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Which of the German Caminos are the most popular?

adeczka13

Camino Karma
Time of past OR future Camino
Camino Frances 2012
Camino Aragones - Frances - del Salvador - Primitivo - Frances 2014 (55 days)
Hello Fellow Pilgrims!

I am planning my sixth Camino, and this time I want to do it "properly" -- start at home and get all the way to Fisterra! Which makes it a looooong walk, because I live in Poland (in Gdańsk).

I already know that the walk through Poland will be a very lonely one (literally NO pilgrims), and thus I want to choose such a Camino in Germany which will make it easier (more arrows, accomodation, more pilgrims, and so on). Sadly, my German isn't too good just yet, and because of that I cannot use the German websites.

Could someone please help me, and tell me which of the German Jakobswegs are the most popular? My choice of the Polish route will be based on where it has to end to be close to the starting point of the next one in Germany.

Any German speakers here to help? :) All prilgrims that have already walked the way in Germany?

Greetings to you all!
 
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Hello Adeczka!
I walked a Jakobsweg in Germany and Austria, following the Danube but going the other way! My German is (very) basic but you can buy the guide books in any Tourist office and the maps are very clear, also give you details of accommodation. Unfortunately we didn't keep them, (weight!) as there were several of them.

What prompts me to answer your query is that the ONLY pilgrim we met was Polish, from Warsaw and he was going to Santiago!

In case it helps, here's the itinerary we followed.
In Germany: Schopheim, Brandenburg, Titisee, Donaueschingen, Mohringen, Beuron, Sigmaringen, Riedlingen, Ehingen, Ulm, Gunzburg, Dillingen, Donauworth, Rennetschofen, Weichering, Vohburg, Weltenberg, Matting, Worth, Bogen, Deggendorf, Hofkirchen, Passau.

In Austria: Engelhartszell, Aschach, Linz, Au on der Donau, Grein, Ybbs, Melk, Oberloiben, Zwentendorf, Greifenstein, Wien, Schonau, Hainburg.

Then on to Bratislava.

It is a beautiful route! We walked it from August 10 arriving in Bratislava on September 15.
But as I said, we only met ONE other pilgrim. It may not be what you're looking for! Other people may advise you on more popular routes.

All the best, Dominique.
 
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Hi Adeczka, last year Marek Kaminski hiked from Kaliningrad to Santiago de Compostela.
He passed by Gdansk. He went through Germany, Belgium and France.
His website is: http://3biegun.kaminski.pl/en/
You can follow his tracks in detail there.
 
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Hi. I walked the Via Regia ( oekumenischer pilgerweg ) from Goerlitz on the Polish border to Vacha. You can continue on from there into France. The Via Regia has the best Pilgrim Infrastructure of the German routes and was very economical. You do meet a few pilgrims. Accommodation is plentiful and beds no problem. You sleep in converted barns, church platforms, private accommodations, monasteries etc. I loved the experience. See my blog www.gittiharre.blogspot.com
 
This might help
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Map_of_the_European_Long_Distance_Paths.png
Map_of_the_European_Long_Distance_Paths.png
 
Dzień dobry, @adeczka13. Gdańsk is just a few days walk from Toruń, a beautiful old city on one of the Drogi Św Jakuba. From Toruń it is a three-week walk south to Zygorzelec/Görlitz a city, as @gittiharre says, on the Via Regia. The kościół św. Jakuba in Toruń is beautiful.

Last summer I met a pilgrim near Toruń. He had walked between Toruń and Gdańsk once before and was about to set off for Gdańsk again. I think he followed a cycle route.

Cheers
Lovingkindness
 
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I walked the route from Prague through to Lausanne in sections over several years; in Germany this is entirely through Bavaria, from Eslarn on the Czech border - Nuremburg - Ulm - Konstanz. Lovely walking on well-maintained routes, going from church plaza in one town to church plaza in the next, crossing the wooded hills in between. Towns are well-stocked with pilgrim services (lodging, groceries, restaurants, banks). Churches are open. Quite a few wayside shrines. German-language route guides very useable. I speak only a little German, which was very sufficient; most townspeople are comfortable speaking some English. I was walking in May and June, which counts as early season in that part of the pilgrim world, but I encountered a pilgrim several times a week. (There were more in Switzerland, after June 1.) Highly recommended. Daily details in my blog. https://kitsambler.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/30-may-eslarn-to-wildstein/
 
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Hello Adeczka,
I made Okumenischer Pilgerweg from Gorlitz to Leipzig last summer by bike. It is very pilgrim-friendly route with picturesque landscapes, churches and quiet cities. As had been written above, the accomodation infastructure is very good and cheap (donativo in some places, in others 5-10 EUR). During these several days I have met a few pilgrims, one on the route and the others in herbergen, which are usually empty (it was August). In Polish routes it is impossible to meet a pilgrim - during my way from Lublin to Zgorzelec, I literally met anybody :)
Dobrej drogi!

Wojtek
 
... In Polish routes it is impossible to meet a pilgrim - during my way from Lublin to Zgorzelec, I literally met anybody :)
...between Torun and Zygorzelec I met 3 pilgrims, each one alone :). Near Czesky Dub in the CZ Republic (der Zittauer Jakobsweg) I came across a Polish pilgrim sleeping under a tree. He had filled his pack with dried sausages which he'd made himself and insisted on sharing them with me...yum
 
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...between Torun and Zygorzelec I met 3 :) and near Czesky Dub in the CZ Republic (der Zittauer Jakobsweg) I came across a Polish pilgrim sleeping under a tree. He had filled his pack with dried sausages which he'd made himself and he insisted on sharing them with me...yum
Yum indeed, I know what you mean ;)
I'm at my father's house and just about to prepare myself one homemade sausage for dinner.

B.

PS (Sory for going off-topic :))
 
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St James' Way - Self-guided 4-7 day Walking Packages, Reading to Southampton, 110 kms
Yes, Polish StJames ways are not popular in Poland :). Camino-style individual pilgrimage has not a mass character maybe because of strong, long-lasting (since XIVth century) tradition of group pilgrimages in Poland. Thousands of (mostly) young people go every year to Jasna Gora, a "national" Polish sanctuary of Black Madonna (Saint Mary icon). They go for a one week or two weeks from all major cities, always in the same month, to reach Jasna Góra on 15th of August, where all pilgrims meet together. There are also mass pilgrimages to local sanctuaries, like to Piekary Śląskie, where a lot of Silesian coal miners go every year.
During my way from Lublin to Zgorzelec/Gorlitz (870 km) I really didnt meet any pilgrim. In a lot of accomodation places I had to explain the idea of camino to the owners, in some I was the first pilgrim ever (for example in youth hostel in Sławków). In one of the most beautiful and charming places on Via Regia - in Sączów (where there are a relic of St James in the church), local camino enthusiasts together with a priest build very cozy stone albergue. A parish said that I was the fivteenth pilgrim which sleep there in that year (September 2014).
I hope that it will be changing, because one can see a lot of new religious activities growing in Poland. As an example may serve an "Extremal Way of the Cross" which is organised since few years in many Polish cities during Lent. It is a night walk of about 45 km long off-road way with 14 stations. The idea is that is individual reflection time and silence is recommended. In Lublin, where I live, over 2000 people took part this year. I walked this year the first time and it was one of the most transformative experiences in my life.
regards
Wojtek
 
I also can't recommend the Via Regia enough! I actually started a, still very rudimentary website about it here http://viaregia.guide
Hope it helps and Buen Camino! SY
 

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