Marburg

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Marburg
<map lat='50.8117' lng='8.7758' zoom='12' view='3' height='320'/>
Information
Country:
Flag of Germany
Germany
State:
Coat of arms of Hesse.png
Hesse
Population: 80,656
Licence plate: MR
Major roads: A5
More info: Hitchbase
Meet fellow hitchhikers on Trustroots

Marburg is a small University town with an alternative left-wing flair. As one of the few German cities that have not been bombed during WWII, it is host to a pittoresque medieval inner city. It is great to hang out for a few days and friends can be made easily except for March and August when the city is almost empty from students due to university holidays.

Hitchhiking out

North towards Kassel on B3 and Alsfeld on B62

Neue Kasseler Straße

There is an on-ramp to the B3 at the intersection of Neue Kasseler Straße and Zimmermannstraße, about 5 minutes walk from the train station. If you are planning to get to the Autobahn (see below) almost anyone can take you as far as to where the B3 hits the B62. There is a roundabout where you can be dropped and from there you should get to Alsfeld quite fast.

ESSO petrol station

There is an ESSO petrol station right in Marburg underneath Kurt-Schumacher-Brücke on the B3 motorway in northern direction. From there, it should be possible to reach Kassel on the B3 or the B62 roads to Alsfeld though it can take an hour or two as there are only few cars refuelling at this place. You reach the station within five minutes walking from the city center of Marburg. Wherever tried this several times without success except once. Even if you get a lift, it will take you many cars to cover reasonable distance because the traffic is almost exclusively local. He thus highly recommends taking the southern route instead; even if heading North.

via Gießen

You also might consider going north via Gießen. It´s a little detour, but you reach the Autobahn A5 faster (it´s ~30 km to Gießen, but ~90 km to Kassel).

Northward on x27px/E 45 Kassel, Göttingen, Hannover, Hamburg and Southward on x27px/E 40 Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Basel

City center

There are two spots in the city center which can be anything between extremely rewarding and driving you nowhere except to desperation.

  • One of them is the on-ramp at the central railway station (Hauptbahnhof or Bahnhof), which has the advantages of offering a lot of traffic and a shelter from rain (it is underneath a brdge) and the disadvantages of you being somewhat in the dark (due to that same bridge) and relying on rather courageous drivers since there is no hard shoulder for the cars to stop. Drivers can see you for while as they are stopping at the red light not far from you. Wherever got easy rides from here twice but gave up after more than two hours on another occasion (early morning, though).
  • Another option is the on-ramp next to REWE at Erlenring. It is similar to the above except that you don't have the benefits and drawbacks related to standing under a bridge. You're quite exposed to the weather (hot in summer, cold in winter), but you have a supermarket nearby. Here, Wherever also has a 2 in 3 success rate.

Rasthof und Hotel Pfefferhöhe

A good place to travel in northern or southern direction on A5/E 40 is Rasthof Pfefferhöhe near Alsfeld on Grünberger Straße. According to googlemaps there is a McD's restaurant at this place as well. If you have a season ticket (e. g. by being a university student in Marburg), you might want to consider taking the train or bus to Alsfeld, although it should also be possible to get to Alsfeld hitchhiking along the B62 within one hour. Andi tried this several times without success except once and highly recommends taking the southern route instead; even if heading North.

Aral service station ("Aral-Tankstelle")

An easy way to hitch-hike out of Marburg in southern direction is the Aral petrol station near Südbahnhof (the train station in Frauenbergstraße). It doesn't have a lot of traffic but if you are persistent and/or good at talking to people, you will eventually get a ride. To go there, you can either walk (about 30-45 minutes from the city center), or take a bus (lines 1, 4, 6, (7), [may not be up to date anymore!]). Get off the bus at "Südbahnhof". Cross the railway and motorway (B3) using the pedestrian bridge, then turn left (South, out of town) and follow the road named "Am Krekel" along the motorway. After about 3 minutes, you can see the blue sign of a petrol station (Aral) on your left. Usually the door in the fence around the service station is open, if not, just climb across it.

This spot is good for heading South (Gießen, Frankfurt, Switzerland, etc.) and West (Cologne, etc) but it is also worth considering when heading East and even North, since the other options for these directions are really poor. In this case, you need to change direction somewhere around Gießen, which is a little tricky but doable.

Hitching In

Coming from East and North

Get to the on-ramp 2 "Alsfeld Ost" on the A5. From there best continue with a sign "Marburg". Easy to get a ride from here especially in the afternoon.

Coming from South

Try the petrol station "Wetterau" on the A5 and directly ask for Marburg. Might be lucky. If not take the detour to Alsfeld.