A night on the road
Sleeping in a camper in 🇦🇹 Austria
Sleeping in the vehicle is restricted in Austria and depends on where you stop. A tent is allowed in places and with conditions. A pitch runs about €22 a night.
The same rules the planner warns with when it puts you to bed in Austria. Where a rule is what everyone does rather than what a statute says, this page says so.
In the vehicle
Restricted — it depends where
Austria — it varies by Land, sharply. Tirol, Kärnten, Burgenland and Vienna ban camping outside campsites by statute; Vorarlberg and Salzburg only where the local council has said so. Tirol's law expressly exempts stopping to restore your fitness to drive. Fines €600 to €21,000, and removal at your cost.
In a tent
Allowed, with conditions
It depends entirely on which Land you are in, and two of the most-repeated claims online are wrong. Tirol, Kärnten, Burgenland and Vienna ban camping outside campsites by statute; Vorarlberg and Salzburg do NOT — there it takes a local decision. Fines run from €600 in Tirol to €21,000 in Vienna. Alpine bivouacking above the huts is expressly exempt in Tirol and Kärnten — but no statute anywhere mentions a tree line or an altitude, so that rule of thumb is folklore, not law.
The instrument: Tiroler Campinggesetz 2001 §3; Kärntner NSG 2002 §15; Bgld NSchLPG §12; Wiener NSchG §17
Free and nearly free places to stay
- ⛺ tentfree
Alpine bivouacking is expressly exempt from the camping bans in Tirol and Kärnten — but only genuinely high ground, and no statute anywhere defines an altitude or a tree line.
Where to find them ↗
What a night costs
- In the vehicle €0 · derived
- A campsite pitch €22 · derived
- A hostel bed €50 · derived
Per night, for two. A figure marked derived is computed from the country's price level, not read off a price list — the plan says the same.
Plan the drive and we place the nights for you: the free lawful spots first where you sleep in the vehicle, a pitch where you asked for one, each priced the same honest way.
Looking for tonight rather than a trip? Find a place for the night near you →