VAN-COMPARATOR Guide
Wild camping in a campervan: the real rules, country by country
Norway, Sweden, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Iceland: where you can actually spend the night in a campervan outside campsites — and where you'll get fined.
Wild camping is vanlife's founding fantasy — and its most misunderstood topic. The truth fits in one sentence: every country has its own rules, and they change everything. Here's the honest map, from most permissive to strictest.
Scandinavia and Scotland: freedom, with a frame
In Sweden and Norway, the right to roam (allemansrätten) allows nights out in nature — but it was written for tents: with a vehicle, stay on tolerated pitches and tracks, 150 meters from dwellings, one or two nights maximum. Scotland follows the same philosophy with its Outdoor Access Code; some heavily visited areas (Loch Lomond) are now regulated.
France and Germany: the nuance that saves you
In France, wild camping is banned but parking is not: sleeping inside your vehicle, with nothing set up outside, in a legal parking spot, is lawful — unless a municipal bylaw says otherwise, which is common on the coast in summer. In Germany, one night "to restore fitness to drive" is tolerated in parking areas. In both countries, the smart move remains the dense, cheap network of dedicated stopovers.
Southern Europe: increasingly fined
Spain tolerates overnight parking outside natural parks, but coastal towns fine aggressively in season. Portugal has tightened its law: outside authorized areas, fines land fast, especially on the coast and in the parks. In Italy, Croatia and Greece, treat off-campsite overnighting as forbidden in tourist areas. In Iceland, it's simple: vehicles are banned outside campsites, everywhere.
The golden rules, everywhere
- Discretion: arrive late, leave early, set nothing up (no awning, no table).
- One night only per spot, no trace left, and never dump anything outside a service point.
- A resident's no is final: say thanks and drive ten minutes.
And when in doubt, the €8 municipal stopover solves everything: Van-Comparator's self-sufficiency filter guarantees a vehicle that can string together nights off-grid.