Hitchhiking in the Netherlands is quite easy, and legal in most places, though not on motorways. The basic idea is that when you're allowed to walk somewhere, you can stand there for hitching too. Standing on a motorway entrance just in front of the highway sign is allowed as well as standing on a petrol station along the motorway.
Since 1991 Dutch students have a card providing them with free public transport (either in weekends or during the week), so hitchhiking is not as popular as it used to be. In some university towns, there are still official liftershaltes, official hitchhiking spots.
Other good places are petrol stations along the motorways and the entrances to the motorway from larger cities (when there is a stopping space such as an emergency lane). On such a place the average waiting time is 5-45 minutes (same as Germany). A major difference with Germany is that many lifts are not longer than 50km.At gas stations you can try to talk to people, which will probably work out fine if you don't dress up like a hippie. Try and speak in Dutch or English. French and German often work too, but not as effectively.
Useful tips: Free use of Internet PC's in every city library. When hitching in the Netherlands for a longer period (or when you're living there), it's advisable to buy yourself a 15-strippenkaart for EUR 6,80, or a 45-strippenkaart for EUR 19,80. This is a lot cheaper than buying a 2-, 3- or 8-strippenkaart on the bus or tram.
> 500.000: Amsterdam • Rotterdam
300.000-500.000: Den Haag • Utrecht
150.000–300.000: Eindhoven • Tilburg • Almere • Nijmegen • Groningen
100.000–150.000: Amersfoort • Apeldoorn • Arnhem • Breda • Dordrecht • Enschede • Haarlem • 's-Hertogenbosch • Leiden • Maastricht • Zoetermeer • Zwolle
If you search cities with less than 100.000 inhabitants, have a look at the seperate Provinces articles. You find them at the bottom of this page.
Drenthe • Flevoland • Friesland • Gelderland • Groningen • Limburg • Noord Brabant • Noord Holland • Overijssel • Utrecht • Zeeland • Zuid Holland
Links
- Hitchhiking in the Netherlands, by Frank Verhart.
- Liftershalte, hitchhiking spots in the Netherlands on a map.