Koper

Koper is a city on the adria coast and the one and only sea port of Slovenia.

East towards Ljubljana, Trieste
1. The most popular to hitchhike in Koper is at Vinakoper, the local winery (Šmarska cesta 1), which is next to the entrance to the motorway. You can either hitchhike in front of the entrance to the parking lot of the building at the traffic lights or in front of the motorway sign. The first option is better if you want to have a safe place where drivers can pull over and you can talk to them. The advantages of the second opinion is that all of the cars you see are going to the motorway and people still stop even though there's no place to pull over but then you have to get in fast. Use signs LJ or Trieste. You can also catch rides directly to Austria or Zagreb so an idea might be also to use two signs or something like Zagreb via LJ or if you're going further to Italy just write Italia. People have hitched directly to Venice from here! Waiting time is normally 15-45 minutes.

2. Another place within a walking distance (check the map): You know you're there if you are standing on a bus stop and you can see a yellow sign that says 'Ljubljana-left', 'Olmo-straight', 'some street-right'. If you want to get to Trieste it's better to have a sign because most of the cars are going towards Ljubljana. You can also ask for a ride to the first or second petrol station on the motorway and ask drivers who stop there to give you a lift (it worked for us once, when it was really late). This spot is well lit so it's doable to hitch hike from there after dark.

West towards Izola, Portoroz
We never used this spot because you cannot see it from the round-about in Koper (check map). We took a bus and were passing by it. It is a bus stop, I can imagine it to be quite alright, the cars were not going too fast. You need to test for yourself if hitch hiking there works. When going to Piran accept lifts to Portoroz - Piran is 2 km away, it's a nice walk.

South towards Croatia
There's a shopping center, Mercator in the corner of Šmarska Cesta and Dolinska Cesta. You can hitch on a bus stop Šmarska Cesta just before the shopping center or any other bus stop down this road towards Croatia. You don't need a sign as any car going down this road will help you but you can make a sign for Dragonja (the town on the border, there walk across the border and once you are on the Croatian side continue hitching) or Hrvaska (Slovenian spelling)/Hrvatska (Croatian spelling)/HR/Croatia (in the summer would be a good idea because off all the tourists driving). There's also a small gas station next to the shopping mall if you prefer asking people.

Hitching In
Due to this is a small town, you won't have any problems with hitching in.

Public Transport
You will find a Bus terminal and a rail station a bit outside of the town. There are regular busses going to Trieste.

Places to Visit

 * Sankt-Nazarius-Cathedral
 * The old town

Places to Avoid
Koper is generally very safe.

Other Useful Info
isin: Slovenia