Hitchhiking from Cologne to Budapest

About 19 h 58 min of hitchhiking — roughly 1363 km in 7 ride(s), including about 4 h 57 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

Get from Cologne to Aral Verteilerkreis Westseite — 5.0 km. Local transport is usually quicker than walking this stretch.
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
Walk 0.2 km (2 min) from Aral to Raststätte Frechen Süd.
Hitch 199.9 km (2 h 00 min) from Raststätte Frechen Süd to Medenbach-West. Expect around 1 h 04 min of waiting here. 4 logged rides support this leg. See this spot
Hitch 259.0 km (2 h 35 min) from Medenbach-West to Raststätte Aurach Süd. Expect around 17 min of waiting here. 3 logged rides support this leg. See this spot
Hitch 270.2 km (2 h 42 min) from Raststätte Aurach Süd to Donautal West. Expect around 50 min of waiting here. 2 logged rides support this leg. See this spot
Hitch 329.3 km (3 h 18 min) from Donautal West to Turmöl. Expect around 34 min of waiting here. 3 logged rides support this leg. See this spot
Walk 6.8 km (1 h 21 min) from Turmöl to BP.
Hitch 4.9 km (3 min) from BP to Raststation Simmering. Expect around 27 min of waiting here. 2 logged rides support this leg. See this spot
Hitch 281.4 km (2 h 49 min) from Raststation Simmering to Budapest. Expect around 41 min of waiting here. 3 logged rides support this leg. See this spot
Get from a hitchhiking spot near Budapest to Budapest — 2.4 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 spot to get onto the A1 northbound, Lichtendorf for example”
― Anonymous · Raststätte Frechen Süd

“Buh, I don't like this place. I'm stubborn and never use a sign, but at this place it would definitely help. Took me 2hrs of waiting in the evening and 3,5 hrs the next day to find a ride in direction Frankfurt that wasn't even that decent (60km)...”
― Koendev, 2014-02-10 · Raststätte Frechen Süd

“With a big city and several directions just ahead, it can take some patience at Frechen to find the right lift.”
― Fverhart, 2012-10-07 · Raststätte Frechen Süd

“If you need go around Cologne (either north, east or south) this is probably a good stop to get off if you are coming from Maastricht. Once you get into Cologne it gets much harder to find people that need to go your direction.”
― Anonymous, 2011-08-05 · Raststätte Frechen Süd

“When we came there, there was already two groups of hitch-hikers begin september. We waited for +/- 45 minutes and find a lift to Dortmund (our destination was Berlin).”
― Laurencebxl, 2013-12-14 · Raststätte Frechen Süd

Nearby city guides

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.