stage five, do it at Möckmühl. The limestone paths in the Jagst valley are slippery in rain; poles help. Dogs, bears, vertigo: none.

Variant for the middle section: between Schöntal Abbey (km 72.1) and Sinsheim (km 141.0) you can walk the Nordroute instead of the 68.9 kilometres via Möckmühl, Neudenau and Bad Wimpfen — 78.7 kilometres through the Odenwald via Adelsheim and Mosbach, four stages, marked with an additional yellow dot. It is quieter and more wooded, but has fewer beds and no Bad Wimpfen; for a first walk we recommend the main route.

Burial mounds, knights, emperors — a route along its graves

It sounds gloomy, but it is the thread that runs through everything: this route tells its story through graves. The oldest come right at the start — the Hallstatt-era burial mounds along the Hohe Straße, raised between 800 and 500 BC by people who lived beside this ridge road because it was dry and offered long views. Near Dörzbach, in 1936, the Marderhöhle cave beneath the chapel of St. Wendel zum Stein yielded skeletons, jewellery and a Celtic silver coin from around 500 BC — a spring sanctuary over which Christians set their chapel around 1511, endowed as a vow by Ursula von Berlichingen.

Her family provides the most famous grave on the route. Götz von Berlichingen, the knight with the iron hand, has lain since 23 July 1562 in the east wing of the cloister at Schöntal Abbey — and the day before, you pass the places of his legend: Krautheim Castle, where in 1516 he shouted at an official of Mainz that "he soldt mich hinden leckhenn", as he himself recorded in his memoirs, before Goethe turned it into the coarser line in 1773; the Götzenburg at Jagsthausen, his family seat, where the castle festival still stages Goethe's play; and Möckmühl, where the Swabian League besieged and captured him in 1519. In between, the Jagst valley's density of churches of the dead: the Gangolf chapel near Neudenau with its 14th-century Last Judgement, the collegiate church of Wimpfen im Tal with its St. James sculpture of 1269/70.

To be honest, the route then ends with the greatest grave of all. In the crypt of Speyer Cathedral, at 850 square metres the largest Romanesque columned hall in Europe, lie Conrad II, who began building around 1025, his successors Henry III, IV and V, and the kings Philip of Swabia, Rudolf of Habsburg, Adolf of Nassau and Albert I — eight rulers of the Empire beneath 42 groin vaults. And outside on Geschirrplatz, since 1990, stands the Speyer Pilgrim of St. James in bronze, a gift from Bishop Anton Schlembach for the city's 2,000th anniversary: his back to the cathedral, his gaze to the west. Towards Santiago. Away from the graves, onward.

Highlights Along the Way

• St. Jakob, Rothenburg ob der Tauber — built 1311–1484, consecrated 1485; Holy Blood Altar by Tilman Riemenschneider (1500–1505, contract of 15 April 1501); Twelve Apostles Altar by Friedrich Herlin (1466) with the hanged-man-and-hen miracle of the St. James legend and the oldest view of the town, painted over in 1582 and uncovered in 1922. April–September 10 am–6 pm.
• The Hohe Straße — prehistoric ridge road between the Jagst and Kocher, lined with Hallstatt-era burial mounds, recorded on Etzlaub's map of 1501 as the long-distance road Prague–Paris; at km 13.3 the highest point of the route, 487 m.
• Pilgrimage chapel of St. Anna, Mulfingen — built 1510; after healings in 1597/98 a pilgrimage site of regional importance. Between Mulfingen and Schöntal run the "Paths of Silence".
• St. Wendel zum Stein, Dörzbach — late Gothic chapel of 1511–1515 at a ten-metre wall of calcareous sinter, endowed by Ursula von Berlichingen; beneath it caves with finds from around 500 BC; Dörzbach bears three red scallop shells in its coat of arms.
• Krautheim Castle — Hohenstaufen castle of around 1200–1220, built by Wolfrad I of Krautheim, one of the best preserved of its kind; castle museum in the great hall; scene of Götz von Berlichingen's famous words of 1516.
• Schöntal Abbey — Cistercian, founded in 1153 as a daughter of Maulbronn, moved into the valley in 1157, imperial immediacy in 1418; Baroque hall church with twin-tower façade under Abbot Benedikt Knittel (1683–1732) to plans by Leonhard Dientzenhofer; tomb of Götz von Berlichingen († 1562) in the cloister; Order Hall; today an education centre and guesthouse of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. Interiors by guided tour only (€6.50 per person, as of September 2026).
• Götzenburg, Jagsthausen — ancestral seat of the Berlichingen family, today a castle hotel and venue of the castle festival with Goethe's "Götz".
• Möckmühl Castle — Götz served here as bailiff to Duke Ulrich of Württemberg; siege by the Swabian League and capture in 1519; old town, station on the Franconian Railway.
• Gangolf chapel, Neudenau-Deitingen — first mentioned in 1276, tower after 1230; frescoes of the 14th/15th centuries with a Last Judgement; horse pilgrimages documented in 1497 and 1501, discontinued in 1808, revived in 1923.
• Bad Wimpfen — crossroads of the pilgrim roads from Cologne to Rome and to Santiago; confraternity of St. James from the 15th into the 17th century, relic of St. James in the Dominican friary; collegiate church of St. Peter (10th–13th c.) with a St. James sculpture of 1269/70 and a cloister of Swabian Gothic, open daily; Hohenstaufen imperial palace; Blue Tower of around 1170, 58 m, with Germany's oldest unbroken tradition of tower keepers (€3, as of September 2026). Pilgrim stamps at the monastery, the Hotel am Rosengarten and the tourist office.
• Bad Rappenau — salt struck in 1822 at a depth of 191.60 m, Ludwigssaline founded 1823, saltworks in operation until 1973; today spa park and moated castle.
• Sunnisheim Abbey, Sinsheim — founded around 1000 by Count Otto of Worms on the Michaelsberg, a Benedictine monastery between 1092 and 1100, collegiate foundation in 1496, dissolved in 1565 by Elector Frederick III; roof timbers dendro-dated to 1233; cultural centre since 2011. If you like: Technik Museum Sinsheim (€25).
• Letzenberg chapel above Malsch — a pilgrimage site documented as early as 1296; today's neo-Romanesque octagonal chapel "Seven Sorrows of Mary" begun on 4 May 1902, Way of the Cross of 1883; 247 m high, around 75 m above the village.
• Reilingen and Altlußheim — the old imperial road; at Wersau Castle a confraternity for the support of pilgrims in 1451; at Altlußheim pilgrims crossed the Rhine by ferry — a map of 1548 shows the ferry landing, a chapel and a wayside cross.
• Speyer Cathedral — begun around 1025/1030 under Conrad II, consecrated 1061, remodelled under Henry IV until around 1106; 134 m long, 33 m high, the largest surviving Romanesque church in the world; crypt of 850 m² with the imperial tombs; UNESCO World Heritage since 1981; in front of the west front the Domnapf, a stone basin holding 1,580 litres. Admission to the cathedral is free; tickets are needed for the crypt, the Emperor's Hall and the tower (as of September 2026).
• The Speyer Pilgrim of St. James — larger-than-life bronze by Martin Mayer, donated in 1990 by Bishop Anton Schlembach for the city's 2,000th anniversary, on Geschirrplatz off Maximilianstraße; the Jakobsgasse once led to the church of St. Jakobus, a parish church before 1296, destroyed in 1689.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

Rothenburg is a junction, not a beginning. If you come from the east, you walk the Mittelfränkischer Jakobsweg, 89.4 kilometres from Stein near Nuremberg to the door of St. Jakob in Rothenburg — and simply carry on here; before that lie the Oberfränkischer Jakobsweg from Hof and, beyond it, Bohemia, which is why the operator speaks of an axis Prague – Nuremberg – Rothenburg – Speyer. From Würzburg the Franconian-Swabian Way of St. James arrives in Rothenburg and continues to Ulm.

In Rothenburg the direction is decided, though only after 24.5 kilometres: as far as Erpfersweiler this route is identical to the Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Rottenburg, which from there swings south via Schwäbisch Hall and Tübingen to the Neckar, while you stay west on the Hohe Straße. And at Schöntal Abbey, after 72 kilometres, the route splits once more: the Nordroute goes through the Odenwald via Adelsheim and Mosbach, marked with an additional yellow dot, and rejoins this route at Sinsheim.

Continue the pilgrimage?

Yes — Speyer is a hub. From the cathedral, two routes marked by the Pfälzerwald-Verein lead west to Hornbach Abbey on the French border, and we describe both:

• Pfälzer Nordroute — around 148 kilometres up the Speyerbach, via Neustadt an der Weinstraße and the Palatinate Forest to Hornbach.
• Pfälzer Südroute — 146.3 kilometres through the Rhine plain, along the Wine Route and through the Wasgau to Hornbach; if you only have a long weekend, walk its first part as the Jakobsweg Speyer–Bad Bergzabern.
• From Hornbach continue on the Jakobsweg Hornbach – Metz, 142.8 kilometres to the cathedral — and from Metz towards Vézelay.

The second line the operator mentions runs via Strasbourg to Vézelay or Le Puy; before planning, check which sections in Alsace are currently marked. And if you think upstream: the Jakobsweg Mainz–Speyer ends where you arrive — three imperial cathedrals on one route.

Preparation & Practical Information

Best time: April to October, ideally May/June and September. The Hohenlohe plateau is open and shadeless in high summer, the limestone paths in the Jagst valley turn slippery when wet; in winter many lodgings and practically all museums are closed. Waymarking and navigation: yellow sunburst on a blue field, the focal point shows the direction of travel — and from Schöntal Abbey make sure you do not follow the yellow dot of the Nordroute. The marking is maintained by volunteers, mostly reliable but not seamless; carry a track. The easiest way to plan your stages and accommodation is directly in the Camino Ninja app, where you put together your daily distances and book suitable beds at the same time.

Pilgrim passport: the route has none of its own. Bring a pilgrim passport (credencial) from a St. James society — the Fränkische St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft in Würzburg or the pilgrim centre at St. Jakob in Nuremberg issue them, and for the western part so does the St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft Rheinland-Pfalz-Saarland. Stamps are available in churches, town halls, tourist offices and many lodgings; a few houses ask to see the passport. Guidebook: Renate Florl, *Der Jakobsweg von Rothenburg ob der Tauber bis zum Kaiserdom in Speyer* (ISBN 978-3-9812350-5-0), with a foreword by the bishop; €12 collected from the municipality of Mühlhausen, €14 posted (as of September 2026).

Accommodation: there is no hostel chain. The Jakobusinitiative keeps an online accommodation directory covering around 30 municipalities — private rooms, inns, hotels, youth hostels, many with a pilgrim stamp. Monastic beds are at the Schöntal Abbey education centre and the Bad Wimpfen monastery guesthouse; no pilgrim hostel is documented for Speyer, so plan an ordinary room there. Book ahead — the villages are small, especially Jagsthausen during the festival season and Bad Wimpfen at weekends. Interiors: Schöntal Abbey by guided tour only, many village churches only at service times, whereas the collegiate church in Wimpfen im Tal is open daily. Water and cash: on the plateau there is no supply for long stretches, and small inns do not take cards.

What the journey will cost you

To be honest, this is a route without hostel prices but with fair country inns. Documented (as of September 2026): the operator's accommodation directory lists €25–30 for a simple private room up to €70 and more for a hotel double with breakfast; guesthouses and hotels in Bad Wimpfen from €45–60; the Schlosshotel Götzenburg in Jagsthausen from around €150 as the exception — the municipality lists simpler lodgings alongside. Guidebook €12 (€14 posted). Admissions: cathedral free, crypt and tower by ticket; Blue Tower in Bad Wimpfen €3; guided tour of Schöntal Abbey €6.50 per person; Technik Museum Sinsheim €25. Food: shopping for breakfast and the trail €8–12 a day, dinner at an inn €15–25.

A realistic daily budget: frugal with a private room and self-catering €40–55, mid-range with an inn or guesthouse, breakfast and a hot dinner €65–90, comfortable with a hotel and all the sights €110–150. For the nine stages reckon roughly €360–500 frugal and €590–810 mid-range; the train to Rothenburg and back from Speyer come on top — with a Deutschland-Ticket practically included.

Getting Here

To the start (Rothenburg ob der Tauber): by rail via Steinach (b Rothenburg o d Tauber) on the Würzburg – Ansbach – Nuremberg line; from Steinach the regional train takes you to Rothenburg in a few minutes. From Nuremberg and Würzburg that is one connection with one change each. From the station it is ten minutes on foot into the old town to St. Jakob.

On the way and from the finish (Speyer): stations on the route — Schrozberg (Tauber Railway Crailsheim – Bad Mergentheim), Möckmühl (Franconian Railway), Bad Friedrichshall-Jagstfeld, Bad Wimpfen, Bad Rappenau, Steinsfurt and Sinsheim (Elsenz Valley Railway). Note: between Sinsheim and Speyer there is no station on the route; Mühlhausen, Malsch, St. Leon-Rot and Reilingen depend on buses, the nearest stations being Wiesloch-Walldorf and Hockenheim. Speyer Hauptbahnhof is on the S-Bahn RheinNeckar to Mannheim, Heidelberg and Karlsruhe, with ICE connections in all directions from there; from the cathedral to the station is a fifteen-minute walk.

• Rail: bahn.de — Deutsche Bahn, Steinach – Rothenburg, S-Bahn RheinNeckar from Speyer
• Operator: jakobsweg-rothenburg-speyer.de — Jakobusinitiative Mühlhausen, accommodation directory, route description
• Guidebook: muehlhausen-kraichgau.de — Renate Florl, order via the municipality
• Schöntal Abbey: kloster-schoental.de — guided tours, guesthouse
• Bad Wimpfen: badwimpfen.de — pilgrim stamps, collegiate church, Blue Tower