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 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. Highway is just a little bit farer along the street

South towards Slovenia and Italy

Asfinag Rastplatz rest stop next to airport Flugafhen Graz

Train to Kalsdorf Graz Bahnhof than walk 3.5 km to Mein HOLTER Bad Ausstellung Premstätten. Asfinag Rastplatz rest stop and Agip Unterpremstätten fuel station is on opposite site of E59 highway (there is small distance between them)

Spot 1A: Webling roundabout - small shoulder

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. ‎

Spot 1B: Webling roundabout - 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, taking the left when the road forks, passing a neighbourhood, 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. I'd recommend the right edge where the fence meets the concrete overpass). Once you get to the top, you'll have a big long shoulder to hitch a ride.


This is highway so if police catches you there and put a fine pretend that you dont have money


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
Photo of the emergency lane, part 3

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!
August 2019: This place is completely useless on Sundays because the whole shopping center is closed and the whole place is plain deserted. If you end up here anyway, it is probably best to walk to the Dr-Lister-Gasse bus stop, a few hundred meters back to the city centre, and try your luck there. However, there isn't much Slovenian traffic there.
January 2020: We were there with a friend for at least two hours. First, we headed directly at the people who were stopping in the gas station, asking for anyone going to Ljubljana, but found no one. From the gas station, there's a roundabout and one of the exits is towards Graz but also Germany/Austria/Slovenia, so we walked 50 metres from the roundabout in this direction and waited there with a sign "SLO". It's possible to get to this spot directly from the gas station, climbing a small grass slope. There shoud be a little space for cars to park. Unfortunately, as a lot of people is heading towards Graz in this same spot, it's not the best place to find a ride directly to Slovenia, but someone finally took us until Klagenfurt, which is a great point from where to hitchhike until Slovenia and specifically the capital city. Maybe, using a sign with this city could be more useful, should give it a try.

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.

Trashwiki & Nomadwiki

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