From Ulm on the Danube straight across Baroque Upper Swabia to Lake Constance: about 168 kilometers over Biberach, Bad Waldsee, Weingarten and Ravensburg to Meersburg and Konstanz – a gentle German feeder route into Switzerland.
The Upper Swabian Way of St. James is a section of the Way of St. James in Baden-Württemberg. It runs from the Minster Square in Ulm on the Danube for about 168 kilometers through western Upper Swabia to Konstanz Minster on Lake Constance.
The route follows old Roman and trade roads and moves through a landscape strongly shaped by the Baroque. In Switzerland it continues as the Schwabenweg.
Ideal as a quiet, easily reached feeder route through southern Germany – with Baroque churches, Upper Swabian towns and Lake Constance as the goal. With only moderate climbing it's mostly gentle and comfortably done, even as a shorter pilgrimage of about a week.
Less suitable if you want big mountains or wide wilderness: the route runs through cultivated landscape, fields and villages, partly on paved sections.
From Ulm the route first follows the Danube over Erbach and Oberdischingen, then the course of the Riß over Biberach and the pilgrimage church of Steinhausen to Bad Waldsee.
It continues along the Schussen over Weingarten and Ravensburg to Brochenzell, where the route forks before Lake Constance. Via the western branch it reaches Markdorf and finally Meersburg on the lake; from there the Meersburg–Konstanz car ferry crosses to Konstanz.
At about 168 kilometers with only some 2,200 meters of climb (highest point about 661 m), the Upper Swabian Way is mostly gentle – comfortably done in an estimated 7–8 days. From Ulm the route is waymarked with the yellow shell on a blue background. It runs partly on field and forest paths, partly on paved tracks.
You cross Lake Constance between Meersburg and Konstanz on the regular car ferry.
The Upper Swabian Way ends at Konstanz Minster – from there the route continues into Switzerland as the Schwabenweg, through eastern Switzerland toward the Einsiedeln Abbey and onto the main Swiss axis, the Via Jacobi (Konstanz–Geneva). If you wish, see Ulm–Konstanz as the southern German opening of a long westward journey.
The best time is spring to autumn. You can collect stamps for your pilgrim credential in various churches along the way, including at Ulm Minster. Accommodation is in guesthouses, inns and pilgrim lodgings.
Germany is more expensive than Spain. Budget roughly €45–90 per day for accommodation (guesthouses, inns), plus food; simple lodgings and self-catering lower the cost.
The starting point is Ulm, a major rail hub and easily reached.
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Open season unknownEverything you need for the Upper Swabian Way of St. James, shipped to your door.
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