Germany

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Flag of Germany Germany
Information
Language: German
Capital: Berlin
Population: 82,314,900
Currency: Euro (€)
Hitchability: Good.png (good)
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<map lat='51.39920565355378' lng='9.9755859375' zoom='5' view='0' height='320' width='260' float='left' country='Germany' />
Sigurdas thumbing towards Nürnberg, 2003.

Germany is a member state of the European Union as well as the Schengen Agreement. It is a great country for hitchhiking, both on motorways (highway ramps, service stations, more seldom - parking lots) and local roads. Motorway is called Autobahn in German, while a service area is Raststätte. Latter one is a very common place for hitching a ride - many drivers stop there for re-fuel and some rest. There you will often find maps (both of Germany and Europe in general) that indicate every single petrol station or any other service area located on motorways; in addition, there are map stands (usually by the main entrance to a petrol station) that give a general overview of all service areas on the territory of Germany. Highway ramps usually is a good option to get a free ride, too. One has to make sure, though, not to end up on co called Schnellstrasse (it usually leads to motorways) where cars go fast and can not stop.

Many German highways have no speed limits, therefore you might wanna first try to get a ride hitching a personal car before asking truck drivers. Trucks are great for a night-ride; however, there are restrictions, like in France, of when trucks are allowed on a motorway. In Germany most trucks aren't allowed on motorways on Sundays or public holidays before 22:00.

If you travel a specific highway, have a look at the "German highways" page where you can find very specific information and hints about hitchhiking on German highway ramps, etc. - for example, the route AmsterdamBerlin along the A2 and A30.

License plates

There are between one and three letters on a license plate which show the city or region where the car is registered. For example, look for license plates starting with B if you're hitching to Berlin. Have a look at the articles on Wikipedia for more information: German car number plates (in English) and Liste der Kfz-Kennzeichen in Deutschland (in German).

Crossing the border

Germany has signed a Schengen Agreement which means that borders with other Schengen countries are open. On 21th of Dec., 2007, Poland and Czech Republic have signed this agreement and became border-free with Germany. As of November 2008, the only border with active checkpoints is with Switzerland) - when crossing it you can expect German/Swiss custom officers to check your identity and/or your luggage. If you are to hitchhike from a Swiss/German border check point it might be better to stand a little bit further away from the check point so that you will be out of custom officers' sight.

Carpooling (Mitfahrgelegenheit)

Germany has a national carpooling website that gives opportunities both to the driver and to the ride-seeker to find each other and share a ride together with its cost for fuel. Unfortunately, the website, called Mitfahrgelegenheit, is exclusively in German. Nonetheless, it is quite easy to understand how everything works: you can scroll search from your departure point (von) to a destination (nach); you can see exact ride dates and number of passenger places offered. If you search for a ride from or to Germany, click on Europa link. Contacting a driver is usually done by email, although some drivers do leave their phone numbers). When getting in contact with the driver, one should find an agreement on a price and departure place/date/time.

Such a system offers a low cost alternative to hitchhiking. A similar system exists in Belgium, too.

Experiences has shown, however, that hitchhiking very often is faster than Mitfahrgelegenheit since the driver often drives into cities on their route to pick up new passengers (or to leave them at their exact destination spot).

Note: Abfahrt = Departure / Ankunft = Arrival

Maps

Tiziano hitching from Berlin to Munich

If you're not staying in Germany for long you can hitch through having any map of Germany that has motorway petrol stations marked on it. For that, go to any petrol station located on a highway and ask for an "Autobahn-Guide" - it is for free. You'll get a booklet describing all services on German motorways and including a map with an overview of all highway petrol stations and other service areas. For more information look here: tank.rast.de. While on a petrol station, you can also find more detailed maps for ~5 Euro.

Recommended maps for hitchhiking are Michelin Regional, the orange ones with the numbers 541-546. There are six of these maps, each covering a different part of Germany. They are very detailed and show every single petrol station, hotel, restaurant, or a parking place on German motorways. The scale is equal to 1:350000. Bigger city maps are included, too. You can usually get these maps in local bookstores for about EUR 8.

Hitchhiker Platschi suggests that the Aral Straßen-Atlas Deutschland & Europa can be very good for hitchhiking trips, too: it contains a detailed map of Germany and of the bordering countries, with city maps of the biggest German cities, and all service stations located on highways. Price: EUR 7,95. Available on all Aral service stations, and in German bookstores.

Eating

Try to avoid eating on motorway service stations if you want to save money and to have a good taste of food. These restaurants are notoriously expensive (very often you have to pay for the toilet, too) and the food quality is quite low.

At some service stations with a Sanifair system you get a EUR 0,50 coupon for the toilet which you can use as a valid equivalent to monetary payment when buying things at the petrol station shop or in the restaurant. If you're lucky you can also find thrown away Sanifair vouchers for free.

Nearly everywhere in Germany you can drink water from the tap.

Keep in mind that most shops (including supermarkets) are not allowed to be open on Sundays. There are no 24h-shops, although non-stop petrol stations often offer some food choices (very limited, though).

When in bigger cities, you can usually get the cheapest food at Turkish and Italian restaurants.

Practical links



German highways

Major highways: A1A2A3A4A5A6A7A8A9

Minor highways: A10A11A12A13A14A15A17A19A20A21A23A24A25A26A27A28A29A30A31A33A37A38A39A40A42A43A44A45A46A48A49A52A57A59A60A61A62A63A64A65A66A67A70A71A72A73A81A92A93A94A95A96A98A99

German cities with more than 100.000 inhabitants

> 2.000.000: Berlin

1.000.000–2.000.000: HamburgMünchenKöln

500.000–1.000.000: BremenDortmundDresdenDuisburgDüsseldorfEssenFrankfurt am MainHannoverLeipzigNürnbergStuttgart

300.000–500.000: BielefeldBochumBonnMannheimWuppertal

100.000–300.000: AachenAugsburgBergisch-GladbachBottropBraunschweigBremerhavenChemnitzCottbusDarmstadtErfurtErlangenFreiburg im BreisgauFürthGelsenkirchenGeraGöttingenHagenHalle (Saale)HeidelbergHeilbronnHerneIngolstadtJenaKarlsruheKasselKoblenzKielKrefeldLeverkusenLübeckLudwigshafenMagdeburgMainzMoersMönchengladbachMülheimMünsterNeussOberhausenOffenbachOsnabrückPaderbornPforzheimPotsdamRecklinghausenRegensburgRemscheidReutlingenRostockSaarbrückenSalzgitterSiegenSolingenUlmWiesbadenWittenWolfsburgWürzburg

If you search cities with less than 100.000 inhabitants, have a look at the seperate Federal State articles. You find them at the bottom of this page.

Flag of Germany Federal States of Germany

Baden-WürttembergBayern (Bavaria) • BrandenburgHessen (Hesse) • Mecklenburg-VorpommernNiedersachsen (Lower Saxony) • Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhine-Westphalia) • Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate) • SaarlandSachsen (Saxony) • Sachsen-Anhalt (Saxony-Anhalt) • Schleswig-HolsteinThüringen (Thuringia)

City states: BerlinBremenHamburg

wikipedia:Germany trash:Germany digi:Germany