Jakobsweg Südtirol

At a glance

• Start / Finish: state border at Winnebach/Prato alla Drava (Innichen, South Tyrol) / Abbey of St. John in Müstair (Graubünden, Switzerland)
• Length: 295.4 km
• Duration: 12–14 days
• Elevation: ↗ 7,821 m / ↘ 7,675 m
• Highest point: around 1,500 m (Ritten plateau; Marienberg Abbey at 1,340 m)
• Stages: 13 (calibrated to the total length)
• Countries: Italy (South Tyrol) and Switzerland (Val Müstair), border at Taufers/Müstair
• Responsible body: Pilgergemeinschaft Südtirol (Südtiroler Jakobsweg), waymarked with the St. James symbol on clay tiles and signposts
• Pilgrim passport: Jakobsgemeinschaft Tirol (Innsbruck) or Confraternita di San Jacopo (Bolzano)
• Connection east: Jakobsweg Osttirol (ends at the border at Winnebach)
• Branch north: Jakobsweg Brenner from Neustift Abbey to Innsbruck
• Connection west: Jakobsweg Graubünden from Müstair
• Best time: May to October

Overview

The Jakobsweg Südtirol is the long east–west axis through the province: 295.4 kilometers from the state border at Winnebach — where the Jakobsweg Osttirol hands it over — to the abbey of Müstair on the Swiss side of the Val Müstair. First down the Puster Valley to Bruneck and Neustift Abbey, then down the Eisack Valley to Klausen, up via Barbian onto the Ritten plateau and steeply down to Bolzano, over the vineyards of Eppan and the Tisens uplands to Algund near Merano — and then all the way up the Vinschgau, along the Waal irrigation channels, to the white abbey of Marienberg and through the Calven gorge to Müstair. 7,821 meters of ascent tell you that this route avoids the valley floor wherever it can.

It is not a route of great legends but of documented stones. In 769 Duke Tassilo founds a monastery in Innichen against the Slavs, in 775 the first timbers are felled for Müstair, in 1142 Bishop Hartmann founds an abbey with a pilgrim hospital in Neustift and, in the same year, consecrates the church of St. James in Grissian, a hundred kilometers farther west. And around 1200 a single workshop paints the frescoes in Marienberg, Grissian and Söles — three churches, all on this route. You are not walking an invented pilgrim route here. You are retracing the route of a painters' workshop.

Other names

Officially the route is called the Südtiroler Jakobsweg, in Italian Cammino di San Giacomo in Alto Adige. It begins at the state border at Winnebach and ends at the Abbey of St. John in Müstair; on the way, at Neustift Abbey, its northern branch turns off via Sterzing to the Brenner — the branch we at Camino Ninja list as the Jakobsweg Brenner. Peter Lindenthal, whose guidebook is the standard for the region, splits the route into three pieces in his book title: „Innichen – Brixen – Brenner", „Brixen – Bozen – Salurn" and „Bozen – Meran – Glurns – Müstair" — the Salurn branch to the south is a variant we do not map here.

Every place has two names, and both are on the signs: San Candido, Brunico, Novacella, Bressanone, Chiusa, Bolzano, Appiano, Tesimo, Lagundo, Silandro, Glorenza, Malles. In the Vinschgau, Romansh joins in as soon as you cross the border: Müstair is Münster in German, the valley the Val Müstair.

Ideal for — and not so much for

This route is for you if you want to read cultural history in buildings and have two weeks. Hardly any Alpine route packs so much substance onto its kilometers: the most important Romanesque church of the Eastern Alps on day one, an Augustinian abbey of 1142 on day four, a bishop's mountain from the 6th century on day five, Romanesque frescoes around 1200 in the middle, Europe's highest Benedictine abbey shortly before the end and a UNESCO World Heritage site with Carolingian paintings at the finish. Plus a rail and bus network that makes every stage divisible — the Pustertalbahn, the Brenner line and the Vinschgerbahn run beside you almost the whole way.

Honestly, though, it is not for you if you expect a chain of hostels: the operator itself writes that there are no pilgrim hostels along the Südtiroler Jakobsweg. You sleep in inns, guesthouses and monastery guesthouses and pay South Tyrolean prices. Nor is it for you if you hate asphalt — in the Puster and Adige valleys the route follows cycle paths between apple orchards for long stretches, and that is cultural landscape in the literal sense, but also monoculture on a hard surface. And the waymarking is well-meant but not seamless; if you rely on signposts alone, sooner or later you will stand between two rows of apple trees and guess. Passages like these are planned for beforehand, not on the road.

Route & landscape

You start at the border at Winnebach, at around 1,130 meters, and are in Innichen after five kilometers — its collegiate church is regarded as the most important Romanesque church of the Eastern Alps. Then you follow the Puster Valley westward — past the Toblacher Feld, where the Drau and the Rienz flow off to opposite seas, via Welsberg and Olang to Bruneck, on via Kiens and Vintl to Mühlbach and up to Schabs, until the valley opens into the Eisack Valley and Neustift Abbey lies before you. Here the branches part: north to the Brenner, west on this route. You walk through Brixen with its cathedral and cloister, over the sunny slopes of Feldthurns down to Klausen, beneath the monastery rock of Säben.

From Klausen the route becomes a high route. Via Villanders, Dreikirchen and Barbian you climb onto the Ritten plateau, walk via Lengstein, Unterinn and Oberbozen and drop steeply over the Virgl to Bolzano, where the Eisack and the Adige meet. Via Frangart, Girlan and St. Pauls in Eppan you cross to the western side of the valley, climb via Andrian and Sirmian to Grissian and Tisens, down to Lana and via Marling to Algund near Merano. Then the Vinschgau opens: a dry valley between the Texel group and the Ortler that has irrigated its fields for centuries through the Waale — narrow channels with paths alongside, on which you walk in shade and almost level. Via Naturns, Kastelbell, Schlanders, Laas and Prad you reach Glurns, South Tyrol's smallest town, and climb to Marienberg at 1,340 meters. From there you go via Laatsch, Taufers im Münstertal and the narrows of the Calven over the border to Müstair.

Stages, terrain & difficulty

We divide the route into 13 stages, following the official staging of the Südtiroler Jakobsweg and calibrated exactly to the total length of 295.4 km. The range is wide, 15.7 to 35.7 kilometers: the long stage over the Ritten to Eppan you can easily split in Bolzano, the short one to Marienberg leaves you time for Glurns and the Churburg. The terrain changes constantly — cycle paths in the valley, woodland trails on the slopes, cobbles in the old towns, Waal paths in the Vinschgau. Technically none of it is difficult; what is tiring is the sum of the ups and downs, especially between Klausen and Bolzano.

1. Winnebach – Innichen – Toblach – Welsberg (23.5 km) — from the border to the collegiate church, over the watershed at the Toblacher Feld into the Puster Valley.
2. Welsberg – Olang – Percha – Bruneck (18.9 km) — broad valley, orchards, the Rienz as companion.
3. Bruneck – Sonnenburg – Kiens – St. Sigmund – Vintl (22.5 km) — lower Puster Valley, lots of cycle path.
4. Vintl – Mühlbach – Schabs – Raas – Neustift Abbey (16.5 km) — up onto the Schabs terrace, down to the abbey. Here the Jakobsweg Brenner branches off.
5. Neustift Abbey – Brixen – Feldthurns – Klausen (19.0 km) — cathedral, cloister, sunny slopes, Säben above the town.
6. Klausen – Villanders – Dreikirchen – Barbian – Unterinn am Ritten (29.4 km) — the big climb onto the Ritten plateau.
7. Unterinn – Oberbozen – Bolzano – Frangart – St. Pauls/Eppan (35.7 km) — descent over the Virgl to Bolzano, then into the vineyards; easily split in Bolzano.
8. St. Pauls – Andrian – Sirmian – Grissian – Tisens (20.4 km) — the Tisens uplands with the church of St. James of 1142.
9. Tisens – Lana – Marling – Algund (19.8 km) — down into the Adige Valley and along the Marlinger Waalweg.
10. Algund – Töll – Naturns – Kastelbell (25.5 km) — entering the Vinschgau, Waal channels and apple rows.
11. Kastelbell – Goldrain – Schlanders – Laas – Prad am Stilfserjoch (30.1 km) — the long Vinschgau day, with the marble of Laas.
12. Prad – Lichtenberg – Glurns – Burgeis – Marienberg Abbey (15.7 km) — South Tyrol's smallest town, then up to the white abbey.
13. Marienberg Abbey – Laatsch – Taufers im Münstertal – Müstair (18.4 km) — through the Calven and over the border to the Abbey of St. John.

If you have less time, walk only a part — the stations in Innichen, Bruneck, Brixen, Klausen, Bolzano, Merano, Naturns, Schlanders and Mals make every entry and exit easy. And if the Ritten daunts you: between Klausen and Bolzano the train runs through the valley in half an hour. But walking this route honestly means staying up high.

One bishop, one year, two buildings

In the year 1142 Bishop Hartmann of Brixen, together with the burgrave Reginbert of Säben, founds the Augustinian canons' abbey of Neustift three kilometers outside his city — and not just anywhere, but „am Schnittpunkt der wichtigen Nord-Süd-Verbindung über die Alpen und der Ost-West-Verkehrswege aus dem Pustertal": at the junction of the great north–south route over the Alps and the east–west roads out of the Puster Valley. Next to it a hospital that cared for „Reisende, Pilger, Kranke und Arme" — travelers, pilgrims, the sick and the poor. On April 9, 1143 Pope Innocent II confirms the foundation. In the same year 1142, on May 12, the same Hartmann consecrates, a hundred kilometers farther west on a hill of the Tisens uplands, a small church built by the couple Rudolf and Atha: St. James in Grissian, on the old high road between Bolzano and Merano. One man, one year, a pilgrim hospital at the start of your route and a church of St. James in its middle. In 1157 he adds a second hospice in Brixen, „auf der Insel zum heiligen Kreuz". His tomb itself became a place of pilgrimage; his relics are in Neustift today.

The church in Grissian still stands, with frescoes from around 1200 that rank among the most important Romanesque paintings in South Tyrol — and with a hand you will see twice more on this route. Scholars assign them to the Marienberg school: the same workshop painted the crypt of Marienberg Abbey in the Vinschgau around 1180 and the chapel of St. James in Söles near Glurns around 1200, a few kilometers before your finish. Three churches, one painter's hand, all three on this stretch. That is no coincidence but proof that this connection was in use in the 12th century — by painters, monks and pilgrims. The hospital of Neustift, by the way, was closed between 1463 and 1557 because „um 1500 die große mittelalterliche Pilgerbewegung bereits abgeklungen" war — by 1500 the great medieval pilgrim movement had already ebbed away. Ever since, you sleep in inns here. But the churches have remained.

Highlights along the way

• Collegiate church of Innichen — founded 769 by Tassilo III, rebuilt from 1143, consecrated 1284; dome frescoes of the Creation around 1280, Crucifixion group around 1250. The most important Romanesque church of the Eastern Alps.
• Toblacher Feld — the watershed: the Drau flows to the Black Sea, the Rienz via the Adige to the Adriatic.
• Neustift Abbey — Augustinian canons' abbey of 1142, Tyrol's largest monastic complex; Rococo library, Wonder Well of 1508, winery since the founding year. Oswald von Wolkenstein is buried in the cloister — the widely traveled poet reached Jerusalem, Perpignan and Ceuta, but demonstrably never Santiago.
• Brixen — cathedral and medieval cloister, a bishop's seat since the 10th century.
• Säben Abbey above Klausen — bishop's seat from the 6th century until around 960, the „Heiliger Berg Tirols"; since 2024 monks from Heiligenkreuz look after the pilgrimage.
• Ritten plateau — earth pyramids, views of the Schlern, and the steep descent over the Virgl to Bolzano.
• St. James in Grissian — consecrated May 12, 1142, frescoes around 1200, statue of St. James of 1520.
• Marlinger Waalweg — at 12 km the longest Waal path in South Tyrol, in operation for over 260 years, hardly any gradient, plenty of shade.
• Churburg in Schluderns — owned by the Counts Trapp since 1504; over 50 complete suits of armor, one of the largest private armories in the world.
• Glurns — barely 800 inhabitants, a town since 1304, completely preserved town wall, arcades from the 16th century.
• St. James in Söles — Romanesque chapel of St. James near Glurns, frescoes around 1200 by the Master of Marienberg, burned down in the Battle of Calven in 1499.
• Marienberg Abbey — at 1,340 m the highest Benedictine abbey in Europe; crypt consecrated 1160, angel frescoes around 1180.
• Abbey of St. John in Müstair — timbers of 775, Carolingian frescoes around 800 with 135 scenes and the oldest known depiction of the Last Judgment; UNESCO World Heritage since 1983.

How pilgrims reach this trail

On foot you come from the east, and the hand-over is exact to the meter: the Jakobsweg Osttirol ends at the state border at Winnebach, where this route begins — 47.6 kilometers from Lienz via Assling, Anras, Strassen and Sillian. Before that lies the Jakobsweg Kärnten, 260.5 kilometers along the Drau from Dravograd to Lienz. If you walk the whole chain, you are on the road for about a month from the Slovenian border to Müstair.

If you travel in directly, it is easy: Innichen has a station on the Pustertalbahn, reached from Lienz in the east and from Franzensfeste on the Brenner line in the west. Many also join mid-route — Brixen, Bolzano and Merano are on main lines, and the western part from Neustift Abbey, at around 214 kilometers, is a ten-day journey in its own right.

Carrying on?

Müstair is not an end point but a hand-over. Right at the abbey begins the Jakobsweg Graubünden, signposted in Switzerland as regional route no. 43: 19 stages over the Ofen Pass to Zernez, through the Engadin, via Chur and Disentis to the Oberalp Pass. Nine themed waymarks with a bench and a stele accompany you, each devoted to a theme from the life of St. James — and westward the stylized shell points its tip toward Santiago. From the Oberalp Pass you continue via Andermatt onto the Via Jacobi, which leads via Einsiedeln to Lake Geneva, and on to the Via Podiensis at Le Puy or the Via Tolosana through southern France.

If you would rather head north at Neustift Abbey, take the Jakobsweg Brenner: 94.8 kilometers via Sterzing and the Brenner Pass to Innsbruck, where the Jakobsweg Österreich takes over toward the Arlberg and Rankweil. Both branches belong to the same official route — you decide at the abbey gate.

Preparation & practicalities

The season runs from May to October. Before that there is still snow on the Ritten and at Marienberg, after that the museums close: Marienberg shows its museum only from mid-March to October 31, and the guesthouse at Müstair Abbey is closed in November. High summer in the Adige Valley is hot — the pilgrim who walked the route in 2017 noted at 27 degrees that he used every patch of shade and stuck his hands in every fountain. June and September are the wiser choice.

Plan your accommodation in advance. There is no chain of hostels like in Spain; you sleep in inns, guesthouses, youth hostels and monastery guesthouses — bookable, among others, are the Bildungshaus Kloster Neustift and the guesthouse at the Abbey of St. John in Müstair, the latter with meals from the monastery garden, the chance to join the Liturgy of the Hours, and the Val Müstair Guest Card for public transport in the valley. Easiest is to put the whole thing together directly in the Camino Ninja app, where you plan your stages and suitable accommodation right along with them.

You don't need a pilgrim passport (Credencial) here for a bed, but you do for the Compostela in Santiago — and it is best to collect the stamps from the start. It is issued by the Jakobsgemeinschaft Tirol in Innsbruck (membership 16 € a year, as of September 2026) or by the Confraternita di San Jacopo in Bolzano. Reliable stamping points are the abbeys — Neustift, Marienberg, the museum shop in Müstair; elsewhere it depends on opening hours. And take the GPS track with you: the waymarking with the St. James symbol exists, but not without gaps.

What this trail costs

South Tyrol is not a cheap pilgrim country. Without a hostel network you pay inn or guesthouse rates; private rooms under 50 € a night are realistic, and in Bolzano the youth hostel will do. With breakfast, one hot meal and provisions on the way you end up with a daily budget of 55 to 85 € (as of September 2026), depending on how often you eat in restaurants. The Mobilcard Südtirol — 22 € for one day, 32 € for three, 52 € for seven days — covers all public transport in the province including the PostBus between Mals and Müstair and pays off as soon as you shorten a stage or send luggage ahead.

The admission fees are, for once, really worth it: Marienberg Abbey 5.50 €, Churburg Schluderns 12 € (guided tour only), Neustift Abbey with tours Mon–Sat at 11:00 and 14:30 by appointment. In Müstair you pay in francs: church tour CHF 10 (about 11 €), museum tour CHF 12 (about 13 €), family ticket CHF 30 (about 32 €) — euros are accepted at the daily rate (as of September 2026).

Getting there

To the start (Winnebach/Innichen): Innichen/San Candido is on the Pustertalbahn, which has run through again from Lienz since February 1, 2020; from the west you come via the Brenner line to Franzensfeste and change there. Winnebach is the last stop before the border — or you start right in Innichen and leave the five border kilometers to the Jakobsweg Osttirol.

From the finish (Müstair): The PostBus line 811 (Engadin–Meran line) runs in both directions: west over the Ofen Pass to Zernez with connection to the Rhaetian Railway toward Chur and Zurich, east via Taufers and Glurns to Mals, where the Vinschgerbahn leaves for Merano and Bolzano.

• Trains South Tyrol: suedtirolmobil.info — Pustertalbahn, Brenner line, Vinschgerbahn, Mobilcard
• Trains Austria/Italy: oebb.at (Lienz – Innichen), trenitalia.com (Brenner line)
• PostBus Switzerland: postauto.ch — line 811 Mals – Müstair – Ofen Pass – Zernez
• Stations on the route: Innichen, Toblach, Welsberg, Olang, Bruneck, Vintl, Mühlbach, Brixen, Klausen, Bolzano, Merano, Algund, Naturns, Kastelbell, Schlanders, Laas, Mals