Lithuania
Information | |
Language: | Lithuanian |
Capital: | Vilnius |
Population: | 2,955,986 |
Currency: | Euro (EUR) since 2015 |
Hitchability: | <rating country='lt' /> |
Meet fellow hitchhikers on Trustroots or BeWelcome | |
<map lat='55.26659815231191' lng='23.40087890625' zoom='6' view='3' country='Lithuania'/> |
Lithuania is a member state of the European Union as well as the Schengen Agreement. It has borders to Latvia, Belarus, Poland and Kaliningrad (Russia). Like the other Baltics it is a nice country to hitchhike. There are many active hitchhikers.
But when going from Latvia to Poland try to get a direct hitch to the Polish border − it's rather hard getting a car on this motorway − it's built for quickly crossing Lithuania!
Like many countries in Eastern Europe hitchhiking on the motorways isn't really forbidden (it's forbidden to walk on motorway), so the advice would be not to hitchhike from petrol stations. Often there are bus stops where many hitchhikers try to get rides. Don't be scared to walk next to a motorway, especially if it's next to a city. The locals and even schoolkids do it, so drivers are used to it, and you are more likely to stop someone.
The only problem when hitchhiking in Lithuania is Kaunas, because of its infrastructure, if you're dropped of there on a motorway, you're likely to walk for a couple of miles.
Get yourself a SIM card for your mobile phone if you want to stay in touch with Lithuanians. The cheapest start at the equivalent of EUR 0,30 at most kiosks.
Cities
Border crossing
- Budzisko-Kalvarija border crossing with Poland
- Chernyshevskoye-Kybartai border crossing with Russia's Kaliningrad region
- Border crossing into Belarus. See Belarus's page for more info.
Links
- Lithuanian hitchhikers FB group
- Marsrutai and Trafi.lt - public transport schedules.
- http://www.maps.lt/ - this is useful when you look for a bus stop. Enter an adress and you can see all bus stops around. Also, this is very useful to look where exactly is the right house with it's number.
- Vilnius Hitch-hiking Club was one of the leading hitchhiking organizations in Europe. They have often organized the International Hitch-hiking Conference and have a prominent web presence at autostop.lt (Lith/Eng)
- Važiuojam.lt - rideshare network
Personal Experiences
Summer 2018 & 2022: Hitchhiking was nice. Waiting time is not long (30min-90min). It's easy to find someone who are going to another country (Latvia or Poland) so you can pass by Lithuania easily. The people don't always speak English but they are quite friendly. A lot of worker vans are ready to get you to another city. The highways are good, but sometimes there are no safety pocket or place to stand, so you need to walk untill another smote (up to 5-10km). -- HHer-Vert
Nomadwiki & Trashwiki
Check Trashwiki for dumpsters...and share your wisdom :)
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