Netherlands

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Flag of Netherlands Netherlands
Information
Language: Dutch
Capital: Amsterdam
Population: 16,570,613
Currency: Euro ( € )
Hitchability: Good.png (good) (good)
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The Netherlands are a member state of the European Union as well as the Schengen Agreement. 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.

There are many creeks in the Netherlands and they can make it hard to get to gas stations on the highway

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 to speak in Dutch or English. French and German often work too, but not as effectively.

Useful tips

  • Use of Internet PC's in every city library, for a small price.
  • 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 20,40 in advance in a shop. This is a lot cheaper than buying a 2-, 3- or 8-strippenkaart on the bus or tram. (In the Netherlands any tram/bus route is divided into zones/stripes - for example, if you go from the centre of The Hague to the beach in Scheveningen, it costs you 3 stripes, Delft to The Hague is about 8 stripes. So even if you are hitching all around the Netherlands, you can get yourself a strippenkaart for getting into/out of city centres - it will be valid all over the country.)


License plates

In the Netherlands, license plates do not contain any marking about where the car comes from, but it does indicate the age of the car (although not in a straightforward way). Often though, the name and the city of the garage where the car was bought is indicated just under the license plate on the backside of the car. On busy petrol stations this may be useful information to look out for, as it may indicate where people are driving to. A normal license plate has three blocks of black letters or numbers on a yellow background. Every block consists of two letters or two numbers (so in total six letters and numbers). Since 2007 a new series of license plates is in use for the newest verhicles existing of a combination of three letters in the middle. Taxis' license plates have a blue background. The license plate of old timers is very dark blue with white letters. Military service has a black license plate with white letters; the number of cars with such license plate or yet another kind is very limited.

Foods

Mdsmendes hitching in the Netherlands

The Netherlands are one of the rare countries where you can find a cheap pot of 'Peanut Butter' (pindakaas), which is a nutritive item that you can easily carry in your backpack. Also, you can find tube of 'mayonnaise' and 'ketchup' sauce (Zaanse saus) for about 30 cents, which can last long without needing to be refrigerated and are a great supplements to sandwiches or friet (as it avoids having to pay the 50 cents sauce at the snackbar (or sometimes frituur or frietkot, especially in Belgium) when ordering a snack).

Links

Dutch cities with more than 100.000 inhabitants

> 500.000: AmsterdamRotterdam

300.000-500.000: Den HaagUtrecht

150.000–300.000: EindhovenTilburgAlmereNijmegenGroningen

100.000–150.000: AmersfoortApeldoornArnhemBredaDordrechtEnschedeHaarlem's-HertogenboschLeidenMaastrichtZoetermeerZwolle

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.

Dutch motorways

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