No: wild camping in Snowdonia is only allowed with the landowner’s or farmer’s permission, asked for before you pitch. Sleeping in a campervan or motorhome in the park’s car parks is ruled out too, in writing. For almost every trip that makes a booked campsite the plan, and a farmer’s yes the exception.

Snowdonia is the English name. The park and its authority now use the Welsh one, Eryri, and you will see it on every sign and official page. Snowdon itself is Yr Wyddfa.

What the park authority says

The Eryri National Park Authority’s camping page is blunt: “Wild camping is not permitted anywhere in Eryri without prior permission from the landowner or farmer.”

The Authority owns little of the land in the park, so it cannot say yes on anyone else’s behalf. Its page lists the land it cannot give consent for: farmland, state or private forest, National Trust property, riverside and coastal areas, and land designated as “open country” under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (CROW).

That last item is the one people get wrong. Open access land on the hills lets you walk off the paths. It does not let you pitch a tent there. The Authority says wild camping on that land is not a permitted activity unless the landowner grants it, and Natural Resources Wales lists camping among the activities on its Countryside Code page that may need the landowner’s permission.

There is no height rule. The page names no altitude, ridge or distance from the road above which camping becomes allowed. Whatever you read on a forum about “above the wall” or “above 450 meters”, it is not on the Authority’s page. Verified 11 October 2026.

Campervans and motorhomes

This is the part that matters if you are driving. The Authority’s campervan page states: “Staying overnight at a car park in a campervan or caravan is not permitted in Eryri National Park.” The same page says not to camp in car parks and to avoid camping on roadsides or in laybys. Its camping page adds: “Camping in car parks or on roadside verges is not allowed at any time.” At Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake), the lake’s own page says overnight camping is not permitted on the shore or in the car parks.

In practice:

  • Park by day, sleep on a campsite. Use the trailhead car parks for the walk, then drive to a booked pitch. Opening hours and charges are posted at each car park, so read the board at the entrance.
  • Book early in summer. The Authority warns that campsites fill quickly from April to September and to book well in advance.
  • Check length before you book. The Authority’s campervan page flags limits at some sites: Garth Farm takes vehicles under 6 m, Llechrwd under 8 m. If your motorhome is long, ask the site before you turn up.
  • Forest land has its own check. Natural Resources Wales runs an online check for camping or overnight parking on the land it manages. Use it before you assume a forest car park works differently from a park one.

If a landowner says yes

Permission is the only legal way to wild camp here, so ask at the farm before you pitch, not after someone finds you. The Authority publishes a wild camping code for people who have permission. The parts that change what you do:

  • One night only, pitch late and leave early.
  • One or two tents, no groups.
  • No fires and no disposable barbecues. Cook on a gas stove, on ground cleared of anything that burns.
  • Toilet at least 30 m from any water or path, waste buried at least 15 cm deep.
  • No soap or detergent in streams, lakes or rivers.
  • If the landowner asks you to move on, move on without argument.

The Authority’s own last line is the right test: if you are in any doubt about whether you can camp, choose another location.

Wales is not Scotland

Scotland’s access code covers lightweight camping in a tent on most unenclosed land. What the Scottish code allows stops at the border. Eryri follows the same principle as the rest of Wales, covered in wild camping in Wales. Dartmoor works differently again: backpack camping in its mapped areas needs no permission, but vans are not covered there either.

The sign wins

Where a sign at a car park, a ranger, or the landowner tells you something different from this page, they are right. Car park rules and seasonal notices in Eryri change, and the board at the entrance is the current version. For other countries and how their rules compare, see the rules pages.

Sources

  1. Camping and Wild Camping, Eryri National Park Authority
  2. Campervans and Motorhomes, Eryri National Park Authority
  3. Llyn Tegid, Eryri National Park Authority
  4. The Countryside Code: advice for countryside visitors, Natural Resources Wales
  5. Check if you are allowed to use land we manage, Natural Resources Wales

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