Graz

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Graz is the second largest city in Austria and the capital of the province Styria. <map lat='47.057493' lng='15.472527' zoom='11' view='0' float='right'/>

Hitchhiking out

East towards Vienna

1) Take the tramway #4 or #13 to direction Liebenau and get out at the station Murpark. There go back to the bus station along the motorway – there you can be seen from far distance and there is place to stop and go easy...Also there are a few gas stations along the way you go with the tram.

(Tried:) Esko says: This is not the best place, since there are three lanes on this road, the two inside lanes are for cars going out of Graz and the third is mainly for buses, so in most cases the driver who wants to stop needs to cross at least one line. ESko tried this spot last year (2015) and had to wait over one hour until he luckily got a lift. This year (2016) he headed the same way and found the previous bus station - Dr Lister Gasse - much better. It took only 10 minutes till he got a car to Vienna, since there is plenty of space to stop and drivers can see you from faraway. Take the tramway #4/13 and get off at Dr Lister Gasse.

2) If you like it more to ask people at the petrol station directly you can go with the Tram number 6 from jakominiplatz to Schulzentrum St. Peter and from there you take the bus 72 to "messendorf heimgarten". wlak along the street 200m more and you find two gas stations. Loads of people go there to buy cheap gas because the highway is just a little bit farer along the street.

South towards Slovenia and Italy

Spot 1A: Webling roundabout - small shoulder

Directions

Take the 32 bus south east to Trattfelderstraße. Just behind the stop is a bridge/overpass, with a ramp leading up. Carefully walk in the grass up to a traffic circle, where you'll see signs for any direction you want to go. There is a small shoulder right before the exit towards Slovenia, you can stand at the front of this area with your sign and get all the traffic heading towards Slovenia from this area. ‎

Personal experiences
"I found the spot pretty tricky, and waited nearly 2hrs for a lift. Cars go fast and there is a merge right in front of the shoulder, which makes pulling over tricky. Also you get all the traffic to Vienna at the same spot. [...] Also beware of ending up at the raststation at Gralla, in summer it is mainly families with their cars full, you might get stuck there for hours." - Martinsltopf, July 2015

Spot 1B: Webling roundabout - emergency lane

Directions

There are two ways to get to an emergency lane:

1) First, get to the spot 1A as described previously. Then, walk another 100m and exit the traffic circle towards Slovenia. There's a pretty wide emergency lane round the corner.

or follow an alternative path that bypasses multi-lane, busy traffic circle:

2) Take a train to Graz Webling (wegfinder Android app worked great to find a connection), follow railroad south and turn left (east) onto Schwarzer Weg. Follow Schwarzer Weg for another ~500m until you get to multiple overpasses. You need to jump over the left (north) fence between the first and second overpass and climb onto a hill. It may be a bit of a challenge but it's doable (note: the closer to the concrete overpass the more stable the fence is). There you are!

Follow maps below and Google Maps satellite images of a region to better understand instructions.

Getting to an emergency lane by the highway towards Slovenia, part 1
Getting to an emergency lane by the highway towards Slovenia, part 2
Personal experiences
"[...] It's probably the best spot for this direction regardless, but prepare to spend some time. [...]" - Martinsltopf, July 2015
"We've tried this spot and it worked perfectly. We've waited less than 15 minutes with "Maribor" sign and catched a ride to an Austro-Slovenian border. Note, however, that we had a perfect combo: M+F, mid 20s, 3:30 PM on weekday (afternoon rush hours). I'd also suggest an alternative path (path no. 2) to get to an emergency lane, as it seems safer than crossing busy roundabout." - raczek and Ewa, September 2017

Spot 2: Roundabout behind Murpark shopping centre

Directions

A small roundabout behind the Murpark shopping centre (and the P+R). Just stand at the corner with the car dealership. There will be a gas station behind you with plenty of room to stop. All the cars going onto the ramp must pass you and can see you clearly since they have to slow down at the roundabout (there's a tree for shade too!). We used a sign reading "Italy" and got a ride to Villach in 30 minutes (with a first car stopping after about 15 minutes and offering to take us to the first gas station on the Autobahn).

Personal experiences
September 2017; "NickolasandVictoria waited for about 2 hours at the roundabout, next to the tree, with a sign reading "SLO" for Slovenia. It was a Tuesday morning, and they waited until around 15:00. There was not much traffic at the roundabout, and whatever traffic came through the roundabout, was either headed for the Park and Ride or headed North away from SLO. They ended up getting a ride at the gas station by approaching a couple with a Slovenian license plate and asking for a ride. Though there was some traffic at the gas station, it was not the busiest, and definitely had limited south-bound traffic stopping. There may be a higher amount of southbound traffic near evening rush hour, but the chances of finding a ride to stop for you without having to approach and ask in person is small."
October 2017: tl;dr? Wait at the gas station and ask people with SLO license plates, as mentioned above by NickolasAndVictoria. Details of what itsagerston tried: we thumbed for a long time at the roundabout on a Thursday morning until a lady approached us from the mall and told us that we'll only find people travelling locally at that roundabout. She told us to walk to a nearby bus stop that Google maps calls "Graz Karl-Huber-Gasse (Autobahn)" where cars can stop just before entering the freeway towards Slovenia. We also thumbed there for a long time with no luck. Eventually we went back to the gas station to grab a snack, and low and behold a Blablacar driver with a SLO license plate was parked there waiting for his passenger; we saw the license plate, asked if he could take us, and just like that we were Maribor bound!

North towards Salzburg and Germany

Take bus #52 heading north from Hauptbahnhof, the main train station. After 10 to 15 minues get off at the Shopping Nord on Wiener Strasse. This road leads into the E57 (= A9). There are many cars and places for drivers to pull over. At the traffic light, it is really hard for people to stop, so it is better to walk down the road until you find somewhere for people to pull in, though it is hard because people drive quickly.

Alternatively there is a Shell garage where Grabenstrasse meets Bergmangasse, road number 67a. It is about a 15 minute walk north from the city park. It is easy to get a ride from there heading north and onto the A9. It's an easy option that doesn't require any public transport.

Or if you want it very simple, you just walk a few hundred metres from the main train station to this bus stop and hitch a ride from there north to the A9 (going to Linz).

You should try getting a ride at least until "Raststätte Deutschfeistritz", an OMW gas station. Although the gas station is located on the other side of the highway and most cars will be going in the direction of Graz, it is the first and best option to catch a ride on to Upper Austria and te A1/A8/A9 highway junction "Voralpenkreuz". If you are considering this option, make sure your driver is going by the taxed part of the A9 highway and does not drive around the part where the gas station is on by taking the S35.

Public Transport

Graz provides a tramway system, it is aligned star shaped around the center excange point Jakomini Platz. The tram and bus diagram can be found right here. The Tickets are bought directly in the Tram/Bus. A 1-hour ticket is € 1,90, a 1-day ticket is € 4,20 and the three day Tourist ticket comes to € 9,90.

Controllers sometimes patrol the tramways, but during the day you can usually hop on a bus without showing a ticket. in the night, however, the driver usually asks to see a ticket. Fines are very expensive. They control mostly on sundays and in the evening.



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