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Sweden
,added some links to other hitchwiki pages
|pop = 9,234,209
|currency = Swedish krona (SEK)
|hitch = {{good}} to {{bad}}<rating country='se' />}}[[Image:Gas_station_in_Sweden.jpg|thumb|left|250px|A big van driven by a group of Germans, and Israeli hitch-hiker Erga (on the left) on a petrol station on the E4 towards [[Stockholm]]]]'''Sweden''' is a member state of the [[European Union]] as well as the [[Schengen Agreement]]. Many say that hitching in Sweden sucks. But it works very well! As anywhere in Western [[Europe]], the motorways are the holy temples of car driving religion and someone standing on them is committing blasphemy. But you can hitch on the motorway ramps as well as on local roads. Better bring a good map, though, so that you won´t end up in an unexpected place.
== Cities ==
* [[Åmål]]
* [[Dals-Ed]]
*[[Gävle]]
* [[Göteborg]]
* [[Halmstad]]
* [[Jönköping]]
* [[Karlskrona]]
* [[Kristianstad]]
* [[Luleå]]
* [[Lund]]
* [[Malmö]]
* [[Mellerud]]
* [[Mora]]
* [[Norrköping]]
* [[Nyköping]]
* [[Örebro]]
* [[Stockholm]]
* [[Strömstad]]
* [[Sundsvall]]
* [[Söderhamn]]
* [[Trelleborg]] with ferries to Germany and Poland
* [[Trollhättan]]
* [[Umeå]]
== Landscape ==
Sweden is a rather large country, with very desolate areas in the northern part. Instead of knowing every little city, especially when hitch hiking in northern Sweden, it is more meaningful to have a sense of the different regions or landscapes:
* [[Dalarna]]
* [[Härjedalen]]
* [[Lappland]]
== Language & Communication ==
There is no special need of practicing your Swedish since almost everyone speaks English there. Although it can still be useful to speak a couple of words of Swedish for the few people who don't speak English – some immigrants for example, who are more likely to pick up hitchhikers even so. Check out the [[Northern Europe phrasebook#Swedish|Swedish phrasebook]]. Hitchhiking means ''liftar''.
Also, when asking for lifts at petrol stations, some people don't understand that you are hitchhiking and start to explain you the way as if you had an own car.
When people talk about the amount of miles they are doing with their car, it's actually Swedish Miles, which equals 10 kilometres.
[[File:Nannaliftarilappland.jpg|thumb|220px|right|Öresund hitchhiker Nanna knows how to attract the locals in southern Lappland.]]
[[File:2002 Lodging for the night.jpg|thumb|280px|right|Ready to sleep – a pitched tent outside the road in northern Sweden.]]
== Crossing the border Useful info == Sweden is in the [[Schengen treaty]]. This treaty is rather well respected at the Finnish and Norwegian borders but has stricter regulations at the terminals where ferries from [[Denmark]] port, or at the bridge uniting [[Copenhagen]] with [[Malmö]]. Stricter control and special attention is usually applied to those who look like "being of another race". If you are unlucky, you might be made to strip during their search. The reasons of such strict control derive from the Sweden's specific economic situation (incl. high taxes on alcohol, tobacco, etc.) which attracts a number of smugglers, and a high-standard social security system which is a target of illegal immigrants. Keep in mind, though, that the personality check is not applied to everyone but only to some at random order so you have more chances to quickly cross the border than get stuck explaining to the officials that you are neither an illegal immigrant nor a smuggler.
There's a quite useful '''[[Image:Gas station north from Gavle in Sweden.JPG|thumb|220px|leftmaps|Petrol station by the lake, North from [[Gävle]]map]]''' ("vägkarta") which you can get at ''OKQ8'' petrol stations for 15 swedish crowns. It's for whole Sweden and has all ''OKQ8'' petrol stations on it, which can be quite handy when hitchhiking and looking for a good place to be dropped off. At ''Statoil'' gas stations you get a free map with statoil gas stations. The OKQ8 one might actually also be free now?
==Links==* [http://www.skjutsgruppen.nu Skjutsgruppen.nu] - [[rideshare]] network within the social networks. Also on Twitter: twitter.com/skjutsgruppen
* [http://www.samakning.se Samåkning.se] - [[rideshare]] network (for Sweden and [[Northern Europe]] in general)
* [http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5889849780facebookgroup] for for Swedish hitchhikers* [http://www.okq8.se/Pa-stationen/Bensinstationer map with the petrol stations of Q8/OK]* [https://www.trafikverket.se/trafikinformation/vag/ trafikverket.se] - facebookgroup online map with up to date information on accidents, closed roads and road works == Personal Experiences ==Blackratsplo : I hitchhiked from [[Malmö]] to [[Nordkapp]] in july 2022. The hardest part was to get to [[Stockholm]]. if you can do it, you'd better do it from the ferry to [[Helsingborg]]. I had a rough time getting to the capital city because after a misunderstatement I accepted a lift to 50km away from Helsingborg. Only accept rides of 80km or more, in that area and for that destination. I had to get back and hitchhike at the exit of the ferry. An elder sweddish motor biker and traveller offered to let me in an hotel with his customer card so I could get a free breakfast and just after that and a relatively long wait, a lovely Swedish man drove me to Stockholm, bought me a piece of Princess cake and hugged me for saying goodbye. These are just examples of how kind people have been to me all along the way. Be relaxed, be kind, be open minded, speak a good english and Sweden will open its arms to you. After Stockholm, it's easy street. you can easily accept 50km rides. Some people will sometimes offer you to drive you 30km further to a better spot. Kindly ask if they can let you the time to check you map and accept if that's a good option -it often is. Most drivers who stopped were Swedish. I'd say you shouldn't fear of getting lost in the northen part of the country, as long as you have adapted food and equipment. If you're still on the big roads, even with low traffic it's so easy to get a car that you should wait and walk a bit if you want to have a little dive into the beautiful scenery. My last car to Nordkapp was in the middle of nowhere, on the main road, with 2 or 3 cars every 5 minutes. He drove me for 733km right to Nordkapp. He was a German guy. But 10min before that, I had been dropped by a Swedish father driving his two kids home. He picked me in the most remote place and took me 50km further. So don't think too much about places and nationalities. I actually regretted getting so much big rides after Stockholm as I ended crossing the whole country in 3 days and some extra hours. Making lots of 50 to 100km rides and walking 30min in between is a lot of fun and lets you get a real feel of what Swedish people are like.(End of Blackratsplo personnal experience.) Hi there! I had an amazing time hitchiking (and back) to [[Kiruna]] from the [[Netherlands]]. I went via the east side up and via the west side back.I would definitely say hitching at petrol stations is a lot easier as you get to approach the Swedes, if you are polite most of them are open to listen to what you have to say, some might brush you off but as already mentioned about everyone speaks English so they won't look at you weird for that at least! Yes thumbing also works but expect longer waiting times, I would say maximum 2 hours (eventhough I was stuck in Storuman for 6 hours with the thumb).What worked best for swedish hitchhikersme is to just go from petrol to petrol and sleep in the woods next to the station if it didnt work. The more north you go the more abonded roads tend, expect a lot less traffic the more north you go. Also most petrol stations are going to be around smaller towns instead of on the road when you reach the northern part of Sweden. Especially to the west.Going the west road up is definitely more beautiful in my opinion but will take you a bit longer (a lot less trucks), but it is more chill as you can get just get dropped off at every small town because the road ([[E45]]) goes through every town and the traffic needs to slow down. So when going west you can really land in beautiful little towns next to big lake and rivers withouth even compremising your travel time! == Nomadwiki & Trashwiki == {{nomadwiki}} {{hitchbase_country|185}}{{IsIn|Scandinavia}}
[[Category:Northern Europe]]
[[Category:Sweden| ]]
[[Category:East Route from North Cape to Cape of Good Hope]]
[[de:Schweden]]
[[es:Suecia]]
[[fi:Ruotsi]]
[[fr:Suède]][[trashtr:Swedenİsveç]]