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''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.''
There A) 4 km walk away is Shell fuel station next to placeE8O highway emergency line, 5 km walk away is Karbey Dinlenme Tesisi rest stop.
Also 3 B) 5 km walk away is another bigger E80 highway with Karbey Dinlenme Tesisi rest stop on itD-7 higway toll place Kınalı Gişeleri
*Check the article on [https://hitchwiki.org/en/Kapitan_Andreevo-Kap%C4%B1kule_border_crossing Kapikule-Kapitan Andreevo border crossing] if you're going towards Bulgaria as it can be difficult.
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.
For going east there are different options:==== From parking on motorway O4 ====
==== From parking on motorway O4 ====Take a ferry to ''Kadıköy'Rest Stop Nr. 1:''' Take bus 19, 19C, 19Y, 19T 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 its Flat Prof Dr Necmettin Erbakan Park from there search Mirkelam Dinlenme Tesisleri İstanbul rest stop (40.98854931087875, 29.192601039813262) on Asian sideE-80 / O-4. Next to When arriving from the bus stop you will find the ferry terminal gas station completely fenced and you might think about climbing or cutting it. But there is a bus terminal where you have 2 options:'legal' open door in the middle of the fence. The gas station itself has alot of traffic also for long distances.
# 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 Mirrorworld used this spot in 2022 and 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 30 minutes waiting time he was offered rides to the parking areaEskisehir, you can ask around or make a big sign Ankara and show it at parking area's exit finally also to the drivers passing by on the motorway, so they can stop on a merge laneSamsun. Best spot ever. 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.
See [[Eskihisar]] for how Opet - Mehmetçik Vakfı Petrol petrol station / rest stop on E80 highway next to get to the ferry jetty on the route Mehmetçik Vakfı bus stop. Buses 130H, 132, 132B and how to get into the ferry for freeKM 18 stopes there.Place isnt far from Sabiha Gokcen International Airport
The route via [[Eskihisar]] is also the shortest way Doğalhane Dinlenme Tesisleri petrol station / rest stop on E80 highway next to [[Izmir]] and its adjacent area in western TurkeyÇayırova İtfaiye bus stop.Bus 133Ş stops there
An alternative Marmaray metro east in the direction of Gebze. Get off at Osmangazi Station (two stops before Gebze) as this is closer to the D- and depending on your luck, faster than - 100 highway that will carry you east. Walk roughly 300m north up the road from the ferry route is station until you get to catch a lift across the Osmangazi Bridge (Osmangazi Köprüsü) which opened in 2016. This suspension bridge carries circle-underpass junction with the major OD-5 motorway across 100 highway. A nice position just after the Gulf start of Izmit, connecting Gebze, the city on the eastern outskirts of Istanbul-ramp, where cars are still moving slowly, to Yalova Provinceshould score you a ride in minutes.
A way However, the majority of traffic here seems to get as close as possible be going to Izmit, which is past the bridge without having . Turn down rides if you have to hitch through until you get one going over the city traffic is bridge, to Yalova/Bursa/İzmir etc. If you're really stuck, take a short ride and ask your driver to drop you off on the Marmaray (kind side of metro) the road at the off-ramp going to its far Eastern stations. The Marmaraythe bridge, which runs along and continue hitching from there or after the southern coast of Istanbul, can be caught interchange. If you're really stuck on both that road leading up to the Asian and European sides of the city and many of its major stationsbridge, such as Yenikapı and Üsküdar, are connected you'll have to walk a few km along it until you get to the city's metroPetrol Ofisi fuel station, metrobus, bus and tram systemabout a Kilometre before the bridge.Catch Hitch at the Marmaray east in on-ramp to the direction of Gebze. A ticket costs roughly 5.20TL (~USD 0.92) as of June 2019, and you must use an Istanbulkart which you presumably havehighway from there.
Get off at Osmangazi Station (two stops before Gebze) as this is closer to the D-100 highway that will carry you east. Walk roughly 300m north up the road from the station until you get to the circle-underpass junction with the D-100 highway. A nice position just after the start of the on-ramp, where cars are still moving slowly, should score you a ride in minutes.== Wild camping ==
However, the majority of traffic here seems Hacı Osman Korusu park wild camping - ride metro line 2 to be going Darussafaka station and next to Izmit, which is past it on the bridge. Turn down rides if you have to until circle corner of streets Buyukder and Ulu streets you get one going can climb over the bridge, fance to YalovaHacı Osman Korusu park https:/Bursa/İzmir etcibb. If you're really stuck, take co/RHmd9jb Get only a short ride and ask your driver to drop you off on the side of the road at the off-ramp going to the bridge, and continue hitching from bit inside but be carefull there or after the interchange.ar some sharp plants
For some reason, the few kilometres before the bridge are exceptionally difficult to get a ride from. The traffic is thinner and, possibly to do with the expensive bridge tollYou will find many beaches on Prince islands, drivers but many of them are much less inclined to pick you up. Looking like a foreigner will help, as Turks often don't like stopping for other Turks or Arabsprivatised. If you're really stuck on that road leading up to the bridge, you'll have to You should walk a few km along it until you get to the Petrol Ofisi fuel station, about a Kilometre before the bridge. Hitch at away from the on-ramp towns to the highway from therefind some wild beach. == Wild camping ==
Ride metro line 2 Büyükada island wild camping - you can get by paid ferry there (Kadıköy, Bostancı or Kartal). Be aware that the forests are sometimes closed due to Darussafaka station wild fires and next the police might be even more strict if you're caught camping (not to mention the danger to it yourself if there ever was a fire). You can camp on the circle corner top of streets Buyukder the island between Aya Yorgi Manastırı and the communication tower. You will have some shade from the trees and Ulu streets a nice wind (at least during summer). You can take one of the small buses to get closer from the ferry. BA-2 is the one that will get you the closest but is stops at 9 pm, otherwise you can climb over take the fance to Hacı Osman Korusu park https://ibbBA-5 that runs until 11-12 pm. Be aware that you should not drink water tape on the islands.co/RHmd9jb Get only a bit inside OGM (nature protection) may bother if you stay late in the morning, but be carefull there ar some sharp plantsyou should not get fined, turkish or foreigner.
→From Şekerpınar close to Gebze
If you drive highway look around and ask your driver to let you out in place where you see a Istanbul in walking distance than ask local people for bus/metro. For example Paşaköy. You should have some small local cash to pay for ticket. Or walk :)
Update 2022: ''Definitely have some lira before hitchhiking into Istanbul. Both times we did it we were left far away from the city center so you will have to get on public transport and for this you should buy an Istanbul card instead of a one-pass unless you're literally just passing through the city. The city is absolutely huge and getting an Istanbul card is a must unless you want to pay double every time you enter public transport (15Tl for 1-pass tickets vs 7,67tl for a ride with the card). Even though you have to pay for the Istanbul Card itself, after 5 or 6 rides it's already much better to have had the card, we learned this the expensive way. You can buy the card on kiosks and you only need to buy one as you can use it for as many people as you want. When the funds run out topping it up is as easy as placing the card on the ticket machine white illuminated area and uploading tl into it. Blackriding sadly seems to be impossible or at least improbable as every entrance and exit of the tram or metro is guarded and the bus drivers only open the first doors.''
Also you can get out at fuel stations and ask there for ride to city
== Hitching out ==
=== Northwest towards [[Greece]] , [[Edirne]], [[Bulgaria]] {{E|80}} {{E|84}}===
==== 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)
==== Out of city option ====
You can get out of city bus 303 from Yenibosna Metro to last bus stop Silivri Halk Otobüsü Bekleme Garajı (or bus 303B from Otogar Metro till bus stop Mimarsinan Mah, this bus stop is close to Silivri Halk Otobüsü Bekleme Garajı). Ticket cost 11 TL and you can pay only with Istanbulcard.
If you want to be at E8O highway emergency line faster get out from bus at Kamiloba stop and walk 1.6 at Çakılyolu Sk street.
A good middle option seems to be taking bus 303 to station Selimpaşa from where it's about a 30 minute walk to the E80 or about a 40 minute walk to the first gas station on the E80 and catching a ride is easy. The first few cars will go to Silivri but you are bound to catch a ride going towards Edirne relatively quickly.
==== Getting to suburbans of Istanbul ====
Another way to get to city's western outskirts is to take the metro from Aksaray close to Sultanahmet in the old city centre, and ride it till ''Yenibosna'' station (2.0 TL pp, roughly €0.80). Then, take the public bus #448 (''Yenibosna Metro-Mimarsinan''; an extra 2.00 TL pp), which departs from the stops right next to metro station. You will ride this bus for a ''long'' time, roughly an hour, until where it quits the motorway west and turns to right in a cloverleaf interchange near the village of [[Mimarsinan]], where the bus eventually heads. Get off at the stop right at the very location bus turns right, this is where as much west as you can get on Istanbul's public transportation. Then walk a bit further from the junction, and start thumbing.
==== Trains out of city ====
For those who rather not try hitchhiking through the overgrown western suburbs of the city, a slightly more expensive but a lot easier way to follow this westbound route to Greece may be to take the morning train to [[Muratlı]] from Sirkeci station in central Istanbul, and then hitch your way forward to Greece via [[Tekirdağ]] from there. See [[Muratlı]] article for full details.
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 and Bulgarian side are 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.
=== Westwards towards [[Cannakale]] (via [[Tekirdağ|Tekirdag]]) ===
Take Bus #34B/C/BZ/G to the last stop and start hitchhiking with a Tekirdag sign there
=== East and south towards [[Ankara]], Black Sea coast, Antalya {{E|80}} ===
'''Rest Stop Nr. 2:'''
Take Metroline M4 in direction Tavsantepe and get out at Pendik Istasyonu. Change to Busline KM18 and get out at Mehmetcik Vakfi. You're just next to a big highway reststop, where you will also catch all the traffic coming from SAW Airport. Coordinates: 40.92008 29.35054
==== From Şekerpınar close to Gebze ====
Get on the 111, 112 or 200 and stay on the bus almost all the way to the last stop (get off approximately two or three stops before).
You are now located a little bit south of the O4 (E80) heading East towards Ankara. You will need to walk a little bit northwards in order to reach a ramp. There is a bus stop on the on-ramp. You can hitch out from there unto the O4 (E80) going East.
Most people who will take you might just drive for another 10km or so. There are lots of [[petrol station hitchhiking|petrol stations]] on the way in this giant suburban maze but chances are only local people stop there. You will have to go for about nearly 20 or 30 km until you will actually be out of the Istanbul metropolis.
If you want to avoid 30km 30 km 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.E8O
'''Update 2022:''' There is no reststop or gasstation at the Otoyolu at Şekerpınar. The highway is a really huge one with cars going very fast. Walking or trying to hitchhike on the highway in this part of Turkey is definetly not recommended. You can take the onramp though, but you will only be able to catch traffic coming from Şekerpınar and other surburbs.
'''Other 2022 update''' There is no rest stop but the lane of the enterance becomes a shoulder lane in like 50 meters.Move a bit away from the lane so the cars from that enterance can see you and thumb all the highway cars and you'll have a ride in no time. As the police in Turkey are completely ambivalent towards thumbing on the highway catching a ride is pretty easy as long as you don't mind super-fast cars flying by you.
==== From Bostancı Köprüsü (Bostancı Bridge) ====
From ''Taksim'' Square take bus 129T (''Taksim - Üst Bostancı'' line), which, like the other transcontinental bus lines, requires two tickets (3.50 TL). Get off at the leaf-clover interchange called in Turkish ''Bostancı Köprüsü'' (literally Bostancı Bridge), close to its last stop. You can recognize the interchange by big signs saying ''Bostancı'' and ''İçerenköy'' (besides the usual ''İzmit'' and ''Ankara'' signs) there. Then, after getting off the bus, walk past the interchange until you see a safe shoulder down the road a couple hundred metres away. Start hitching there ready with a [[Signs|sign]] saying at least ‘[[Gebze]]'/'[[Izmit]]’, it’ll make you more visible
There is a petrol station exactly 9km before [[Izmit]] where you can be dropped off. It is recognizable for its BP petrol station and Burger King restaurant. Trucks are regularly parked here and bound for all points in Turkey, while sometimes one can even find a lift all the way to neighbouring countries.
For Mediterranean cities such as [[Antalya]], you should also take this eastwards route till [[Adapazari]], then head south via motorway D650 from there.
==== The free walking option ====
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
From Taksim: Walk down Cumhüriyet Caddesi for about 40-50 minutes. It's a big avenue which is easy to find (alternatively just follow the signs on Taxim for Şisli). After 40-50 minutes you'll see Cevahir shopping center on your right side and that's about 200 meters from where you'll start hitching. If you manage to get lost (hard as it's a big avenue without any real tricky intersection or anything) you should just ask your way to Cevahir shopping center.
After the 40-50 minute walk (about the time when you pass Cevahir shopping center on your right side) you'll see the highway. This is th spot where the Mercidiköy bridge starts and about 70-80 % of the traffic is bound for the Asian side. When you get to the highway (which is actually about 10 meters over you as you are under the bridge) you'll see the Mercidiköy bustation to your left. Turn left,walk 20 meters until you see a small footpath leading up to the highway, climb up, thumb up, and smile at your audience (often about 50-60 people) who are waiting for the Metrobus to come. They might even give you an applause if you just put up a show.
Important: BE PATIENT AND DON'T JUST ACCEPT ANY RIDE. Wait for someone who's going at least past the main intersection in Atesehir (say that you want to go direction Gebze/Izmit on the autoyol). Even though almost no traffic is going far from here it is important that your first ride is gonna take you to the O4 highway after the two highways merges and that may mean declining 1, 2 or 4 rides. Ask to get dropped of at the highway and not at some on-ramp or something even more silly (this is [[Turkey]] remember). You may have to repeat it one or two more times before you get out of Istanbul just because of the city's enourmous size.
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 E8O from there.
=== South towards [[Yalova]], [[Bursa]] or [[Izmir]] ===
See below the Eskihisar links for a road/bridge alternative. See [[Eskihisar]] for how to get to the ferry jetty on the route and how to get into the ferry for free. The route via [[Eskihisar]] is also the shortest way to [[Izmir]] and its adjacent area in western Turkey.
== Nomadwiki & Trashwiki ==
