Trier – Vézelay

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Trier, St. Matthias (Germany) → Vézelay (Burgundy, France)
• Length: 507.8 km
• Elevation: 6,115 m ascent, 5,996 m descent
• Highest point: 404 m on the Saargau near Borg (km 35.1)
• Stages: 22
• Duration: 3–4 weeks
• Difficulty: moderate – gentle profile, but long days and thin infrastructure beyond Vaucouleurs
• Waymarking: blue European scallop on yellow to the border, yellow scallop on blue through Lorraine; from Chalaines no continuous Camino waymarking
• Best time: April to mid-November

Overview

This route begins at an apostle's tomb and ends at a beginning. In Trier lies Matthias, the only apostle buried north of the Alps – his relics were discovered in 1127, and to this day around 180 walking pilgrimages arrive at his basilica every year. In Vézelay, according to the 12th-century Codex Calixtinus, begins the Via Lemovicensis, one of the four great routes through France: "three saints are to be venerated on the route: Saint Mary Magdalene at Vézelay, Saint Leonard at Noblat, Saint Front at Périgueux." Between the two ends lie 507.8 kilometres – and a route that itself bears no medieval name. It is the modern link between two very old places.

What it has instead is density. At kilometre 47.6 you walk through Schengen, where in 1985 Europe's internal borders were abolished aboard a Moselle boat. At 210 you stand before the gate through which Joan of Arc set out for Chinon in 1429. At 326 before Bernard's abbey of Clairvaux, at 314 beneath de Gaulle's 44-metre cross, at 354 in Renoir's village, at 485 before cave paintings older than any church on the route. And at the village fountain of Chalaines, after 209 kilometres shared with the route to Le Puy, you decide: left to the south, right to Vézelay. From there you walk without waymarks – and fairly alone.

Other Names

There is no French name for this trail, and we would rather say so up front. The Lorraine association's route is called the Chemin Lorrain or Voie de Lorraine and runs from Apach to Langres, not to Vézelay; the Burgundian confraternity looks after the Chemin des Hongrois and the Chemin des Abbayes to Vézelay, both from quite a different direction. What you walk here is the Vézelay variant, which parts from the Chemin des Allemands at Chalaines, and the trail of the guidebook "Jakobsweg Trier – Vézelay" by Martin Simon and Ingrid Retterath. In French you are most likely to meet the long-distance cycle route V56 "Saint-Jacques à vélo via Vézelay", which also links Metz with Vézelay – on its own alignment, for bikes. "Trier – Vézelay" is the name under which we list the route, not an association's title.

Ideal For – and Less So For

This route is for you if you want long distance without crowds and like history as an argument rather than a backdrop. You start at the only apostle's tomb north of the Alps and arrive three weeks later on top of Vézelay; in between lie a language border, three ancient dioceses, two wine regions, a Cistercian mother house and the quietest plateaus of eastern France. If you like transitions, you get a whole chain of them here.

Honestly, though, it is not for you if you want to rely on waymarks. From kilometre 209 there is no continuous chain of scallops, only guidebook, GPS and the occasional GR stripe. The pilgrim infrastructure is thin too: in Lorraine you get the addresses of the volunteer hosts only through the tourist offices and only on presentation of your credencial, further west you book ordinary gîtes and chambres d'hôtes – and in hamlets like Échenay or Bouzancourt you have to phone ahead to find out whether anyone has a bed at all. If you want to fall into a hostel at six in the evening, you are better off on the Camino Francés.

Route & Landscape

The first fifty kilometres are a climb out of the Moselle valley onto the Saargau and back down: Konz, Tawern, Merzkirchen, near Borg the highest point of the whole route at 404 metres – it gets no higher in 507.8 kilometres. Then Perl, Schengen and the border, and the route turns French: Sierck-les-Bains beneath its ducal castle, the empty hill country of the Trois Frontières, Kédange, Vigy – and Metz, whose cathedral the French call the "Lanterne du Bon Dieu". From there the route follows the Moselle south for two days through Ars, Pagny and Dieulouard to Toul, where Saint-Étienne has the second-largest cloister in France.

Beyond Toul the route crosses into the Meuse valley to Vaucouleurs – and then comes the break. At Chalaines the trail parts from the route to Le Puy and turns west: across the sparsely populated Ornois plateau to Gondrecourt and Joinville, through the forests of the Haute-Marne past Colombey-les-Deux-Églises to Clairvaux. From here it turns viney and gentle: the Côte des Bar with Essoyes and Les Riceys, then Burgundy with Tonnerre, Chablis and Auxerre. The last two days follow the Yonne and the Cure through limestone cliffs and caves until Vézelay appears on its hill – you see the basilica long before you are up there.

Stages, Terrain & Difficulty

22 stages averaging 23.1 kilometres. The profile is merciful: 6,115 metres of ascent over 507.8 kilometres is twelve metres per kilometre, and after the Saargau on day two nothing comes that deserves the name of a climb. What is tiring is not the hills but the distances between places – above all on the Ornois plateau and in the Haute-Marne, where you must reckon with lots of forest and little refreshment; Échenay and Bouzancourt are hamlets, where a bed exists only by arrangement, otherwise you split the days differently. Kilometres from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 507.8 km.

1. Trier → Merzkirchen (26.2 km) – From St. Matthias through the Konz stretch of the Moselle valley up onto the Saargau.
2. Merzkirchen → Sierck-les-Bains (24.8 km) – Over the highest point of the route near Borg (404 m), then Perl, Schengen and the border.
3. Sierck-les-Bains → Kédange-sur-Canner (23.2 km) – Away from the river into the quiet hill country of the Pays des Trois Frontières.
4. Kédange-sur-Canner → Vigy (17.7 km) – Short day through fields and orchards.
5. Vigy → Metz (18.3 km) – Gentle approach to the cathedral and the Place Saint-Jacques.
6. Metz → Pagny-sur-Moselle (23.3 km) – South along the Moselle past the vineyards of Ars.
7. Pagny-sur-Moselle → Saint-Georges (26.2 km) – Via Norroy, Montauville and Jezainville to Dieulouard; lodgings also in Pont-à-Mousson.
8. Saint-Georges → Toul (28.7 km) – Longest stage: via Liverdun and Villey-Saint-Étienne into the episcopal city.
9. Toul → Vaucouleurs (21.6 km) – From the Moselle valley into the Meuse valley, Joan of Arc country; at Chalaines the fork.
10. Vaucouleurs → Gondrecourt-le-Château (21.2 km) – The route swings west, the waymarking stays behind.
11. Gondrecourt-le-Château → Échenay (23.3 km) – Across the sparsely populated Ornois plateau; arrange lodging in advance.
12. Échenay → Joinville (15.7 km) – Short day into the Marne valley, with time for the relic of St Joseph in Notre-Dame.
13. Joinville → Bouzancourt (27.3 km) – Through forests and hamlets of the Haute-Marne; hamlet stage, alternative via Ambonville.
14. Bouzancourt → Clairvaux (28.8 km) – Past the Croix de Lorraine in Colombey-les-Deux-Églises down into Bernard's valley.
15. Clairvaux → Essoyes (27.5 km) – From the abbey into the Côte des Bar, via Champignol-lez-Mondeville to Renoir's village.
16. Essoyes → Les Riceys (17.5 km) – Short wine day through the southernmost Champagne.
17. Les Riceys → Étourvy (22.2 km) – Via Bagneux-la-Fosse and Bragelogne to the border with Burgundy.
18. Étourvy → Tonnerre (19.5 km) – Down into the Armançon valley to the Hôtel-Dieu and the Fosse Dionne.
19. Tonnerre → Chablis (17.3 km) – Via Collan through the Grand Cru slopes on the Serein.
20. Chablis → Auxerre (24.0 km) – Via Beine and Venoy into the old episcopal city on the Yonne.
21. Auxerre → Bessy-sur-Cure (28.5 km) – Up the Yonne and the Cure through Cravant and Accolay.
22. Bessy-sur-Cure → Vézelay (25.0 km) – Past the caves of Arcy, via Saint-Moré and Asquins up to the basilica.

From Bernard's Valley to Bernard's Pulpit

In 1115 a 25-year-old moved with twelve monks into a valley people called the Valley of Wormwood, and renamed it: Clara Vallis, the bright valley. Bernard of Clairvaux made it the most fruitful abbey of his order – 83 daughter houses, a library of 1,788 volumes – and made himself the loudest voice in Europe. On 31 March 1146 he stood 181.5 kilometres further west on the hill of Vézelay and preached the Second Crusade; King Louis VII and Eleanor of Aquitaine took the cross, the cloth for the crosses ran out, and Bernard, so the tradition goes, tore up his own habit. To Pope Eugene III he wrote afterwards, contentedly: "Cities and castles are now empty." The last seven stages of this route cover exactly that distance – from Bernard's monastery to Bernard's pulpit, in his direction. Clairvaux itself has the longer story: dissolved in 1791, a central prison from 1808 to 2023, and since its closure a place you may visit again – only on guided tours at fixed times, with a reservation.

That this route has no charter of its own does not mean it lacks evidence; it just lies at the edges. In Metz the central square is still called Place Saint-Jacques, after a church of St James demolished in 1574; a St James fountain stood there from 1498. In Joinville lies the only relic of St Joseph in France, a grey hemp belt that Jean de Joinville, the chronicler of Saint Louis, brought back from the Holy Land in 1248 – the accompanying parchment read: "Hic est cingulus quo cingebatur Joseph, sponsus Mariae". And the fork that separates this route from the Chemin des Allemands is described by the St. Jakobusbruderschaft Trier as soberly as only a route you must find for yourself deserves: „Hier teilt sich in dem kleinen lothringischen Dörfchen Chalaines, einige Kilometer vor Vaucoleurs, am Dorfbrunnen der Weg.“ 209 kilometres together, then a fountain decides.

Highlights Along the Way

• St. Matthias, Trier (km 0) – the only apostle's tomb north of the Alps; relics discovered in 1127, around 180 walking pilgrimages a year. In the city library the Codex Egberti of 977–993, UNESCO Memory of the World.
• Schengen (km 47.6) – signed on 14 June 1985 aboard the MS Princesse Marie-Astrid; the boat returned to the village in 2021, the European Museum reopened in June 2025.
• Château des ducs de Lorraine, Sierck-les-Bains (km 51.0) – first documented in 1067, residence of the dukes of Lorraine, razed in 1673 on Louvois' orders.
• Saint-Étienne Cathedral, Metz (km 110.2) – the "Lanterne du Bon Dieu" with windows by Marc Chagall; beside it the Place Saint-Jacques with its demolished church of St James.
• Saint-Étienne Cathedral, Toul (km 188.4) – built 1221 to 1496, transept windows 22 metres high, second-largest cloister in France.
• Porte de France, Vaucouleurs (km 210.0) – through this gate Joan of Arc left the town for Chinon on 23 February 1429, after Captain Robert de Baudricourt had turned her away the year before.
• Notre-Dame, Joinville (km 270.2) – the Ceinture de Saint-Joseph, brought back by Jean de Joinville in 1248, in a reliquary of 1868.
• Croix de Lorraine, Colombey-les-Deux-Églises (km 314.2) – 44.3 metres, 950 tonnes of Breton granite, inaugurated on 18 June 1972; the Mémorial beside it was opened by Sarkozy and Merkel on 11 October 2008.
• Clairvaux Abbey (km 326.3) – founded by Bernard in 1115, 83 daughter houses, a prison from 1808 to 2023; visits by guided tour only (as of September 2026).
• Du Côté des Renoir, Essoyes (km 353.8) – Renoir's house of 1896, his studio of 1906, his grave in the village cemetery; admission 12 euros (as of September 2026).
• Les Riceys (km 371.3) – 866 hectares of vines, the only commune in Champagne with three AOCs and three churches, because it once belonged to three dioceses.
• Hôtel-Dieu, Tonnerre (km 413.0) – founded in 1293 by Marguerite de Bourgogne, hospital hall 96 metres long, 150 years older than the Hospices de Beaune; beside it the Fosse Dionne, whose siphon has been explored 360 metres in and 61 metres down.
• Chablis (km 430.3) – 4,870 hectares of Chardonnay on Kimmeridgian limestone; the vines were brought from 1118 by the Cistercians of Pontigny, Bernard's brothers in the order.
• Crypts of Auxerre (km 454.3) – the Carolingian crypt of Saint-Germain with its pilgrims' passage, and in the cathedral the "Christ à cheval", a Christ on horseback, unique in Europe.
• Grande Grotte, Arcy-sur-Cure (km 485.5) – cave paintings discovered in 1990, around 33,000 years old by the latest calibration.
• Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, Vézelay (km 507.8) – UNESCO World Heritage, relics of Mary Magdalene since 882, crusade sermon in 1146, departure of Richard the Lionheart and Philip II in 1190; starting point of the Via Lemovicensis.

How Pilgrims Reach This Route

Trier is one of the great hubs of the German Camino network, and hardly anyone arrives here without a back story. From the north comes the Via Coloniensis from Cologne (241.8 km), from the east the Hunsrücker Jakobsweg (126 km from Bingen, where it joins the Way of St. James Fulda – Bingen), and up the Moselle the Mosel-Camino from Koblenz (157.1 km). All three end at St. Matthias – where this route begins.

One only divides there: as far as Chalaines before Vaucouleurs, 209 kilometres, you are on the same trail as the Trier – Le Puy, the Chemin des Allemands. At the village fountain you decide: south via Domrémy to Le Puy and on to the Via Podiensis – or west to Vézelay.

Continuing the Pilgrimage?

This route does not end in Vézelay; it hands over. In front of the basilica begins the Via Lemovicensis, the Voie de Vézelay: 918.0 kilometres to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the northern branch via Bourges. If you prefer to go via Nevers, take the Via Lemovicensis Southern Variant (281.9 km to Gargilesse-Dampierre, where the two branches meet again). From Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port the Camino Francés takes you to Santiago – from Trier that adds up to around 2,200 kilometres.

Also arriving in Vézelay is the Gy – Vézelay (212.2 km) from the direction of Franche-Comté and Switzerland. If you meet pilgrims on top of the hill coming from the other direction: that is who they are.

Preparation & Practicalities

The most important preparation is navigation. To the border the blue European scallop on yellow guides you, through Lorraine the yellow scallop on blue – but the Lorraine waymarking aims at Langres, not Vézelay. From Chalaines you walk 299 kilometres without signage of your own. Take the guidebook by Martin Simon and Ingrid Retterath (3rd edition 2021, with GPS tracks) and download the route to your phone beforehand; the easiest way is directly in the Camino Ninja app, where you put your stages together and plan suitable accommodation at the same time.

On French routes you need a pilgrim passport (credencial) – here for a very practical reason: the Lorraine friends of St James release the addresses of their volunteer hosts, the accueils jacquaires, only through the tourist offices and only on presentation of the credencial; the central contact point is the Maison du Tourisme in Toul. The St. Jakobusbruderschaft Trier issues the passport, in person at the Dom-Information or by post. It is best to order it online in advance so that it reaches you in time for the start of your journey.

Walk between April and mid-November and reserve ahead wherever you can – in the Haute-Marne and the Ornois the villages lie far apart, and anyone arriving in the evening without a booking has a problem. Plan extra for Clairvaux: the abbey can only be visited on guided tours at fixed times, and you must reserve them in advance. At the finish the Centre d'accueil Sainte-Madeleine of the Fraternités de Jérusalem takes you in, all year round, expressly for pilgrims.

What the Route Costs

Reckon with 45 to 70 euros a day, depending on how much you cook yourself. There is no continuous pilgrim hostel in the Spanish sense on this route: in Lorraine you usually pay only a donation to the volunteer hosts, on the rest of the way you book gîtes d'étape and chambres d'hôtes at normal French prices. At the finish the Centre d'accueil Sainte-Madeleine in Vézelay has 39 single rooms and 18 dormitory beds – self-catering possible, meals by pre-order (as of September 2026).

Then there are the fixed items: the guidebook 16.90 euros, the Lorraine association's guide with accommodation list 10 euros (plus 6 euros postage abroad), the credencial 5 euros donation plus postage. And the admissions, if you take them in: Clairvaux Abbey 9.50 euros (combined tour 14 euros, by reservation only), Du Côté des Renoir in Essoyes 12 euros; the caves of Arcy-sur-Cure and the Hôtel-Dieu in Tonnerre also charge admission (all prices as of September 2026).

Getting There

Trier Hauptbahnhof is reached with Deutsche Bahn from Koblenz, Cologne, Saarbrücken and Luxembourg; from there it is a walk of just under three kilometres to St. Matthias. If you want to join or leave along the way, the first 200 kilometres serve you well: Perl, Sierck-les-Bains, Metz, Pagny-sur-Moselle, Pont-à-Mousson and Toul all have railway stations. Between Toul and Tonnerre it gets thin – that is the section to plan in one go.

At the finish the nearest station is Sermizelles-Vézelay down in the valley on the TER line towards Auxerre and Avallon. It is unstaffed, there is only a ticket machine; information and booking run through Mobigo. Up to Vézelay it is bus, taxi or about an hour on foot.

• Trier Hbf: Deutsche Bahn; hourly regional trains Trier–Perl (RB 82) along the Upper Moselle
• Cross-border Trier–Metz: currently only two train pairs on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays (RE 16); the through connection has been postponed to 2027 at the earliest (as of September 2026)
• Metz, Pagny-sur-Moselle, Pont-à-Mousson, Toul: TER Grand Est
• Tonnerre, Auxerre, Sermizelles-Vézelay: TER Bourgogne-Franche-Comté; information Mobigo +33 3 80 11 29 29