Leuven

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Leuven (French: Louvain) is the capital city of the province Vlaams-Brabant in Belgium at about 30km east of Brussels. It is mainly a calm administrative and university city with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven which includes some magnificent historic buildings and cityscape.

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Hitching Out

West towards Brussels

Just walk on the ring of Leuven to the Tervuursevest and hitch along the Koning Boudewijnlaan. You will see many cars parked along the road, so you can start to hitch from there.

E40 Services Transit

East towards Liege, Germany, West towards Brussels, Gent

The E40 is passing at quite a distance on the southern side of the city, but there is a service station which can be a good spot to hitch a quick ride east towards Liege and Germany or west towards Brussels or Gent. The service station direction west is also the last one before the ring of Brussels.

To reach the service station from Leuven: Take bus #395 direction Overijse-Groenendal and go out at stop Rotspoelstraat. Alternatively try the buses #7-8-9 in direction Korbeek-lo or De Borre and get out at Egenhoven and then walk down the St-Jansbergsesteenweg.

North towards Mechelen

Hitching In

If you happen to pass around Leuven by the E314, you can simply ask to be dropped at any of the town or its suburb's exit (Exit 16 - 17 or 18) and walk into downtown.

Although if you are approaching Leuven through the E40, you might have to be dropped at the Leuven Services (Shell) and walk toward the local road into town, which is still quite a distance. Alternatively, you might get dropped at the exit 23 (Haasrode) and try to hitch along the local road into town, or walk the 4 remaining km. Note that for indeterminate time Exit 23 is currently partially close, which reveals to be a problem as it is currently only open for coming from Brussels and returning towards Brussels (As of October 2007)