Germany

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Germany
Information
Language:	German
Capital:	Berlin
Population:	82,314,900
Currency:	Euro (€)
Hitchability:	(very good)
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<map lat='51.39920565355378' lng='9.9755859375' zoom='5' view='0' height='320' width='260' float='left' country='Germany' />

Sigurdas thumbing towards Nürnberg, 2003.

Germany is a member state of the European Union as well as the Schengen Agreement. It is a great country for hitchhiking, both on motorways (via on-ramps, service stations, more seldom - parking lots) and local roads. Motorway is called Autobahn in German, while a service area is Raststätte. Latter one is a very common place for hitching a ride - many drivers stop there for re-fuel and some rest. There you will often find maps of Germany and surrounding countries that indicate every single petrol station or any other service area located on motorways; in addition, there are map stands (usually by the main entrance to a petrol station) that give a general overview of all service areas on the territory of Germany. Motorway ramps usually are a good option to get a free ride, too. One has to make sure, though, not to end up on co called Schnellstrasse (it usually leads to motorways) where cars go fast and can not stop.

As a general rule, you should always stick to the "Autobahn" a long as possible and try to change between major "Autobahns" as less as possible, even if this means some detours. As soon as you are on the Highway and stick to service stations, you are hitching fast and reliable. In general you may have to wait quiet long waiving your thumb at on-ramps (especially if its hard to stop there and/or you are male), so if possible it often pays (in terms of time and frustration) to travel by foot and public transport to the closest service stations. Asking people directly just works better. Other good options are local petrol stations close to the Highway on-ramps.

Many German motorways have no speed limits, therefore you might wanna first try to get a ride hitching a personal car before asking truck drivers. Trucks are great for a night-ride; however, there are restrictions, like in France, of when trucks are allowed on a motorway. In Germany most trucks aren't allowed on motorways on Sundays or public holidays before 22:00.

If you travel a specific motorway, have a look at the "German motorways" page where you can find very specific information and hints about hitchhiking on German motorway ramps, etc. - for example, the route Amsterdam–Berlin along the A2 and A30.

• See also: Tips on Hitchhiking Germany, an article on Digihitch by David Smith.

Legal stuff

Hitchhiking in general is legal in Germany. It is only forbidden to hitchhike on the highway itself, meaning you standing on the highway (or its emergency lane). You are perfectly fine stopping at service stations and asking the people. If you want to start hitching at the highway ramps, make sure you stand before the rectangular blue sign indicating the start of the highway.

Police in general is really suspicous of hitchhikers, especially in the southern states of Bavaria or Baden-Wuertemberg. Be polite and show them your ID (which you should always carry while hitching in Germany) and they will leave you alone (after checking that you are no criminal).

License plates

There are between one and three letters on a license plate which show the city or region where the car is registered. For example, look for license plates starting with B if you're hitching to Berlin. Have a look at the articles on Wikipedia for more information: German car number plates (in English) and Liste der Kfz-Kennzeichen in Deutschland (in German).

Crossing the border

Germany has signed a Schengen Agreement which means that borders with other Schengen countries are open. Since 2009, all neighbour countries are Schengen members as well, so there are no border checks at all anymore.

At the Swiss border, there are still custom controls, but that will probably only affect you if you are in a truck. (Switzerland has joined the Schengen Agreement in 2009!)

Maps

Tiziano hitching from Berlin to Munich

If you're not staying in Germany for long you can hitch through having any map of Germany that has motorway petrol stations marked on it. For that, go to any petrol station located on a motorway and ask for an "Autobahn-Guide" - it is for free. You'll get a booklet describing all services on German motorways and including a map with an overview of all motorway petrol stations and other service areas. For more information look here: tank.rast.de. While on a petrol station, you can also find more detailed maps for ~5 Euro.

Recommended maps for hitchhiking are Michelin Regional, the orange ones with the numbers 541-546. There are six of these maps, each covering a different part of Germany. They are very detailed and show every single petrol station, hotel, restaurant, or a parking place on German motorways. The scale is equal to 1:350000. Bigger city maps are included, too. You can usually get these maps in local bookstores for about EUR 8.

Hitchhiker Platschi suggests that the Aral Straßen-Atlas Deutschland & Europa can be very good for hitchhiking trips, too: it contains a detailed map of Germany and of the bordering countries, with city maps of the biggest German cities, and all service stations located on motorways. Price: EUR 7,95. Available on all Aral service stations, and in German bookstores.

Eating

Try to avoid eating on motorway service stations if you want to save money and to have a good taste of food. These restaurants are notoriously expensive (very often you have to pay for the toilet, too) and the food quality is quite low.

At some service stations with a Sanifair system you get a EUR 0,50 coupon for the toilet which you can use as a valid equivalent to monetary payment when buying things at the petrol station shop or in the restaurant. If you're lucky you can also find thrown away Sanifair vouchers for free.

Nearly everywhere in Germany you can drink water from the tap.

Keep in mind that most shops (including supermarkets) are not allowed to be open on Sundays. There are no 24h-shops, although non-stop petrol stations often offer some food choices (very limited, though).

When in bigger cities, you can usually get the cheapest food at Turkish and Italian restaurants.

See trashwiki for info on dumpster diving for free food in Germany.

Trains

See Deutsche Bahn.

Practical links

• Hitchhiking spots in Germany, in German, on a GFDL wiki
• www.hitch-hiking.org, general information on hitchhiking (in English and German)
• A map with good/bad places to hitchhike
• Overview of motorways in Germany
• A map with motorway restaurants in Germany
• Best Restaurants in Germany
• Service stations on German motorways

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German highways

Major highways: A1 • A2 • A3 • A4 • A5 • A6 • A7 • A8 • A9

Minor highways: A10 • A11 • A12 • A13 • A14 • A15 • A17 • A19 • A20 • A21 • A23 • A24 • A25 • A26 • A27 • A28 • A29 • A30 • A31 • A33 • A37 • A38 • A39 • A40 • A42 • A43 • A44 • A45 • A46 • A48 • A49 • A52 • A57 • A59 • A60 • A61 • A62 • A63 • A64 • A65 • A66 • A67 • A70 • A71 • A72 • A73 • A81 • A92 • A93 • A94 • A95 • A96 • A98 • A99

German cities with more than 100.000 inhabitants

> 2.000.000: Berlin

1.000.000–2.000.000: Hamburg • München • Köln

500.000–1.000.000: Bremen • Dortmund • Dresden • Duisburg • Düsseldorf • Essen • Frankfurt am Main • Hannover • Leipzig • Nürnberg • Stuttgart

300.000–500.000: Bielefeld • Bochum • Bonn • Mannheim • Wuppertal

100.000–300.000: Aachen • Augsburg • Bergisch-Gladbach • Bottrop • Braunschweig • Bremerhaven • Chemnitz • Cottbus • Darmstadt • Erfurt • Erlangen • Freiburg im Breisgau • Fürth • Gelsenkirchen • Gera • Göttingen • Hagen • Halle (Saale) • Heidelberg • Heilbronn • Herne • Ingolstadt • Jena • Karlsruhe • Kassel • Koblenz • Kiel • Krefeld • Leverkusen • Lübeck • Ludwigshafen • Magdeburg • Mainz • Moers • Mönchengladbach • Mülheim • Münster • Neuss • Oberhausen • Offenbach • Osnabrück • Paderborn • Pforzheim • Potsdam • Recklinghausen • Regensburg • Remscheid • Reutlingen • Rostock • Saarbrücken • Salzgitter • Siegen • Solingen • Ulm • Wiesbaden • Witten • Wolfsburg • Würzburg

If you search cities with less than 100.000 inhabitants, have a look at the seperate Federal State articles. You find them at the bottom of this page.

Federal States of Germany

Baden-Württemberg • Bayern (Bavaria) • Brandenburg • Hessen (Hesse) • Mecklenburg-Vorpommern • Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) • Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia) • Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate) • Saarland • Sachsen (Saxony) • Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt) • Schleswig-Holstein • Thüringen (Thuringia)

City states: Berlin • Bremen • Hamburg

Countries of Europe

Albania • Andorra • Austria • Belarus • Belgium • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Bulgaria • Croatia • Cyprus • Czech Republic • Denmark • Estonia • Finland • France • Germany • Greece • Hungary • Iceland • Ireland • Italy • Kosovo • Latvia • Liechtenstein • Lithuania • Luxembourg • Macedonia • Malta • Moldova • Monaco • Montenegro • Netherlands • Norway • Poland • Portugal • Romania • Russia • San Marino • Serbia • Slovakia • Slovenia • Spain • Sweden • Switzerland • Turkey • United Kingdom • Ukraine • Vatican

wikipedia:Germany trash:Germany digi:Germany