In Galicia and Asturias you sleep at an área de autocaravanas, the Spanish motorhome stopover. Most are free, most are small, and you find them on the town’s own website, not on a national list. Sleeping in the vehicle is legal as long as you are parked rather than camped, and Galicia draws that line tighter than its neighbor.

Asturias: free, municipal, and short stays

Each Asturian concejo, the local council, publishes its área in its own way, and the good pages fit everything into a paragraph. From the councils’ sites, checked October 6, 2026:

  • Grado: 8 bays, free, open all year, 72 hours maximum, drinking water and a drain for grey and black water.
  • Mieres: 6 bays, free, 48 hours. The council says you can park elsewhere in town where parking is allowed, but overnight stays are authorized only at the área.
  • Nava: 9 bays at Gamonéu, with the stay, the water and the dump all free, 72 hours maximum.
  • Villaviciosa: 8 bays, free, and only 24 hours.
  • Corvera: 10 bays facing the Trasona reservoir, free, 72 hours, and electrical outlets. Tables, chairs, awnings and laundry lines stay inside.
  • Tineo: 2 bays in town, 48 hours, with the fairground as the overflow when they are taken. Plus 15 bays out at Navelgas.
  • Grandas de Salime: 2 bays, 48 hours, with room for more in the shared lot next door if the council approves it.

Size is the catch. A two-bay área on an August evening is a coin flip, so always drive in with a second option. All 20 mapped Asturian áreas are on the Asturias page.

What it costs

Nothing, most of the time. The exception worth knowing is Tapia de Casariego on the western coast. Under the ordinance in force since October 11, 2025, an overnight stay costs 9 euros a day from July 1 to August 31 and 7 euros the rest of the year, water and dump included. Using just the service point costs 2 euros, with one hour of parking. Payment runs through the Tripstop app, which has managed the área since April 2025. Checked on the council’s site October 6, 2026.

Galicia: start with turismo.gal

In Galicia, go to turismo.gal, the Xunta’s tourism portal, whose área listings carry services and stay limits. Four are marked free (checked October 6, 2026):

  • Ourol, in the Mariña of Lugo: 8 large spaces, electric hook-up, water and dump, 48 hours maximum. The nearest fuel is 15km away in Viveiro, so fill up first.
  • Mazaricos, on the Camino route to Fisterra and Muxía: 4 spaces next to the health center, with power, water and dump. Fuel is 4.8km away.
  • Cospeito, by the protected lagoon on the Terra Chá: drinking water, grey and black water disposal, overnight stays allowed.
  • Ponteceso, on the Costa da Morte: a service point opposite the Casa da Cultura, with water and dump. There are no marked motorhome bays, but the listing allows overnight stays, and fuel is 300m away.

None posts a price beyond “free”, and only Ourol posts a limit. Everywhere else, look for the number on the sign at the entrance. The detail is on the Galicia page.

Sleeping in the van: parking is not camping

The Dirección General de Tráfico set this out in Instrucción PROT 2026/04, signed March 11, 2026, which replaced PROT 2023/14. Traffic law covers your night while three things hold: engine off and the vehicle on its wheels only (wheel chocks yes, stabilizer legs no); nothing sticking out past the closed vehicle, so no awning, table or chairs; and no fluids or noise going outside. Whether people are inside is, in the instruction’s words, “del todo irrelevante”, completely irrelevant. The same text confirms each ayuntamiento can restrict parking by ordinance. Checked October 6, 2026.

The two regions take it from there differently. Asturias’s Decreto 61/2022, article 2.d, says a motorhome parked on its wheels with nothing deployed and nothing discharged is not camping. Galicia’s Decreto 159/2019, article 1.4, prohibits acampada turística outside authorized campsites and does not mention traffic law at all.

In practice: in Galicia, sleep at an área and keep everything inside. In Asturias, do the same wherever the town asks for it, as Mieres does. For beaches, national parks and the rest of Spain, see our guide to wild camping in Spain.

Building the route

Asturias is compact, so a full área costs you a detour, rarely an evening. Galicia is bigger, the rías make you drive around rather than across, and at Ourol the first fuel station is 15km out, so keep the tank high. Plan each night the evening before on the town’s website, with the Spain page for the national picture.

On the ground, the sign at the entrance and whatever the ayuntamiento says today beat this page every time.

Sources

  1. Instrucción PROT 2026/04, Autocaravanas, Dirección General de Tráfico
  2. Decreto 159/2019, ordenación de los campamentos de turismo, DOG 246, Xunta de Galicia
  3. Autocaravanas, Ayuntamiento de Grado
  4. Área de caravanas de Mieres, Ayuntamiento de Mieres
  5. Área de autocaravanas, Ayuntamiento de Nava
  6. Área Autocaravanas, Turismo Villaviciosa
  7. Área de Autocaravanas, Ayuntamiento de Corvera de Asturias
  8. Áreas Servicio Autocaravanas, Ayuntamiento de Tineo
  9. Área de Servicio de Autocaravanas, Ayuntamiento de Grandas de Salime
  10. Área de Autocaravanas, Ayuntamiento de Tapia de Casariego
  11. Área de Ourol, Turismo de Galicia
  12. Área de Mazaricos, Turismo de Galicia
  13. Área de Ponteceso, Turismo de Galicia
  14. Área de Cospeito, Turismo de Galicia

When a source is not in English, follow the link for the official wording.