Hitchhiking from Cologne to Brussels

About 4 h 00 min of hitchhiking — roughly 240 km in 2 ride(s), including about 1 h 35 min of waiting by the road. These figures come from rides hitchhikers logged on this map, not from an estimate.

Open this route in the interactive planner

Step by step

1. Get from Cologne to Aral Verteilerkreis Westseite — 5.0 km. Local transport is usually quicker than walking this stretch.
2. Hitch 18.7 km (11 min) from Aral Verteilerkreis Westseite to Aral. Expect around 1 h 03 min of waiting here. 2 logged rides support this leg. See this spot
3. Walk 0.0 km (0 min) from Aral to Raststätte Frechen Nord.
4. Hitch 221.6 km (2 h 13 min) from Raststätte Frechen Nord to Zaventem. Expect around 32 min of waiting here. 2 logged rides support this leg. See this spot
5. Get from Zaventem to Brussels — 11.4 km. Local transport is usually quicker than walking this stretch.

What hitchhikers said along this route

“Perfect spot to Bonn. Stand right at the exit of the gas station and got a ride in 10 mins. On a Thursday afternoon around 1pm”
― Anonymous, 2021-09-03 · Aral Verteilerkreis Westseite

“A big petrol station, cars are stopping very often. Had a bad experience with getting to Bonn, I guess it depends from good timing. For Bonn you should look for cars with ''BN-...'' number plate, ''K-...'' usually stays in Köln. People often going to Aachen.”
― Anonymous, 2014-07-26 · Aral Verteilerkreis Westseite

“perfect spot, catched to Aachen in 15 minutes”
― Anonymous, 2023-07-25 · Aral Verteilerkreis Westseite

“Tried going in the direction of Aachen. But had no luck. Maybe it was because it was a sunday. Its probably better to take a bus and a train to the first gas station in the Aachen direction, its a short walk from the train station.”
― stepanfoj, 2025-08-26 · Aral Verteilerkreis Westseite

“That was horrible, NOBODY toked us…in the Afternoon”
― Mary, 2025-04-18 · Aral Verteilerkreis Westseite

“Decent Rasthof to continue further to the west (Belgium - Aachen - NL), You can even access it from Cologne by taking a train to Konigsdorf and walk from the station to the Services (Augustinus Str and Marienhofer Weg)”
― Anonymous · Raststätte Frechen Nord

“To get there you need to ask people around, it's a bit mess with a roads liding there. It is a big parking+cafe, so you can talk to people or stay on the exit with a sign. We traveled to Paris, so we asked tracks-drtivers and finally found one. Most of the people who stopped drive not far than Aachen. It's a pity.”
― Anonymous, 2011-04-09 · Raststätte Frechen Nord

“April 2013: was trying to get to Belgium. Third driver I asked took me to the Raststätte Aachener Land Nord, where a lot of Belgian drivers stop.”
― Anonymous, 2013-04-28 · Raststätte Frechen Nord

“Hitchhiked several times to get to The Netherlands from here. Usually rides less than an hour to get a ride (mostly to southern Limburg (Maastricht/Heerlen), but sometimes also towards Venlo).”
― Maxim1110, 2014-11-25 · Raststätte Frechen Nord

“Super good to take the S-bahn to Koningsdorf and then walk to this Gasstation done it like 10 times now, never more then 15 minutes wait”
― Anonymous, 2015-06-15 · Raststätte Frechen Nord

Nearby city guides

• Hitchhiking in Cologne
• Hitchhiking in Brussels

Waiting times and distances are averages from community-logged rides. Travel time assumes 100 km/h in a car and 5 km/h walking. They are not guarantees.