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* '''Option 1:''' Close to the city, you may want to try one of the on-ramps in the North East of Cologne. On-ramp ''Köln-Dellbrück'' (exit 26 on the [[A3 (Germany)|A3]]) seems to be good for hitchhiking in direction Remscheid or further along the A1. Also traffic North the A3 passes here. There's no hard shoulder but some green space to stop cars ~60m behind the Autobahn sign. Another possibility is to ask the drivers directly at the traffic light with an extra lane for the motorway. You can get there by taking the metro U18 to ''Holweide-Vischeringstrasse'', cross the railways towards the main road and to the left you'll find the on-ramp. Or Follow the description for ''Köln-Dellbrück'' (see south towards). You just have to walk a bit more. Make sure to have a "Remscheid" or "RS" sign in case of going towards A1 because there is only one tiny resting area ahead of the A3/A1 crossing and as of 06/2011, it is mainly used as a meeting spot for male homosexuals.
:''[[User:Platschi|Platschi]] hitched at Dellbrück in May 2010 and got a ride easily within ten minutes towards Remscheid service station, with even two cars stopping in the meantime but driving northbound.''
:''[[User:artti|artti]] hitchhiked there in May 2011 and two police cars didn't do anything, but third one nicely asked him to leave, because it might not be safe, because cars don't have actually proper place to stop. He took a U-bahn number 4 to last stop Schlebusch (it is possible without ticket) and about twenty meters away you can catch a bus number 260, if lucky driver doesn't ask you to show ticket, but if you must buy, then ticket to Kaltenherberg Ort is eur 2.50.''
:''[[User:Frixge|Frixge]] tried twice to get off at the traffic light at ''Köln-Dellbrück'' to Berlin. First time at 15:00-16:00 there was an huge amount of traffic and he just had to walk along and ask the drivers. After 10 min he found someone who passed the service-station Remscheid. Second time at 13:00 he waited for 2 hours at the traffic light. There was few traffic, mostly local. Next time he will try the option 4.''
:''[[User:Roanne|Roanne]] and a partner tried this option, but instead of stopping cars at the traffic lights they asked people at the Jet gas station just before the exit onto the Autobahn. It didn't take long to get a ride to Remscheid that way.
* '''Option 2:''' It's also possible to hitch from the South East of the city because there is a petrol station on the A59. The closest bus stop is "Eil Heumarer", bus #152. You can take it from Steinstr. S-Bahn, which is relatively close from the main station.
* '''Option 3:''' In case you try to use a ramp from Cologne, a good take-off sign is "Remscheid", because the first service area on the [[A1 (Germany)|A1]] is "Rasthof Remscheid", just before the exit for Remscheid. There are lots of commuters. You can also get there by train from Cologne Dom/Hbf for 6,50 Euros via Remscheid Hbf and walk 5 km to the area (map [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Remscheid+Hbf&daddr=Unknown+road&hl=en&geocode=FTLnDAMdiNttAClRpZsmWyq5RzGlIfHuvHkWrQ%3BFayeDAMdfEduAA&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=15&dirflg=w&sll=51.157143,7.226601&sspn=0.008559,0.023174&ie=UTF8&ll=51.169872,7.215099&spn=0.034228,0.092697&t=h&z=13 here]). If you're lucky, catch the bus 672 or 673 (valid with your zone 4 ticket) to Talsperre/Mebusmühle or Talsperre/Raststätte (closer but only 673) and avoid the walk. These buses do not pass very often, though.
* ''Option 3:''' In case you try to use a ramp from Cologne, a good take-off sign is "Remscheid", because the first service area on the [[A1 (Germany)|A1]] is "Rasthof Remscheid", just before the exit for Remscheid. There are lots of commuters. You can also get there by train from Cologne Dom/Hbf for 6,50 Euros via Remscheid Hbf and walk 5 km to the area (map [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Remscheid+Hbf&daddr=Unknown+road&hl=en&geocode=FTLnDAMdiNttAClRpZsmWyq5RzGlIfHuvHkWrQ%3BFayeDAMdfEduAA&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=15&dirflg=w&sll=51.157143,7.226601&sspn=0.008559,0.023174&ie=UTF8&ll=51.169872,7.215099&spn=0.034228,0.092697&t=h&z=13 here]). If you're lucky, catch the bus 672 or 673 (valid with your zone 4 ticket) to Talsperre/Mebusmühle or Talsperre/Raststätte (closer but only 673) and avoid the walk. These buses do not pass very often, though. ''Option 4:''' There is also the possibility to take the bus nr 260 from the central station towards Remscheid. Get off at the bus stop Kaltenherberg Ort, From there you just have to walk for about 2 minutes, the motorway is already visible. All drivers that pass can at least take you to the petrol station in Remscheid which is just about a few kilometres from there. Like that you avoid the ring and are straight on the A1. I never waited long at that place.:''[[User:Frixge|Frixge]] Taking the bus is a good alternative. By the way the first car in Kaltenherberg took me to the service station. I was surprised because there is not a lot of space on the ramp.''
→North or East towards Berlin, Dortmund, Hannover and Münster
Hitching in that direction seems to be legendarily difficult unless you take a regional train and walk an hour. Several experienced hitchhikers got trapped countless hours and decided to take a train instead. Nevertheless it's of course possible to hitch out of Cologne, experiences about this vary extremely. So far there are four options:
* '''Option 5:''' A very good spot seems to be on the crossing of the A57 and the 'Parkgurtel' ring road. Get there using the S-Bahn (get off at station Nussbaumstrasse) and walk direction east until you get to the traffic lights. All the people turning left are going on A57 and there's a good chance they're heading on the A1 later. Like mentioned above, ask for Remscheid service station. The spot is protected from the rain by the train bridge! The cars only stop at the red lights, so you will have to do some jumping around.
=== East towards [[Siegen]] or [[Gießen]] ([[A4 (Germany)|A4]]) ===
