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Wild camping rules, country by country
Où dormir dehors est un droit, où c'est toléré, et où c'est interdit. Chaque affirmation appuyée sur une source officielle et datée.
01 · Where to start
Where are you thinking of sleeping out?
Whether you can legally sleep outside depends entirely on the country, from a statutory right in Scotland to on-the-spot fines elsewhere.
01 · Right to roam Scotland allows wild camping under the Outdoor Access Code, and the exceptions are the part people miss Byelaw zones override the general right 02 · Right to roam The Nordic countries have their own version, older than the tourism it now serves Broad, and narrower than the internet says 03 · Permission based France separates bivouac from camping, and the national parks write their own version of the line One night, after dusk, packed at dawn 04 · The distinction If you want a place you are definitely allowed to be, you want an aire The stopover you are always allowed to use
Start here The law, country by country
Every pick here is chosen on what it does for your trip.
02 · Wild Camping Rules
Know the rule before you pitch.
Guide Dartmoor wild camping: tents only, and what that means for vans Dartmoor is the one place in England where you can wild camp without asking the landowner. It is backpack camping in a tent, and it excludes vans, motorhomes and campervans outright. Jul 20 Read Guide France: bivouac and national park camping rules Bivouac is a French permission for walkers, not for vans. What the word means, the hours each national park sets, the two parks that ban it outright, and why an aire is the answer if you are driving. Jul 20 Read Guide The Nordic right to roam: Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark Sweden, Norway and Finland grant a general right of access that includes pitching a tent. Denmark does not work that way. And none of the four gave us anything that covers sleeping in a motorhome. Jul 20 Read
All 5 wild camping rules pages
Guide Dartmoor wild camping: tents only, and what that means for vans Dartmoor is the one place in England where you can wild camp without asking the landowner. It is backpack camping in a tent, and it excludes vans, motorhomes and campervans outright. Jul 20 Guide France: bivouac and national park camping rules Bivouac is a French permission for walkers, not for vans. What the word means, the hours each national park sets, the two parks that ban it outright, and why an aire is the answer if you are driving. Jul 20 Guide The Nordic right to roam: Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark Sweden, Norway and Finland grant a general right of access that includes pitching a tent. Denmark does not work that way. And none of the four gave us anything that covers sleeping in a motorhome. Jul 20 Guide Scotland wild camping: the Outdoor Access Code explained Scotland gives you a statutory right to camp on most land. It covers a tent, not a campervan, and a national park byelaw can override it. What the Outdoor Access Code actually permits. Jul 20 Guide Wild camping vs free camping vs aires: the differences that keep you legal Three different acts, governed by three different bodies of law. Why 'wild camping is banned here' and 'you cannot sleep in your van here' are not the same sentence, cited to official sources. Jul 2003 · From the blog
Latest in wild camping rules.
Blog Wild camping in Belgium: banned, and the bivouac zones that are not Belgium lets you sleep out in one place only: a bivouac area someone officially designated. Here are Wallonia's aires de bivouac and Flanders' bivakzones, the rules at each, the fine the Walloon forest code sets for everywhere else, and why none of it works for a motorhome. Sep 16 Read Blog Wild Camping in the Czech Republic: What the Law Actually Bans There is no single nationwide ban, but the forest act and the nature protection act between them cover almost anywhere you would sleep. Here is what the paragraphs say, where a bivouac ends, and what that leaves a motorhome. Sep 15 Read Blog Wild camping in the Netherlands: banned, and what is actually legal Wild camping is not allowed anywhere in the Netherlands, and the free Staatsbosbeheer pole-camping sites that half the internet still recommends were dismantled in 2020. Here is what the municipal APV forbids, the free legal pitches that remain, and why none of it works for a motorhome. Sep 5 Read
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Next step
Want somewhere you are certainly allowed to be?
Rules pages tell you where wild camping is allowed and on what conditions. They cannot promise that a particular field is fine. If you would rather not make that call, an official aire is somewhere you are certainly allowed to be.