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''Generally, you can just start hitching anywhere in the city center. Just walk to the nearest highway and stick your thumb out. It might need a few lifts until you get out of the border, but given that you hardly ever wait more than 10 minutes for a lift, it can be faster than public transport.''

=== Northwest towards [[Edirne]] and [[Bulgaria]] {{E|80}} ===

Also 3 km walk away is another bigger E80 highway with Karbey Dinlenme Tesisi rest stop on it

==== Test option - Ispartakule Park Area North ====

Ispartakule Park Area North is a fuel station on E80 highway

(See Google maps for getting there and update how its. There is bus 76E going to Sehit Serife Bacı Lisesi bus stop not far place)

=== Westwards towards [[Greece]] (via [[Tekirdağ|Tekirdag]]) {{E|84}} ===

Once you have passed the border, try to stay in the car which took you through, as the first 20-30 km on the Greek side is one of the worst places to hitchhike in Europe. Local people there are afraid of stories about immigrants from Iran and Afghanistan etc. so it's especially hard to get a ride. It took hitchhiker [[User:Lapulevel|Lapulevel]] a full day to get out of this area—and that wasn't simply a shortage of luck as that happened twice!

=== Westwards towards [[Cannakale]] (via [[Tekirdağ|Tekirdag]]) ===

Take Bus #34B/C/BZ/G to the last stop and start hitchhiking with a Tekirdag sign there. From Tekirdag continue with a Istanbul sign. Be prepared for a possible long waiting time at Tekirdag.

=== East and south towards [[Ankara]], Black Sea coast, Antalya {{E|80}} ===

# Take bus 19, 19C, 19Y, or just ask which bus is going to '''Ferhatpaşa''' the stop you have to get off at (you will see a road going in a circle like a big roundabout). From there walk northeast until you get to the motorway O4 Anadolu Otoyolu. There is a fence along the motorway but it has many holes, so getting to the other side is not difficult, or can just go to the gate where is possible to entre freely. Once you get to the parking area, you can ask around or make a big sign and show it at parking area's exit to the drivers passing by on the motorway, so they can stop on a merge lane. There's one small restaurant in the parking area where many drivers stop for a short break.

# Take bus 130 and after half an hour or so you'll arrive to a Gas station where the bus stops (near Gebze). Get down and from here you can hitch-hike either asking or stopping cars.

==== From Şekerpınar close to Gebze ====

If you want to avoid 30km of urban hitch hiking, from the last stop of 112 take bus 134BK (other 134 buses may work as well) which leaves across the road from where 112 ends. Ride until the end and transfer onto 133Ş and ride it until the last stop. You are then in Şekerpınar and can walk the 2km to the main motorway O4 Anadolu Otoyolu.

==== From Bostancı Köprüsü (Bostancı Bridge) ====

For Mediterranean cities such as [[Antalya]], you should also take this eastwards route till [[Adapazari]], then head south via motorway D650 from there.

While most people would find it more comfortable to take a bus to the outskirts and then start hitchiking there is another, slightly more challenging, option. Generally it is actually faster to just find a good piece of highway somewhere close to where you stay (even if it's in the centre of Istanbul), get ON the highway and put your thumb up. You are unlikely to wait more than 3-5 minute before a car pulls over (many people don't really mind stopping on the highway) and the police is very unlikely to give you any trouble (they picked [[Theo]] up, gave him tea and chocolate-cookies and dropped him of 20 kilometers further down the road)

Alternatively you could wait for a ride to take you across the bridge and get dropped off at the paytolls on the Asian side and find a ride onto the 04 from there.

=== South towards [[Yalova]], [[Bursa]] or [[Izmir]] ===