Changes

So what I can HİGH highly recommend you is: Go to the Truck Station truck station in Thessaloniki, where you can also drive by 83. There is certainly some turkish Turkish trucks who drives to the direction of Turkey. BUT , but on the board border because of the strikes or controls you might have to wait more than 7 hours. There I'd advice you to pass the bridge with a truck from the front of the queue. If it is evening mostly the drivers would sleep in Keşan. So just try to speak to car drivers on the turkish boardTurkish border. 2012 Arsen

*''I tried the recommended way of asking around at the JetOil trying to get out of Thessaloniki, with no luck. It seemed all the truckers were either sleeping, local, or going to Athens. Also, they were not that keen on taking hitchhikers anyway. After a few hours, I went to the highway right next to the station (there is an opening in the fence, you just have to look for it), and got a ride halfway to Istanbul within 10 minutes. It surprises me how closedminded closed-minded the original post is, being that it is entirely possible, and quite easy to get a ride on the highway. Just a lesson that you should never take anyone's recommendation as absolute truth. I would personally recommend getting the gas-pumpers at the station to ask around for you (they were incredibly friendly), and stay within clear sight on the highway in case they get you a ride before you do. February 2011, Jon''

*''First of all: it's not easy at all to hitchhike in Greece btw Thessaloniki. We spent one day and two hours the next day in that area to get a hike in the direction to turkeyTurkey. If you take the bus #83 from town be prepared that it DOESNT '''doesn't''' stop on the highway. we We drove to the next station and waited for the bus #86 to drive back. the The whole in the fence is an option but a bad one because the cars are driving fast and they have almost no space to stop. we We got a hitch at the drive-up, direction kavalaKavala. it It is wide and the cars are driving slow. if If you come with the bus and go under the highway you'll find it on your left hand side. 250m to walk from the JetOil. Good Luck! July 2011, Timo''

*''In Thessalonıkı Thessaloniki Kamara you can take bus 83. There ıs is no need to take bus 27 and change to 83. The rıde ride towards the HH poınt point takes about 20 to 30 mınutesminutes. The bus wıll drıve will drive on the hıghwayhighway. Stay on the bus untıll ıt until it leaves the hıghway highway and contınue continue for about 5 mınutes minutes on the local road. Leave the bus when you see a petrol statıon station on your rıghtright. Walk for 100 metres untıll until the traffıc lıght traffic light where you wıll fınd will find some shade from trees. It ıs is so hot between 12 and 4. 500 metres further from the traffıc lıght ıs traffic light is the hıghwayhighway. I fırst trıed first tried there but all the traffıc traffic was headıng heading for ThessalonıkıThessaloniki. So I went back to the traffıc lıghttraffic light. The cars are local but there are several trucks goıng going to Turkey. They take the natıonal national road to avoıd avoid the tollcosts from the hıghwayhighway. Try to get the attentıon attention of the trucks. I used a cardboard wrıtten written Kavala-Turkey. The truck took me to the border and there I slept ın in the truck wıth with the drıverdriver. At the border change to a car. The waıtıng tıme waiting time for the truck was about 40 mınutesminutes. The waıtıng tıme waiting time for the car was 5 mınutes. Good Luckminutes. May 2012. Len''

"Don 't bother to hitch hike to the border!!!

There is a free bus from the city center centre to the border!! Theses buses belong to the casinos you can find at the border just before Gevgelija. You can find theses buses on Tsimiski street. They are easy to recognize (the name of the casino is printed on the bus, and it is written "free shuttle"). I didn 't take it but I was picked up by a guy working at a casino who gave me the information. Another nice information: you can eat and drink for free at the casino!! Apparently you can just show up at the reception, they will give you a card and you can enjoy food and drinks for free!! I did! Anne-laure, may 2013"

Take a bus #8 (or #31?) from Egnatias street in the centre to KTEL (last stop). You can also take bus #45 which goes between KTEL Makedonia and KTEL Halkidiki (you want to go to ''Makedonia''). Then switch to bus #81 which you can find on the upper platform. Afterwards, you can do different things. You can get off at a first bus stop after you drive over the highway Athens-Skopje - [http://g.co/maps/3qj6m here]. Be careful, the first big crossing you gonna going to come to is the crossing with the ring road (you are going to driver underneath it) while only the next on is the one you need (you are going to drive above it). Then you have to walk almost 2km backwards (if you walk fast it takes 20 minutes) and you can hitch on the junction to the highway to Skopje. However, if the bus goes into Agios Athanasios you can better get off and find your way from there (it seems that this bus goes differently depending whether it is #81 or #81A and depending on some external stuff; you can talk to the driver to make sure).

Alternatively, you can get off [http://maps.google.cogoo.ukgl/maps?saddr=Thessalonikis-Edessas%2F%CE%98%CE%B5%CF%83%CF%83%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%BD%CE%AF%CE%BA%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%88%CE%B4%CE%B5%CF%83%CF%83%CE%B1%CF%82%2FRoute+2&daddr=Leoforos+Konstantinou+Karamanli%2F%CE%9B%CE%B5%CF%89%CF%86%CF%8C%CF%81%CE%BF%CF%82+%CE%9A%CF%89%CE%BD%CF%83%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%AF%CE%BD%CE%BF%CF%85+%CE%9A%CE%B1%CF%81%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%BB%CE%AE&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sll=40.692744,22.819805&sspn=0.090979,0.209255&geocode=FaD1bAIdtpZcAQ%3BFaD1bAIdtpZcAQ&vpsrc=0&mra=mift&mrsp=1&sz=13&t=m&z=13 /aLQTM here] which is reported to be a better place for cars to stop. But there you have a lot of cars going to the West, while if you come the previous stop you will have cars going only towards Polykastro or the border.

Take Buses #31, #12, #8 or #78 to the bus station called KTEL. From there take bus #80 or #80A to the village called ''Malgara''. You can go down on the station "''25 Martiou''" which is the closest to the tolls (in Greek ''ikostis pemptis martiou'' if you wan want to ask the driver). There you can ask and find the toll station (in Greek ''diodia'') easily. You'll have to walk about 2 km to find it, but then there is a possibility to get a ride even straight to Athens. Before you enter the motorway where the toll station is, you will have to go through some fields. If it's night be careful, just before the motorway there is a small ridge that is a bit steep and there is water flowing down, you need to find your way around it. If it's day, from the fields you can see a small canteen on the motorway, head to that direction, you can bypass the ridge there very easily and also you don't need to jump the fence (easy to jump though) because there is an entrance/exit for the canteen. From the canteen you will see the tolls, they are less than 50 m away.

Take the bus #27 from the centre to it's final stop, where also other buses stop(you need #85). Then take bus #85(A, B or M) and you're already on your way. Almost any stop of this bus leaves you at a good hitchhiking point, but the nineteenth stop ''21o chiliometro'' (21st kilometre) is right on a petrol station on the way to Serres and the Bulgarian border (to Sandansky, Blagoevgrad, Sofia). If you can't explain all this to the driver just ask him to get off at Assirus. It's a village near the motorway. When you ask the locals for the motorway use the word "autobahn" instead of "motorway" ot or "highway". The road is E79 and it's not a motorway, especially after the border. These city bus tickets cost only 50 cents (that you don't even have to pay) and take you quite some kilometres out of the city towards all destinations.

Stay on bus #84 whilst it passes through 2 villages, Liti and Melissochiori. When it is out of Melissochiori, at one point the bus will cross the road going to Kilkis and you will see signs for Kilkis. When you are at the cross roads you can press the stop button on the bus and it will stop just after the cross. There is a bus stop there. Then you are at a great spot for hitching a ride to Kilkis, Gallikos or even Macedonia(but not the most common way to Skopje. it is a different border).

If you find yourself at the train station at night beware that it is closed at 1am 01:00 and the guard will kick you outside (where it's safe to sleep if it's warm) if he sees you. However it is possible to hide in the main yellow cafe café while he checks for people, then after he locks the terminal you can go and sleep on the seats. There are other homeless people around but they won't give you any trouble.

The tickets for the buses in the city cost 0.80€ and sometimes 0.90€. Blackriding is possible. If you speak to the controller in a foreign language (showing that you're a tourist, not an illegal immigrant) they'll just leave you alone. If not, they first ask 30 Euros euro for the tax, you say you don't have. Then they ask your id card, you say you don't have it with you and then they'll just give you a paper to note your name and address, where you can write any fake name. Or even simpler you can give your real passport and they are supposed to send you the bill to your country. It's 100% SURE that they will not.

I took one shower ın in one hospıtal hospital 500 metres from the televısıon television broadcast antenna. There are three hospıtals hospitals close to eachother each other and I just trıed tried one. After walkıng walking around ın in the hospıtal hospital and talkıng frıendly talking friendly to some nurses I was able to take a shower and shave. May 2012. Len

This might not be true anymoreany more, have heard that this year they started checking for a student pass.

* Actually they don't check anymoreany more. Barely anyone was showing their IDs when they started checking so they gave up. Nobody cares now. Go early if you want choice of foods. Sometimes they run out of the nicest meal or of the dessert and they give you the other one and an orange instead of the baklava or rice pudding. You can easily ask for seconds and thirds.

* They don't even look at you, so there is no such thing as "checking". You can just go there and eat. (aprilApril, 2012)

* '''My friends were there (1st week of September 2012) and they were asked about student cards, so they replied that "we are from erasmus Erasmus and still waiting for Greek ones, but of course we have our normal"... okOK! okOK! com'on, there is no problem, so U you only have to say "I am a student" if any doubtful problem occur'''