Hannover

Hannover is the capital of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) in Germany. It's a good place for hitchhiking, because two major motorways are crossing each other here: In east-west-direction, there is the A2 going from the Ruhr Area to Berlin, and in north-south-direction, the A7 connecting Hamburg with the south of Germany. On both motorways, there is a big service area, that are easily reachable by tram.

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It's also a nice place to stay, for a day or two, with a beautiful old town center, many parks, lakes and forests, and a lot of pubs and nightclubs.

Public transport is very good and tickets are checked very rarely.

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Hitching out

Heading West (Dortmund)

Take a tram to Königsworther Platz. There is a wide road called Bremer Damm, which leads to the motorway. There is only little space to pull over, but a lot of traffic, so you might get a ride quite quickly. It helps a lot to use a sign saying "A2 - WEST". Try to get a ride at least to Garbsen, just outside of Hannover. There is a huge service area.

Heading East (Berlin) or West (Dortmund)

From the town center, take the tram no. 4 to Garbsen (the last station). Then transfer to bus no. 126 to Waldschänke. The last bus station is directly in front of a very big service area. From the central station, the ticket is EUR 2,70 and it will take about 30 to 40 minutes. There is a lot of traffic, you won't have to wait long.

Heading North (Hamburg, Bremen) or South (Göttingen, Kassel, Frankfurt)

Take the tram no. 6 direction Messe/Ost and get off at Kronsberg. Turn left into Wülferoder Straße. After a ca. 100 m, the Road will head right, but there will be a little path straight on. Follow this path for ca. 1 km. It leads directly to the service area Wülferode on the A7. The tram ticket is EUR 2,10 .

Sleep

There are two hostels in Hannover: An independent one for EUR 15/night (http://www.hostelhannover.de/) and one of hostelling international for EUR 25/night.