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'''Sweden''' is a member state of the [[European Union]] as well as the [[Schengen Agreement]]. Many say that hitching in Sweden sucks. But it can work very well! Moreover almost everyone speaks English which will increase your chances of learning from the meetings along the way. As anywhere in Western [[Europe]], the motorways are the holy temples of car driving religion and someone standing on them is committing blasphemy. But you can hitch on the motorway ramps as well as on local roads. Better bring a good map, though, so that you won't end up in an unexpected place. If you travel along the biggest motorway, E4, you will make faster time, but not see that much of Sweden's beautiful landscapes. If your primary aim is to explore the country, you should stay away from E4. Especially in northern Sweden there are only a few main roads, which means that you might have a shorter time waiting and longer lifts. Be careful to stand somewhere where there is some sign of civilization. As especially in the north the roads are no real motorways and accessible for pedestrians, you can stop all the traffic, especially if you stand on something like a bus stop. When on large motorways you have to take care a little on which petrol station you end up on, as there are too many of them, with sometimes only little traffic on each of them, and as most of the petrol stations are one or two kilometers away from the motorway. [[UserYou can find a map of some of the bigger service stations (Rasta) online: http:Perilisk|Anick-Marie]] had no chance at all hitching rides on Öland in May 2005//www.rasta. [[User:EggDestroyer|Aurélien]] hadn't either from Copehnagen to Stockholm in August 2011nu/english. On the other handhtmFurthermore, [[User:Somewhatofftheway|Ben]] had good experiences in 2010, going most some of the way across service stations are only built on one side of the country up lane, and drivers tend to Finlandremain on "their" side. In If you do have the summer choice, you should therefore try and avoid crossing over to the other side, as only around 1/4 of 2011 Harry Tattersall Smith and Viljami Laurmaa had an incredible time hitchhiking through the north drivers there will continue in your direction.Trafikverket distributes a map of service stations (rastplatser) in Sweden. Any memories of The map shows where the delays have all service stations are and what services are offered (usually toilets but been eclipsed by sometimes food, petrol or playgrounds as well. The more services offered, the fantastic charcaters and experiences we had along busier the wayservice station is). Their adventures have been documented You can download it [http://glasgowguardianwww.cotrafikverket.uk/culture/lifestyle/hitchhiking-through-scandanaviase/ rastplatser here]or get a paper copy from tourist information centres.

== Landscapes Landscape ==

 * [[Dalarna]]* [[Härjedalen]]* [[Lappland]] == Crossing the border ==Sweden is in the [[Schengen Agreement|Schengen treaty]]. This treaty is rather well respected at the Finnish and Norwegian borders but has stricter regulations at the terminals where ferries from [[Denmark]] port, or at the bridge uniting [[Copenhagen]] with [[Malmö]]. Stricter control and special attention is usually applied to those who look like "being of another race". If you are unlucky, you might be made to strip during their search. Keep in mind, though, that the personality check is not applied to everyone but only to some at random order so you have more chances to quickly cross the border than get stuck explaining to the officials that you are neither a paperless immigrant nor a smuggler.

== Camping == In Sweden, the wonderful Allemansrätt has existed for many centuries only as a customary law, but since 1994 it is part of the Swedish constitution. As in other Nordic countries, the Swedish right to roam comes with an equal emphasis being placed upon the responsibility to look after the countryside; the maxim is "'''Do not disturb, do not destroy'''".  The Allemansrätt gives a person the right to access, walk, cycle, ride, ski, and camp on any land - with the exception of private gardens, the immediate vicinity of a dwelling house and land under cultivation, and with restrictions for nature reserves and other protected areas. This means that you could put up a tent for free almost anywhere as long as it doesn't disturb anybody. Make sure to '''not leave any garbage''' in the nature – we should really take the responsibility for those future generations will have the same democratic right to the nature as we have, and of course have any nature at all.. Very welcome to enjoy the Swedish nature! == Useful things info == You have good chances of finding quite nice '''food''' in the dumpsters of petrol stations along the smaller roads (the E4 is ''not'' a good bet for this). Supermarkets are hard to dumpsterdive in Sweden.

'''Internet''' you can normally get at the public or university libraries for free. Sometimes you have to ask for a guest account. There's a quite useful '''[[maps|map]]''' ("vägkarta") which you can get at ''OKQ8'' petrol stationsfor 15 swedish crowns. It's for whole Sweden and has all ''OKQ8'' petrol stations on it, which can be quite handy when hitchhiking and looking for a good place to be dropped off. [http://publikationswebbutik.vv.se/shopping/ShowItem____4483.aspx HereAt ''Statoil''s another map] that gas stations you can apparently order for get a freemap with statoil gas stations. {Link is dead - can someone who knows what this was renew/correct itThe OKQ8 one might actually also be free now?}

* [http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5889849780facebookgroup] for for Swedish hitchhikers* [http://www.okq8.se/Pa- facebookgroup stationen/Bensinstationer map with the petrol stations of Q8/OK]* [https://www.trafikverket.se/trafikinformation/vag/ trafikverket.se] - online map with up to date information on accidents, closed roads and road works == Personal Experiences ==Blackratsplo : I hitchhiked from [[Malmö]] to [[Nordkapp]] in july 2022. The hardest part was to get to [[Stockholm]]. if you can do it, you'd better do it from the ferry to [[Helsingborg]]. I had a rough time getting to the capital city because after a misunderstatement I accepted a lift to 50km away from Helsingborg. Only accept rides of 80km or more, in that area and for that destination. I had to get back and hitchhike at the exit of the ferry. An elder sweddish motor biker and traveller offered to let me in an hotel with his customer card so I could get a free breakfast and just after that and a relatively long wait, a lovely Swedish man drove me to Stockholm, bought me a piece of Princess cake and hugged me for saying goodbye. These are just examples of how kind people have been to me all along the way. Be relaxed, be kind, be open minded, speak a good english and Sweden will open its arms to you. After Stockholm, it's easy street. you can easily accept 50km rides. Some people will sometimes offer you to drive you 30km further to a better spot. Kindly ask if they can let you the time to check you map and accept if that's a good option -it often is. Most drivers who stopped were Swedish. I'd say you shouldn't fear of getting lost in the northen part of the country, as long as you have adapted food and equipment. If you're still on the big roads, even with low traffic it's so easy to get a car that you should wait and walk a bit if you want to have a little dive into the beautiful scenery. My last car to Nordkapp was in the middle of nowhere, on the main road, with 2 or 3 cars every 5 minutes. He drove me for 733km right to Nordkapp. He was a German guy. But 10min before that, I had been dropped by a Swedish father driving his two kids home. He picked me in the most remote place and took me 50km further. So don't think too much about places and nationalities. I actually regretted getting so much big rides after Stockholm as I ended crossing the whole country in 3 days and some extra hours. Making lots of 50 to 100km rides and walking 30min in between is a lot of fun and lets you get a real feel of what Swedish hitchhikerspeople are like.(End of Blackratsplo personnal experience.) Hi there! I had an amazing time hitchiking (and back) to [[Kiruna]] from the [[Netherlands]]. I went via the east side up and via the west side back.I would definitely say hitching at petrol stations is a lot easier as you get to approach the Swedes, if you are polite most of them are open to listen to what you have to say, some might brush you off but as already mentioned about everyone speaks English so they won't look at you weird for that at least! Yes thumbing also works but expect longer waiting times, I would say maximum 2 hours (eventhough I was stuck in Storuman for 6 hours with the thumb).What worked best for me is to just go from petrol to petrol and sleep in the woods next to the station if it didnt work. The more north you go the more abonded roads tend, expect a lot less traffic the more north you go. Also most petrol stations are going to be around smaller towns instead of on the road when you reach the northern part of Sweden. Especially to the west.Going the west road up is definitely more beautiful in my opinion but will take you a bit longer (a lot less trucks), but it is more chill as you can get just get dropped off at every small town because the road ([[E45]]) goes through every town and the traffic needs to slow down. So when going west you can really land in beautiful little towns next to big lake and rivers withouth even compremising your travel time! == Nomadwiki & Trashwiki == {{nomadwiki}}