Reims

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Reims is a beautiful city in Champagne-Ardenne, France which took one anonymous hitchhiker over 8 hours to hitchhike out of. He tried all the roads imaginable and seemingly worthwhile until once lunch-time had already vanished into the past, he realised another approach was needed:

Hitchhiking out

Towards all directions

Get a bus to a place just outside the city named Tinqueux. At least one bus (bus B) heads towards Tinqueux which will run along the Avenue de Paris. At a roundabout the bus will take it's own French route - but if you're walking then at this (there's only one) roundabout take the road called Avenue de 29th Aout 1944. A little way past what Google Earth points to as the exact spot of Tinqueux, is a street called Rue Charles Boucton. Once you get there you will discover what you are looking for.


2010-09-04 JK added:

I'm making this addition from the McDonald's mentioned above, after several hours (over three, possibly four) trying for a lift outside the Carrefour petrol station. And in theory yes this should be a great spot for picking up a lift, but in my opinion it definitely isn't. I'm hitching to Germany and came here after reading the above recommendation PLUS having it mentioned as a possible pickup point by a potential lift (which was coming from Paris) which fell through (which I'd found on rideshare.co.uk.
Anyway, as I input this, I'm looking across the carpark of the Carrefour supermarket where about 20 trucks are parked up; these guys don't seem to be stopping just for lunch or a piss break, more like for the day or even the weekend (today is Saturday) - so it could easily be tomorrow or the day after before any of them come good for a lift, and I ain't waiting that long.
The main problem here in my opinion is that cars and trucks exiting from the supermarket/petrol station/retail estate come onto the same piece of dual carriageway which leads up to the slip road turning right for the A4 for eastern France and Germany beyond.
This slip road turns through a tight arc with very little forward visibility.
This means from the exit of the petrol station and truck stop to the A4 there's nowhere for any vehicles to stop with reasonable safety - anyone stopping here to pick up a hitchhiker is running serious risk of being shunted from behind, which is why I would avoid this spot and find somewhere else.
But having talked to a few locals it seems there is no obvious other place in the locality to head for.
This view would seem to be confirmed by the fact that after several hours working hard for a lift I saw no other hitchers AT ALL, and only three cars with German registration plates, not a great tally for anyone hoping to make it to Germany before nightfall.
And as for Chinese registration plates, fuggeddabboutit.

Towards all directions

The three-, later two-lane road passing right in front of the train station (Gare SNCF) called Boulevard Louis Roederer leads directly onto A4 in both directions: Paris in the east, Metz/Strasbourg/Germany in the west. Heading down towards the motorway there is a traffic light switching very frequently, where Rue Bir Hakeim comes in from the lefthand side. Almost every car leaving Reims comes along here, so there is a very high density of cars passing by and stopping at the red light. You cannot directly ask people, but with a sign and a charming smile, there is a good chance of getting picked up - I got a ride to Paris in 15 minutes.

Going East (Metz, Strasbourg, Lyon, Germany, etc.)

Get a bus or a lift to the ‘voie verte’ which is near some industrial zones in the Eastern part of the city. Here, it takes about 15 minutes to walk up the ‘l’auoroute de l’est’ for the toll booth (peage). Be careful to walk on the grass behind the motorway barrier. At the toll booth, I waited 10 minutes for a lift. I kept asking drivers that were stopping where they were going with my voice and sign. Good luck/ Bonne Chance!

4/9/2010 JK added: After no luck at the Tinqueux Carrefour mentioned above, I caught buses B and S across town to Cormontreuil (1 ticket, 1.20 euros) but the drop off point was still quite a way from the peage mentioned above, bus T might bring you a bit closer but you'll still have up to half an hour to walk. But having finally got there, I too got a lift within minutes, not more than 10 minutes.


10/09/2011 Tbandrini added: The peage is definetelly the way to go. Got a lift after 5 minutes.