Partner
Jakobus Pilgergemeinschaft Augsburg e.V.
Based in Kaisheim, the Jakobus Pilgergemeinschaft Augsburg has revived the Bavarian-Swabian Way of St. James since 2003: waymarking, pilgrim passport, certificate and pilgrim-friendly businesses from the Ries to Lake Constance.
The Caminos on the map
Caminos of this partner
Lindau – HéricourtThe Lindau–Héricourt Way of St. James is the flat northern route through Switzerland: 316.5 kilometers from Lindau Island via Konstanz and Basel through the Burgundian Gate into France—about 250 of those kilometers along a shore, with an elevation gain of just 3,353 meters. Along the way, you’ll pass two cities that hosted church councils, the Rhine Falls, and the Rhine—the river into which Konstanz had the ashes of Jan Hus scattered in 1415—and you’ll follow it for 190 kilometers.Explore this Camino
Münchner JakobswegThe Münchner Jakobsweg, the Munich Way of St. James, runs 283.4 kilometers from the Franciscan convent of St. Jakob am Anger in Munich's old town through the Bavarian Alpine foothills and the Allgäu to Lindau on Lake Constance. Along the way lie the Isar valley, Lake Starnberg, the Holy Mountain of Andechs, the Ammersee, Wessobrunn, the Hoher Peißenberg, the Wieskirche, the Auerberg and Kempten. Thirteen stages, 5,540 meters of climbing, a high point of 1,089 meters between Rechtis and Weitnau in the Western Allgäu – and, since 2003, a yellow shell on a blue background to show you the way.Explore this Camino
Augsburg Way of St. James231.7 kilometres from the rim of the Nördlinger Ries through Augsburg into the Upper Allgäu: the Wörnitz, Danube, Lech and Wertach as guiding lines, eleven easy to moderate stages, and at the end the first hills before the Alps. In between, a city that dedicated a whole suburb to the apostle, an Augsburg patrician who walked to Santiago in 1446 and wrote about it, a ten-year-old Mozart at an organ — and in Ermengerst the handover to the Munich Way of St. James towards Lake Constance.Explore this Camino- Augsburger Jakobsweg (Memmingen)120.4 kilometres on the western route of the Augsburger Jakobsweg: from Augsburg past the Fugger castle Wellenburg to Oberschönenfeld Abbey, through the Stauden to the pilgrimage shrine of Maria Vesperbild, to the Fugger castles of Kirchheim and Babenhausen, into the imperial city of the Twelve Articles and via Kronburg to Bad Grönenbach. Six easy stages through Mittelschwaben and the Unterallgäu, where bankers' castles and peasants' demands lie just two days' walk apart.Explore this Camino
- Jakobsweg Schrobenhausen – Augsburg52.9 kilometres in three days, from station to station: this feeder route, waymarked since 2005, leads from Schrobenhausen on the Paar via the old pilgrimage site of Inchenhofen, Haunswies and Friedberg to Augsburg's Rathausplatz, where the Augsburger Jakobsweg carries on south. Along the way: three churches of St James, a village that late-medieval people mentioned in the same breath as Santiago and Rome, and a Rococo church that goes back to the vow of a Jerusalem pilgrim.Explore this Camino
Who is behind the routes
The Jakobus Pilgergemeinschaft Augsburg e.V. was founded in January 2003 by a group of pilgrim friends; the association is based in Kaisheim and registered in the Augsburg register of associations. Its aim is to revive the old pilgrim tradition in Bavarian Swabia. It is non-profit, interdenominational and open to everyone, works in a Christian spirit with the parishes along the route and sees itself as part of the European St. James movement.
In that same year, 2003, the Bavarian-Swabian Way of St. James (Bayerisch-Schwäbischer Jakobusweg) was restored and newly signposted; in 2005 the feeder route from Schrobenhausen via Friedberg was added. Since then volunteers have maintained the waymarking with the yellow shell on a white background, put up route boards in front of churches and kept route descriptions and GPS tracks up to date.
The association's routes
- Augsburger Jakobsweg – the Bavarian-Swabian Way of St. James from Oettingen via Donauwörth to Augsburg and on the eastern route via Bad Wörishofen and Ottobeuren to Bad Grönenbach and Ermengerst (231.7 km)
- Augsburger Jakobsweg (Memmingen) – the western route from Augsburg via Oberschönenfeld, Maria Vesperbild, Kirchheim, Babenhausen and Memmingen to Bad Grönenbach (120.4 km)
- Jakobsweg Schrobenhausen – Augsburg – the feeder route “Vom Spargelland in die Fuggerstadt” (from asparagus country to the city of the Fuggers) via Inchenhofen, Haunswies and Friedberg (52.9 km)
- Münchner Jakobsweg – the section Lechbruck – Marktoberdorf – Kempten – Lindau, shared with the Bavarian-Swabian Way of St. James from Ermengerst onwards
- Lindau – Héricourt – the section Lindau – Nonnenhorn, where the Bavarian-Swabian Way of St. James ends at the St. James chapel
Together the routes form a network that converges in Augsburg: from the north come the northern route from the Ries and the feeder from Schrobenhausen; to the south the eastern and western routes split and meet again in Bad Grönenbach before the way leads through the Allgäu to Lake Constance.
What the association does for pilgrims
The association issues a trilingual pilgrim passport that is recognised in Santiago for the Compostela. Anyone who has walked the Bavarian-Swabian Way of St. James all the way to Lindau, in one go or in stages, receives a dedicated pilgrim certificate free of charge on request. There are also route descriptions as PDF and GPX, a pilgrim guide, a list of pilgrim hostels in Augsburg, Scheidegg and Lindau, and a network of 76 businesses along the way certified as pilgrim-friendly.
Over the year the association invites you to the pilgrim festival in Augsburg and to the Jakober Kirchweih fair, and reports on news along the route in a newsletter. New members and helpers for route maintenance are welcome.
Contact and getting involved
The association is based at Bernhardiring 49, 86687 Kaisheim. You can reach it by email at info@pilgern-schwaben.de or by phone on +49 9099 581. You will find the pilgrim passport, route descriptions, pilgrim certificate and dates at pilgern-schwaben.de. An association that has turned Augsburg into a hub where the Ways of St. James of Bavarian Swabia come together.