Gardens, Vineyards, and the Hildegard Forum

Today has a different texture than the rest of the pilgrimage — less ruin, more living landscape. The morning takes the group to St. Johannisberg church in Hochstetten-Dhaun and out to the Skywalk, before a walk through the Hildegard-inspired gardens and park at Dhaun. It’s a chance to see her ideas about viriditas and natural healing translated into an actual, tended garden rather than a historical description.

Lunch is at a local vineyard — an informal tasting alongside the meal, in a region where winemaking and monastic life have always been closely intertwined. In the afternoon, the group travels to Bingen to visit the Hildegard Forum, a modern center built around an elaborate Hildegard garden, before a short walk down the road to St. Rochus Chapel. The Forum is a useful reminder that Hildegard’s legacy isn’t only preserved in ruins and reliquaries — it’s actively maintained, studied, and gardened by people living in this valley right now.

Registration for the September 2026 pilgrimage is closed, but we’re already planning ahead — Hildegard’s 850th anniversary falls in 2029. Join the waitlist to hear about future journeys first.