Raststätte Michendorf-Nord

It's a great spot to go West. On a quiet Saturday morning, I got a ride all the way to NL within half an hour waiting, asking drivers and no sign.

The Michrndorf rest area is easily and quickly accessible by the multiple bus lines from Potsdam Hbf and a short walk.

This was the starting point of my first long-distance solo hitchhiking journey: from Berlin to Belgium. It couldn't have started off better than with this 589km, 6h15 ride :-)

rating: 5/5, ride: 610 km ←

―maxime, Fri 13 Oct 2023, 10:00

I asked around for an hour trying to go towards Dortmund, I got an offer to Munich and to Leipzig, and ended up driving with a truck for two hours to Magdeburg. Definitely a good spot to get out of Berlin. Good luck hitchhiking family!

rating: 4/5, wait: 60 min 💬+🪧, ride: 134 km ←

―Gaialove, October 2024

We had a lot of trouble getting out of berlin on a tuesday morning finally took the bus and train to this spot, there were very little people, but after asking around we got lucky!

rating: 3/5, wait: 20 min 💬+🪧, ride: 256 km ←

―sofieoasis, August 2024

Very bad spot! Don't come here if you're going to Leipzig or Munich!! All the cars are going in direction of Hanover. If you ended up in this ghost station try asking people for a ride. Germans are afraid of hitchhikers. This is my last time hitchhiking in germany :( 1/10

rating: 1/5, wait: 300 min 💬+🪧, ride: 385 km ↓

―Stanyly, May 2024

rating: 3/5, wait: 300 min, ride: 492 km ↖

―Anonymous, March 2024

i agree with karo, it really is not that good as it (probably) used to be. easy to get there from Berlin: Michendorf bahnhof, then 30 mins on foot. on a monday morning after waiting for 4 hours i got a ride to Osnabrück

rating: 3/5, wait: 240 min, ride: 394 km ←

―doró, January 2024

NOT as good of a spot as the reviews suggest. Last time we (2 girls) tried caching a ride to Poland from the other side - we waited for 5 or 6 hours - this time with the opposite direction it was way easier but still not ideal. The gas station is a ghost town, almost no one stops there. Got a ride to the south of Leipzig but had to ask many, many times.

rating: 1/5, wait: 120 min, ride: 150 km ↓

―karo, August 2023

Due to construction side (10.2017) there are very few cars on this side, definitive not recommended until the construction is over

―Anonymous, October 2017

Perfect to go to Hannover. Almost 6 hitchhikers were already waiting when I came.
I took a lift for the next gas station in order to have less competition.

―AGO, October 2015

Might be a bit tricky to reach from Berlin, Hauptbanhof. To get there take S7 in the direction of Potsdam and either take E23/33 from "Wannsee" or take the bus (ask the information office which number you have to take) to Michendorf Banhof and exit two stations after that station, then walk for about two kilometers and you are there.

It's a great spot with many opportunities, I would definitely recommend this spot to everyone!

―Yooks, August 2015

Great place!! Arrived Tuesday midday and got picked up in 10 mins, just standing at the exit with my thum up by a super speedy car to Munich! (if you are in a hurry I think there's so much traffic you could even avoid trucks and go for cars)

―Masanfe, June 2015

The famous Michendorf, great spot indeed! When I got dropped off here I was making myself a sandwich outside and got offered a ride to Krefeld in a matter of minutes (I was going to The Netherlands).

―Maxim1110, February 2015

Great spot, got a lift, in a middle of the night, to Breda, NL (3 people).

―Grzesiek.1993, January 2015

Despite there were 4 hitchhikers and despite they found a lift before me!!i found a ride in 20 minutes with a truck driver who brought me toward Leipzig!!

―Vulla, August 2014

After one hour trying my luck asking people at the resting area and having a sign made standing at the ramp I finally got a lift to Munich by asking again some ppl at the gas station.

―Phoeni.x ger, July 2014

Useless for going to the north (Rostock), cars go only to A2 and A9

―Anonymous, July 2014

was asking almost every driver for a ride to hannover. finally catch one after 5 hours of asking. average spot for me.

―Anonymous, May 2014

came here from a ride within berlin, in a gas station. I waited 5 min to go to düsseldorf (500 km) for me and my friend, although I met others hichhikers who said that they were waiting for 3 hours, because there were 10 others hitchhickers there before them. We met 6 people waiting there in total on a sunday at 13:00

―Gustavobretz, April 2014

Waited for 15 hours. 4 people (could split up). Late October.

―Median, October 2013

You can take the train and S-Bahn from Berlin to the Michendorf station for 3.20 euro, and then walk 25 minutes to this raststatte.

―Koekjestrommel1, October 2013

I arrived on Wednesday about 10 am and waited 50 min for a lift direction to Hannover.

―Kolodez, September 2013

we asked in the park to the drivers and in ten minutes we get a lift to cover 400 kms.

―Anonymous, August 2013

got a lift from the first guy i asked to magdeburg at 10 pm at night. very good place with a lot of cars..

―Muttafuri, May 2013

excellent spot, took me less then 15 min to be picked up by a lory, that assured rest of my way to be smooth as possible! was hiking towards belgium

―Evex, October 2012

Great Location....really wait for somebody who gets you straight to where you actually want to end up...got a lift staright to amsterdam from there andwaited 15min

―Anonymous, October 2012

went west. Good spot for this direction. Many cars stop here and it s easy to reach. D recommend it to go west from Berlin

―Anonymous, October 2012

Best spot! I just went to the fuel station right away to ask for people heading to Hannover - basically no waiting time!

―Gagelmeister, August 2012

Really amazing spot! Many trucks and cars going through petrol station. There's a good spot to hitching near the end of the station. You can get here by S-Buhn which is cheap, I guess. But after that remember to go from Michendorf S-Bahn Station to the bridge (highway A10) and walk under it. Then you have to walk around this station (there's a tiny path...) and here you are. In hitchhiker's heaven! ;)

―Nkdamn, August 2012

Going towards Stuttgart/Frankfurt is also possible but a longer wait is needed (~1h). Do not make the mistake to stand at the parking exit, go to the petrol pumps instead.

―Anonymous, August 2012

got here on a Monday afternoon, got a lift to Leipzig within 5 min., threre were also several other people hitchhiking towards all directions. Very Good!

―Anonymous, August 2012

Just asked people at the petrol station and got lift after five minutes to Hannover. Great place with a lot of people.

―Danek, July 2012

Less than 10 min for a direct ride to Amersfoort/Utrecht in the Nederlands (we were there with a Hannover sign). Amazing spot.

―MartiMarti, June 2012

Was here on a Wednesday around 11am. Even though traffic was really low I got a lift further than Bielefeld after approx. 1h. I guess chances are much higher earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon when traffic ramps up.

―Anonymous, May 2012

An epic location towards the selfidentified-West: Magdeburg, Osna, Amsterdam, anywhere

―Liftegreven, November 2011

I made the same experience. Most of the cars are heading towards Hannover. Very few going southwards to Leipzig/Hermsdorfer Kreuz. Had to change my route to Frankfurt tremendously. Was shitty weather though and noone was willing to stop or a give me a lift.

―Kai, October 2011

Good spot. Bus from potsdam take you only a short walk away. Used a sign to get to Hannover, as we did not speak any German. Seemed to be plenty of traffic. Truck driver the one to take us in the end. Waited around 1 hour.

―Anonymous, May 2011

Michendorf
Very good spot to go in direction of Hannover. Just ask the drivers on the station.

rating: 5/5

―Anonymous

Most of the cars are going to Hannover or Hamburg. Leipzig/Stuttgart direction is difficult but doable. French cars preferable.

rating: 3/5

―Anonymous

michendorf, michendorf, if the world would be as easy to understand as 'michendorf rastanlage' everyone would love to live here! hannover, magdeburg, dortmund, leipzig, munich are to reach from this spot. you should definitely (!) wait for a driver that can take you all the way to your destination and NOT only until the next rest area (which might not be as good as 'michendorf'). if you need to reach the other side of the rastanlage (if you are only transiting berlin) you need to walk in the direction of michedorf village center (aks inside the station; they have local maps), walk underneath the 'berliner autobahnring' (200 meters east of the area) and follow the concrete way through the forest on the other side. this maneuver can take up to 30 minutes even though it looks shorter on this map. there is an ALDI as well as REWE market (open until 10 P.M.) in the center of the village of 'michendorf' (detour changing the sides of rest areas + shopping = 10 minutes).
again: my 'michendorf recommendation' is to wait until someone can take you to your day's final destination, don't just take the first car as this spot is excellent! on my personal ranking "1" (very-very poor) to "10" (excellent) i will rate this spot a "9 to 10".

rating: 5/5

―Anonymous

An excellent spot for going South and West. Get her by taking the regional train into direction Dessau, and get off at Michendorf for a walk of half an hour.

rating: 4/5

―Anonymous