11
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
no edit summary
== Norway, a paradise for hitchhiking ==
[[User:Francisco1|Francisco1]]
I hitchhiked up alone from Göteborg in Sweden to Bergen in just 2 days, in March. Although the main road between the 2 biggest cities (E16) was closed due to a snowstorm, I took route number 7, wich passes by a beautifull fjord. I always found rides, and got helped by the people, it was overall a great experience.
From Rygge to Honefoss I was unsure of how it would go because I had read that Oslo is hard to hitchhike out of, but the driver that picked me up (old norwegian man, the kind of person you would expect to be untrusty of foreigners) took me through the Oslo Fjord through Drommak, Slemmestad, past Sandvika and left me on the road going to Honefoss.
Later that same day I was left at Flå, a tiny village and the people there advised me to camp in the woods besides a bear park.
The next day a lady picked me up from there and invited me for coffee at her place where she checked the roads that were open (because of snowstorms), and let me use her internet to look for couchsurfing. The driver after that actually took me up to the mirador on the top of the Aurland Fjord to make me and another hitchhiker we found on the road visit, and then left me at Flåm, this making an almost 30 km and maybe an hour-long detour from his road. I then got to Bergen almost without waiting, which is amazing considering the roads were closed and the tunnels were alternating traffic for pollution.
Maybe it was the fact that it was during Easter holidays but I found Norway to be the best country for hitchhiking so far.
'''Important advice'''
Do think of the weather, it can get pretty cold and rainy (or snowy) and the distances are very big between the more populated east side of the country and the cities in the West Coast. Maybe taking a warm tent as I did was the best idea ever, the experience of camping in the woods in those mountains was very nice.
Remember, hichhiking is about patience, so maybe you'll have to wait for a good while (it IS true that there are not that many cars), but just enjoy the beautiful landscapes and you can always walk along the roads, they are not highways properly said.
Enjoy your trip !
==Another counter note to negative feedback...==
[[User:Fedecicco|Fede]] doesn't really agree with what said here up and found Norway. in the 3 weeks he hitched around it from north to south (more than 2000 km), a paradise for hitchhikers. The dumpsters always full of amazing fresh and good food, an incredible amount of money busking in the streets and a lot of very cool people ready to help you as they can made his stay one of the best of his nomadic life. Of course is not a very easy country as of course you have to be lucky, but it's definitely worth doing it and the reward for that, a free amazing nature and life is so big that he couldn't even imagine. He was able to save more money and spend less than any other place. Go there for hitchin, dumpster diving and busking! (well maybe of course in summer, for winter sees other experiences)
==Echoing the above statement==
[[User:Earlyturtle|Earlyturtle]] spent June-July 2014 hitching all over Norway, mostly from bus stops along the E6. Usually waited half an hour at most, and the majority of lifts were close to 100km, with many over 350km.
== '''A counter note to the below statement''' ==
I am a norwegian guy and have hitchhiked a lot in norway. It's allways been cool. When it's light outside, avarage standing time with OK traffic maybe 30 minutes to an hour, and that's not bad! Actually i once outran the train by half an hour, me and two girs was hitchhiking from fredrikstad to nesodden, and we really didn't spend much time standing, maybe thanks in part to the two beautiful girls - but it was women stopping mostly. South of norway is a dream for hitchhikers, i'd say.
'''Counter note #4'' (from teeshirt - June 2012). I have been hitchhiking around Norway for the past few weeks and I have to say I am impressed about how easy it is. I have hitched with around 25 people so far in Norway. Around 20 of them were Norwegians. Oslo - Bergen in ten hours. In the countryside there are fewer cars but people are friendlier and not as much in a hurry. I hitched for five days around Sognefjord with another guy and a dog (!) and we got picked up within 20-30 minutes. Never by trucks and never by vans. Many tourists in vans - they do not stop. Try to get a ride before a ferry rather than after it when everyone is impatient to get out of it.
Counter note #5 2015 - We are two French girls and we hitch hiked all the way from France to Narvik, Norway. It was really easy and almost only norwegian people took us. We were even hosted several times by locals. Norwegian people are really helpful and friendly, do not hesitate to hitch hike there !
== '''No, it is not easy to hitchhike in Norway''' ==
''I did hitchhike in Asia, Caribbean, North America and Europe. So far I would say that Norway is the worst place I hitchhiked, just after Florida. My advice: go there with a Norwegian flag tattooed on your forehead, that might do the job.''
==Counter-Statement==
I am a French guy also, travelling alone and found it even better to hitchhike in Norway than in France (and France is a very good country to hitch in, in every different region apart from Paris, and not to say compared to Italy or Spain where it's way tougher). I don't look very norwegian and had no flag tatooed on my face, and always found people, many times locals (some foreigners also), any gender, any age, to pick me up, help me and give me good advice. Ok, so maybe it was not during the summer so the place wasn't crowded with tourists and it was a holiday so people were more relaxed, but nevertheless my experience was far from yours, and I'm sad that such a beautiful country with such nice people can give an unwelcoming image to some, and an amazing image to others.
[[User:Grata|Grata]] 23:27, 6 April 2010 (UTC)
--- In my humble opinion, there are some great information on this Talk side, some of them despite generalization about the character of people from Norway maybe even better than what you can find written on the normal site. Why not adding it there? I think a lot of user looking for information do not use the Talk page. [[User:dorfdisco|dorfdisco]], 19.01.2013. 22.38 (CET)
[[User:Ex_ball|ex_ball]] I would like to share a small piece of experience about hitchhiking from Oslo to Sandnes in autumn 2016. The worst part was leaving Oslo. I spent more than 1.5h on a roundabout in Sandvika not far from Ikea and finally was picked up by a guy who drove me to Drammen. The things got better then. I had about 7 lifts on my way to Kristiansand and maybe 4 next day to Sandnes. People are curious and very friendly. Most of them were Norwegians and it took 5 mins to get a lift sometimes (not more than 30 mins), so hitchhiking in Norway seemed to me pretty smooth. And a lot of fun :) A good hint I think is finding a large foldable piece of carton and writing next town names on it instead of keeping a sing of the endpoint of your trip like Stavanger or Krisitansand. People usually go 30-100 km and are much more open to pick you up if you're going to the same place (capt. Obvious is my second name). Anyway you can always tell them what is your final destination, maybe they'll take you farther. I'm not sure but it can be connected with Norwegian mentality or habits, so just accept it and don't get mad.
I also asked two girls traveling around Norway with a tent and such stuff this summer. They had no problem at all and it was even easier to hitchhike in the North ("because there are much less people living there and they're more helpful").
Good luck and come to Norway :)
ex_ball
== About going South / North Norway in winter ==
