Poprad

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Poprad is a town in Slovakia. It is right by the High Tatras and it is easy to reach the mountains from this town. There are many trains that take you to the mountain villages from where you can find numerous different hikes. You can quite easily hitchhike to Poprad from Zilina or Banska Bystrica as many people are going to Poprad for hiking. From Poprad you can cross over to Poland and go on to Zakopane, Krakow, etc...

Hitchhiking out

West towards Liptovský Mikuláš, Žilina D 1E 50

There is a gas station on the 18 road just after TESCO and near KIKA. You can either ask people on the gas station or hitchhike on the road, there is a place where cars can pull over. The best way to hitchhike here is probably with the two letter sign like LM,RK.

East towards Prešov, Košice D 1E 50

Option 1 You can hitchhike at the intersection of national road 18 and the road Joliota Curie. The hospital is on Joliota Curie, so it is easy to find. At the southeast corner of the intersection there is a small merging lane where cars can pull over.

Option 2 To hitchhike the highway (E50/D1) by Poprad can be difficult. BaltaBack waited around the on-ramp my McDonalds for more than 2 hours in April 2023. There are very limited spots to stand and stop cars going onto the highway. Possibly the busstop by the Oktan gas station. But behind the road at the Whirlpool factory there are many trucks leavning the factory to go long distances (maps) You can ask them if they are going your direction (works both for Košice and Bratislawa). You can get a long ride here if they are going on the highway, but you can also waste a lot of time. Option 1 might be better.

North towards Kraków, Zakopane

Hitchhiking from Poprad to Poland is not too difficult although it first might seem like it. However, I found out that by public transportation it might even take the whole day whereas I hitchhiked to Krakow in 4 hours. From the city center walk on the main street Stefánikova until you see the icehockey arena on the left side of the road. On the right side of the road you'll see a bus stop. Make a sign for Poland and keep your thumb up- there are a lot of cars passing by and many of them going to the towns nearby or Eastern Slovakia, but there are a lot of Polish people too and Slovaks going to Zakopane so the chances of getting a ride are good. I waited for about 15 minutes.