3,631
edits
Changes
→South, East towards everywhere
=== South, East towards everywhere ===
To get out of the ferry terminal, the best trick is to follow the signs for the motorway to Lille and eventually you'll get to a big roundabout with the road leading uphill with a bay where vehicles can stop next to the "no pedestrians" signs that all the other hitchers have written all about :) stand by the signs and you'll get a brave trucker to stop for you. Almost all car traffic heads south Paris way, and it's a nightmare getting back onto the motorway if you come off there, so try to flag down someone with a sign saying D or PL. Standing at the roundabout itself is quite tragic as you will be watching migrants trying to get into England constantly running up and down trying to sneak into a truck.
If you're going far and/or don't care about speed so much, there's a huge ''lorry park'' on the motorway a few kilometres from Calais from where you can easily get direct lifts to many places all over Europe ([[Belgium]], [[Netherlands]], [[England]], [[Germany]], [[Poland]], [[Spain]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Austria]] and [[Turkey]] should easily be possible). Be aware that a truck is legally only allowed to have one driver and one passenger (except if there's more seats), so it's a lot harder to find a ride for two people hitching together. If you are just hitching into [[Belgium]] you're probably better off finding a ride while on the ferry, to a petrol station in [[Belgium]].
Turkish lorry drivers are often very kind and help you searching for a lift. You often ask one of them and he talks to all his fellow countrymen – you often ask all of them by asking one and end up having dinner with them :-). Their German is often better than their English but they really try to do their best to communicate.
There is also a service station with free showers.
You can also get out of the city centre towards the highway N°16 next to the McDonalds at Rue Gutenberg (bus stop Galerie Saint Pierre, bus #02). Don't stay directly at the McD, but go through the tunnel under the highway and stand right in the bend that leads the cars directly onto the highway. Cars are not too fast here and can stop easily - most of them will go to Dunkerque (Dunkirk), if you want to cross the border to Belgium, it could be better to wait for a car that goes straight until De Panne or Ostende. At Dunkirk the situation with migrants is similar to Calais and you might have to wait for a very long at the highway for the next lift (updated 2019).
== Extra information ==