Outdoor fun between the Rhine and the Moselle

Following in the footsteps of a saint

There is still real fascination surrounding the life and works of Hildegard of Bingen. The abbess, poetess, theologian, natural historian and healer lived part of her life in the Nahe region and very much left her mark. You can follow in her footsteps on the Hildegard of Bingen Pilgrimage Trail. The varied hiking trail takes you past various stations in the life of probably the most famous woman of the Middle Ages.

The 137 kilometre trail begins in Idar-Oberstein, passing through Niederhosenbach, the site of her ancestral home and where she is believed to have been born, before continuing to Bad Sobernheim. Not far from here are the ruins of the Disibodenberg monastery, where she spent nearly 40 years of her life. The Pilgrimage Trail ends in Bingen am Rhein. The Rupertsberger Gewölbekeller is thought to be the last place that she worked. In 1150, she founded the Rupertsberg Monastery, where she then worked for 29 years. The last stations on the Pilgrimage Trail include the Hildegard Shrine in the St Hildegard Pilgrimage Church in Rüdesheim-Eibingen and the St Hildegard Abbey in Eibingen.

There are information boards along the route that explain who Hildegard of Bingen was, her work, and her life in the Middle Ages.

There are also meditation boards that allow walkers to get closer to the spiritual side of Hildegard of Bingen by providing ideas for meditation and contemplation.