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→Option 1: C33 Motorway service station Gasolinera Galp Montcada Norte
== Hitching in ==
=== From France ===
When on the main motorway from France to Barcelona, some cars are being stopped at the border for identity and luggage check. When going to Spain (Catalunya), there are several big rest areas on that road. You can either ask your driver to let you out in next to towns (with train stations) and cities along that road, such as [[Girona]] or [[Rubí]] and [[Sant Cugat]] (latter two are better options)where you can go to Bracelona by train, or get out of the car at a rest area and wait for another ride to Barcelona. A train ticket generally cost you between around €2,20 (Sant Cugat/Rubí) and €10 If you get dropped on the coast road leading to Barcelona (Girona11)it should be really easy to keep hitching through the towns and villages until the city. I did the last 60km on this road in 4 or 5 short lifts but never waited more than 2/3 mins, just hopped out of each car and thumbed the next one almost instantly wherever I was dropped.
You can also ask the driver to leave you at the junction by the university (''Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona''). There is a [[roundabout]] right by the motorway ramp. The only challenge is that your driver has to be going from the junction of ''Barbera de valles'' on the right site of the motorway as it gets split - otherwise you leave the car at ''Castellbisbal'' [[rest area|service station]].
== Hitchhiking out ==
=== North towards [[Girona]], [[Figueres]], [[La Jonquera]], ([[France]]) {{Aes|AP-7}} ===
In general your chances of being picked up are much better with cars with French number plates. For the options below it's good to have an idea about how many French cars you can expect.
* Take a Renfe train on the R2 or R2 Nord line, direction:This option worked very well for us Granollers Centre (R2) or Macanet-Massanes (Steffi and ManuR2 Nord), . * Get off at station ''Montcada i Reixac''. Train will take you there in about 20 minutes. * Exit the spot is easy train station to findthe left, through the description above is very good! takes about half an hour form Passeig de Gracia, people were helpful at second exit in the petrol station, we got a ride all direction of the way to Switzerlandtrain.:This option also worked well for me (Tarik) in Jan-14* Walk under the railways and pass through the station building. I just waited for 15 minutes until At the other side you will find yourself at a gracious Spanish couple gave me small shopping district with a ride one way street. Follow it to Gironathe right.:This option worked for me (Joel) too * Pass the church, traffic lights, and cross the pedestrian bridge. Once over the bridge, turn left and follow the fenced in June-15school playground around to the right. Waited 20 minutes before I was picked up by some really friendly spaniards* You should now see the motorway above you and parking below the motorway. The trouble for me was to get out of Spain (gave up after 4 hours) * Continue following the motorway until you see the road dip down and I was stuck just close to the border right under the railroad. Go under the bridge. * Up ahead and to France in La Jonquera before I finally had to get your left you will see a very broken vertical turnstile and a cab to Perpignan. Apparently -nobody- picks up hitch hikers just next to the border because this is sign saying "forbidden" (see a huge drug smuggling zonepicture here: http://imgur. Both rides I took before they clearly asked me if I had any drugs on mecom/MLxJc29). I had no idea why but now I understand. My recommendation is that you find someone that goes all Ignore the sign and follow the way foot path to France in Montcada / Gironathe right, because believe me, there is absolutely nothing to see in La Jonquerathe service road along the motorway. (In hindsight I should've just walked Someone also marked the entrance with "Autostop ->" )* This service road goes right into the remaining 5 kms to France where it's very easy to catch back of a rideGasolinera Galp Montcada Norte petrol station ( [geo:41.494515,2.191707;crs=wgs84;u=0 GPS Location] )
Update May 2024:It is a great spot! I used it 2 times (04/2014 and 08/2016). Once I was going to France with Girona sign. Leaving a highway in Spain - turnstile does not a good idea! Coming back exist anymore, but road is a nightmareopen... My advise is to look for When you go further you see a French car if construction site with workers, just pass by and you're going further. Also watch out for R2 trains as half of them after ''Passeig de Gracia'' goes get to the final petrol station instead of your direction. --[[User:Polski Matematyk|Polski Matematyk]]
Take train [http:April 2019 : great directions//www.fgc.net/accesible/cat/viatjar/s2.htm S2] from ''Barcelona Plaça Catalunya'', direction Sabadell-Rambla, I got there with and get off at ''Bellaterra''. (2 zones). Turn left out of the R4 from placa station and walk 1.6km along C/ de catalunyaBellaterra. After you have crossed over the motorway bridge, stopping at Montcada I Reixac - Manresa. Caught you will see a ride small road to Nimes in 20min with the left. Walk ≈400 along this road (you will pass through a sign small tunnel) to FRthe service station Parking Bellaterra / Cepsa fuel station.
==== Option 3: Barcelona Gran Via ====
Take the metro L2 and get off at ''Monumental''. From there, pass by the ''Plaça de Toros'' (Bullfight Arena) and start hitchhiking at the last traffic light by the ''Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes''/''Carrer Padilla'' before street corner where the road leads to the motorway C-31. When the light turns red, ask people if they're heading towards the motorway. If yes, ask them if they can take you to the first petrol station (''"gasolinera"''). [http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=41400908&x=2183522&z=17&l=3&m=h&v=2 Location Option3]<br/ >
This is a good option to start hitching from the city itself. It works pretty well if you know how to hitch from petrol lights, have a big sign or know some Spanish.
Take bus H16 from ''Plaça Catalunya'' direction Fòrum and get off at ''Cementiri de l'Est''. Head towards the beach, cross over the highway bridge, and you will see McD and the Repsol petrol station on the left.
[http://maps.google.de/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=de&geocode=&q=barcelona&aq=&sll=43.846165,7.51585&sspn=0.063015,0.154324&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Barcelona,+Provinz+Barcelona,+Katalonien,+Spanien&t=h&ll=41.392763,2.20439&spn=0.004129,0.009645&z=17&layer=c&cbll=41.392668,2.204321&panoid=THN4T4qwi_RHw72drz6r8A&cbp=12,328.03,,0,-0.5 photo-link]
==== Option 5: Port ====
Barcelona has a huge Port where ferries from Morocco, the Balearic Islands and Italy arrive. There are many cars going further north or to France. If you stand with a sign next to the passenger terminal where the cars leave the port, you can hitch a long-distance lift. It may be useful to check the timetables first, but keep in mind that ferries can be easily delayed by some hours.
=== South towards [[Valencia]], [[Alicante]] {{Aes|AP-7}} & West towards [[Zaragoza]], [[Madrid]] {{Aes|A2}} ===
==== Option 1: AP-7 Motorway Service Station Porta de Barcelona (Castellbisbal) ====
Take Renfe train R4 direction ''St.Vicenç de Calders'' from either ''Barcelona Sants'', ''Plaça Catalunya'' or ''Arc de Triomf'', to ''Castellbisbal''.
From the train station, go left and take the dirt road that leads out and cross under the railway tracks on your right. Walking on this road, you'll come across a surfaced road on your right, that will lead to a bigger road. When you reach this bigger road, you'll see a bridge on your right. Turn left here, and then immediately to the right, to a small street, at the end of which you can see a "stop" sign from the distance. Go straight until it turns into a dirt road, keep going on the dirt road until you reach the petrol station. There will be other roads left and right, ignore them. This whole walk from the station to the service station shouldn't take you much more than 30 minutes (besides, you can find signs on the last road that directly takes you to the service station, showing you that you're on the right way to the "área de servicio"). (2019-02): This route is still available, but truckers are not really into picking up hitchikers because of the police fees. I waited 2 hours there until I decided to talk directly with the people putting oil into their cars, and it was by far more efficient. If you are trying to get to Madrid and you use this route, stay on the side going south and try putting Lleida on your sign. [http://maps.google.de/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=BV-1501&daddr=BV-1501+to:41.468055,1.978912&hl=en&geocode=FY3TeAIdtQoeAA%3BFUzeeAIdvAceAA%3B&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=2&sz=16&via=1&sll=41.469149,1.978118&sspn=0.007943,0.01929&ie=UTF8&ll=41.471769,1.97505&spn=0.007942,0.01929&t=h&z=16 Way to walk] and [http://www.wikimapia.org/#y=41469502&x=1974599&z=16&l=0&m=s&v=2 Location] ==== Option 2: AP-7 Motorway Service Station Bellaterra ====Follow the instructions as per "heading north to Girona option 2" above. Cross over the footbridge to the services on the north side of the motorway for hitching south. :This place is not recommended for going south or west. A worker at the petrol station says that people arrive there and end up sleeping 1 or 2 days. Also the entrance from the highway to this petrol station is 10km before the petrol station. Most of that cars that passed in this place were going to barcelona center... Use option 1, much better.
=== South towards [[Tarragona]], [[Valencia]] {{Aes|C-32}} ===
Take Renfe train S2 train from ''Placa de Catalunya'' to ''Volpelleres''. Get out on the left side(taking the direction of the train as reference) of the station. Walk straight out along Carrer Mare de Déu del Roser, going a bit uphill. Bear left at the end of the road and you will see a roundabout with a petrol station. At the roundabout, take the exit Carrer de Vallespir and walk ≈150m till you get to the roundabout junction with the C-16 motorway. Stand at the entrance slip-road direction Manresa.<br/ >
Probably you will not find a ride to Andorra but from Manresa you can take the road in direction Berga. For us it worked out quite well.
=== Hitchhiking ferry to [[Mallorca]], [[Menorca]], [[Ibiza]] ===
== Barcelona Public Transport ==
The Barcelona public transport system consists of an underground metro, trams, area trains, and buses. Day passes are a little more than 5 euro, and cover the whole transport system, buses, trams, metro, and area trains (Rodalies and [http://www.fgc.net/eng/index.asp FGC]). Single passes are for the metro only, and cost eur 2.00. The best deal is the T-10, which is 10 rides for 11 eur (1.10 per ride). There is also a pink ticket for older Spanish people 10 rides for 4 eur, but dont show this ticket to gate guards/ticket inspectors. These tickets will also let you into the RENFE system, but you risk getting controlled if you go very far (more than 2 hours or so). The entrances sometimes have turnstiles and sometimes have sliding electronic gates. It is possible to jump or slide underneath, or climb over the electronic gates. If you get caught your risk is 40-100 euro - if you're not able to talk your way out of it. Control happens sometimes at the exits of stations, very rarely on the trains.Walk out by stairs slowly and look forward for them
On the stations with electronic gates, the best options is to wait for somebody to pass through a gate with a ticket, and walk directly behind them. This way you can across the gate. Sometimes, if you don do it quickly enough, a short buzzing alarm might activate, but this is largely ignored.
== Blackriding long distance trains==
On train station Barcelona Sants, where most of the long distances trains leave. You need to go threw a control similar like on airports. They check your ticket, they scan your luggage, you even need to put down jacket to go thre scanner. This makes it nearly impossible to get in long distance trains without ticket. The gates for short distance trains are separated so you can't just buy few euro ticket to village near by. To get to the platforms of long distanes trains you would need a ticket at least to Girona or Taragona or something. When you come blackriding TGV from france you need to go out from the platform and then you would need again to go threw the stupid control to get next train so it doesn' t help you anyhow. At least leaving from the TGV is no problem as there are no gates on the exit.
== Staying in Barcelona ==
=== Free food and shower ===
=== Hospitality exchange ===
=== Sleeping in public areas ===
Options include sleeping on the beach, in parks, nearby hills, roofs of buildings and elsewhere. Note that parks in Barcelona close at night, and may not be that easy to get into one.
=== Sleeping in empty or occupied buildings and rooftops ===
Roofs and similar structures are quite fine sleeping places. Sleeping in abandoned houses is recommendable although it is considered a crime, "trespassing" unless you have a banner with the squatting "N" hanging from a balcony, window etc. The cops are going to put this down and inform the landlord. If they do not want you to stay and if you have been there for less than a week they can evict you right away. So in case you want to stay somewhere for less than a week having a banner is most likely not worth the hassle... You can just stay in a squat that has already gone through the registration process. Most of those houses are in Barcelona.
=== Sleep safe Thieves === When staying on the beach in Barcelona, you may notice thieves. They walk around and observe people on the beach for hours before stealing anything. Even though they aren't usually hostile or confrontational, they can steal clothes off your back while you're asleep. The only sure way to keep your things safe is to bury it in the sand and sleep on top of it. Sleeping with your head on your bag is just not enough. These thieves are very professional, and they look for people sleeping rough not just on the beach but in the central districts too.
== Free internet ==
Free wireless and Apple demo computers with limited internet access at Apple Store (Plaza Catalunya)
== Nomadwiki & Trashwiki == {{Hitchhiking Zine nominationnomadwiki}} __NOTOC__{{IsIn|Catalunya}} == Take care of your bag and money there are alot of brave and fast thieves around!!! ==
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