Hitchhiking in Europe

[Rytis]

Hey everyone!

My name is Rytis, I'm planning a small trip around Europe in a week or so and would like to get some tips As I'm lithuanian and it's not the best place to start hitchhiking from here (as for a first-timer), I'm taking a bus to Berlin, staying there for a few days and starting off my trip to Amsterdam and Copenhagen later. Is there anyone who has experience among thouse routes? Berlin -> Amsterdam looks pretty easy to hitchhike, but the scary part is Amsterdam -> Copenhagen.

Any tips, experience or your stories would be really appreciated!

Thanks in advance, Rytis

 

[Rytis]

By the way, if there are some Europe based forums (as I can see most of topics here are about US, aren't they?), I'd really appreciate if you share them.

 

[kecleon]

Hey, Germany and Netherlands are so easyi love hitchhiking the Netherlands, especially now everyone will not want you to stand in the cold. Do you speak any German? In the netherlands i tried to learn dutch, i had a guy drive me for an hour out of his way I told.him its fine but he insisted!! Other people in Netherlands have given me drinks and insisted to buy me lunch. Denmark is a little more tricky but it's not so bad as.people say. Look at this website hitchwiki.org it tells you all you can know for Denmark.

 

[etpyh]

I don´t have any experiences on this particular route, but hitchhiking in Germany is pretty easy as said above. From my experience the best way in germany is to directly ask people on gas stations for a ride.
Putting the old thumb out with or without a sign works too, but asking people worked much better for me.
I don´t know if this would work as good as it did for me if you are not a native german speaker though.
hitchwiki.org is also a pretty good resource, it might even have a forum.

 

[Tude]

Hi there - there are some entries in the hitchhiking forum that contain information concerning hitchhiking in Europe. Was just looking through them. Oh and welcome to STP!

 

[warlo]

Germany is probably the fastest hh place on west europe, nederlands probably second. Denmark is fine, but prepare because its cold already up here. I would suggest you to stick to petrol stations on highways if you are in a hurry to get somewhere or you are getting stuck too much on secondary roads.

about your comment on Lithuania, I havent been there, but know people who did and my impression from their experiences and mine with eastern european drivers around the west is that people know well about hitchhiking and are positive to it unlike most drivers in the rest of europe.

good luck!

 

[Mankini]

Get a map. Or go on google maps and find the most efficient highway routes. That is, unless, you're specifically trying to see rural countryside. Other than that, follow the basics.

 

[amines]

Always check hitchwiki, you can find all kinds of usefull info (country in generel, hitchin in and out of cities, what to avoid etc.), oh and get a MARCO POLO euroatlas, they even have gas stations marked on highways,
When going long distance, stick to highways and station dropping (therefore the map is useful)
When it comes to the Netherlands, every single person I ran into spoke perfect english