Heidelberg

Heidelberg
<map lat='49.407901688171044' lng='8.670186996459961' zoom='14' view='0'/>
Check out hitchhiking spots on Hitchmap
Information
Country:	Germany
State:	Baden-Württemberg
Population:	144.000
Licence plate:	HD
Major roads:
Meet fellow hitchhikers on Trustroots

Heidelberg is a beautiful city in the south of Germany.

Hitchhiking out

Direction North, South, West

Coordinates: 49.40829, 8.66896 ^{Map Google OSM}
When you are leaving Heidelberg, you might probably want to go to the A5. There is a feeder road to the A5, starting right in the town center, which makes it some kind of 'town exit'. Many cars leaving the city for the motorway will pass by here. To get there from the train station just walk to the west into Gneisenaustr. for about 700m.

Direction South

Option 1, Speyerertraße

Coordinates: 49.39572, 8.66932 ^{Map Google OSM}
You can either follow the Ringstraße in direction to Speyer or just take a bus to SNP Dome hip. Just past the intersection of Baumschulenweg, Speyerstraße, and Carl-Friedrich-Gauß-Ring, there is a gas station on the right side of Speyerstraße. While it's possible to be asked to leave the station, a few meters down the road there are good spots where cars can safely pull over to pick you up. Note that all the cars go south here! You can also ask people just to drop you off at Raststätte Hardtwald West (see option 2).

Option 2, Raststätte Hardtwald

Coordinates: 49.35041, 8.63049 ^{Map Google OSM} Going south
Coordinates: 49.35008, 8.63167 ^{Map Google OSM} Going north
Raststätte Hardtwald is a good place for north and south. Some 200 meters north of the place there's a tunnel under the highway, making it possible to change to the other side. You can reach the petrol station by public transport: Take a "S-Bahn" (suburban train, blackrideable) to St. Ilgen/Sandhausen and from there Bus 725 to Lebenshilfe ^{Map Google OSM} , the second leg can also be done by foot (exactly 2.9km from the S-Bahn stop to Hardtwald and you'll pass a REWE with diveable dumpsters. From the Lebenshilfe stop it's five to ten minutes if you don't turn into the nature protection area on the left.

Another way to get to the rest area via public transit/walking rather than waiting for a ride to it: take public transit (Stadt-Bahn or bus) to the Kirchheim neighborhood at the south end of Heidelberg, and walk Southwest through the public country roads which are mostly used by cyclists and farmers. The walk is around an hour from the center of Kirchheim. You can probably get a ride in under an hour from the above mentioned petrol station but I prefer the walk because it guarantees that I will be starting already on the Autobahn.

Personal Experience

I had a hard time getting out of Heidelberg, after one of the most successful days of hitchhiking going from Berlin to Heidelberg in one afternoon. I tried multiple spots, starting at Ringstraße and proceeding toward the Autobahn directly, but there isn't a great spot later on as it turns into a higwhay and the sidewalk ends. Standing by the busstop with my thumb out, I was flipped off but also given two thumbs up within a few minutes. A couple picked me up after nearly four hours of hitchhiking (including switching spots, etc), and drove me all the way through the beautiful views of the black forest right before the Swiss border. -- Vinteuil

Nomadwiki & Trashwiki

Check Trashwiki for dumpsters...and share your wisdom :)