Palatine Ways of St. James

Palatine Ways of St. James (Pfälzer Jakobswege)
The destination of all ways of St. James: the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
Length	125 km (northern route), 125 or 112 km (southern route)
Location	Palatinate (Rhineland-Palatinate), North Route about 5 km in Saarpfalz (Saarland), Abbey Route through North Palatinate into the Saarland
Hiking details
Trail difficulty	easy
Season	all year round

The Palatine Ways of St. James (German: Pfälzer Jakobswege) are those sections of the Way of St. James in the Palatinate region of Germany and part of the historic pilgrimage route to the northwest Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela. It was there that, according to Christian tradition, the Apostle Saint James the Greater was buried.

Several such pilgrimage routes within the Palatinate have become known. Two, the North Route (Nordroute) and the South Route (Südroute), begin at the River Rhine at the imperial cathedral of Speyer and end in the small town of Hornbach (Südwestpfalz county), where the grave of Saint Pirmin is found in the former abbey. South of Hornbach the now united pilgrimage route crosses the border into France. Both Palatine routes are waymarked by the Palatine Forest Club and one link to the French pilgrimage routes follows. In the Palatine Forest old footpaths have been identified as parts of the Way of St. James.

Earlier sections of the Way of St. James converge from the north and east at Speyer. The northern route is well documented. From the southern boundary of Rhenish Hesse it should actually be counted as part of the Palatine Ways of St. James. It linked the two other imperial cathedrals in Mainz and Worms – via intermediate stations in Oppenheim and Frankenthal – with Speyer. In the south of Frankenthal, the district of Pilgerpfad that emerged after the Second World War took its name from the pilgrimage route. The Way crosses the middle of the district and is marked with the scallop symbol of St. James.