Wild camping in a motorhome in Europe: where it's legal and where it isn't
Wild camping in a motorhome means something different in every country you cross. What is a genuine, protected right in Norway can be flatly illegal a few hundred miles away in Croatia. Here is the honest, country-by-country picture, the apps we actually use, and real wild camps from our own trips.
The short answer
There is no single European rule on wild camping in a motorhome. Some countries, Norway among them, give you something close to a genuine right to stop overnight responsibly. Others, Croatia is a clear example, restrict or ban it outright and will move you on or fine you. Most sit somewhere in between, governed by local signage and byelaws rather than a tidy national answer.
Our approach is to check before we assume, use apps built for this rather than guesswork, and default to an official aire or campsite whenever we are not certain a spot is genuinely open.
We have wild camped across Europe, from a genuine remote night on Scapa Beach in Orkney to the open coast of Norway. Croatia is one place we will not risk it, and we are more cautious in Spain than we once were. This is not a page telling you it is fine everywhere. It very much is not. Here is the honest picture, country by country, plus the apps and etiquette that keep us on the right side of it.
Wild camping legality varies enormously
Read this bit properly before you assume anything
"Wild camping" gets used loosely to cover two genuinely different things: pitching a tent somewhere informal, and parking a motorhome or campervan overnight away from an official site. Even in countries with strong access rights for walkers and cyclists, that right very often does not extend automatically to a vehicle. Scotland is the clearest example of this split, where the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 covers camping with a tent but overnight vehicle parking is governed separately. See our guide to Scotland's wild camping rules for the detail on that specific case.
Assume nothing carries across a border. What is genuinely legal and welcomed in one country can be a finable offence a short drive away, and the difference is not always obvious from the scenery.
Country by country, briefly
General public information, not legal advice
This is a brief, general picture from our own touring, not a legal document. Always check current local signage and rules before you rely on any of it.
Norway has a long-standing right of public access, allemannsretten, that covers responsible overnight stops in nature away from cultivated land and buildings, and it is one of the most genuinely open countries in Europe for this. It showed on our own trip there: easy, free, beautiful stops the whole way through.
Spain varies by region and has become stricter over recent years, in our experience. We have wild camped there before, including on the Camino de Santiago, but we now lean on aires and campsites rather than assume a spot is fine.
France generally restricts camping, tents, chairs, awnings, outside authorised areas under its highway code, with local bylaws adding further restriction in specific towns. Simple overnight parking without deploying gear sits in a greyer area, but it is not a blanket right. We use France's aire network instead of testing it. See our guide to motorhoming in France.
Germany does not generally permit freestanding wild camping outside genuine emergency stops, but has an excellent Stellplatz culture, official and semi-official overnight spots for motorhomes, which we find through apps rather than guesswork. In central Berlin we used a paid Stellplatz rather than freestanding wild camping, which shows how much a city stop can differ from the open countryside within the same country.
Croatia is the clearest warning in this guide. Wild camping there is illegal, and Steve is blunt about it from experience: wild camping in Croatia is actually frowned upon, it's illegal, and you can get moved on. We only use informal spots there as lunch stops, never overnight.
We found a genuine free wild camp in San Marino, the tiny republic inside Italy, through the Search For Sites app rather than turning up and hoping. Researching a spot properly before you arrive beats guessing, every time, and it is the single habit that has kept us out of trouble across Europe.
Apps and etiquette
How we actually find and behave at a spot
Search For Sites is the app we reach for most, for aires, free car parks and wild camping spots across Europe, searchable by country and facility. We are also members of Wildcamping.co.uk, run by a fellow motorhomer, which is good for reviews of specific spots. Park4Night is one of the best-known apps in this space among European motorhomers generally and is well worth having installed alongside whatever else you use, even though it is not the one we personally lean on most.
On etiquette, the basics hold everywhere: arrive later in the day and leave reasonably early, do not put out chairs, awnings or levelling gear that turns parking into camping in the eyes of the law, leave the spot as you found it, and never assume a second night is fine just because the first one was quiet. If in doubt, an aire or a campsite costs very little and removes the doubt entirely.
Real wild camps from our own map
What we have actually done, not a wishlist
These are genuine wild camps from our own trips, spanning both the countries where it is a genuine right and the ones where we simply found a spot properly and checked it was safe to use.
- Scapa Beach, Orkney
A genuine wild camp on Scapa Beach in Orkney, about as remote and open as this list gets. A proper night under the stars off the northern tip of Scotland, a world away from the city aires and Stellplatz we use everywhere else.
- San Marino
We found a free wild camping park-up in the tiny republic through the Search For Sites app rather than guesswork, and it turned into one of the more memorable stops on the 2022 trip.
- Norway
Norway is genuinely one of the best countries in Europe for this, with a real, long-standing right of access, and it showed: beautiful, free, easy stops the whole way through.
- Northern Spain, on the Camino de Santiago
A wild camp alongside full-time van lifers on the pilgrim route, one of the more sociable nights of that trip and a reminder that the Camino draws its own community of overnighters.
- Stonehenge and Avebury, England
A UK wild camp near two of the most famous ancient sites in the country, proof that you do not have to leave Britain to find a proper wild camping trip. See our Scotland guide below for the specific rules if Scotland is your next stop.
For the specific rules in Scotland, where the legal picture is genuinely different from the rest of the UK, see our dedicated Scotland wild camping guide.
Wild camping questions we get asked
Can you wild camp in a motorhome in Europe?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on the country, and sometimes on the region within it. There is no single European rule. Some countries give you something close to a genuine right to stop overnight responsibly, others restrict it heavily or ban it outright, and a lot of what actually happens on the ground comes down to local signage, byelaws and common sense rather than a tidy continent-wide answer.
Is wild camping legal in France?
France's highway code generally restricts camping, pitching a tent, putting out chairs and awnings, outside authorised areas, and local bylaws can restrict overnight parking further in specific towns. Simply parking overnight without deploying camping gear sits in a greyer area in practice, but it is not a blanket right. We stick to France's excellent aire network rather than test the grey areas. See our full guide to motorhoming in France for how we actually stay there.
Is wild camping legal in Spain?
The rules on overnighting vary by region in Spain and are stricter than they used to be, so these days we stick to aires and campsites, where we know we are allowed to stay. We have wild camped in Spain in the past, including alongside pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago, but we are more cautious about it now than we once were.
Is wild camping legal in Germany?
Freestanding wild camping is not generally permitted in Germany outside genuine emergency stops, but Germany has an excellent culture of Stellplatz, official and semi-official overnight parking spots for motorhomes, and we use apps to find them rather than assume we can stop anywhere. In central Berlin we used a paid Stellplatz rather than wild camping outright, which shows how much a city stop can differ from the open countryside. Check before you assume.
What is Park4Night?
Park4Night is one of the best-known apps among European motorhomers for finding overnight spots, both official and informal, with reviews and photos from other users. It is not the app we personally lean on most, we tend to use Search For Sites and Wildcamping.co.uk, but it is a genuinely useful tool and worth having alongside whatever else you use.
Is wild camping in a motorhome the same as pitching a tent?
No, and this catches people out constantly. Even where a country gives walkers and cyclists a genuine right to camp with a tent, that right does not automatically extend to parking and sleeping in a vehicle, which is usually governed by separate parking and land law. Scotland is the clearest example of this distinction. See our guide to Scotland's wild camping rules for the detail.
Written by Steve and Lyndsay Radford. Legal information here is general and correct to the best of our knowledge, not a substitute for checking current local signage and byelaws before you travel. Real wild camps named here are genuine stops and videos from our own trips. Roaming Radfords is a trading name of Yowzer Limited.