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Switzerland is a country in Western Europe.

Flag of Switzerland Switzerland
Information
Language: German, French, Italian
Capital: Bern
Population: 7,761,800
Currency: Swiss Frank (Schweizer Franken), CHF
Hitchability: <rating country='ch' />
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<map lat='46.927758623434435' lng='8.26171875' zoom='7' view='0' float='right'/>

In Switzerland people speak four different indigenous languages, depending on the area you are hanging around: German in the north and east, Italian in the south, French in the western part of the country, and Rhaeto-Rumantsch, which is derived from Vulgar Latin, brought by roman soldiers two millenia ago in the mountains of eastern Switzerland. There is a large percentage of foreigners, as well as many tourists. Most people will be able to understand some English.

Hitchhiking works very well in Switzerland, especially in the mountain regions and small country roads, where it is quite common to pick up wanderers and hitchhikers. It's also quite easy to get lifts with truck drivers from Germany to Italy and back. There are not that many service stations along the highways, and some are not open 24 hours.

Since the mid-December 2008 Switzerland is officially part of the Schengen Area, and long existed cross-border passport checks are on a way to be abolished.

I found it pretty hard on the main roads near big cities, I have been waiting for hours to be dropped out near Basel, getting out from Lugano was also challenging...the main signs lead you only to the motorway where is forbidden and even on the entrance the police didn't allow me to; the small roads didn't have directions to bigger cities, only to all possible villages around that say nothing to strangers without maps like me :) Only between the villages was easier though according to a driver hitchhiking is more difficult nowadays due to some theft cases - July 2015, Nadita

Hitching at the border

Since in not legal to hitch on motorways (petrol stations are allowed though), you should avoid to get dropped at the border. If you're hitchhiking with a truck driver into Italy, he'll probably need to stop at the border before driving on - but ask him not to say that you're a hitchhiker since the border police might tell you to leave the truck and drive you to the bus station instead.

Bikepunk got dropped at the border on the motorway close to Geneve and the border staff asked him to get out of there (He just went a bit further and hid behind a wall (not the best to hitch) and finally someone picked him up).

 
Anthony hitching in Lausanne

Cities

Camping

In Switzerland, everybody is legally allowed to use pasture and woods to a certain extent, including camping. The same goes for agriculturally not usable space such as public bodies of water, rock, snow or ice.

Highway petrol stations

Here is a list of all the motorway petrol stations of Switzerland. If you type the name of the petrol station in Google Maps you will find where exactly it is. This makes it much more comfortable to hitchhike.

External links


Wikipedia:Switzerland


trash:Switzerland