Ulm – Pfullendorf

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Oberdischingen near Ulm / parish church of St. Jakob in Pfullendorf; starting at Ulm Minster adds a good 21 km on the Oberschwäbischer Jakobsweg
• Length: 96.6 km
• Duration: 5 stages, averaging just under 20 km; fit walkers can do it in 4 days
• Elevation: ↗ 864 m / ↘ 716 m
• Highest point: 737 m at km 37.7 on the Bussen; the pilgrimage church on the summit stands at 767 m
• Landscape: Danube valley with canals and riverside forest, woodland trails on the Bussen, open farmland, and finally forests, ponds and fen meadows in the rolling hills of Upper Swabia
• Waymarking: stylized yellow shell on a blue background, marked only in the direction of Santiago
• Traces of St. James: Haus St. Jakobus in Oberdischingen, the parish church of St. Jakob in Pfullendorf as finish and stamp point, the Church of St. James in Grimmelfingen on the approach from Ulm
• Accommodation: pilgrim hostel at Haus St. Jakobus in Oberdischingen, pilgrim rooms at Sießen Abbey and Habsthal Abbey on request, otherwise inns and private rooms
• Connecting routes: Oberschwäbischer Jakobsweg in Oberdischingen, Linzgauer Jakobsweg in Pfullendorf
• Best time: May to October; the Beuroner Jakobspilger-Gemeinschaft issues its pilgrim certificate from 100 km between Tübingen and Konstanz, so only once you add the Linzgauer

Overview

Between the Danube and Lake Constance, the Via Beuronensis has woven a whole network, and this route is its eastern feeder. In Oberdischingen, where Haus St. Jakobus stands on the Kapellenberg, it leaves the Oberschwäbischer Jakobsweg and heads west: up the Danube to Munderkingen, onto the Bussen, through the spa town of Bad Saulgau and past two convents to Pfullendorf. The route is surprisingly young. The project group around Brother Jakobus Kaffanke began waymarking the Via Beuronensis in 2004, and it has been recognized in Santiago since 2009; back then the Habsthal section only began in Bad Saulgau. The association re-marked the stretch over the Bussen during the Covid years; from Bad Saulgau it continues on the old route.

What carries it are the places: a mountain where the Celts were already making offerings, a convent with some 70 Franciscan sisters, and another where only two Benedictine nuns were still living in 2021. And a destination with a twist. In Habsthal, Rudolf of Habsburg gave the sisters land in 1259; in Pfullendorf sat his great-great-grandfather, Count Rudolf of Pfullendorf, whose daughter Ida married into the Habsburgs in 1164. So the route ends with the ancestors of the man who became king in 1273.

Other Names

The association calls the route Strecke E or Route E of the Via Beuronensis, and its list of routes also has it as the Habsthaler Jakobsweg, after the abbey just before the finish. The stage descriptions call the newer section from Oberdischingen the Bussen-Jakobsweg, and Haus St. Jakobus lists it as the Beuroner Habsthaler Jakobsweg Ulm – Pfullendorf. On the Camino Ninja map it appears as Ulm – Pfullendorf. The whole network takes its name from the Beuroner Jakobsweg, which runs from Tübingen via Beuron Archabbey to Meßkirch.

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

Ideal if you want to walk from Ulm to Lake Constance in a week and care about abbeys, chapels and quiet: together with the Linzgauer Jakobsweg it is around 140 kilometers from Oberdischingen to Konstanz. Ideal too for a long weekend, with rail connections at both intermediate stops, Munderkingen and Bad Saulgau, and for anyone who likes walking alone. On some days you won't meet another pilgrim—here.

Honestly, though, it's not for you if you want to rely on continuous waymarking: the association itself writes that between Rottenacker and Munderkingen the route is “sehr schwer zu finden” (very hard to find), and it warns that at the Marbachergatter fork past the Bussen the signpost points the wrong way. Not for you if you expect hostels as thick on the ground as in Spain; apart from Oberdischingen, you sleep in convent rooms on request or at an inn. And not for you if you are after mountains: the Bussen is the only real climb, the rest is farmland, forest and, around Ehingen, business parks too.

Route & Landscape

Oberdischingen to the Bussen (km 0–38.0): From the Kapellenberg in Oberdischingen the route runs flat up the Danube, crossing the bridge with St. John of Nepomuk at Öpfingen (km 5.2), via Gamerschwang and Nasgenstadt, and past Ehingen, which lies just under a kilometer off the trail. Beyond Dettingen the path follows the canal to Rottenacker (km 18.6) and on to Munderkingen (km 24.1), tucked behind its town wall in a bend of the Danube. Then the woods take over: via Hausen am Bussen and Dietelhofen (km 34.7), past the Schwedenhöhlen caves, and steeply up the last 100 meters to the pilgrimage church on the Bussen. You reach the highest point on the map at km 37.7, and shortly after comes Offingen (km 38.0) at the foot of the mountain.

The Bussen to Pfullendorf (km 38.0–96.6): From the Bussen it is a steady descent through open fields via Unlingen (km 40.1), Hailtingen and Burgau to Dürmentingen (km 45.5), with its Loreto chapel and Stations of the Cross; Riedlingen on the Danube lies about 2.6 kilometers to the west and is not on the route. Through forest via Kleintissen you reach Bad Saulgau (km 60.3). Then it is abbey after abbey: Sießen (km 63.3), Bolstern, Friedberg (km 70.9) with its pilgrimage church, Ursendorf and Rosna, all the way to Habsthal Abbey (km 81.2). Via Levertsweiler and Mottschieß, past ponds and a wetland, the final stage leads to Pfullendorf (km 96.6) and the church of St. Jakob.

Stages, Terrain, and Difficulty

We show the route in 5 stages, close to the association's division, which adds a sixth, Ulm–Oberdischingen, at the front. Distances come from the Camino Ninja map, calibrated exactly to 96.6 km; the association's figures are longer because of detours to Heratskirch and to the abbey.

1. Oberdischingen → Munderkingen (24.1 km) — flat along the Danube, via Öpfingen and Rottenacker; from Rottenacker on, watch the waymarks closely.
2. Munderkingen → Bussen / Offingen (13.9 km) — a short day with almost all of the route's climbing, lots of forest, and a steep final ascent to the pilgrimage church; beds in Offingen at the foot of the mountain.
3. Bussen / Offingen → Bad Saulgau (22.3 km) — almost all downhill, via Göffingen and Dürmentingen with its Stations of the Cross, through fields and forest.
4. Bad Saulgau → Habsthal Abbey (20.9 km) — the abbey stage via Sießen, Bolstern and Friedberg; the detour to the Josefskapelle in Heratskirch, with its pilgrim stamp, adds 6.8 km.
5. Habsthal Abbey → Pfullendorf (15.4 km) — via Levertsweiler, through forest and fen meadows; the stamp awaits in St. Jakob.

Nothing here is technically difficult: farm tracks and forest paths, back roads, and dikes and riverside trails in the Danube valley. If you want to walk it in four days, combine stages 2 and 3, a good 36 kilometers, or overnight in Dürmentingen and then go straight through to Habsthal. The association recommends carrying the GPS track—easiest in the Camino Ninja App.

From the Holy Mountain to the Last Two Sisters

The Bussen is 766.7 meters high, and in Upper Swabia that is enough for a panorama German Wikipedia describes like this: “Bei guter Fernsicht lassen sich vom Berg aus sowohl das Ulmer Münster als auch die Alpenkette von den Bayerischen Voralpen bis zu den Berner Alpen erkennen.” (On a clear day you can make out both Ulm Minster and the chain of the Alps, from the Bavarian Prealps to the Bernese Alps.) The mountain was sacred long before Christianity: “bereits die Kelten brachten auf diesem Berg ihre Fruchtbarkeitsopfer dar” (even the Celts made their fertility offerings on this mountain). The earliest known lord of the castle above was Count Gerold, brother-in-law of Charlemagne, who died in 799; a church is first mentioned in 805. Today's pilgrimage church of St. Johannes Baptist dates from 1516, and the pilgrimage to the Mother of God is attested since 1521. The castle fell to the Swedes in 1633 during the Thirty Years' War; the church survived. Since the 1950s a large pilgrim gathering has been held on the summit on Whit Monday.

Then the contrast. Sießen Abbey near Bad Saulgau began in 1251 as a Dominican convent, the Zimmermann brothers built and decorated the church from 1726 to 1729, and since 1860 Franciscan sisters have lived here—about 70 in November 2022, according to Wikipedia. Habsthal Abbey, by contrast, settled in 1259 by Beguines from Mengen, survived the Thirty Years' War, secularization in 1806, a teachers' college and, from 1856 to 1875, a prison; since 1892 Benedictine nuns from Hermetschwil in Switzerland have lived there. The foundation charter opens with “Wir Hugo, von Gottes Gnaden Pfalzgraf von Tübingen” (We, Hugo, by the grace of God Count Palatine of Tübingen), and the Baroque church of St. Stephan has a ceiling fresco by Gottfried Bernhard Göz and stucco by Joseph Anton Feuchtmayer. In 2021 just two sisters were still living there. Seventy here, two there, and both take in pilgrims.

In practice that means: don't plan the Bussen as a place to pass through but as the end of a stage, so you have evening or morning light at the top; föhn winds bring the clearest views. And contact Sießen and Habsthal a few days ahead—by phone for Sießen, by email for Habsthal.

Highlights Along the Way

• Oberdischingen (km 0) — the Baroque Herrengasse of the “Malefizschenk” (the “felony Schenk”) Franz Ludwig Schenk von Castell, who ran a penitentiary here and had Elisabetha Gaßner executed in 1788; the parish church from 1804, the “Schwäbische Pantheon” (Swabian Pantheon), and the Holy Trinity chapel from 1712.
• Öpfingen (km 5.2) — Danube bridge with St. John of Nepomuk, the patron saint of bridges.
• Munderkingen (km 24.1) — first mentioned in 792, town charter in 1230, town wall and the town church of St. Dionysius; the Danube bridge of 1893 was an early concrete arch, blown up in 1945 and rebuilt in 1948.
• Bussen (km 37.7) — pilgrimage church of St. Johannes Baptist from 1516, castle ruins, Alpine views, and the returning soldiers' memorial from 1958.
• Dürmentingen (km 45.5) — first mentioned in 811; Loreto chapel with Stations of the Cross made up of about twelve large, red-roofed shrines.
• Bad Saulgau (km 60.3) — first mentioned in 819, town charter in 1239, part of Further Austria for more than 500 years; the parish church of St. Johannes Baptist, the Kreuz- or Schwedenkapelle from around 1450, and a thermal spring drilled in 1977.
• Sießen Abbey (km 63.3) — Zimmermann church, consecrated in 1733, and a hall devoted to Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel.
• Habsthal Abbey (km 81.2) — Benedictine nuns since 1892, Baroque church of St. Stephan with a fresco by Göz and stucco by Feuchtmayer.
• Pfullendorf (km 96.6) — town charter in 1220 from Frederick II, Free Imperial City from 1282 to 1803; St. Jakob, completed in 1480/81 by Hans von Savoyen and baroquized in 1750, plus the Maria Schray pilgrimage chapel as a short detour.

The Nun Whose Children the Nazis Couldn't Stand

Walk past Sießen and you are walking past a global brand. Berta Hummel, born on May 21, 1909, in Massing in Lower Bavaria, came to Sießen in 1931, took the habit in 1933 as Sister Maria Innocentia, and drew chubby-cheeked children. In 1934 the porcelain maker Franz Goebel obtained the license, in 1935 the first Hummel figurines hit the market, and in the end there were more than 400 different ones. Nazi art critics mocked her children as “wasserköpfige Wichtel und klumpfüßige Dreckspatzen” (hydrocephalic imps and club-footed grubby urchins), and between 1935 and 1938 the regime ordered the convent closed and drove the sisters out; from 1940 it was confiscated. Maria Innocentia died of tuberculosis in Sießen on November 6, 1946, at the age of 37. An exhibition hall in the convent keeps her memory alive. The twist for pilgrims: the most famous artist on the route drew for a mass-market product, and her convent lies so quietly that you almost miss it at km 63.3.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

Almost everyone comes via Ulm. That's where the Jakobsweg Nürnberg–Ulm ends at the Minster, and where the Oberschwäbischer Jakobsweg begins, taking you via Grimmelfingen with its Church of St. James and Erbach to Oberdischingen in a good 21 kilometers. At Haus St. Jakobus the routes part: the Oberschwäbischer heads south via Biberach and Weingarten to Lake Constance, this one west over the Bussen. Ulm already had a prominent teacher of pilgrimage: the Dominican Felix Fabri, in Ulm from 1468, wrote “Die Sionpilger” (The Pilgrims to Zion) in 1492, a spiritual pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago for nuns who were not allowed to leave their convent.

Continue the pilgrimage?

Nothing new begins in Pfullendorf—the journey simply continues: the Linzgauer Jakobsweg comes in from Meßkirch and leads in two days via Aftholderberg and the Ramsberg to Überlingen, then by boat across the lake to Konstanz. Only then do you clear the 100 kilometers the Beuroner Jakobspilger-Gemeinschaft requires for its certificate—96.6 kilometers is 3.4 short.

From Konstanz the Via Jacobi takes over, crossing Switzerland via Einsiedeln to Geneva. From there the routes lead via Le Puy and the Pyrenees all the way to Santiago; the Camino Ninja planner puts them together for you in the app.

Preparation & Practical Information

Pilgrim passport and app. As on all German Ways of St. James, you need a pilgrim passport (credencial) to stay in pilgrim hostels and collect your stamps; in Santiago it counts toward the Compostela. It's best to order it online in advance so it reaches you in time for the start of your trip: from Haus St. Jakobus in Oberdischingen, free in exchange for a donation, at least five days before you set off, or from the pilgrim office of the Beuroner Jakobspilger-Gemeinschaft (as of October 2026). The tourist office in Pfullendorf also issues pilgrim passports. The stages can be split flexibly—easiest right in the Camino Ninja App, where you put your stages together and plan suitable accommodation at the same time.

Stamps and certificate. You can get stamps in churches and abbeys, reliably in Grimmelfingen, at the Josefskapelle in Heratskirch and in St. Jakob in Pfullendorf. The Beuron community's certificate is free, and donations are welcome; you send your pilgrim passport to Beuron with return postage and need at least 100 kilometers between Tübingen and Konstanz.

Accommodation and season. The only real pilgrim hostel is in Oberdischingen, with made-up beds, towels and half board on request. Munderkingen, Offingen, Dürmentingen, Bad Saulgau and Pfullendorf have inns and private rooms, and Sießen and Habsthal take in pilgrims on request. Call ahead everywhere, especially on weekends and at Pentecost, when there's a celebration on the Bussen. There's little to buy between Munderkingen and Bad Saulgau, so bring provisions. In winter the forest and farm tracks get muddy.

What the journey will cost you

Budget 60 to 100 € a day (as of October 2026). At Haus St. Jakobus, as a pilgrim you pay 25 € in a double or triple room, 35 € in a single and 10 € for a tent, plus 7.50 € for breakfast and 12.50 € for a hot dinner; if money is tight, you'll hear “Gemeinsam finden wir eine Lösung” (together we'll find a solution). Convent rooms in Sießen and Habsthal are priced by arrangement; inns and guesthouses typically run 55 to 90 € per room. The pilgrim passport and certificate are free, and a donation is appreciated.

Getting Here

To the start. Ulm Hauptbahnhof has ICE high-speed service. If you start at the Minster, you walk the 21 kilometers on the Oberschwäbischer Jakobsweg to Oberdischingen; the spire, the tallest church tower in the world since 1890, lost that title on October 30, 2025, to the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. To start directly in Oberdischingen, take the Donautalbahn to Ehingen and the bus from there. Munderkingen has had a station since 1870, Bad Saulgau since 1869—handy for joining or leaving the route.

From the finish. Pfullendorf has no regular rail service. Buses run to Überlingen, Mengen and Sigmaringen, among others, for the nearest stations; on summer weekends the Räuberbahn has run toward Aulendorf since 2011—best check the timetable beforehand.

• Rail: bahn.de — Ulm, Donautalbahn to Ehingen and Munderkingen, return from Sigmaringen, Mengen or Überlingen
• Info: via-beuronensis.de — stages E1 to E6, pilgrim passport and certificate
• Hostel: haus-st-jakobus.de — pilgrim bed and pilgrim passport in Oberdischingen