Neresheim – Neckartailfingen

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Neresheim (Benedictine abbey, Härtsfeld) / Neckartailfingen (Martinskirche, Neckar valley)
• Length: 135.2 km
• Duration: 6 stages (Camino Ninja division), 6–8 days
• Elevation: ↗ 2,100 m / ↘ 2,311 m — Alb, not Alps: many short climbs and descents
• Highest point: 777 m on the Kaltes Feld (km 51.1); lowest point 281 m at Bodelshofen
• Stages: 6 — Camino Ninja system on our waypoints; the operators cut Neresheim–Bargau 21.6+15.8+4.9, the Göppinger Jakobsweg 23+21+23 and the feeder Bodelshofen–Neckartailfingen 26.6 km
• Landscape: Härtsfeld plateau, Kocher valley, Albuch with Volkmarsberg and juniper heath, Alb escarpment with the Rosenstein, Kaltes Feld, the three Kaiserberge, Fils valley, orchard meadows in the Neckar valley
• Operator: three jurisdictions — Initiative Jakobsweg Göppingen (Bargau–Bodelshofen, „Göppinger Jakobsweg"), Jakobsweg-Team Winnenden with the Katholisches Dekanat Schwäbisch Hall (Bodelshofen–Neckartailfingen), Neresheim–Bargau without a documented operator. The cut „Neresheim – Neckartailfingen" is Camino Ninja system
• Waymarking: „ein gelbes Strahlenbündel (stilisierte Jakobsmuschel) auf blauem Grund" — a yellow ray bundle on blue — plus direction boards; Neresheim–Bargau partly shares the Albsteig markings
• Traces of St James: Jakobuskirche Bodelshofen 1275 in the Liber decimationis, Jakobus chapel Bargau documented 1455, St. Jakob Hohenstaufen (late 15th c., Barbarossakirche St. Jakobus since 1859), pilgrim book in the Martinskirche Neckartailfingen
• Accommodation: reliable beds in Oberkochen, Heubach, Bargau (pilgrim hostel Alte Schule), Göppingen, Wendlingen/Nürtingen and Neckartailfingen; Neresheim Abbey takes enclosure guests only (men over 18); Hohenstaufen, Jebenhausen and Bodelshofen are villages and hamlets
• Feeders and connection: start at the branch off the Jakobsweg Nürnberg–Ulm; from Neckartailfingen on the Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Rottenburg to Tübingen and Rottenburg, then Rottenburg – Freiburg – Héricourt
• Best time: April to October, ideally May/June and September

Overview

This route carries its patron not in its name but in its churches. The Jakobuskirche of Bodelshofen appears in 1275 in the Liber decimationis, the crusade tithe register of the Diocese of Konstanz — a tax list, not a devotional text, and for exactly that reason the hardest piece of evidence on the whole route. The chapel „zu den Heiligen Jakobus, Bernhard und Drei Königen" in Bargau is documented in 1455, and in Hohenstaufen St. Jakob became the Barbarossakirche from 1859 — an emperor placed before the apostle. Between those churches lies the Alb: you start beneath the seven domes of Neresheim, which Balthasar Neumann planned in stone and which were then built in timber, descend from the Härtsfeld into the Kocher valley at Oberkochen, climb onto the Albuch to the juniper heath of the Volkmarsberg, pass beneath the Rosenstein ruin to Heubach and Bargau, cross the Kaltes Feld — at 777 metres the highest point — to the three Kaiserberge Stuifen, Rechberg and Hohenstaufen, drop to the Fils at Göppingen, walk the Butzbach valley to Bodelshofen and follow the Neckar valley to Neckartailfingen, where the Martinskirche with its leaning tower keeps the pilgrim book.

Frankly: the cut is our Camino Ninja system. The operators run the „Jakobsweg von Neresheim bis Rottenburg" for 174 kilometres; we end it at Neckartailfingen because the Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Rottenburg carries on from there via Tübingen — and because its western and eastern variants reunite exactly there. Three operators share the route, one section has no documented operator at all. Neither start nor finish has a railway station. The monastery guesthouse in Neresheim has been closed since 30 November 2021; pilgrims sleep there only as enclosure guests, which means men over 18, compulsory services, two working days' notice. The route wasn't excavated, it was linked together — in the mid-2000s, by volunteers from a health day. The shell is old, the line is young. Saying both doesn't make it smaller.

Other Names

Neresheim – Neckartailfingen is Camino Ninja system: we name the route after its endpoints in our network and cut it where it merges into another route. The operators think bigger. For them the route is the „Jakobsweg von Neresheim bis Rottenburg" — 174 kilometres, 12 stages, according to the official pilgrim guide of 2024 (Renate Florl with the Verein Jakobsweg Göppingen and the Jakobsweg-Team Winnenden). The middle section from Bargau to Wendlingen-Bodelshofen is called the Göppinger Jakobsweg by its operator, 66 to 67 kilometres; the final section is run by the Jakobsweg-Team Winnenden as the „Rothen-/Rottenburgweg: Zubringer Bodelshofen – Neckartailfingen"; the opening section from Neresheim to Bargau — „42,3 Kilometer (von Neresheim nach Bargau)" — appears in the route directories as a stand-alone section without a name of its own. Three names, one shell.

Two mix-ups we clear up straight away. The Heidenheim on the Jakobsweg Nürnberg–Ulm is Heidenheim am Hahnenkamm in Middle Franconia, not Heidenheim an der Brenz — our route never touches the Brenz valley. And Nördlingen is not the start but the stage before it: it belongs to the Jakobsweg Nürnberg–Ulm and ends at Neresheim Abbey. As for length, you'll find 174, 175 and 176 kilometres for the full route to Rottenburg and 135.2 for our section in our route data — we go with ours. As a long-distance trail, the route between Neresheim and Bargau partly runs on the Albsteig, the 365-kilometre Schwäbische-Alb-Nordrand-Weg.

Ideal For – and Less So For

Ideal if you want the Alb but not the Alps: you start beneath seven domes, cross two plateaus, climb three Kaiserberge and stand after six days on a Neckar riverbank — 2,100 metres of ascent in many short waves, never above 800 metres. Ideal if you want pilgrim history in charters rather than in atmosphere: a tax list from 1275, a chapel charter from 1455, a pilgrimage dated 1424, a patronage overwritten in 1859. Ideal for network pilgrims: the route links three major Caminos — Nürnberg–Ulm at Neresheim, the Fränkisch-Schwäbischer Jakobsweg at Bargau, Rothenburg–Rottenburg at Bodelshofen and Neckartailfingen — and whoever wants to carry on south or west has both directions open at the end. And ideal if you have a week and don't want to travel to Spain.

Frankly, though, it's not for you if you expect a hostel network: three operators share this route, one section has no documented operator, and much of the lodging depends on private hosts placed by volunteers — the deanery itself writes that pilgrims can set off with confidence „nur bei durchgehenden Unterkunftsmöglichkeiten", only where accommodation is continuous. Not for you if you want to sleep in the monastery as a woman: the Neresheim guesthouse has been closed since late 2021, and the enclosure takes men over 18. Not for you if you expect forest paths — around a quarter of the route is asphalt; here the Alb is farmed land with field tracks and village streets. And neither start nor finish has a railway station: Aalen plus bus 106 at the start, bus 188 to Nürtingen at the end — gaps like that you plan away beforehand, not on the way.

Route & Landscape

Alb: The route starts high. Neresheim sits on the Härtsfeld, and the abbey church stands so far above the town that you still see it from the valley. Down it goes through the Kuchener Tal past Großkuchen, via Nietheim and the Josefskapelle to Oberkochen in the Kocher valley — „Es gibt alle Untergrundarten auf diesem Weg", says the field report, every kind of surface, and after rain the descent is slippery. Then it climbs steeply: first to a ski hut, then onto the Albuch plateau to the Volkmarsberg, whose juniper heath has been protected since 1928 and whose 23-metre concrete tower of 1930 has five floors and 104 steps, on via Tauchenweiler to the Lauterburg and beneath the Rosenstein ruin with views over Heubach into the Ostalb. In Bargau stand the Jakobuskirche and a large scallop shell in the churchyard where the route information hangs.

Staufer country and the Neckar: From Bargau on it's Staufer country. Via the Oberer Lauchhof, Weiler in den Bergen and Hornberg the route climbs onto the Kaltes Feld — 777 metres, the highest point of the route, with its glider field and the Reiterleskapelle — then past Wißgoldingen up the Rechberg with its baroque pilgrimage church and via Maitis to the Hohenstaufen with the Barbarossakirche St. Jakobus. Through a chestnut avenue planted in 1909 and past the Oberholz with its Celtic burial mounds the route drops to Krummwälden and Göppingen on the Fils, follows the river through Faurndau, climbs to Jebenhausen with its Jewish Museum and Schopflenberg, runs via Hattenhofen and the Lindenhof through the Butzbach valley to Notzingen and along the edge of the Kirchheim-Wendlingen-Wernau golf course to Bodelshofen on the Neckar, the lowest point at 281 metres. The final day follows the Neckar valley via Frickenhausen and Großbettlingen through orchard meadows to Neckartailfingen — past the Aileswasensee and up to the Martinskirche with its leaning tower. Surface: field and forest tracks, gravel, longer stretches of asphalt; komoot measures 45 of 176 kilometres asphalted for the full route to Rottenburg.

Stages, Terrain & Difficulty

We divide the 135.2 kilometres into six stages averaging 22.5 kilometres — Camino Ninja system on our waypoints; the operators cut seven day stages with the 4.9-kilometre Heubach–Bargau piece as a day of its own, and the Initiative Jakobsweg Göppingen even splits its middle section into six parts. Every stage boundary below is a waypoint in our route data, every kilometre figure the difference between two points, the total exactly the 135.2 kilometres of our route. If you want seven days, split the second stage at Heubach (15.7 + 4.8).

1. Neresheim – Oberkochen (21.6 km) — from the abbey through the Kuchener Tal past Großkuchen, via Nietheim and the Josefskapelle down into the Kocher valley.
2. Oberkochen – Bargau (20.5 km) — the Albuch day: steeply up to the ski hut, Volkmarsberg, Tauchenweiler, Lauterburg, beneath the Rosenstein to Heubach, finish at the Jakobuskirche Bargau.
3. Bargau – Hohenstaufen (22.8 km) — Oberer Lauchhof, Hornberg, the Kaltes Feld (777 m), Wißgoldingen, Rechberg with its pilgrimage church, Maitis, Barbarossakirche St. Jakobus.
4. Hohenstaufen – Jebenhausen (21.1 km) — chestnut avenue, Oberholz, Krummwälden, Göppingen, along the Fils through Faurndau and up to the Jewish Museum.
5. Jebenhausen – Bodelshofen (22.4 km) — Schopflenberg, Hattenhofen, Lindenhof, Butzbach valley, Notzingen, golf course edge, Jakobuskirche Bodelshofen.
6. Bodelshofen – Neckartailfingen (26.8 km) — the longest day: Neckar valley via Wendlingen and Nürtingen, Frickenhausen, Großbettlingen, Aileswasensee, Martinskirche.

Technically nothing is alpine, but it pulls: the climb out of Oberkochen onto the Albuch, the Kaltes Feld and the Kaiserberge account for most of the 2,100 metres; the Oberkochen–Bargau day, with around 525 metres of ascent, is the toughest. After rain the grassy sections and the descent to Oberkochen are muddy and slippery. What's really tiring is something else: finding a bed in Hohenstaufen, Jebenhausen and Bodelshofen, where lodging runs through private hosts. Solid boots, rain gear, GPX — and the beds sorted beforehand.

An Emperor Before the Apostle

Four St James sites lie on these 135 kilometres, and the charters behind them are as dry as you could wish. The Jakobuskirche of Bodelshofen, kilometre 108.4, appears „1275 im Liber decimationis (Kreuzzugszehnt) als selbstständige Kirche mit Pfarrer" — in the tax register of the Diocese of Konstanz that recorded the tithe for the crusade. Whoever pays tax exists; that is the hardest evidence on the whole route, older than any devotional tale. The hamlet itself is first named in 1268, a manor of the Dukes of Teck, owned by the Barons von Palm since 1740, and according to the regional press once functioned as a pilgrim hostel. The Bargau chapel „zu den Heiligen Jakobus, Bernhard und Drei Königen" is documented in 1455, raised to parish church in 1471/72, destroyed in 1638; the present neo-Romanesque building was consecrated on 23 October 1911 — a 16th-century sacrament house survives from its predecessor. And at the Hohenrechberg a charter of Heinrich von Rechberg from 1424 is taken as the oldest evidence of the pilgrimage, whose miraculous image, a terracotta from the mid-14th century, probably came to honour in the plague years around 1348/49. No St James, but pilgrims — on exactly this line.

The fourth site is the one with the twist. On the Hohenstaufen a church of St. Jakob was built in the late 15th century. In 1833 parish priest Eduard Keller founded the Hohenstaufenverein, which reshaped the church „ab 1859 zu einem nationalen Geschichtsdenkmal umgestaltete" — into a national historical monument — and ever since it has been called Barbarossakirche St. Jakobus, after Emperor Frederick I, whose ancestral castle lies in ruins on the summit above. A Barbarossa wall painting on a bricked-up north door is attested through the „erste erhaltene Beschreibung … von 1656", the earliest surviving description, and was removed in 1891 when the door was reopened; in 1932 the Turnerschaft Hohenstaufia Tübingen donated a choir window with Barbarossa, imperial eagle and Staufer arms. In the 19th century an emperor was placed before the pilgrim patron's name. The double name preserves the conflict to this day, and whoever comes across from the Kaltes Feld sees the church from far off: the only St James church we know whose patronage was overwritten by national monument politics.

And then the line itself is young — we say so. The route came into being in the mid-2000s — in 2006 „von Ehrenamtlichen eines Gesundheitstags", by volunteers from a health day, says one source; „Im Kreis Esslingen wurden die Jakobswege im Jahr 2004 wiederbelebt und in Göppingen im Jahr 2008", says the other. The Initiative Jakobsweg Göppingen still organises its 66 kilometres around five health themes arranged as a hand: thumb sport, index finger faith, middle finger nature, ring finger daily bread, little finger medicine — with exercise stations, Kneipp basins and herb gardens along the route, and the most honest sentence an operator can write: „wie das Leben verändert sich auch der Weg", like life, the route changes too. There is no documentary evidence that today's line follows a medieval pilgrim corridor; but the junctions are old and the neighbours dated — Nürnberg–Ulm 1996, the Fränkisch-Schwäbischer Jakobsweg 1999, Rothenburg–Rottenburg on St James's Day 2004. Here it wasn't a diocese that endowed a pilgrim route but a health day. The churches were already there. They only had to be joined up.

Highlights Along the Way

• Abbey church of Neresheim — Balthasar Neumann's late work: foundation stone 1750, dome frescoes by Martin Knoller 1770–1775, consecrated 1792 after 45 years of building; the seven domes were not built in masonry but carpentered in timber. Abbey „gegründet … 1095 durch die Grafen von Dillingen-Kyburg", empty for over a century after secularisation, resettled 1919/20; today four monks and one postulant (as of August 2026).
• Volkmarsberg — 743.6 m, juniper heath protected since 1928, around 70 hectares of nature reserve since 1938, concrete tower of 1930 with 104 steps; the Mutterbuche, a landmark beech for a century, fell in November 2018.
• Rosenstein ruin above Heubach — castle ruin on the Alb escarpment with views over the town into the Ostalb.
• Jakobuskirche Bargau (St. Jakobus der Ältere) — documented as a chapel in 1455, present building consecrated 1911, 16th-century sacrament house; pilgrim stamp at the large scallop shell in the churchyard, inside a painting by Sieger Köder: „Ich bin der Weg".
• Pilgrim hostel Alte Schule, Bargau — schoolhouse over a hundred years old, converted by Brigitta and Otto Wanner into eight accessible apartments, registered stamp point; „Jeder Gast bringt seine eigene Geschichte mit".
• Kaltes Feld — 777 m, highest point of the route, glider field and Reiterleskapelle; the Fränkisch-Schwäbischer Jakobsweg calls the „Albaufstieg zwischen Bargau und dem Bargauer Kreuz" its toughest stretch.
• Pilgrimage church of St. Maria, Hohenrechberg — charter of 1424 as the oldest pilgrimage evidence, stone chapel 1488, baroque building with foundation stone on 9 July 1686, miraculous image from the mid-14th century; 600 years of pilgrimage were celebrated in 2024.
• Barbarossakirche St. Jakobus, Hohenstaufen — built as St. Jakob in the late 15th century, national historical monument and imperial name from 1859; above it the ruin of the Staufer ancestral castle.
• Chestnut avenue and Oberholz — avenue of 1909 and Celtic burial mounds, both stations of the Göppinger Jakobsweg.
• Jewish Museum Jebenhausen — start of the operator's stage to Schlierbach, in the village's former Protestant church.
• Jakobuskirche Bodelshofen — 1275 in the Liber decimationis, 15th-century frescoes, stained glass 1953–1998; closed except for services because of vandalism, the stamp sits in a wooden letterbox on the outside wall.
• Martinskirche Neckartailfingen — Romanesque, completed around 1111 according to dendrochronology of its roof beams, famous for its leaning tower; pilgrim book and stamp from 9:00, open until 16:00 in winter and 18:00 in summer.
• Neckar bridge Neckartailfingen — six-arched sandstone bridge of 1847, in 1945 the only Neckar crossing not blown up.

How Pilgrims Reach This Route

The classic feeder comes from Franconia. Neresheim is a stage finish on the Jakobsweg Nürnberg–Ulm, set up by the Fränkische St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft in 1996: 213 kilometres in ten stages, the same yellow shell on blue. Its seventh stage is called „Nördlingen – Kloster Neresheim", 23.5 kilometres with 392 metres of ascent, from the rim of the Ries over the Niederhaus castle ruin and the Christgarten monastery ruin in the Kartäusertal up onto the Alb. Whoever arrives there decides at the abbey gate: on via Giengen to Ulm — or west across the Alb to the Neckar. Two further junctions lie mid-route: at Bargau the Fränkisch-Schwäbischer Jakobsweg crosses on its way from Würzburg via Rothenburg to Ulm (270 kilometres, revived 1999), and at Bodelshofen the route meets the eastern variant of the Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Rottenburg coming from Plochingen.

If you only want to walk this section, take the train to Aalen and bus 106 to Neresheim, around 35 minutes; Neresheim has no railway station — the Härtsfeld-Museumsbahn runs as a heritage line. You get your pilgrim stamp at the Klosterbuchhandlung, the abbey bookshop (daily 11:00–11:45 and 13:00–16:30). For the stamps en route the Initiative Jakobsweg Göppingen publishes its own Stempelheft, a stamp booklet expressly covering the stamp points between Neresheim and Tübingen; a pilgrim passport for the onward journey you order in advance from one of the German St James societies — no dedicated issuing point for this section is documented.

Continuing the Pilgrimage?

At Neckartailfingen our section ends, not the route — and you're already standing on the next one. Here the western variant via Esslingen and the eastern variant via Plochingen and Bodelshofen of the Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Rottenburg reunite — a route laid out by a volunteer team from Winnenden in 2003 and opened on St James's Day 2004. From the Martinskirche it's 26 kilometres via Altenriet, Bebenhausen and its monastery to Tübingen and another 12 to Rottenburg am Neckar — add those 38 and you have the pilgrim guide's 174 kilometres complete. At Rottenburg Rottenburg – Freiburg – Héricourt takes over, the Burgunderweg through the Black Forest to Freiburg and across the Rhine to Héricourt, where Héricourt – Beaune continues; as a southern alternative from Rottenburg the Neckar-Baar-Jakobsweg follows the Neckar valley up to the Baar.

If you want south rather than west, turn round already in Neresheim: the Jakobsweg Nürnberg–Ulm continues to Ulm, where the Oberschwäbischer Jakobsweg takes over, leading via Konstanz to Lake Constance and into Switzerland, where the Via Jacobi carries on. Both directions meet somewhere in France and finally on the Camino Francés. From Neresheim to the apostle's tomb via Rottenburg, Burgundy and the Pyrenees is roughly 2,500 kilometres. The first 135 will then be behind you — plus three St James churches older than the route that connects them.

Preparation & Practicalities

Best time: April to October, ideally May/June and September — that is what the operator of the Göppingen section itself recommends. On the Alb plateau spring stays cool longer and it's windier than in the Neckar valley; after rain the grassy sections between Neresheim and Oberkochen turn muddy and the descent into the Kocher valley slippery. Waymarking and navigation: „ein gelbes Strahlenbündel (stilisierte Jakobsmuschel) auf blauem Grund", the focal point pointing towards Santiago, plus larger direction boards; between Neresheim and Bargau partly marked jointly with the Albsteig. The operator warns itself: „wie das Leben verändert sich auch der Weg" — download the GPX track and plan stages and lodging most easily straight in the Camino Ninja app; the Initiative Jakobsweg Göppingen provides its tracks as GPX and KML. Stamps: Klosterbuchhandlung Neresheim, Jakobuskirche Bargau (at the shell in the churchyard), Jakobuskirche Bodelshofen (wooden letterbox outside), Martinskirche Neckartailfingen (from 9:00); plus the Initiative's Stempelheft for Neresheim–Tübingen. Language: German, Swabian dialect included. Water: cemeteries and inns in every village; long forest stretches without refreshment on the Albuch plateau between Oberkochen and Heubach.

Accommodation: reliable beds in Oberkochen, Heubach, Bargau (the Wanners' pilgrim hostel Alte Schule, eight accessible apartments), Göppingen, Wendlingen and Nürtingen as well as Neckartailfingen; the Franz-Keller-Haus on the Göppingen section is a simple donation-based lodging. Hohenstaufen, Jebenhausen and Bodelshofen are villages and hamlets — there lodging runs through private hosts placed voluntarily by the Jakobsweg-Team, which is constantly looking for more; accommodation also via Pilgerunterkunft.de and the pilgrim guide. Neresheim Abbey: the monastery guesthouse is closed — „zum 30. November 2021 ist der Pachtvertrag mit der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart … ausgelaufen", the lease with the diocese expired, and since spring 2022 refugees have lived there. What remains is the guest stay in the enclosure: men over 18, single nights for Camino pilgrims expressly possible, register at least two working days ahead, attendance at Mass, midday prayer, Vespers and both meals is compulsory, Lauds at 5:00. Women need another bed in Neresheim. Packing list: solid boots, rain gear, offline maps, power bank, stamp booklet, cash for donation boxes.

What the Route Costs

This route doesn't reckon in price lists but in donations — and you should know that before you set off. Neresheim Abbey asks „eine angemessene Spende", an appropriate donation, for the guest stay; whoever works around four hours a day in the monastery garden can be exempted. The Franz-Keller-Haus runs on donations, and the pilgrim hostel Alte Schule in Bargau expressly keeps food and bed cheap, also for guests not travelling for religious reasons. The operators publish no concrete amounts, and we invent none (as of September 2026). The rest is the normal German market: inns and guesthouses in Oberkochen, Heubach, Göppingen, Nürtingen and Neckartailfingen at a general order of 50–90 € for a single room with breakfast, private lodging via the Jakobsweg-Team below that; churches free, Volkmarsberg tower free, Jewish Museum Jebenhausen charges admission.

Realistic daily budget: 25–40 € frugal with donation hostel or private lodging and supermarket; 60–90 € mid-range with guesthouse and a hot meal at the inn; 110–150 € comfortable with hotels in Göppingen and Nürtingen. For six stages that's roughly 150–250 € frugal on the ground, plus travel Aalen–Neresheim and the buses at the end. A one-off worth having is the pilgrim guide „Der Jakobsweg von Neresheim bis Rottenburg" (2024 edition, ISBN 978-3-9812350-4-3) with elevation profiles, accommodation and the stations of the Göppingen health trail. Two ways to save: ask the donation hostels early — and there are supermarkets in every stage town, but none between Oberkochen and Heubach.

Getting There

To the start (Neresheim): Neresheim has no regular railway station — the Härtsfeld-Museumsbahn is a heritage line. Take the train to Aalen (Stuttgart–Aalen or Ulm–Aalen) and then bus 106 to Neresheim, around 35 minutes. If you walk the feeder, you arrive on the Jakobsweg Nürnberg–Ulm via Nördlingen (23.5 kilometres to the abbey); Nördlingen has rail links to Aalen and Donauwörth.

En route and from the finish (Neckartailfingen): Oberkochen is on the Brenztalbahn Aalen–Ulm, Heubach and Bargau you reach via Schwäbisch Gmünd (Remsbahn) and bus, Göppingen is on the Filstalbahn Stuttgart–Ulm, Wendlingen has the S1 S-Bahn every 30 minutes to Stuttgart — the route splits nicely into weekends, division point Bargau or Göppingen. The end needs a plan: Neckartailfingen no longer has a railway station — the halt existed until 1976. Today buses 188 to Nürtingen, 190 to Aich and 75 to Bernhausen/Degerloch run; from Nürtingen trains go to Stuttgart or Tübingen. If you walk through to Rottenburg, there's a rail link there via Tübingen.

• Rail Germany: bahn.de — Aalen, Oberkochen, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Göppingen, Wendlingen, Nürtingen
• Regional transport Baden-Württemberg: bwegt.de — timetables and tickets statewide
• Stuttgart transport network: vvs.de — S1 Wendlingen, buses 188, 190 and 75 from Neckartailfingen
• Ostalbkreis: ostalbmobil.de — bus 106 Aalen–Neresheim
• Operator Göppinger Jakobsweg, GPX, stamp booklet: jakobsweg-gp.de — Initiative Jakobsweg Göppingen
• Neresheim Abbey: abtei-neresheim.de — pilgrim stamp, guest stays, opening hours
• Pilgrim lodging: pilgerunterkunft.de — accommodation along the German Caminos