Thurgauer Klosterweg

At a Glance

• Start / Finish: Blumberg (Schwarzwald-Baar District, approx. 700 m) → Tobel-Tägerschen (Canton of Thurgau) — crossing the border from Germany into Switzerland
• Length: 79.5 km
• Elevation gain: ↗ 1,510 m / ↘ 1,685 m — the net descent is 175 meters, but almost all of the ascent and descent takes place on the first day across the Randen: It’s not the monasteries that account for the elevation gain, but the trail between them
• Duration: 4 days (4 stages); 3 days for the more athletic, 5 days including Fischingen Abbey
• Monasteries en route: six — Allerheiligen (1049), Ittingen (1150), Tobel (1228), St. Katharinental (1242), Paradies (1257), Kalchrain (1324/31); not a single one of them is still a monastery today
• Waymarking: No continuous, dedicated trail marker has been documented—in Switzerland, follow the hiking trail markers; on the German side, several long-distance trails overlap; plan to use a GPS track
• Access route: By train to Blumberg-Zollhaus (Ringzug); on foot along the Oberschwäbische Jakobsweg to Konstanz, where the Schwabenweg begins
• Connection: In Tobel, the trail meets the old pilgrimage route (Schwabenweg) from Konstanz to Einsiedeln—there, the Via Jacobi continues toward Geneva
• Character: A short, compact cultural trail: first the limestone plateau, then the banks of the Rhine, then Mostindien—six monasteries, but only one place to stay (Ittingen Charterhouse, hotel rates); book in advance instead of relying on the romance of a hostel

Overview

The Thurgauer Klosterweg is with 79.5 kilometers One of the shortest routes in our portfolio—and one of the most scenic. You start in Blumberg At an elevation of 700 meters in the Schwarzwald-Baar district, you'll climb over the Randen — whose highest point, at 930 meters, lies within the Blumberger municipal boundaries — crosses over into Switzerland and drops nearly five hundred meters down to the Rhine toward Schaffhausen from there. Then you head upstream along the Rhine to Diessenhofen and across the Thurgau region, until, after four days, you arrive at the Johanniterkommende Tobel. In between lie six monastery foundations, whose dates span nearly three centuries: Allerheiligen in 1049, the Ittingen Charterhouse in 1150, Tobel in 1228, St. Katharinental in 1242, Paradies in 1257, and Kalchrain between 1324 and 1331. Over a distance of 79.5 kilometers, that works out to one monastery every thirteen kilometers.

What sets this route apart from other monastery routes is not the number, but the condition: Not a single one of these six buildings is still a monastery today. One is a museum, one is a rehabilitation clinic, one is the corporate library of a foundry group, one is a correctional facility for young adult offenders, and one is a 68-room hotel — and from 1811 to 1973, the destination of your journey was the cantonal prison. Thurgau did not tear down its monasteries—it put them to use. And the trail doesn't end in Tobel; it joins another route: This is where the Schwabenweg from Konstanz to Einsiedeln intersects, and from there the Via Jacobi continues—645 kilometers to Geneva, then France, then Spain. Four days, and you'll be on the main route.

The canton converted its monasteries into institutions

Start at the end, because that's where the whole story unfolds on a single piece of land. 1226 Diethelm von Toggenburg killed his brother Friedrich; between 1226 and 1228 The Counts of Toggenburg founded the Tobel commandery—according to tradition, as an “act of atonement … for the fratricide at the neighboring Rengerswil Castle.” From 1228 onward, the Knights Hospitaller resided here, and the source states verbatim what the building was used for:"It served primarily as a pilgrims' hostel." Why an order of knights took in strangers in a village in Thurgau was something its first leader, Brother Gerhard, had to 1120 Put into a single sentence:“Our brotherhood will be eternal, because the soil in which this plant takes root is the misery of the world.” It lasted for 581 years. Then the commandery was dissolved, the canton took over—and in 1811 established a reformatory and workhouse in the Order’s buildings. It remained one until 1973. 581 years as a pilgrims' hostel, 162 years as a prison—one property.

That's not an exception; it's the pattern of this path. Kalchrain, which was abolished in 1848, became a cantonal “forced-labor institution” in 1849 and is now a correctional facility for young adult offenders. St. Katharinental, where 150 nuns lived around 1280 and where Meister Eckhart served as a spiritual director after 1313, became a retirement and nursing home in 1869 and is now a rehabilitation clinic—the last thirteen sisters moved out in 1906. The Poor Clare convent Paradies purchased Georg Fischer AG in 1918 to avoid “the general food shortage during World War I”: A Poor Clare convent called "Paradies" is now home to the Library of Iron. There is only one place where the math works out differently: The Kartause Ittingen, dissolved in 1848 after about 700 years, was transferred to a foundation in 1977 and restored at a cost of 49 million francs—today, within the strictest cloistered community in the Western world, there are 68 hotel rooms, a cheese dairy, ten hectares of vineyards, and 89 work and living spaces for people in need of support. The silence is gone, but the ministry remains.

And this trail not only shows you what became of the monasteries—it shows you where it all began. On the third morning, you’ll walk through Stammheim: Right here, in Ober- and Unterstammheim, a fire broke out in the summer 1524 the iconoclasm, which is known as Ittingersturm attacked the Carthusian monastery—the rebels “destroyed the paintings and burned the books.” You pass through the town of Zündort half a day before reaching the monastery he attacked. And Easter 1525 A decree in the Reformed regions prohibited this“all Masses, processions, and pilgrimages” — that is the dated sentence that officially marked the end of pilgrimage along this route. Just two years later, less than sixty kilometers away, the Schleitheimer Artikel from 1527, the oldest Anabaptist confession of faith. The Klosterweg leads right through the decade in which these monasteries came to an end—those who walk here are walking through the Reformation, not past it.

Other Names

The name is descriptive, not historical: There was never a medieval “monastery trail” through Thurgau. What does exist is a landscape dotted with monasteries, through which this trail runs—and a canton that mockingly refers to its own region as Mostindien has been called that ever since the humor magazine “Der Postheiri” linked “Ost” with fruit growing and pear cider in 1853. There are two neighbors you shouldn’t confuse with this path: The Schwabenweg is the old pilgrimage route from Konstanz to Einsiedeln—it joins your path in Tobel and continues past the Fischingen Monastery. And the Via Jacobi It is Swiss Hiking Route No. 4, stretching 645 kilometers and comprising 33 stages from Lake Constance to Geneva: The Thurgauer Klosterweg is its feeder route from southern Germany—not a section of it. And since people always ask: Kloster Fischingen, the most famous monastery in Thurgau, home to the tomb of Saint Idda, is not located along this route but one stage past the destination—the “Continuing the Pilgrimage” section explains why you should visit it anyway.

Who it's ideal for—and who it's not so ideal for

This route is ideal if you have four days and want substance rather than mileage. It crosses borders, is logistically straightforward—the start, finish, and every stop along the way have train access—and it has a theme you can explore through six buildings. If you’re interested in architectural history, the Reformation, and secularization, and if you’d like to stay in a hotel that was once a Carthusian monastery, you’ve come to the right place. It’s also a great choice for your very first pilgrimage, since only the first day is truly challenging.

To be honest, though, it's not for you if you're looking for that "inn romance." There are exactly one Staying overnight at a monastery—and it costs as much as a hotel; the pilgrim hostel in Tobel reopened in 2007 but has since closed again. Six monasteries, a single bed. There are no marked scallop shells, no patron saint of St. James, no chain of stamps—and without a GPS track, you can easily get thoroughly lost between Randen and Seerücken. Anyone expecting the infrastructure of the Camino Francés will be disappointed. If you want to take in an entire monastic landscape in four days, you’ll find more here than along three hundred kilometers in Spain.

Route & Landscape

The first few kilometers have nothing to do with Thurgau yet. You walk through Blumberg Starting at 700 meters, you'll pass through Epfenhofen — where the Sauschwänzle Railway winds its way up the hillside on its viaduct — to the Blumberger district Randen and climb the mountain range of the same name: The High Edges, whose highest point at 930 meters is still within the Blumberger municipal boundaries; you cross the border up on the plateau without any fanfare. The Randen is part of the White Jura, so deeply dissected by erosion valleys that it’s referred to as the “seven different Randens,” and it lies in the rain shadow of the Black Forest—with 760 to 800 millimeters of annual precipitation, it’s one of the driest regions in Switzerland. You can see this in the nutrient-poor meadows and orchids, and you’ll notice it in the water sources. Then the trail drops nearly five hundred meters, and at the Rhine, at an elevation of 438 meters, you’ll find Schaffhausen, the city of bay windows, home to the country's largest Romanesque church.

The second part is a whole different world. From Schaffhausen, you stay on the left bank of the Rhine, passing through Feuerthalen and Langwiesen — the route passes through the canton of Zurich here — and at the Klostergut Paradies past to Diessenhofen, on the outskirts of which St. Katharinental lies right on the river. From there, the route climbs over Stammheim in the Seerücken and into the Seebachtal, where Hüttwilersee, Hasensee, and Nussbaumersee have been a nature reserve since 1966, passes by Kalchrain and reaches the Kartause Ittingen past Warth. From here on, it’s “Mostindien”: standard-tree orchards, grapevines, hops—the Carthusian monastery alone cultivates ten hectares of vineyards. Behind Frauenfeld The last day takes place on Stettfurt and Lommis to the Lauchetal, and arrival in Tobel It’s unspectacular: a village with 962 residents, a three-winged complex dating from 1744, and a keep that now serves as a bell tower. You wouldn’t know from looking at the place that pilgrims have stayed here for nearly six centuries. First limestone and dry grasslands, then apples and cider.

Stages, Terrain & Difficulty

Four days, and the difficulty is extremely unevenly distributed: Of the 1,510 meters of elevation gain, about 500 are on the first day, plus 800 meters of descent to the Rhine—once you’ve completed Stage 1, you’re well on your way. Terrain: forest and meadow trails on the Randen, riverside paths and gravel trails along the Rhine, and in Thurgau, many farm roads and paved surfaces between the orchards. Sturdy hiking boots are sufficient; hiking poles are only helpful on the first day.

1. Blumberg → Schaffhausen — about 27 km — The only tough day: over Epfenhofen and the district of Randen on the Randen-Kamm (up to about 900 m), cross the border on the plateau, then the long descent to the Rhine at 438 m. Dry limestone plateau—be sure to bring enough water for the whole day. ↗ about 500 / ↘ about 800 m.
2. Schaffhausen → Diessenhofen — approx. 14 km — An easy day along the left bank of the Rhine via Feuerthalen and Langwiesen: Kloster Allerheiligen To start things off, the Klostergut Paradies halfway, St. Katharinental On the outskirts of the destination. Almost flat.
3. Diessenhofen → Frauenfeld — approx. 22 km — The Monastery Day: more Stammheim — the site where the Ittingen Uprising of 1524 began — into the Seerücken and through the Seebachtal (Nature Reserve since 1966), at Kalchrain on to the Kartause Ittingen, then down to Frauenfeld.
4. Frauenfeld → Tobel-Tägerschen — approx. 16.5 km — The final stretch: through fruit-growing country and over the molasse hills Stettfurt and Lommis into Lauchetal, Arrival at the Komturei Tobel — the house that served as a pilgrims' inn for 581 years.

Fitness enthusiasts can complete the route in three days (approx. 27 / 32 / 20.5 km, with overnight stays in Schaffhausen and at the Ittingen Charterhouse)—but the 32-km route passes by four monasteries, and anyone who wants to visit all four won’t be able to finish the route: The 3-stage version is a walking route; the 4-stage version is the trail. And if you want a better ending, add a fifth day: Tobel → Fischingen Abbey, about 15 km along the Schwabenweg trail — then the journey does not end at a prison building from 1811, but at the Iddagrab from 1496, in a monastery that once again operates a pilgrim hostel.

Highlights Along the Way

• Hoher Randen (930 m) — the highest point of the entire Randen mountain range, in the Blumberger district: limestone plateau, nutrient-poor meadows, orchids — and right behind it, one of the driest regions in Switzerland.
• Münster Allerheiligen, Schaffhausen — Monastery dating from 1049, construction began in 1090: “the largest Romanesque religious building in Switzerland,” featuring twelve monolithic columns made of Rorschach sandstone; the Museum zu Allerheiligen is located within the monastery buildings.
• Die Schillerglocke von 1486 — “Vivos voco – Mortuos plango – Fulgura frango”: the bell whose inscription inspired the title of Schiller’s “Song of the Bell.” You’re walking right past the original.
• Klostergut Paradies, Schlatt — Poor Clares since 1257; owned by Georg Fischer AG since 1918; today the Iron Library—Switzerland’s only specialized library on iron processing—which includes a restaurant on the monastery grounds.
• Diessenhofen — Town charter granted in 1178 for sixty farms, a covered bridge over the Rhine built in 1816, and the Siegelturm with its astronomical clock faces; its castle housed the Diessenhofen Song Sheet from around 1400, the oldest surviving record of a medieval song.
• Kloster St. Katharinental — Founded in 1242 by Beguines from Winterthur; by 1280 it already had 150 nuns; after 1313, the site where Meister Eckhart was active; Baroque church built from 1732 to 1735; convent museum. The famous Graduale, dating from around 1312, was acquired in 1958 for 368,000 francs—what you see here is the site, not the book: it is housed at the Swiss National Museum in Zurich.
• Stammheim — The site of the uprising: This is where the iconoclasm began in the summer of 1524, an event known as the Ittingen Uprising that struck the Carthusian monastery; this was followed at Easter 1525 by a ban on “all Masses, processions, and pilgrimages.”
• Seebachtal — Hüttwilersee, Hasensee, and Nussbaumersee, a nature reserve since 1966; from 1466 to 1798, the Ittingen Charterhouse exercised jurisdiction here—you’re walking through its jurisdiction.
• Kartause Ittingen, Warth — 1150: canons' monastery; from 1461: Carthusians; dissolved in 1848; today the Thurgau Art Museum, the Ittinger Museum, a 68-room hotel, a cheese dairy, vineyards, and hop fields — the only monastery along the route where you can stay overnight.
• Frauenfeld — “Our Lady’s Field,” named after Mary, the patron saint of Reichenau Abbey; the cantonal capital, with about forty bridges and footbridges spanning the Murg River.
• Komturei Tobel — The Order of St. John has been present in the town since 1228; the town was first recorded in 762 as “Tegarascha”; A three-winged complex designed by Johann Caspar Bagnato (1744–1747), with the keep serving as a bell tower — and since 2012, the town coat of arms has once again featured the Johanniter cross.

How Pilgrims Find Their Way onto This Path

Blumberg isn’t a traditional pilgrimage hub, and that’s the first thing to be clear about: You usually arrive here by train, not on foot. If you still want to continue on foot, you’ll find connecting routes in the wider area: From Ulm, the Oberschwäbische Jakobsweg 159 kilometers to the Konstanz Cathedral—where the Schwabenweg begins, and where your route meets it in Tobel. And between the Neckar and Lake Constance lies the network of Via Beuronensis With six routes, it has been signposted since 2004 and recognized in Santiago since 2009; its Hegau branch covers the area west of Lake Constance.

A simple hiking route also leads to Blumberg: the Ostweg, the Schluchtensteig, and the Black Forest Cross-Country Trail (Freiburg–Lake Constance) all converge here—anyone wanting to switch to one of these long-distance trails is already at the starting point. And anyone who Via Jacobi...and who knows and loves Eastern Switzerland: This trail is the approach route from Southern Germany, not part of the main route itself. You don't realize the connection until the last day, when you reach the old pilgrimage route in Tobel.

Continue the pilgrimage?

Tobel is not a dead end, but a crossroads. The commandery is located, literally, “on the pilgrimage route (Schwabenweg) from Constance to Einsiedeln”—and this road continues. One day’s journey beyond the destination lies Kloster Fischingen, founded in 1138 by the Bishop of Constance specifically to provide lodging for pilgrims traveling between Constance and Einsiedeln—the same mission as in Tobel, only Benedictine rather than Johannite. The monumental table tomb of St. Idda von Toggenburg — the family that also founded Tobel —; ten Benedictine monks live there again, and it has something the entire route lacks: a pilgrim hostel, plus a monastery brewery with the “Pilgrim” brand. Of the six monasteries along the route, none of them accommodate pilgrims anymore; the first one that does is fifteen kilometers past the destination. Add them to the list.

From there, the Schwabenweg leads through Rapperswil to Einsiedeln, Switzerland's largest pilgrimage site, attracting some 800,000 pilgrims and visitors annually—tracing its origins to the "Engelweihe" on September 14, 948. From there, the Via Jacobi National Route 4: 645 kilometers, 33 stages, from Lake Constance to Geneva. The route begins in Geneva Via Gebennensis, in Le Puy-en-Velay, which Via Podiensis, and in the Pyrenees, the Camino Francés. Those who would prefer to continue hiking through Eastern Switzerland will find that the Appenzeller Weg The other route to Einsiedeln. Four days to Tobel—and then you have the choice between a grave, a pilgrimage, and 2,500 kilometers.

Preparation & Practical Information

The most important part of preparation is the track. For this corridor, No continuous, dedicated trail marker has been documented: In Switzerland, follow the yellow hiking trail markers; on the German side, the Ostweg, Schluchtensteig, and Querweg Freiburg–Bodensee trails overlap. Download the Camino Ninja app and the offline map, and plan out the Randen–Rheintal and Seerücken–Seebachtal crossings before you set out—you want to plan around such gaps in advance, not while you’re on the trail. Best time: April through October; Mostindien is at its most beautiful in late April during the fruit blossom season.

Two practical considerations set this trail apart from others. First, the water on the first day: With 760 to 800 millimeters of annual precipitation, the Randen is one of the driest regions in Switzerland; the plateau is made of limestone, and limestone doesn’t retain water—so bring two liters, not just one. Second, the opening hours: Of the six monasteries, one is a museum, one is a clinic, one is a corporate library, and one is a correctional facility—you won’t be able to go everywhere to the same extent. You should set aside time for the Museum zu Allerheiligen, the St. Katharinental Monastery Museum, the Thurgau Art Museum, and the Ittinger Museum in the Kartause; as for Kalchrain, just look at it from the outside—don’t ring the bell.

You book your accommodations in advance, and for one specific reason: the one monastery lodging along the route, the Kartause Ittingen, is also a conference hotel with 68 rooms—it’s fully booked on conference days. There is no longer a pilgrim hostel in Tobel (reopened in 2007, but has since closed again), and the few beds in town are quickly taken—be sure to plan your last evening in advance: head to Wil or Weinfelden by train, or continue straight on to Fischingen. There are no border formalities, but Switzerland uses francs; cards work almost everywhere, though it’s still handy to have some cash for drinking fountains and farm stands. And plan your daily stages in advance, because the stages have to be based on available beds—the easiest way to do this is directly in the Camino Ninja app, where you can put together your stages and plan suitable accommodations right away.

What the journey will cost you

A fair warning: This is a Swiss route without pilgrim hostels—if you’re expecting hostel prices, you’re in for a surprise. As a guide (as of August 2026): Double rooms in inns and city hotels typically range from 140 to 220 CHF, and single rooms from 100 to 170 CHF; accommodations at the Ittingen Charterhouse are at the higher end of this range. A daily special costs 20 to 30 CHF, dinner 30 to 50 CHF, and a cup of coffee 4.50 to 5.50 CHF; if you buy your food at the supermarket, you can get by on 15 to 25 CHF a day for meals. Realistically, you’ll spend 130 to 180 CHF per day in a double room with one hot meal—so for four days, that’s about 520 to 720 CHF per person plus travel expenses; if you’re on a tight budget, you can get by on about 100 CHF a day. Plan to spend 10 to 20 CHF per museum; the trip to Blumberg is priced in euros, and the return trip from Tobel in francs. All figures are estimated ranges for budget planning, not official rates—check current prices before booking.

Getting Here

Getting here isn't just a formality—it's the first attraction: The journey begins Blumberg-Zollhaus — the same train station where the Sauschwänzlebahn The museum train to Weizen departs—a route that has wound its way through the hillside via loop tracks and tunnels ever since its first museum train on May 19, 1977. If you have half a day to spare, take this ride before you set off. You can usually reach Blumberg by Ringzug From Immendingen, Tuttlingen, or Rottweil (stops include Zollhaus, Epfenhofen, and Riedöschingen); if you're traveling on long-distance trains, change trains in Singen or Donaueschingen—this also applies if you're coming from Switzerland via Schaffhausen.

It's even easier when you're moving away from the destination: Tobel-Tägerschen has two train stations of its own — Tobel-Affeltrangen and Tägerschen, both on the line Weinfelden–Wil. To the south, you can reach Wil, SG—on the long-distance rail line toward Zurich and St. Gallen—in just a few minutes; to the north, you can reach Weinfelden, with connections to Kreuzlingen, Konstanz, and Romanshorn. The nearest major airport is Zurich, about an hour from Wil; from the German side, Stuttgart, Basel, and Friedrichshafen are also options.

• Track to the Start: Circular train from Immendingen / Tuttlingen / Rottweil to Blumberg-Zollhaus; transfer to long-distance service in Singen or Donaueschingen (also from Switzerland via Schaffhausen).
• Path from the target: Tobel-Affeltrangen and Tägerschen stations on the Weinfelden–Wil line; connections in Wil SG (Zurich, St. Gallen) and Weinfelden (Konstanz, Romanshorn).
• Airports: Zurich (about 1 hour to Wil), Stuttgart, Basel, Friedrichshafen.
• Stops along the way: Epfenhofen (ring line), Schaffhausen (railway hub), Diessenhofen (railway station since 1894), Frauenfeld (railway line to Zurich, Winterthur, and St. Gallen).
• Fun fact for the day of arrival: Sauschwänzlebahn Zollhaus–Weizen — Operating as a museum railway since May 19, 1977; departures from the trail’s starting station.