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'''Niš''' is a city in southern [[Serbia]] with a population of 250.,000 inhabitants. It is located on the motorway (''[[Autoputautoput]] '') between [[Belgrade]] and [[Skopje]], as well as the highway between [[Belgrade]] and [[Sofia]].

==== Bus lines around the city ==== To help you to navigate around the city and to take necessary buses to your hitchhiking spot, here is the map of the bus lines (September 2021)https://www.jgpnis.rs/linije/gradske-linije/ ==== Toll gates ====There is a [[are 3 toll station]] gates around the city: Niš South - https://goo.gl/maps/HutQubncm5K1MLJQA | Niš North - Nais, just before https://goo.gl/maps/kU4kYyKBpThLBtaQ6 | Niš, if you're coming down south East - https://goo.gl/maps/fADyXt17D34D3ZqCA | Additionally there is one more toll gate around 10 km from direction of Belgrade using the motorway. There you can get rides straight to [[Sofia]], or rides south towards [[Skopje]] and further on towards [[Greece]], without entering into the citycalled Niš Malča - https://goo.gl/maps/QoJByKXJLMCvxQFb7

=== East towards [[Sofia]], ([[Bulgaria]]) {{European Route Number|80}} === '''Option 1 (highway):''' You need to get to the toll gate called "Niš istok" which is located here https://goo.gl/maps/4WTEMmG5PphHWGjc8 ==== Bus ====To get there, take a '''bus number 2''' from the city center. Bus ticket costs 60 dinars or 0.5 euros and a ride will take around 10-15 minutes (9-10 stops). Follow GPS on your phone and get off the bus just before intersection of "Knjaževačka street" and "Matejevački put". Walk 300 meters more until intersection and turn left to "Matejevački put" street ''(btw. you can also come to the same intersection by taking a '''bus number 4''' from the city center)''. Keep walking in the same direction for 1.5 km. If you feel like not walking so much, you can try to hitchhike until the toll gate right after you cross intersection of "Matejevački put" and "Somborska street" (when 6 lanes boulevard becomes 2 lane street). Most of the cars go to the villages along the road and some to the highway (same direction). You may get lucky and save your legs of 1 km walking. If not, just keep walking to the toll gate. At the toll gate make sure with the driver that he goes direction of Bulgaria or Pirot at least. Car should go over the bridge to join the highway. Don't make a mistake and take road to the right side before crossing the overpass. You will get lost in the highway intersections and it will be difficult to come back. If you don't find anyone going directly to the border, you can accept rides going to Pirot. From there the border is much closer and you will have better chances. You can also take a '''bus number 5''' from the city center. Get off at the last stop at "Somborska street". From the last stop walk 2 km to the hitchhiking spot explained above. Note this: "Somborska street" has changed name in January 2020, but on Google maps it still has the old name. If the new name ever gets updated on Google maps, don't get confused if you don't find "Somborska street" but instead you find "Bulevar svetog Pantelejmona". ==== Taxi ====Another option is to '''take a taxi'''. Taxi in Niš is really not expensive. According to Google maps it's 5.5 km from the city center to the hitchhiking spot. Start costs 110 dinars and every km is 40 dinars. That's around 330 dinars total which is less than 3 euros. If you take taxi from different location which is closer to the hitchhiking spot it can be even cheaper. You can also take a bus (explained in previous steps) and from there take a taxi to hitchhiking spot. For 2 km it would cost no more than 200 dinars or 1.6 euros. We don't really have those taxis that rip of tourists because we don't have many tourists so they are not used to it. There are few scammers around main bus station, but not at the outskirts of the city. Legal taxi in Serbia always have TX as last two letters on car plates. To order a taxi you have to make a call. Waiting time is usually 3-4 minutes. If you don't have local sim card, ask someone to call taxi for you and to explain where taxi should pick you up from. Most popular taxi companies are: Prvi, City, Cool, Eko, Bros, TDI,...  '''Option 2 (local road):''' This option used to be the best one before the highway was completed in November 2019. Now mostly local traffic goes there and international traffic uses the highway, trucks especially because they are not allowed to use local road anymore. This route is not advisable as there are few examples of hitchhikers coming back to the city after unsuccessful day of hitchhiking at this spot. Take a city '''bus number 1''' from the central square to Niška Banja. One-way ticket costs 80 RSD, which is about 0.70€. After about a 15 minutes journey, get off the bus on the second-to-last stop, just before roundabout (before bus crosses over the railroad tracks). There is a roundabout and you can thumb after the roundabout. Here, you may catch some traffic driving out of the city to your direction. After the highway was completed, most of the people use highway and this road is mostly used for local traffic to the nearby villages and maybe even city of Pirot, which is on the way to the border. The road is free and in good condition, so some people choose this road instead of paying for the highway. === North towards [[TurkeyBelgrade]] {{EEuropean Route Number|8075}} === You need to get to the toll gate called "Niš north" which is located here https://goo.gl/maps/22qEprCexNWg9KHp8 ==== Bus ==== Take a '''bus number 3''' from the city center. The bus ticket is 60 dinars or 0.5 euros. Bus ride will take around 10 minutes or less. Get off at the last stop. You will see a small roundabout after the bus stop. Keep walking further for 900 meters until you reach toll gate. This info is just for your orientation - you have to pass under the highway overpass on your way to the toll gate. From there you can easily hitchhike to Belgrade. You may even catch some traffic going to Bulgaria or south to Macedonia. Probably not direct rides to those countries, but for sure some cars go to nearby cities. All traffic on this toll gate will be from the city. ==== Taxi ====Taxi in Niš is not expensive. According to Google maps it's 4.5 km from the city center to the hitchhiking spot. Start costs 110 dinars and every km is 40 dinars. That's around 300 dinars in total which is around 2.5 euros. We don't really have those taxis that rip of tourists (because we don't have many tourists so they are not used to it). There are few scammers around main bus station. Legal taxi in Serbia always have TX as last two letters on car plates. It's very difficult to get a taxi by waving with a hand like in movies. Most of taxis are not moving unless they have a ride. To order a taxi you have to call them by phone. If you don't have local sim card, ask someone to call taxi for you and to explain where taxi should pick you up from. Waiting time is usually 3-4 minutes. Most popular taxi companies are: Prvi, City, Cool, Eko, Bros, TDI,... ==== Few advices ====* If you are going straight to Belgrade accept only direct rides, since many cars are going there.* It's not advisable, but if in some almost to impossible situation you don't find a direct ride to Belgrade, you may accept a ride to "Pojate toll gate" or "Batocina toll gate". Those two are on the intersection with the road coming from western and central part of Serbia and you have higher chances to get a ride than if you go to any other city on the way. People want to help hitchhikers, but please don't accept rides which will make you stuck on some small toll gate without any traffic.* You may only accept rides to "Požarevac toll gate" because from there it's super easy to find a ride to Belgrade. Note that Požarevac city is another 17 km further from the toll gate. You don't want to go to the city, only to the toll gate which is located 100 meters from the highway. Traffic using this toll gate is not only from that city itself, but also from some bigger portion of eastern part of Serbia.* Try not to accept a ride to Smederevo because it's a dead end since most drivers will use the south toll gate "Kolari" to enter the city, but people going to Belgrade will never use it because they use southwest toll gate called "Vodanj". One hitchhiker stuck in "Kolari toll gate" once and had to hitchhike back to "Požarevac toll gate" to get a ride to Belgrade form there. If your driver is going to Smederevo, you can kindly ask him if he is willing to take you to "Vodanj" toll gate. It will be 7 km more for him, but will save you from being stuck in a wrong toll gate.

Hitching on the main road going east from central Niš (which runs just below the fortress and a central square) seems to work fine. This city's prime street is called Voždova (Вождова) which continues eastwards by the Skull Tower and Mediana Roman archeological site === South/Southwest towards Niška Banja [[Skopje]] (Нишка Бања[[North Macedonia]]) - small neighborhood with spa centers and parks, on the mountain slopes, street changing name into boulevard of Zoran Đinđić and later boulevard of Constantine the Great. Since there are 8 km between the central square and the first hitch point, you better take city bus to Niška Banja from the central square [[Prishtina]] (one way ticket should be some 50 RSD, which is about 0,5 EUR, conductors will charge it once you get on the bus[[Kosovo]]). Get off the bus on the stop before the last one, that is the one right after the bus cross over the railroad lines, and should be some 15 minutes of a ride. There, it is easy spot a traffic roundabout and your hitchhiking position is right after the roundabout, towards the mountains. Here, you may catch 70% of all locals driving out of the city to your direction. {{E|75}} {{E|80}} ===

From this point you have ==== Macedonia ====You need to walk 3.5 km further down the road get to reach the ideal hitchhiking position in the village of Prosek (Просек), where this road joins the highway and all the other traffic going towards Bulgaria. After 3km down the road, you will notice a small junction where roads merge, and after some 400-500 meters more, you will be standing on the right spot with a couple of well-frequented Turkish restaurants around and some roadside parking area for long distance trucks (most of them again being Turkish). Although it South toll gate called "Niš jug" which is possible to get a ride at the previous spot, this one in Prosek (Просек) should be your goal for international rides, as you have excellent chances to find a straight ride to [[Bulgaria]] or even further towards [[Turkey]]located here https://goo. gl/maps/KEQJefmYByfgjnZC9

Alternative Take a bus number 10 from the city center. Bus ticket costs 80 dinars which is around 0.70 euros. There will be many roundabouts on your way and possibly easier way after 5th one I think, you need to get to Prosek hitchhiking point off after the last roundabout which is located here https://goo.gl/maps/xaHZMjieMgQHLYuf8Walk back 10 meters. Local road going South will take you to get one of those suburban buses that go around local villages[[Leskovac]]. Get If you want to go further, better take the main bus station just around the fortress, don't enter main terminals but find a smaller one with only one ticket selling booth highway. Walk direction North for another 1.5 km (looks like a bus stop with buses constantly flowing through, just by the street, and not by fortress walls), and get on a bus or you can try to village hitchhike even there instead of Prosek (Просекwalking). Ticket should not There will be more than 1,25 EURO, and these buses depart at every 60 minutes or soanother roundabout on your way. Ask driver to let you know where to get off as this is still a local suburban bus line Go left there and stops aren't well marked. Anyway, bus stop where you're getting off has a restaurant meters away with big neon STOP sign, so you can't miss itwill see the toll gate. Once Note that local road will probably not take you get offfar, walk some 100 meters backwards and there but highway could take you are, right at even to the position described aboveborder with Macedonia.

=== North towards [[Belgrade]] {{E|75}} = Kosovo ====If you are going to '''Kosovo''' get off at the last bus stop (same bus number 10 as described above) and then hitch/walk about 6 kilometers further as this road merges with the actual road leading to Kosovo and you can get more traffic coming from the highway. Road to Kosovo is fairly easy to hitch on because it's a local road. You can use sign Prokuplje as it's the first city on your way or Kuršumlija which is the last town before border with Kosovo. Don't go to Kuršumlija center. Get off the vehicle before the road goes towards the city. You will see it on GPS.

Next to the main bus station there's a suburban buses terminal and a bus stop on 'Bulevar 12. februar' streetAfter passing town of Prokuplje, with "Branković" bakery being right across the street from the bus stop (adding this info for easier orientation). Get on a bus to Donji Komren (number 12 or 12s), and get off at the last stopof vehicles is getting somewhat lower. Continue walking that way and after few hundred meters, passing by petrol station on your right and under a motorway overpass, you're at the intersection where motorway begins. This way you can hope to You better get a ride lift from almost everyone who gets on vehicles registered to a motorway from the cityforeign plates, but you aren't catching other as not many Serbian registered vehicles (foreign or local) that come from the motorway or from the south surpassing the citycross into Kosovo at all. A considerable number of trucks going into Kosovo also pass here. Therefore, if If you don't get a ride you wanteduse signs for hitchhiking, ask driver to take you to a motorway toll ramps next to hotel Nais ("naplatna rampa Nais - Niš")after Kuršumlija write Merdare. All vehicles need to pass there no matter how much they are going to use a motorway. Itthat's only 5km away from your standpoint. Once on Nais tolls, getting a ride is fairly easy, and you'll be sure that you're hitchhiking 100% the name of the traffic that goes north via this motorwayborder crossing with Kosovo.

=== Southwest towards [[Prishtina]]What is important to notice here is the traffic structure on this particular road. Serbian vehicles are in most cases heading not further than town of Kuršumlija and nearby villages. Those that pass Kuršumlija in most cases head to Prolom Banja (mineral springs health resort site) or Đavolja Varoš/Devil's Town, [[natural rock formations site that is a tourist hot-spot nowadays. Both of these are pretty much off the main road. These vehicles going to the border with Kosovo]] {{E|80}} ===(Merdare village) and further, are very low in numbers.

Take bus no.10 from the central square (the bus stop is next to McDonalds). Get off at the last stopTherefore, have in mind that if you catch a suburban area called Novo Selo (also referenced as "Naselje 9. maj"). The bus ride should cost around 50 RSD. Walk straight that heads to some of these previously mentioned sites, you may easily get stuck on in the same direction and cross a bridge over the motorway. You can hitch from after the bridgeroad for those last 10 or 15 kilometers before Merdare/Kosovo checkpoint, without much traffic at all.

After passing town of Prokuplje=== Northeast towards [[Zaječar]], [[Vidin]], [[Romania]] ===Depending where your location is, you need to catch bus number of vehicles is getting somewhat lower2 (also labeled as "Bubanj - Donja Vrežina"), towards Donja Vrežina neighborhood. The bus costs 60 RSD. Get off at the last bus stop. You're better taking a lift from vehicles registered to a foreign plateswill easily recognize it by suburban atmosphere. Once you are there, you can start hitchhiking, as not many Serbian registered vehicles cross into Kosovo visibility is very good at allthat point. Have in mind that international and transit traffic, and good percent of locals use highway rather than this road. Considerable number However, some general experiences are that about 50% of trucks the locals going into Kosovo also pass your way are passing here. For the other half of a local traffic, you would have to hitch on the motorway, and it's not too easy to get on the city/motorway intersection for this route by public transport.

What Once you hitch a ride, don't worry if the driver doesn't go all the way. All you need is important to notice here is get a ride for next 6 km to the intersection near the traffic structure on this particular road. Serbian vehicles are in most cases heading not further than town village of Kuršumlija Malča where highway and nearby villageslocal road merges together. These that Vehicles must pass Kuršumlija in most cases head to Prolom Banja (mineral springs health resort site) or Đavolja Varoš/Devilthere, and there's Townno other intersection road, natural rock formations site that so you can't miss the place. Once you get there, thumb. There is a tourist hot-good hitchhiking spot nowdaysright at the crossroads. From the intersection you will see the "toll gate Malča" located here https://goo. Both gl/maps/utSoEu6QkfcH92Bf9 and you can even hitchhike there if you prefer to ask drivers face to face instead of these are pretty much off just waiting on the main road. These vehicles On this spot you are catching almost 100% of traffic going to the border with Kosovo (Merdare village) towards Zaječar and further, are very low in numbers.

Therefore, have in mind Another option to get to Malča village or even further instead of hitchhiking is to take a suburban bus number 16 or 17. Bus number 16 is going to village Vrelo and you can ride that if bus until the last stop and hitchhike from there. If you catch take a ride that heads bus number 17, make sure to some of these previously mentioned sites, you may easily get stuck off the bus before it goes to the village which is off the main road. Check on Google maps where those villages are located and see what is the road at these last 10 or 15 kilometers before Merdare/Kosovo checkpoint, without much traffic at allbest option for you.