Plenty of cars, but most of the traffic is local. The Portuguese ones go mainly just to Elvas.
We were tempted to hitch to the gas station on the other side of the border or to Elvas and try our luck there, but later realized that it wouldn't be a good solution, it's so deserted there.
It took us around 1,5h to get a ride straight to Lisbon by the nacional. If you go further than just across the border, better to stick to this place.
It's located around 18 km from the Alto de Extremadura gas station, so you just need a short ride. After a lot of asking around we found a driver who took us all the way to the border in Badajoz!
The gas station is very small. We only managed to get a ride to the next gas station close to Móstoles, a short ride that later turned out to be very important. Also managed to get to Lisbon in one day! Speaking to the drivers definitely helps!
We're not sure if it was here or slightly further down the road where our driver kindly dropped us off, but wherever it was, the bus stops along the road make a good spot for hitchhiking. We got a ride to Poznań in 45 minutes.
Buses 10 and 20 come here, they pass by the very center of the city. Going along Gniewkowska, it's the first bus stop where the bus turns, still, from there it's just a short walk to the hitchhiking spot. We got a ride to Inowrocław in 5 minutes.
20 minutes for a ride to Stęszew, from where it was much easier to get a ride to Wrocław. Much better than the Głogowska spot with traffic headed in many directions.
Much better than the Horner Kreisel itself. Here the cars still have a way to go before they decide on which lane they should position themselves to go in the right direction. Would use it again definitely.
The two of us tried to hitch a ride in this spot, with no success. There are a lot of cars and their speed is not very high, but the cars on the outer lane (the one closer to you) are turning to the local neighborhoods on the roundabout and the ones you want to catch going to Berlin are on the inner one. We gave up after more than two hours and moved to the Caspar Voght Str. spot, where it was much easier. Already in the car, we saw another hitchhiker there going to Lubeck. We hope she also managed to get a good ride.
Two or three drivers stopped for us here offering rides to Berlin while our destination was Poland. It took around 1 hour and we were approached by a driver who offered a ride straight to Słubice, the border.
Not a big amount of traffic on this gas station, but it's definitely a good place to hitch rides direction Algarve. If by any chance you start your trip in Setúbal,it's worth the effort getting to this station (around 6 km walking or by bus to Palmela and then ~2km). Only a small fence separates the road you take from the station.
I've used this spot many times and never had to wait too much.
Since getting here requires taking a bus which doesn't pass very close to the center,if you're getting here with a transfer along the way, get an hour ticket (4,20 PLN regular/2,10 PLN with a discount) instead of purchasing 2 separate tickets.
Quite small gas station, on a late Saturday afternoon it had less traffic than a minor country road. After 1 hour of hitching another hitchhiker, a guy, showed up. We decided to take turns of 30 minutes to have equal chances. He got a ride just as his time was about to finish. We waited for some time more and only managed to get a short ride to a small gas station slightly off the highway (that in the explanation of the driver it looked like a more decent place to hitch).
Not the very best, we tried signs for Paris and A1 Sud. After an hour decided to catch the train to Phalempin (1,60 euro) and hitch from the nearby gas station (around 2 km walk).
Got a ride to a good gas station before the crossing of A15 and A27 north of Gorinchem. Besides, on the pole of the sign we found the names of two hitchhikers that we invited to our house in a tiny village in Norway as they were on their way to Bergen :)
Stood here with a sign for Groningen, then changed it to a closer Zwolle, thinking our destination might seem too far for the drivers. As soon as we did it, a driver stopped, one that was going all the way to our destination :D
Plenty of Space along Ny Esbjergvej. While we were making a sign, a driver pulled over, we had to euse his offer because we were going to Esbjerg. After around 5 minutes another driver going that way stopped.
Lots of Space for the cars to pull over after the rafic lights. Unfortunately, we met with very immature reactions of the drivers, 3 times they were stopping and driving away as soon as we started walking towads the car until one of te prankers came back and gave us a ride to the last exit before Denmak, a much better spot.
Not such a good place though if you want to get onto IC8 direction Pombal. You have to stay exactly where the cars from Pedrogão turn onto EN2, since after that there's no safe space for the cars to stop because of the turnings. Here the margin is almost none-existent too, but at least the cars can see you well.
Very good spot, much better than another closer to the center along Armii Krajowej.To get there: from Osiedle Blonie take a bus 52 going to PODKOWA. Watch out, don´t get on a bus with the same number with the destination of Osiedle Lesne, they will take you close to the first point but not any close to this one. The Podkowa buses go only every 40 minutes - 1 hour depending on the time of the day. Get off at the bus stop Jezdziecka/Gdanska and hitch on the bus stop :)
Direction EN2 north. Enough traffic to get a ride easily, not too much to make it dangerous to walk along the (sometimes a bit narrow, sometimes wider) road.
Easily reachable from the center of Pombal, a lot of space for the cars to stop and all of them are going straight to IC8 direction east. 10 minutes for a ride to Pedrogão Grande.
Most of the cars going to Porto, so it shouldn´t be a long wait for a ride going in that direction. My boyfriend and I had a bit longer wait for a ride to the center of Pombal (while we were hitching further east on IC8) and the driver got out of his route to bring us there. Still, recommended.
Another try there, 2 h to get a ride. My boyfriend and I were going direction Coimbra, another hitchhiker we met on the station - to Santiago de Compostela. The two of us managed to find a ride from a driver going to Braga, who also agreed to take the other hitchhiker. Speak, speak, speak with the drivers, be as polite as you can, they might not be very familiar with the idea of hitchhiking, but when addressed personally in the right way they are very friendly in majority of the cases.
Entrance to the highway - mainly used by cars going to Spain, so it´s not a good spot to hitch direction Faro and further west. If you´re coming from Vila Real de São Antonio, try reaching this place to hitch, because before there´s too much local traffic. Our experience (April 2015) - we were trying to get on the highway and after around 45 minutes a Ukrainian driver picked us up and changed the direction to the national road going to Tavira.
The gas station doesn´t get a lot of traffic, but on the entrance there´s enough space for the cars to stop.
Getting there: from Plaza de Armas take any bus pasing by Hospital San Juan de Dios in Bormujos. From there there´s a short walk to the station.
There are bus numbers and the route with all bus stops mentioned on Plaza de Armas.
(tried April 2015)
Still people selling stuff there, we had similar feelings about their influence on our hitchhiking. Not a lot of space for the cars to stop. After ~1 we blindly decided to reach by bus from nearby Plaza de Armas a seemingly good spot where wr had more luck.
Works well also for the direction Jerez/Cadiz/Algeciras. If you're going to Algeciras, it's recommended to find a direct ride here rather than taking a shorter ride along the highway towards Algeciras.
February 2015. After around 15 minutes of asking around, we found a ride to Beja. The deivers, however, were going to lunch, so we decided to look around more and luckily after some 15 minutes more we found a drivet going to Tavira!
We tried this spot for the first time in March 2014. After 2 h of standing with the sign only we had to give up hitchhiking and take a train to Lisbon, since we were in hurry. A few days ago we tried this spot again, this time not wasting our time and speaking with people directly. The very first driver we approached gave us a ride to the next gas station, around 40 km. The roadworks are still around that point, but it´s easy to walk above the fence and move your backpack to the other side too.
First, quite late in the evening we got an offer to go to Arcachon, which is not a very good decision, so we rejected it. The following day after around 2 h we got a ride to Burgos, Spain.
We were here around 2am after a direct ride from UK. We rejected a ride going to a destination along A10 (dir. Orleans), but not passing by the first gas station. Eventually we accepted the 2nd one, just to get out of that place.
Not a very big gas station. We were super lucky, the driver going to Pau changed his route and brought us straight to our destination between Perigueux and Bergerac.
A good spot to hitch from there is just in front of the police station. Had luck just because a driver who didint even pass by us saw us and asked about our destination. Got a ride along the M5 going north.
We camped there too (there are some hills behind the station) and around 4 am a man woke us up in not a very frightening way, telling we weren´t allowed to camp there and had to leave in the morning.
To get there (10.2014), from the station Massy RER/TGV, we caught a bus to Briis-sous-Forges (1,75 euro) and from there walked to this gas station. We managed to find a part with a hole in the fence (more to the southern part of the station).
After waiting for 3 hours for a ride after this roundabout and even later in a spot already on the highway where the traffic from D188 enters, we decided to go to the nearest bus station (Massy RER/TGV) and catch a bus to Briis-sous-Forges and from there walk to the first gas station along the highway - Limours-Janvry. (3km)
We put a Hitchwiki sticker in this place! (on a traffic sign by the exit) We got offered a ride going straight to Newport, Wales, our destination! Camped there. (September 2014)
September 2014. As a group of 3, we camped there. The staff wasn't that friendly. We had to part ways here. We stumbled upon 3 other hitchhikers on that gas station (2 of them from Hitchgathering, going to Turkey). We were the last ones to get a ride after quite a long waiting time.
In a group of three we got a ride to Odense from here after 1,5 h.
Behind the gas station close to the woods there´s plenty of space to camp. (09.2014)
September 2014. Cars are going quite fast at this point. After around 40 minutes here a driver stopped and offered a very short ride which we rejected. Right after that another hitchhiker appeared. While we were figuring out where else we could hitch, the other hher was trying his luck. After not a long time the police appeared and said it was forbidden to hitch here. After that we all decided to get a train from Ny Ellebjerg in direction Koege to Karlslunde and hitch from the gas station along the highway there.
We were there before the sunset (August 2014). From the gas station it´s also possible to take another road leading to the city, besides the highway entrance. Lot of traffic was local but eventually we were offered a ride to Uppsala.
Late in the evening got a ride from a driver speaking just Swedish and only later we figured out he was turning in a few km later. We walked back to the station, but with no more success in hitching, so we camped in the nearby woods. The following day we got a direct ride to Umea.
Lot of space to stop the car, but it´s still before the road splits. Much safer though than the very entrance to the highway, if you´re heading north. (09.2014)
We were about to hitch there, but there were already some hitchhikers there, so we moved to the other nearby spot. Not enough space for the cars to stop at the entrance unfortunately. Some time later we saw a policeman tell the couple to leave the place.
Good spot, with decent amount of traffic. Rather more likely to get a ride to Inkoo rather than all the way to the Capital Area. Our waiting time was probably affected by the number of us - 3 hitchhikers. (07.2014)
From the roundabout, there are two entrances for the cars going north. None of them is really perfect, but we had more luck on this on-ramp with a very tiny margin.
1st experience - got a ride to Norrkoping after around 1h. 2nd experience on the way south - lot of traffic going just to Jonkoping, got one offer, but only to there and thus, rejected it. We camped in a nearby playground and on the following day after a lot of waiting eventually accepted a ride to Jonkoping.
Super easy to get a direct ride to KBH. Better to stand on the left side, since the check-in for the cars is on that side. Both on the left and right there´s a lot of space to pull over. We met one more hitchhiker and all of us got a ride quite quickly around the same time.
If you´re heading to Hirsthals (like we were), most of the cars are using the highway paralell to this road and here the journey is going to be a longer one.
We arrived there late at night and were already thinking of going to camp somewhere around, but a Polish driver accidentaly saw my sign and offered a ride north of Hamburg.
(June 2014)
June 2014
Easily got a ride to Toulouse.
Next to the toll there´s a cozy toilet, good to pass the night. We also encountered some people already camping in nearby woods.
We met a couple standing there for 13 hours. Fortunately they managed to get a ride soon after our arrival. The two of us had luck though and after talking with the drivers we got a ride across the French border with a truck driver.
Good localization, just before highway, and plenty of cars. However, most of the traffic is local, and it's better asking than just standing. It took us 3 hours to get a ride just to Alverca. (15th June 2014)