Amsterdam

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Amsterdam
<map lat='52.38278242102423' lng='4.90844612121582' zoom='11' view='3'/>
Information
Country:
Flag of Netherlands
Netherlands
Province:
Flag Noord Holland.png
Noord Holland
Population: 851,573
Major roads: A1, A2, A4, A7, A8, A9, A10,
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Hitching at the Prins Bernhardplein liftplaats

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands.

Hitching In

Coming from South there is a petrol station just a couple of kilometres before Amsterdam. There are enough people stopping before going into the city. So get off there when your driver doesn't go where you need to be in Amsterdam and catch easily a ride that goes to the district you want to go - this will save you some bugs and 30-60 minutes getting to the other side of town.

Hitchhiking out

West towards Haarlem, Leiden, Den Haag, Delft

There is an official liftplaats about 100 meters south of metro station Sloterdijk on Haarlemmerweg. Here you will find a lot of traffic going straight to Haarlem, and possibly even cars going to Leiden, and further to Delft and Den Haag. Though, most cars going there will use the Ring A10 and then the A4 to Den Haag.

North towards Alkmaar, Zaandam

There is an A10 on-ramp near Sloterdijk station. Exit the station and go 200m east on Hatostraat, 250m north on La Guardiaweg and 250m east on Basisweg and then cross over to the on-ramp.

Another ramp is a little way up the street from the last. Get there from the last by continuing further down Basisweg (which becomes Transformatorweg until Kabelweg). Follow this north past s101 (Nieuwe Hemweg). The ramp is off of Vlothavenweg.

East towards Amersfoort, Hengelo, Osnabrück, Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin

If you are hitching in the direction of Berlin or Hamburg, you might find the route-page from Amsterdam to Berlin useful.

If you are hitching in the direction of Bremen, Hamburg or Copenhagen, you might find this route-page from Amsterdam to Copenhagen useful.


Option 1 Liftplaatsand BP petrol station (mostly local traffic)

The walking route from the former liftplaats location to the nearby petrol station.

There is a liftplaats, a spot specifically for hitchhiking, at the Gooiseweg next to the Prins Bernhardplein situated before NS Station Amsterdam Amstel (pass the bus stop). This road leads to the ramp of the S112 of the A10, the motorway around Amsterdam (direction A1 and A2. This is currently being turned into a third lane and is completely unusually for hitching a ride. A little further on that road, which is called Gooiseweg, and behind the bend you will find a BP petrol-station where you can talk to drivers, often a better way for getting a ride. The petrol station is easily accessible from the backstreets, and it is very easy to hail a ride from the side of the road immediately after the petrol station.

Most cars here will drive along the A1 towards Amersfoort, Hengelo and Germany. The first petrol-station is just 8 kilometres further, just after Muiden] A second petrol station and parkingspot, called De Slaag, is located 37 kilometres from Amsterdam, right before Amersfoort.


Option 2 Highway BP Honswijck petrol station in Muiden

First you go by train, tram, metro or bus to the station Amsterdam Amstel. From there three bus lines, 320, 322 and 327, are going to busstop P+R Terrein in Muiden. A presale ticket costs EUR 2,90 for all buses (GVB 1 uur ticket). In the bus you pay EUR 5 for bus lines 322 and 327 or EUR 4.20 for bus line 320 (numbers/ticket price may be outdated).

Step out at P+R Terrein in Muiden, walk south Weesperweg for 200m, then turn left crossing the canal with the bridge Spieringburg/Mariahoeveweg for 200m, then 400m south along the Vecht canal eastbank on Lange Muiderweg. Now comes the unverified part: walk 800 meter east behind the noise breaker along the motorway and you will be at A1 BP-service station Honswijck.

  • Comment: I tried this in 2018. Walking behind the noise breaker is a bit of an adventure - part of the terrain there is marshy, so you need to climb up to the concrete ridge on the back of the noise breaker and walk along it - but totally doable and once you're on the other side, you've got a good place to get a hitch. MatsumotoJoe
Hitchhikers at the Prins Bernhardplein liftplaats


Option 3 Hush AVIA highway petrol station / rest stop (out of city by train)

There is often a lot of competition at the liftplaats and drivers usually only go short distances, so by the time you have finally left Holland you will have had approx. 3–6 rides. You can easily avoid this by taking a train to Hengelo (buy a discount ticket). From the train station Hengelo take bus 14 to Bruninkshoek. You now find yourself on the street Oostelijke Esweg. Walk in the direction the bus just came from towards the street Hasselerbaan, then turn left. Walk down until you cross Oldenzaalsestraat. Turn left and you will see a footbridge overlooking the A1. When you have crossed the bridge, don't turn right but walk through the grass and descend down. Turn left before the ditch and walk with the ditch on your right. Continue until you see a little forest; here you have to jump over a small ditch. Walk through the little forest and you will reach an Hush AVIA petrol station where nearly all cars go to Germany.

South and Southeast towards Utrecht, Breda, Nijmegen, Arnhem, Düsseldorf, Antwerpen, Brussels, Paris

You can either go and hitch from the same spot as for going West at the Amstel Station, or hitch from where the motorway to Utrecht starts, which is called the Utrechtsebrug. This second option definitely gives you more cars going into the right direction and generally a lot less waiting time.


Option 1

Head to the Martin Luther King Park in Amsterdam Zuid where the motorway to A2-motorway starts, which leads to Utrecht and further to Den Bosch, Eindhoven and Maastricht. Take tram 4 or 12 and walk from the Vrijheidslaan south through the Rijnstraat to the motorway A10 / A2. At the end of this road before the crossing, you'll find traffic lights where you can pro-actively ask drivers to drop you at the massive Haarrijn service station (see below). The best traffic lights to pick, as there are three sets here, is the one on your left side when you are standing facing the bridge.

From here you can also walk over the bridge, walk along the motorway over the grass towards a small petrol station 250 meters further, behind the bend. If you do that don't try (like me) to go right to the little residence, there are rivers and no path to get to the station, there are no other ways than walk along the road. Be careful when walking here, the space between you and cars is minimal.

NOTE: Though the spot is generally awesome, you are likely to spend hours waiting for cars going as far as Haarrijn on Sundays (and probably Saturdays too). It might be reasonable to try further spots to avoid local traffic during the end of week.


Option 2 Utrecht on ramp

If you are too lazy to go that far out of the city, take a bus or metro to the station Amstelveenseweg and stand on the on ramp there with a "Utrecht" sign. There is a wide shoulder and it doesn't usually take more than 10 minutes to get a lift. Once on the highway, hop from rest area to rest area and you wont have any problems arriving at your destination.


Option 3 Haarrijn rest stop

Just before Utrecht, after exit 5 (Breukelen) and just some kilometres before the Utrecht Ring you find a big petrol-station called Haarrijn. This is an excellent spot to find drivers for larger distances. Place is 2.5 km from Maarssen train stop

Boats

It is very possible to hitchhiking a boat around the Amsterdam canals. Just sit next to the water and thumb and eventually someone will stop. This is more aimed at sight seeing than getting somewhere specific, but more worth it than paying for the touristy ones.

Public transport

Public transport in Amsterdam is very expensive. Most people use a card called OV-Chipkaart which works with all public transportation in the country, but that you won't have if you don't live in the Netherlands. Thus if you just want to get across the city you're better off using a 1-hour ticket which costs a whopping €3.20. If you don't want to pay that much, here's a little guide to Amsterdam public transportation:

  • Trams are basically a no-go, since you have to climb in the front or in the middle, thus in the sightline of the driver/controller who will look if you're validating your ticket/card.
  • The metro is very easy to blackride: just go behind someone at the gates (preferably asking them first). Controllers are quite rare. The metro system is quite limited in its coverage but can easily get you to some main spots like Sloterdijk and Amstel Station.
  • If you're using the train, then use the exact same tactic as with the metro (though you might have more eyes on you...). The train sees more ticket control than the metro though it's still not very frequent, especially not on the Sprinter trains (the single-decker ones).

Nomadwiki & Trashwiki

Check Nomadwiki for info on accommodation, showers etc. or Trashwiki for dumpsters...and share your wisdom :)