There isn't really anywhere good for cars to pull over along this highway until you get further north. Tried hitching along here for 30 mins but had no luck until I got to the highway intersection further north.

It was a mission walking here but apparently worth it - The first car that came gave me a ride. This was after trying to hitch in various spots along the highway to the south for 30 mins with a sign saying Lovech and nobody stopped.

Contrary to the previous review, I thought there was more traffic going west than south on a weekday around 5:30PM. But after trying the western route for 20 minutes I tried the southern route towards Troyan and in 15 mins I got a ride by a couple Bulgarians who very kindly offers to call a bus company for me to stop on the side of the highway for me to take me to Sofia.

Almost no traffic, but had a couple people stop in 40 mins. Eventually got a ride to Devetashka cave.

Barely any traffic, took 2 hours to get a ride. Two people started to pull over but I guess they didn't like the look of me and drove off, which has almost never happened to me out of ~200 rides. Eventually got picked up by a Romani guy going to Kyustendil.

Almost entirely local traffic. Had 4 cars stop in 20 minutes going to Radomir but I said no because I was hoping to go further. Took another 40 minutes until another guy finally stopped who took me a bit further than Radomir.

Waited here a lot of time before getting a ride 10 km before the border

pretty easy to stop someone here

Waited over an hour in the rain with sign saying "MKD", not a single car stopped. Gave up and took one of the passing buses to Pernik for €2, 11AM on a Tuesday. Maybe better luck with a sign saying "Pernik", but seems like there's a lot of traffic and not a lot of time for traffic to pull over so maybe better to go to the spot further down the road.

Better to wait for a ride going all the way to Devin/Nastan (if going north) or Krichim (if going south.) There's very few settlements inbetween these two towns, lots of curvy roads, and not really good places for cars to pull over. I got picked up by a local going all the way to Plovdiv after 30 minutes though.

Very little traffic going north, pretty much only people coming from the cave or Yagodina. Only one or two cars every 5 minutes, but I guess there would be more in peak tourist season. After walking up the road for about 50 minutes I got picked up by a guy who took me to the end of the road. But considering the very low traffic I think the waiting time isn't too bad.

Main intersection with a gas station. If you're going west then go to exactly where my pin is and there's a rest stop area where it's suitable for cars to stop. There was about one car per minute around mid-day.

Easy to get a ride to Devin/Nastan. Hitchhiking in the Rhodopes is very easy even if there isn't much traffic.

There is a gas station and a lot of space for cars to stop, but the traffic was horrible. There were pretty much only trucks, and most of them were making a break, the ones that did not did not seem to care to spot. So, maybe it is me having bad luck, or just the spot is bad. I think it is the latter mostly as it was Tuesday from 8:40 to 11:20 in Autumn in October. So, I do not think there is a much better time apart from the summer of course.

Police car stopped me from hitchhiking heresaying it's illegal. I was considering just carrying on anyway, but another cop car came soon after. Had to go into town to take a bus to Haskovo - There's no buses to Plovdiv.

I got a ride 5m down the road from the third car that came, but I don't recommend taking such short distance rides. A police car stopped me from hitchhiking on the highway, saying it's illegal. And there wasn't much traffic either (2PM on Friday)

It's a motorway so the cars are going fast, but you can ask around at the petrol station. There are a lot of lorries going south, I caught a ride towards Blagoevgrad with one that was on the way to Greece.

The cars are fast here and there are like three lanes, but it's a petrol station exit and the slower lane that joins the motorway from the big junction before ends here, so very busy and the possibility of asking people who are fuelling their cars. I got a ride straight to Plovdiv.

Got a ride to Sofia. This is the spot for the wwoofers I think?

The lanes become three and the cars start to speed up a lot towards the motorway but there's traffic lights just before the petrol station so they can see you. I got a ride directly to Stara Zagora from here, I had a sign saying магистрала (motorway).

On my way from Bulgaria to Japan. Not that much traffic but eventually got a ride by a guy who doesnt even know what hh was, had to give him a keychain from Georgia since i didnt have money

Not much traffic off season. Mostly Turkish cars with 34 area code. Many trucks with 16. I needed to go to Sofia so i tried to go east with sign Bulgaria and west with Sign Thessaloniki. Sometimes both while standing in the middle and turning for cars/trucks. Going to Turkey should be possible since i got offered rides by truck drivers. The police were really chill only checked my Passport and told me they have to kick me out if someone reports me and chatted with me about traveling while doing their checks. The checkpoint and police presence probably made the drivers not stop for me. 1 male

Not many cars but I found easily ride to Germany. I asked around and guy from Bulgaria gave me a ride. Cool guy and nice stories

Good Spot, only one road leading south through the Mountains, we (M22 and M20) had a sign for bulgaria and got a Ride after 30min to Ramnicu, probably better to put „Bukarest“ on the sign, enough Space for cars to stop

Wonderful Spot, especially for going to Brasov, two people stopped when we (M22 and M20) had our thumbs out within 10minutes around 1pm on a friday. With our sign „bulgaria“ we got a Ride for a few Kilometers south :)

only a few Cars came by. But we could hike a trip until Sofia Bulgaria for two men. Amazing guy that took us!

Solo female. Asked around for Skopje but many cars were going to Bulgaria or were full (with kids/pets/grandparents). Maybe because it was a Sunday during the summer But idk if there's another spot near Niš that could be easier, since there's no gas stations on the southbound highway until almost Vranje Eventually found a big truck who dropped me off just outside of Skopje because he had to stay on the Ring Road highway

Tried to hitchhike at night. 9pm (the sun had set) in August. A truck driver took me to Pirot. Nice but there are no gas station on the highway between Nis and Pirot so then I had to spend the night there (completely doable). At night I’d advise on pushing farther than Pirot if going to Bulgaria. Ps : gas station accessible on foot from the city, you have to climb a fence coming from the west.

Good spot to get to Nis. I was going to Bulgaria so it wasn’t really adequate. Some random woman came up to me when I was packing to bring me to the other side of town. Thanks to her!

Good spot to get a ride, but if you want to go to the E80 (for Bulgaria) make sure you don't go to Çorlu from here.

A fair number of cars coming through and a spot near the end of the onramp for cars to pull off but a car just stopped right in the middle of the road for me. He was going to one of the last towns along the coast in Bulgaria so I had him drop me at the gas station spot just before the road going south.

This is the exact spot I used to get out of Istanbul towards Bulgaria, there isn’t much room to stop, but drivers merge onto the highway slowly, and theres a steady flow of cars

Got dropped off here by a local saying I could walk to Greece, which was not true, so I had to wait for a guy to drive me to the other side. I was very lucky to be picked up by a very sweet German guy travelling all the way to Gernany, although I had a intention to go to Bulgaria, so we spent two days together in Greece and Samothrace, after which he dropped me off at a road going to Bulgaria.

Not that much space for cars but somehow it works. Guy from Bulgaria picked me up after 5-10 minutes of waiting.

All the traffic at this point is crossing the border, now that both Romania and Bulgaria are in Schengen, no border checks either, and the cars are going pretty slow and do stop to ask where you're going. Be aware that at the time of my crossing, the bridge was getting renovated, and only one way was open, might be difficult to cross on foot if you wanted to, and might make the waiting times longer. But you can walk up to people and ask to take you!

Lol didn't even had the time to write my sign (used the thumb while few cars were passing by) that a car with two Macedonians asked me where I go : "South, North Macedonia...Bulgaria?" "Come in!". Indirect ride to Skopje because they invited me at a generous grill restaurant! Had no problem to pass me trough the border, even though I was heavily controlled

Lots of space to pull over, definitely possible to get a ride directly to Bulgaria as many cars have Bulgarian plates. With my BG sign I got taken to Giurgiu, the driver offered to take me to the bridge toll booth but I got off at the Kaufland because I needed food instead.

Unbelievably bad, not traffic towards Bulgaria but if you have to it’s doable, don’t try to go farther than KP. Stand all the way on the highway that way there is a chance for the highway people to stop. Eventually a guy stopped on the curve for me. Only saw like 20 cars over 45 mins

Do not recommend, cars are going fast and not wanting to stop to go towards Bulgaria, that being said there isn’t a better spot so I agree with the other commenter saying eventually you will be picked up. Use a sign that says KP

Easy to get to kumanov and closer to the Bulgaria border