Freiburg im Breisgau

Freiburg im Breisgau is a student-city in the South of Germany. It is very close to the French border, and not far away from Switzerland as well. (It's the biggest Freiburg in Germany, there is also Freiburg/Elbe and Freiburg im Üechtland in Switzerland.)

Freiburg might be a good stopover for a longer trip in Europe because it's quite central and easy to exit and to leave. Another advantage is that it's easy to find free accommodation via hospitality exchange networks in Freiburg.

Freiburg is a nice student town with around 220.000 inhabitants – 40.000 of them are students. So you definitely gonna find someone to drink a beer with.

Direction East Donaueschingen, Engen, Konstanz, Singen, Ravensburg
Get to the south east of the city where the Leo-Wohleb-Straße and Schwarzwaldstraße meet (B31). Somewhere there is a strip of grass right in front of a side road. As this is a busy road leading out of the town, waiting times are not very long. You should walk until the point where the road leads into a tunnel. There are some nice spots about 50 metres before the entrance where you can get rides easily.

Alternative for holders of Regio Karten (Monthly Tickets for the Public Transportation in the RVF) or Semester Tickets

You can take a train to Löffingen (switch trains in Neustadt, trains depart every hour), for free if you have a Semsterticket/Regio Karte and from there you can walk through the town to the B31. In Löffingen is a petrol station where it s quite easy to get rides to the A81 (Singen–Stuttgart).

North (Karlsruhe) and South (Mulhouse, Basel)


Take a tram till "Holzmarkt". Line 2,3 or 5 are heading there. Walk from the stop outside of the city towards direction of the river Dreisam. There you are turning right and at the traffic light you can ask the cars for your destination. You can as well wait after the crossroad with a sign. (I don't recommend that, but if you don t speak German make sign "A5 -> KA (Karlsruhe) or BS (Basel".)

For heading north the next petrol station is "Mahlberg" right before Offenburg. For heading south there is no petrol station before the motorway leads to France (Mulhouse, Besançon, Lyon) but there is one before Basel (Switzerland).

If you want to go to France it might be better to get to the ramp Freiburg Nord. You can get there with tram line 2 towards Zähringen, get out at the last station. From there it's a 400 meters walking to the spot. Try to get a ride from there to the A5 direction south. This way you pass by the service station Schauinsland which is the last one before France.

Another option to get to the service station Schauinsland is to take Bus No.36 towards Hochdorf, exit Bus station Högestraße. Be careful, not every bus No.36 takes you to Högestraße, some take another route. Ask the driver, to be sure about the destination. From there it's just a few minutes walk to the service station. (see map)

I've personally never tried any of those options above, but I recommend hitching from the Aral petrol station on Leo-Wohleb-Straße 2. Freiburg is relatively small, so if you are in the city anyway you can very easily walk to this spot. This road goes along the Dreisam river and leads onto the A5 autobahn. In fact you will pass the hitching spot recommended in the first paragraph. I don't recommend that spot because its a 4-lane traffic and difficult for cars to pull over, although many people hitch from there. Waiting times at that Aral petrol station vary but it is recommended to start early so you catch workers commuting to other cities. You'll get drivers going north and south, you just need to ask around.

Hitching In
One option is to get off at "Schauninsland" petrol station if you are coming from the north where you can walk to the next village (Hochdorf) and take the bus 25 or 36 to Freiburg. It will take about 40 minutes to the center. It's better to find someone in Mahlberg, Baden Baden or Bruchsal who is going straight into town. The motorway doesn't go directly through the city so drivers are unlikely to go 15 km extra just to drop you off in the city if they want to continue their trip.

If you are coming from the south you can get off at the "Breisgau" service station. There shouldn't be a problem with finding someone who is going into town.

Another solution, though not the best one, is to get off at exit 61 "Freiburg Nord" on the A5. The driver can make U-Turn and get back on the motorway (well, if it's not a truck). There's not really much space to stop, so you'll have to ask people stopping on the red light, most of them will be going to the city. Better don't go there if you're not alone, as you'll have to hop in very quickly.

Public transport
People who have the transferable monthly ticket RegioKarte Übertragbar can take along another adult on Sundays and holidays.

abgefahren e.V.
The german autostop club abgefahren e.V. is very active in Freiburg. In September 2007, abgefahren e.V. held its first gathering near Freiburg and also published the first (un)official German hitchhiking-spot in Freiburg. In 2011 abgefahren started their 4th race in Freiburg the abgefahren hitchhiking race 2011.

Freiburg im Breisgau