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Slovakia
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'''Slovakia''' is a member state of the [[European Union]] as well as the [[Schengen Agreement]] with borders to , bordering [[Austria]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Poland]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Hungary]]. Off It is most of the international routestime very easy to find a ride, few drivers may stop when you waiting times are usually less than half an hour. Slovak people are standing on the road, so it is incredibly friendly and will do their best to ask directly at gas stationsmake you feel comfortable. Some will even invite you to have lunch with their family and/or have a drink with friends! Some, but not many drivers speak English or German, especially younger ones. Russian is more widely understood among older people, but not necessarily liked. In some southern areas of the country (where towns and villages are marked by blue signs), there is a substantial Hungarian-speaking minority. It is not common from the for drivers to ask money for a ride. Hitchhiking in Slovak is called ''stopovanie, stopovať''.
Hitchhiking (and indeed all pedestrian access) is not allowed on motorways, but one can hitchhike from entry ramps or ask drivers for a lift at petrol stations. On the country's national roads, you can simply stand wherever cars are going slowly and put out your thumb. Use a card displaying a two-letter code of your destination town (see below in section "Number plates"), if your intended destination cannot be obvious to the drivers. It is not advised to hitch on an older national road which runs parallel to a newer motorway, because all longer-distance traffic uses the motorway (unless of course you only want to get to the nearest village). Hitchhiking in pairs of a man and a woman is the best bet: most successful and also secure.
== Phrasebook ==
Slovak is a Slavic language with many divergent dialects. Even Slovak people from the west do not always understand Slovak people from the east, but the standard language described here is understood by all. In the southern areas drivers speak rather Hungarian, so you might try the [[Eastern Europe phrasebook#Hungarian|Hungarian phrasebook]].
* Please '''Prosím'''
* Thank you '''Ďakujem'''
* Yes '''Áno'''
* No '''Nie'''
* To the next gas petrol station '''Na ďalšiu benzínku'''
* I will get down here '''Tu vystúpim'''
== Cities ==
* [[Bratislava]], the capital
* [[Košice|Kosice]]
* [[Prešov]]
* [[Banská Bystrica]]
* [[Žilina]]
* [[Nitra]]
* [[Trenčín]]
* [[Poprad]]
[[File:Hugo.JPG|thumb|200px|right|Hugo hitchhiking from [[Poprad]] to [[ZilinaŽilina]]]]
== Border crossings ==
===[[Ukraine]]===* [[Vyšné Nemecké-Uzhhorod border crossing]]* [[Ubľa-Malyi Bereznyi border crossing]]* [[Velké Slemence-Mali Selmenci border crossing]] (pedestrian crossing, EU/EEA & Ukrainian passports only)===[[Poland]]===* [[Barwinek-Vyšný Komárnik border crossing]] with * [[PolandTrstená-Chyzne border crossing]]===[[Hungary]]===* [[Milhosť-Tornyosnémeti border crossing]] with * [[Parassapuszta-Šahy border crossing]]===[[HungaryAustria]]===* [[ParassapusztaDevínska Nová Ves-Šahy Schlosshof border crossing]] with (bicycle and pedestrian bridge) north of [[HungaryBratislava]] == Links ==
''Winter 2022: one of the worst experience in our hitchhikers life. A girl and a man, from Tatras at the Polish Border to Kosice: relatively easy way, 30 minutes wait (by -7 celsius, snowing and windy) for a 1 hour ride. But the next day, we decided to go to Bratislava from Kosice, taking the unfinished highway linking the 2 cities.. Terrible way. The spot to get out of Kosice were sketchy, on the side of the highway. We were visible from far even though it was foggy and with snow everywhere, there was plenty of space to pull over safely at a bus stop. Not the best spot but definitely doable. We waited 1h15 minutes by -7 celsius, a guy took us to a good gas station in Presov. Thought we were off the hook but there we spent an hour and fifteen minutes asking every car. The girl spoke polish so easily understandable by the slovaks, but every one was harsh, pretending not understanding. We were clean on ourselves, had a shower the day before. Eventually, after 1h15, a couple took us, they were going to Bratislava but they tried to hide it to us, just saying they could drive us somewhere else. After 2 hours ride without talking to us but talking low between them so that my polish friend couldn't understand, they told us to leave the car in Trencin, saying that it is a big city there so it should be easy to reach Bratislava. It never happened to us that drivers are so unfriendly and drop us before the destination ! So rude. But well, Trencin seemed to be a big city, we were on the main road to Bratislava, traffic was slow and we were at a bus stop at the exit of the city so plenty of space to pull over. Once again, we waited 1h30 minutes (after 4000km together with my friend, we generally wait 15min in average, and there in slovakia we waited 3 times 1h15 average by -7Celsius...). After a break in the warmth of the gas station shop, a dude took us, drove 220km/h and dropped us at a petrol station in Trnava where the 1st driver we asked took us to Bratislava ! It was one of our worst hitchhiking experience. Seeing this hitchwiki page I guess it was a load of bad luck.
--[[User:jurichezzbmx|jurichezzbmx]]
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[[Category:Slovakia| ]]