Nijmegen

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Nijmegen
<map lat='51.833' lng='5.865' width='350' height='330' zoom='11' view='3'/>
Information
Country:
Flag of Netherlands
Netherlands
Province:
Flag Gelderland.png
Gelderland
Population: 163,112
Major roads: A73, A50, A15
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Nijmegen is a Dutch university city close to the German border and city of Kleve. Hitching here is fairly easy. There are three so called liftershaltes.

Hitchhiking out

North towards Arnhem, Apeldoorn, Hengelo and Groningen

At the verkeersplein near the Waalbrug (direction Arnhem) there is a liftershalte (coördinates: 51.845040, 5.873448). this is a hitch-hiking spot as it should be, and you hope it to be. It should be no trouble at all to get to the first gas station on de A50 from where you can easily get to Zwolle or Hengelo. Possibly, at the petrol station on the A325 almost everybody is going to Arnhem.

East towards Germany, Kleve

Near the official hitchhiking spot leading north, use the sliproad at this junction in the direction of Kleve (the road is the N325, the street is Nieuwe Ubbergseweg). Don't bother walking further along the N325, there are no further good spots until the German border.

For further afield in Germany, try the junction with motorway A73 in Dukenburg. Okay, it's quite a way out of city centre, and there is little place to safely stop, but this is such a busy entrance, and there are so many cars going long-distance here that it's child's play to get a long ride. Even more so because just before the motorway split between A73 and A77 is just 15 kilometres south of here, and it has a large service area right before it. So any car going to Boxmeer or further can pick you up here, and there are many of those. When trying to hitch out towards Düsseldorf, Köln or further, one should use this ramp.

South / West towards Venlo, Eindhoven, Den Bosch

Option 1: At the Graafseweg (direction Venlo and 's-Hertogenbosch) there is a liftershalte (often used as a parking spot), and many cars passing by are local. Better is to walk down to the intersection of Graafseweg and Neerbosscheweg (about 30 min. walk) and raise sign there. About one-fourth of cars passing here are for destinations in Brabant and Limburg province, so waiting times are fairly minimal considering the amount of (slow-moving) traffic and the good place to stop. It's also possible to get bus 2 and 99 here.

Option 2: Another spot is there where one should try to get rides to Düsseldorf or Köln directly at the onramp of A73 southbound. It's quite a way out, and there's not a whole lot of space to stop, but the statistics are overwhelmingly in your favour here, at least 50% are going to Boxmeer or further from here, which means they can drop you off at the service station before the A73 / A77 split. IF you want to take this option, take the bus to station Dukenburg there are a lot of busses that go there so this should be easy. (If you want to plan your journey to any bus or train station or any location in general use the website 9292.nl This will give a very nicee and clear schedule.) From Station Dukenburg stand with the busstops behind you and the railway to your right and take a right under the tunnel. Take a left at the giant roundabout and from there it is a 10-15 minute walk straight ahead to the onramp. It should take you 20 minutes to get a ride.

Option 3: There is a gas station near the onramp (described at option 2) you can ask people here and/or raise sign a couple of metres before the way to the gasstation so they can easily stop there if they want. If you want to check it out: search for Wijchenseweg 1, Nijmegen om google maps. It took me around 20 minutes to hitch a ride to Venlo from here.

At the St. Annastraat, close to the university, there is a liftershalte. This one should only be used for local hitchhiking, towards Malden, Gennep or Mook.

West towards Rotterdam, Utrecht, Den Haag and Amsterdam

Use either the liftershalte near the Waal bridge mentioned in the North section, or use the petrol station past the Neerbosschebrug in the Lindenholt neighbourhood. Take bus 7 for the petrol station, you can see it on your right side if the bus turns into Lindenholt past the bridge. Avoid rides to Arnhem when using the liftershalte, unless it's possible to be dropped off on the right side of Arnhem, if you're familliar with that city. Remember that it's usually much easier to hitch out of Nijmegen than to hitch out of Arnhem, so it doesn't really matter if you turn 3, 4 or 10 rides down.

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