Amsterdam

Amsterdam
<map lat='52.39278242102423' lng='4.85844612121582' zoom='13' view='3'/>
Information
Country:	Netherlands
Province:	Noord Holland
Population:	742,880
Major roads:	A1, A2, A4, A7, A8, A9, A10,
Meet fellow hitchhikers on Trustroots

Hitching at the Prins Bernhardplein liftplaats

Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands.

Amsterdam is often abbreviated A'dam, which can be a nice alternative to put on your signs.

Hitching In

During daylight it's usually not a problem to hitch on on-ramps close to Amsterdam, so if you've been at petrol station for 25 minutes you might want to give it a try at an on-ramp closer-by.

Public transport is fairly okay in the Netherlands. There are convenient metros from e.g. the Bijlmer. It could be worth it to get a "15-strippenkaart" (6,90 EUR, valid on local buses, trams and metros in the entire country).

Coming from South there is a petrol station just a couple of kilometers before Amsterdam. There are enough people stopping before going into the city, alex never waited longer than 10 minutes to get a ride, with most of the times putting my bag directly from one car into another. So get off there when your driver doesn't go where you need to be in Amsterdam and catch easily a ride that goes to the district you want to go - this will save you some bugs and 30-60 minutes getting to the other side of town.

Hitching Out

West towards Haarlem, Leiden, Den Haag, Delft

There is an official liftplaats about 100 meters south of metro station Sloterdijk on Haarlemmerweg. Here you will find a lot of traffic going straight to Haarlem, and possibly even cars going to Leiden, and further to Delft and Den Haag. Though, most cars going there will use the Ring A10 and then the A4 to Den Haag.

• For Liva it was not the best place even though you have had to do it when you're anyway there...
• For Lilylove it was a great spot to get to Delft. After several uses, it only ever took me one ride to get from Amsterdam to Delft direct.

North towards Alkmaar, Zaandam

There is an A10 on-ramp near Sloterdijk station. Exit the station and go 200m east on Hatostraat, 250m north on La Guardiaweg and 250m east on Basisweg and then cross over to the on-ramp.

Another ramp is a little way up the street from the last. Get there from the last by continuing further down Basisweg (which becomes Transformatorweg until Kabelweg). Follow this north past s101 (Nieuwe Hemweg). The ramp is off of Vlothavenweg.

<map lat='52.342785761313266' lng='4.922003746032715' zoom='13' view='3' float='right' />

East towards Amersfoort, Hengelo, Nijmegen, Osnabrück, Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin

There is a liftplaats, a spot specifically for hitchhiking, at the Gooiseweg next to the Prins Bernhardplein situated before NS Station Amsterdam Amstel (pass the bus stop). This road leads to the ramp of the S112 of the A10, the highway around Amsterdam (direction A1 and A2). A little further on that road and behind the bend you will find a petrol-station where you can talk to drivers, often a better way for getting a ride.

Most cars here will drive along the A1 towards Amersfoort, Hengelo and Germany. The first petrol-station is just 8 kilometers further, just after Muiden. Are you hitching in direction of Berlin or Hamburg, you might find the route-page from Amsterdam to Berlin very useful.

From the liftplaats you can also find rides to Utrecht, Arnhem, Nijmegen and Belgium, though you will find hitching from here relatively harder compared to the Utrechtsebrug, which is the spot for Utrecht.

Since there are so many different directions (and sometimes even many hitchhikers) it's better to make a sign.

There are trains, trams (12,51) and metros to Amstel station from most other stations in Amsterdam. It is a couple of minutes walk from there.

South and Southeast towards Utrecht, Breda, Nijmegen, Arnhem, Düsseldorf, Antwerpen, Brussels, Paris

You can either go and hitch from the same spot as for going West at the Amstel Station, or hitch from where the highway to Utrecht starts, which is called the Utrechtsebrug. This second option definitely gives you more cars going into the right direction and generally a lot less waiting time.

At the Utrechtsebrug you have several options. First, head to the Martin Luther King Park in Amsterdam Zuid where the highway to A2-highway starts, which leads to Utrecht and further to Den Bosch, Eindhoven and Maastricht. Take tram 25 to its end-stop or tram 4 or 12 and walk from the Vrijheidslaan south through the Rijnstraat to the highway (A10/ A2). At the end of this road before the crossing, you'll find traffic lights where you can pro-actively ask drivers to drop you at the next petrol station 200 meters further.

From here you can also walk over the bridge, walk along the highway over the grass towards a petrol station 250 meters further, behind the bend. Be careful when walking here, the space between you and cars is minimal.

Just before Utrecht, after exit 5 (Breukelen) and just some kilometers before the Utrecht Ring you find a big petrol-station called Haarrijn. This is an excellent spot to find drivers for larger distances.

Personal Experiences
Alex used both spots more then ten times each. He first started always at Amstel station, but lately he started at the traffic light near Utrechtse bridge only. The waiting time there is significantly shorter, often getting a ride with one of the drivers during the first red phase. Nevertheless, the Amstel spot is not bad, but you should take the first ride and travel a couple of kilometers down the road towards where the road splits (even it is harder there for cars to stop).

Sleep

If you are caught in the rain with nowhere to go, the best place to stay dry that Zac found was outside the train station.

After walking all night in the pouring rain, trying to stay dry and warm wherever I could, I finally crashed outside the train station until the wee hours of the morning. At that time I moved inside of the station. This had mixed results. It was warmer and drier, but the security guards walked by and gave me a kick every time I dozed off.

There is another solution if you're caught in the rain : you can sleep on one of the tour boats parked along the river in front of central station, some of them have a roof outside the cabin and it can be a quite confortable place. Policemen or guards sometimes come and kick you out, but far less than in the station.

Buy

"Philip's compact atlas Europe" shows service stations in some countries, is pretty compact and was available for 7 euros at the New English Book Store in Amsterdam, in June 2008.

It's not recommended to carry any type of illegal drugs with you while hitchhiking. A bit of weed inside the borders of the Netherlands is not going to get you into trouble. But taking any amount of weed (or anything else) across the border could be a problem for you and possibly your driver. And it's not worth it. trash:Amsterdam