Steigerwälder Jakobsweg

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Bamberg, St. Jakob on the Jakobsberg (274 m) / Uffenheim (341 m), connection to the Fränkisch-Schwäbischer Jakobsweg
• Length: 82.0 km
• Duration: 4 stages, avg. 20.5 km (Camino Ninja division); the operator divides it into three stages (Schlüsselfeld, Scheinfeld, Uffenheim)
• Elevation: ↗ 941 m / ↘ 874 m — 11 meters of ascent per kilometer, low mountain range without a real climb; the longest ascents lead to the Einsiedelei and the Iffigheimer Berg
• Highest point: 467 m at km 72.1 on the Iffigheimer Berg (summit 482 m with an observation tower of 1902 right next to it); lowest point 260 m in the Aurach valley at Stegaurach (km 4.7)
• Stages: 4 — Camino Ninja system; deliberately short first stage (13.5 km), longest stage Scheinfeld–Uffenheim (29.4 km), can be split at Markt Bibart
• Landscape: Bamberg foreland, Aurach valley, Steigerwald with the Schwarzenberger Wald and the Limpurger Forst, Weinparadies Franken around Weigenheim, Gollachgau around Uffenheim
• Operator: Fränkische St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft Würzburg e. V.; the underlying trails are maintained by the Steigerwaldklub (founded 1901, some 2,500 km of hiking trails)
• Waymarking: white scallop on a blue ground, also serving as a direction sign; underneath, from Grasmannsdorf the Kunigundenweg (twin-towered church) and from the Iffigheimer Berg the Johann-Ludwig-Klarmann-Weg (red spoon)
• Traces of St. James: St. Jakob Bamberg, collegiate foundation 1071, high altars consecrated 1109; St. Jakobus major in Altmannshausen near Markt Bibart, patronage first documented 1420, present building 1611/12 — the only St. James church between Bamberg and Uffenheim
• Accommodation: no pilgrim hostel on the route; inns and guesthouses in Burgebrach, Schlüsselfeld, Burghaslach, Scheinfeld, Markt Bibart and Uffenheim — book ahead in the Steigerwald
• Connecting routes: in Bamberg the Jakobsweg Erfurt–Nürnberg arrives and continues to Nuremberg; in Uffenheim the route flows into the Fränkisch-Schwäbischen Jakobsweg (Würzburg–Rothenburg–Ulm); in Rothenburg, 26.5 km further on, the Mittelfränkische Jakobsweg, the Jakobsweg Main-Taubertal, the Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Rottenburg and the Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Speyer converge
• Connection to Santiago: via Uffenheim – Rothenburg – Rottenburg – Freiburg – Héricourt or Rothenburg – Speyer into the French network; or via Ulm and Lake Constance into Switzerland
• Best time: May to October; September and October are the finest — forest stages dry, grape harvest in Weigenheim; in winter there is nowhere to stop for refreshment

Overview

This route begins in front of a church that a bishop endowed in 1071 for twenty-five canons, and ends in front of a hospital whose founder had millet porridge handed out to the townspeople every year. In between lie 82.0 kilometers of Steigerwald: first the Bamberg foreland with the view back to the Altenburg, then Burgebrach with emperor and empress in the choir, the walls and towers of Schlüsselfeld, a long climb through the Schwarzenberger Wald to the Einsiedelei, Scheinfeld beneath its castle — and after that twenty kilometers of forest without a village, until on the Iffigheimer Berg the trees stop, the vines of Weigenheim begin and Uffenheim with its towers lies in the Gollachgau. One kilometer further you are standing on the Fränkisch-Schwäbischer Jakobsweg, and Rothenburg is a day away.

To be honest, this is not an old pilgrim route but a clever one: the Fränkische St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft joined two long-distance trails of the Steigerwaldklub — the Kunigundenweg and the Klarmann-Weg — into a north–south connection and laid the white scallop over them, because pilgrims from Bamberg were walking this line anyway, long before it was a Way of St. James. No medieval evidence, a single St. James church on the route, no opening date written down anywhere. In return, waymarking that works, a forest in which you meet nobody for days, and the shortest way from the World Heritage city into the great South German network. That is little legend and a lot of usefulness — for a pilgrim route, not a bad mix.

Other Names

The route is called Steigerwälder Jakobsweg or, in full, Steigerwälder Jakobsweg Bamberg – Uffenheim — that is how the Fränkische St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft lists it, how it appears on the hiking portals, and how we call it too. The Heimatverein Burgebrach sums it up in one sentence: „Dieser Jakobsweg führt quer durch den Steigerwald, beginnt an der Jakobskirche in Bamberg, durchläuft die Orte Burgebrach, Schlüsselfeld, Burghaslach, Scheinfeld und Markt Bibart und findet in Uffenheim Anschluss an den großen Fränkisch-Schwäbischen-Jakobsweg.“ (This Way of St. James runs straight through the Steigerwald, begins at the Jakobskirche in Bamberg, passes through Burgebrach, Schlüsselfeld, Burghaslach, Scheinfeld and Markt Bibart and connects in Uffenheim with the great Fränkisch-Schwäbischer Jakobsweg.) Under your feet it carries two other names: Kunigundenweg (Bamberg – Aub, 110 km, marker K1 with the twin-towered church) and Johann-Ludwig-Klarmann-Weg (Haßfurt – Uffenheim, 98 km, red spoon), both by the Steigerwaldklub.

One confusion deserves a sentence: until September 2026 we listed Erfurt–Rothenburg as a single route, which from Bamberg used exactly this path. Now the chain is divided — the Jakobsweg Erfurt–Nürnberg runs from Bamberg south into the Regnitz valley, and the Steigerwälder Jakobsweg is the western fork. Anyone who finds old descriptions of „Bamberg–Rothenburg“ is looking at this route plus the 26.5 kilometers of the Fränkisch-Schwäbischer Jakobsweg from Uffenheim.

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

Ideal if you want to get from Bamberg to Rothenburg or further south and prefer the forest to the river valley: four days of Steigerwald, then Rothenburg on the fifth. Ideal if you are looking for quiet — between Rosenbirkach and Scheinfeld and between Markt Bibart and Weigenheim you walk twenty kilometers each through forest in which you are more likely to meet a forester than a pilgrim. Ideal if you like Franconia in miniature: half-timbering in Burgebrach, a town wall in Schlüsselfeld, a Renaissance castle with a Balthasar Neumann church below it in Scheinfeld, Silvaner in Weigenheim. And ideal if you need a four-day trial run for longer routes — with an ICE stop at the start and a railway station at the finish.

To be honest, though, it is not for you if you are looking for St. James: apart from the Bamberg Jakobskirche and the small St. Jakobus major in Altmannshausen there are no traces of St. James here, the patron saints are called Vitus, Giles, Maurice and John. Not for you if you rely on hostels — there are none, you sleep in inns and pay inn prices. Not for you if you want to break off along the way: between Bamberg and Markt Bibart lie 56.8 kilometers without a railway station on the route, Burgebrach, Schlüsselfeld, Burghaslach and Scheinfeld hang on the bus alone. And not for you if you need views — the Steigerwald shows you them in two places, at Wildensorg and on the Kapellberg above Weigenheim, in between it is forest.

Route & Landscape

Three landscapes. Bamberg foreland and Aurach valley (km 0–30): From St. Jakob on the Jakobsberg (274 m) west and uphill to Wildensorg (296 m) — the view back over Bamberg and across to the Altenburg is the best of the whole route — and down into the Aurach valley to Stegaurach (km 4.5): 260 meters, the lowest point, and it comes as early as kilometer 4.7. In gentle waves via Grasmannsdorf (km 11.4, from here the twin-towered church of the Kunigundenweg) to Burgebrach (km 13.5, 268 m) with St. Vitus and the Mount of Olives group on the church square, then via Dippach (km 17.7, 300 m) through fields and patches of woodland to Schlüsselfeld (km 29.9, 299 m) with the walls and towers of the Würzburg prince-bishops. Steigerwald (km 30–72): Down to Burghaslach (km 34.1) with the church of St. Giles, past the castle and the old bridge, then Unterrimbach, Kirchrimbach (km 38.4, St. Maurice with its half-timbered tower) and Rosenbirkach (km 40.5, 339 m) — and the forest begins. For eight kilometers the route climbs through the Schwarzenberger Wald to the Einsiedelei (km 48.8, 422 m), an isolated farmstead in a forest clearing, and drops to Scheinfeld (km 52.6, 316 m) beneath Schwarzenberg Castle. Via Markt Bibart (km 56.8, 310 m, railway) into the Limpurger Forst: some twenty kilometers of forest without a village, past Altmannshausen with its St. James church, until at kilometer 72.1 the highest point, 467 meters, is reached on the Iffigheimer Berg — from here the red spoon leads. Weinparadies and Gollachgau (km 72–82): The forest ends, the landscape tips over: Weigenheim (km 77.6, 335 m), the gateway to the Weinparadies, with vines in the „Roter Berg“ and „Paradies“ vineyards, over the Kapellberg with the Paradiesstein down to Uffenheim (km 82.0, 341 m) with town wall, Spitalkirche and railway station. Surface: forest and forestry tracks, muddy after rain, field tracks in the foreland and the wine country, asphalt through the villages.

The elevation is fairly distributed: 941 meters of ascent, 874 of descent, eleven per kilometer, no climb of more than a hundred meters at a stretch. What makes the route strenuous nonetheless is the length of the forest sections — between Rosenbirkach and Scheinfeld and between Markt Bibart and Weigenheim there is no inn, no village, no fountain we can vouch for. Two liters of water and a packed lunch from Schlüsselfeld or Scheinfeld are not a recommendation here but equipment.

Stages, Terrain, and Difficulty

We divide the route into 4 stages averaging 20.5 kilometers — Camino Ninja system, every stage town on the chain, every one with somewhere to eat and sleep. The operator and the hiking portals divide it into three (Bamberg–Schlüsselfeld 30, Schlüsselfeld–Scheinfeld 23, Scheinfeld–Uffenheim 28); we have split the first stage at Burgebrach, because Bamberg deserves half a day and because 30 kilometers on the first day make nobody happy. The kilometers come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to the 82.0 kilometers of our route data. Difficulty: moderate — no mountains, but long forest stretches without supplies and a long final stage.

1. Bamberg – Burgebrach (13.5 km) — St. Jakob (collegiate foundation 1071, altar consecration 1109), Wildensorg (view of the Altenburg), Aurach valley at Stegaurach (260 m, lowest point), Grasmannsdorf (start of the Kunigundenweg); St. Vitus Burgebrach with Henry and Kunigunde in the choir, Mount of Olives group, town hall of 1720. Deliberately short.
2. Burgebrach – Schlüsselfeld (16.4 km) — Dippach (300 m), fields and patches of woodland, steady up and down; Schlüsselfeld: founding charter 1336, walls and towers of around 1480 and 1590. The least conspicuous stage — and the one with the most beds.
3. Schlüsselfeld – Scheinfeld (22.7 km) — Burghaslach (St. Ägidius 1718–1747, Kneipp basin on the Haslach), Unterrimbach, Kirchrimbach, Rosenbirkach; eight kilometers of Schwarzenberger Wald to the Einsiedelei (422 m, km 48.8); Scheinfeld with Schwarzenberg Castle and Neumann's abbey church. First long forest stretch, few views, plenty of quiet.
4. Scheinfeld – Uffenheim (29.4 km) — Markt Bibart (km 56.8, railway), Altmannshausen (St. Jakobus major), Limpurger Forst, highest point 467 m on the Iffigheimer Berg (km 72.1, from here the red spoon), Weigenheim in the Weinparadies (km 77.6), Kapellberg; Uffenheim, Spitalkirche. The longest stage, scenically the finest — and the only one with wine at the end.

Variant, total still 82.0: soften the long fourth stage by walking to Markt Bibart on the third day (Schlüsselfeld – Markt Bibart 26.9 · Markt Bibart – Uffenheim 25.2). If you only have a weekend, start in Markt Bibart and walk the 25.2 kilometers through the forest into the Weinparadies — railway station at both ends. We have calculated the elevation per stage from the point heights of the chain; in reality it is somewhat higher.

A Way of St. James that borrows two hiking trails

The Steigerwälder Jakobsweg has no waymark of its own in the classic sense. What you see on the trees is a scallop above a twin-towered church and later a scallop above a red spoon: from Grasmannsdorf the route uses the Kunigundenweg of the Steigerwaldklub, from the Iffigheimer Berg the Johann-Ludwig-Klarmann-Weg. The club, founded in 1901, keeps some 2,500 kilometers of hiking trails in shape; the St. James society joined two of them into a north–south line and laid the white scallop over them. The twin-towered church is Bamberg Cathedral, and the trail's namesake is an empress: Kunigunde, born around 978 in Luxembourg, crowned queen in Paderborn in 1002 and empress in Rome in 1014, co-founder of the Bishopric of Bamberg established in 1007. About a third of the charters of her husband Henry II name her as co-author. After his death she entered her convent of Kaufungen in 1025 as a simple nun; in 1200 she was canonized. The legend every Franconian knows: she is said to have walked barefoot over red-hot ploughshares to clear herself of the accusation of adultery — and remained unharmed. In Burgebrach she and Henry stand in the choir of St. Vitus, attributed to the workshop of Veit Stoß; so you are walking the trail of an empress who is waiting for you in the church choir.

The red spoon belongs to a collector of legends: Johann Ludwig Klarmann wrote, with Karl Spiegel, the „Sagen und Skizzen aus dem Steigerwald“, the standard work on the legends of the Steigerwald — to be honest, that is all we know about him; we have found no reliable record of his dates anywhere. Fittingly, the finest legend of this route is one that isn't: the Einsiedelei at kilometer 48.8. The name promises a hermit's cell in the woods, a hermit, a spring. In fact the Einsiedelei is an isolated farmstead in a clearing of the Schwarzenberger Wald, first recorded in a land register in 1834, incorporated into Scheinfeld in 1972 — and about the name the local history says drily: „Der Ortsname ist ein Phantasiename ohne irgendeinen historischen Bezug.“ (The place name is a fantasy name without any historical reference.) So you climb eight kilometers up to a legend that never happened. We rather like that.

To be honest, the St. James balance of this route is thin: one Jakobskirche at the start, one small St. James church in Altmannshausen (patronage 1420, Echter building 1611/12), otherwise Vitus, Giles, Maurice, John. Nobody can prove medieval pilgrim traffic on this line, and an opening year for the Way of St. James is written down nowhere — all that is documented is that pilgrims walked it before it was marked. That does not make it worse. It makes it what most German Ways of St. James are: a good idea by people who know where the paths lie and who have the patience to screw on scallops.

Highlights Along the Way

• St. Jakob Bamberg (start) — collegiate foundation established in 1071 by Bishop Hermann I for 25 canons, high altars consecrated in 1109 under Bishop Otto; dissolved 1803, saved from demolition 1805, Franciscans since 1852; figure of St. James on the facade and in the high altar. The only almost entirely Romanesque church in the World Heritage city.
• Wildensorg (km 2.1) — the view back over Bamberg and to the Altenburg, the best view of the route.
• St. Vitus Burgebrach (km 13.5) — first mentioned in 1154, present building from 1454, baroquized around 1731 under Abbot Wilhelm Söllner of Ebrach; Emperor Henry and Empress Kunigunde in the choir (attributed to the workshop of Veit Stoß), late Gothic Mount of Olives group in a hexagonal sandstone structure, stone cross 1706, town hall 1720, former prince-bishops' hunting lodge.
• Schlüsselfeld (km 29.9) — founded in 1336 as „Slüzzelfeld“ by Konrad von Schlüsselberg, part of Würzburg from 1397; walls and towers of the prince-bishops Scherenberg (around 1480) and Julius Echter (around 1590); part of Upper Franconia since 1978.
• St. Ägidius Burghaslach (km 34.1) — first church attested 1136, present building 1718–1747; beneath the floor the foundation of the first stone church with 14 grave slabs; once the mother parish for 18 churches and chapels. Kneipp basin on the Haslach.
• Einsiedelei (km 48.8, 422 m) — isolated farmstead in a forest clearing, first recorded 1834, incorporated into Scheinfeld 1972; „Der Ortsname ist ein Phantasiename ohne irgendeinen historischen Bezug.“ (The place name is a fantasy name without any historical reference.)
• Schwarzenberg Castle above Scheinfeld (km 52.6) — castle attested 1150, acquired from 1405 by Erkinger von Seinsheim, ancestral seat of the Princes of Schwarzenberg; after the fire of 1607 rebuilt to plans by Elias Holl, castle church consecrated 1616, Black Tower (46 m) of 1670; guided tour Sundays 2 pm, €3 (as of September 2026). Below, the Franciscan abbey church 1732–1735 to plans by Balthasar Neumann; Scheinfeld town charter 1415.
• St. Jakobus major, Altmannshausen (near Markt Bibart) — St. James church first documented 1420, present building 1611/12 under Julius Echter, consecrated 1613; tower destroyed by a hurricane in 1750, raised 1801–1803. The only St. James church of the route.
• Iffigheimer Berg (km 72.1) — highest point of the route at 467 m on the forest shoulder, summit 482 m with a 27-meter observation tower of 1902; here the waymarking changes from the Kunigundenweg to the red spoon.
• Weinparadies Weigenheim (km 77.6) — winegrowing for some 750 years, established by monks from Heilbronn in the „Roter Berg“ and „Paradies“ vineyards; 18 hectares of vines, Paradiesstein and viewing platform on the Kapellberg.
• Spitalkirche Uffenheim (finish) — endowed around 1360 by Gerlach von Hohenlohe „extra muros“ (outside the walls), together with a hospital into which everyone had to bring their own bed; since 1360 the „Hirsebreikerwa“ (millet porridge fair) on June 29, which earned the founder the nickname „Breigraf“ (porridge count) — discontinued 1796, revived 1981. Uffenheim first mentioned 1103, town 1349, walls around 1340.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

Most come by train to Bamberg — ICE stop and S-Bahn from Nuremberg — and walk the half hour from the station through the island town up to the Jakobsberg. Those who arrive on foot come from the north: the Jakobsweg Erfurt–Nürnberg reaches Bamberg after 199.6 kilometers from Erfurt Cathedral via the Rennsteig, Coburg and Vierzehnheiligen and forks here — south into the Regnitz valley it continues itself to Nuremberg, west into the forest goes this route. So whoever wants to get from Erfurt to Rothenburg changes scallops in Bamberg at St. Jakob and is there in five days.

From the east nobody arrives in Bamberg whom we could show on the map; the city's brotherhood looks after the route to Nuremberg, not this one. Thinking backwards: whoever unrolls the route from the south comes via the Fränkisch-Schwäbischen Jakobsweg from Würzburg (Uffenheim lies at its kilometer 53.5) or from Rothenburg to Uffenheim and walks the 82 kilometers to Bamberg against the scallop — the waymarking is set only in the direction of Uffenheim, but with a GPS track it works all the same.

Continue the pilgrimage?

Yes, and straight away: one kilometer beyond Uffenheim station you are standing on the Fränkisch-Schwäbischen Jakobsweg of the Fränkische St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft, 272 kilometers from Würzburg to Ulm, and follow it 26.5 kilometers via Endsee and Steinsfeld into the Tauber valley to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, beneath the west choir of St. Jakob to Riemenschneider's Holy Blood Altar. Rothenburg is the hub: to the southwest the Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Rottenburg via Schwäbisch Hall to the Neckar and on as Rottenburg–Freiburg–Héricourt into the French network; to the west the Jakobsweg Rothenburg–Speyer (184.6 km) with the Nordroute through the Odenwald to the Rhine.

To the south you stay on the Fränkisch-Schwäbischer: via Crailsheim and the Ostalb to Ulm, still some 192 kilometers from Rothenburg, where the Oberschwäbische Jakobsweg takes over to Konstanz, and on Lake Constance the classic route through Switzerland begins. And whoever sees this route merely as a feeder is right: from Bamberg to Santiago it is still a good 2,400 kilometers via Rothenburg and France. These 82 are the part in which you meet nobody — enjoy that, it will not come again like this.

Preparation & Practical Information

Pilgrim passport and stamps. You get the passport online from the Fränkische St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft Würzburg, from the Sankt-Jakobus-Bruderschaft Bamberg or for €6.50 at the Pilgrim Center St. Jakob in Nuremberg (as of September 2026). Stamps are available at St. Jakob Bamberg, in the parish offices and inns along the route and in Uffenheim; a continuous stamp network for this route is not documented — ask in the churches.

Guidebook and navigation. There is no dedicated guidebook; the society describes the route on jakobus-franken.de, the hiking portals list it in three stages with GPX. The waymarking is good — white scallop on blue, which also shows the direction, plus twin-towered church and red spoon —, but set only in the direction of Uffenheim; a GPS track is still sensible in the forest between Markt Bibart and Weigenheim, because forestry tracks look alike. Water: in the two big forest sections (Rosenbirkach–Scheinfeld, Markt Bibart–Weigenheim) there is nowhere to stop, carry two liters, buy your lunch in Schlüsselfeld and Scheinfeld. The Kneipp basin on the Haslach in Burghaslach is a welcome facility after 22 kilometers.

Booking, shoes, season. Book ahead in Burgebrach, Schlüsselfeld and Scheinfeld — they are small places with few beds, and on summer weekends they are full. Shoes: forestry tracks, deep after rain; trail runners suffice in summer, in autumn better low hiking shoes with a good tread. Season May to October; in winter there is no refreshment and little light, in high summer the forest is an advantage. Best month: September to mid-October — harvest in the Weinparadies, dry tracks, castle tour in Scheinfeld on Sundays at 2 pm (€3, during school holidays, because a school occupies the castle; as of September 2026). Luggage transfer: no provider known.

What the journey will cost you

To be honest, this is a route without hostel prices, because there are no hostels. Documented (as of September 2026): pilgrim passport €6.50, castle tour Scheinfeld €3, town tour Uffenheim €2 (first Sunday April–October, 2 pm). For the inns and guesthouses in Burgebrach, Schlüsselfeld, Scheinfeld and Uffenheim neither operator nor towns publish rates; reckon with €40 to 70 in a single room with breakfast, more in Bamberg — orders of magnitude from comparable Franconian routes, not price lists. Youth hostel only in Bamberg (DJH membership €22.50 a year for adults).

Food: €20 to 30 a day with dinner at the inn, €10 to 15 self-catering; Franconian food is good, the portions large, and in Weigenheim a glass of wine costs less than in Würzburg. Realistic daily budget with inn and one hot meal: €55 to 90 per person, so €220 to 360 for four stages plus travel there and back — with the Deutschland-Ticket practically included.

Getting Here

To the start (Bamberg): Bamberg is an ICE stop on the Berlin – Leipzig – Nuremberg – Munich axis and the terminus of the S-Bahn S1 from Nuremberg (hourly); from the station to the Jakobsberg it is a good two kilometers through the island town and the hill town, past the cathedral and the Alte Hofhaltung — an opening for which you should allow an hour.

From the finish (Uffenheim) and along the way: Uffenheim has a station on the Würzburg – Ansbach – Treuchtlingen line (regional trains to Würzburg and Ansbach, with connections to Nuremberg), plus the VGN bus line 109; Markt Bibart (km 56.8) has a step-free station on the Würzburg – Nuremberg line via Neustadt an der Aisch. In between, the gap: between Bamberg and Markt Bibart, 56.8 kilometers, there is no railway station on the route — Burgebrach, Schlüsselfeld, Burghaslach and Scheinfeld are reached only by the buses of the districts of Bamberg and Neustadt/Aisch–Bad Windsheim, on Sundays hardly at all. If you want to walk the route over two weekends, plan the first to Schlüsselfeld with a bus back to Bamberg and the second from Markt Bibart.

• Rail: bahn.de — Deutsche Bahn, ICE Bamberg, regional trains Markt Bibart and Uffenheim
• Operator: jakobus-franken.de — Fränkische St. Jakobus-Gesellschaft Würzburg, Steigerwälder Jakobsweg, pilgrim passport
• Underlying trails: steigerwaldklub.de — Kunigundenweg and Johann-Ludwig-Klarmann-Weg
• Schwarzenberg Castle: stadt-scheinfeld.de — guided tours, history
• Finish: uffenheim.de — Spitalkirche, town walk, accommodation