Nijmegen

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.

North towards Arnhem, Apeldoorn, Hengelo and Groningen
At the verkeersplein near the Waalbrug (direction Arnhem) there is a liftershalte. However, at the petrol station on the A325 almost everybody is going to Arnhem, so if you want to go beyond, you don't want to get a ride from someone merely going towards Arnhem (unless it's raining).

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
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.

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.

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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