Where you may sleep in a vehicle in Europe, country by country
One night asleep in a parked car or camper is ordinary in some countries, restricted in most and refused in one — and the rule people quote is often custom rather than law. Here is what each country's own instruments say, for the vehicle and for a tent, and how many places are made for it.
Written 11 Oct 2026 from our rules tables (first read 4 Sep 2026; Norway and Finland re-read 8 Oct; Norway's tent rule re-checked 11 Oct). Corrections welcome.
Sleeping one night in a parked vehiclePitching a tent outside a campsite
In 9 countries a night where parking is allowed is normal; in 16 it is allowed with exceptions that bind somewhere on a normal route — a coast, a forest, a national park, particular towns; in one, Croatia, it belongs at a campsite. Grey dashed: no rule held.
A public right to pitch a tent exists in 4 countries (Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden); in 8 it's allowed in places with conditions, and in 15 a tent needs a campsite or the landowner's word.
The stance is our coarse summary of each country's rule (three steps on purpose — a finer scale would claim distinctions the sources don't support). Hover or tap a country for the rule itself.
The right to roam is a tent's, not a van's
Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden have a public right to pitch a tent. For a vehicle the question in all of them is a different one — where it may stand: parked where parking is allowed or at a rest area, never driven off the road into the terrain. Norway goes furthest (a motorhome parked where parking is allowed is covered, within the tent's limits of 150 m from a house and two nights); Sweden says outright that the right covers the tent, not the vehicle.
Places made for it
Motorhome stops tagged free in OpenStreetMap: France has 2,879, Germany 1,364. Counted from our place store on 11 Oct 2026; a stop counts once.
Counts are what OpenStreetMap holds, not every stop that exists. In Britain and Ireland the same tag also marks holiday caravan parks, so they are left out of this chart.
Where the motorhome is treated differently
In most countries a motorhome resting on its wheels is simply parked. These are the ones whose rule draws a line of its own:
- 🇭🇷 Croatia. The law names a motorhome as camping equipment, so a night in one counts as camping and belongs at a registered campsite.
- 🇩🇰 Denmark. An awning, table or roof tent put out "so as to permit overnighting" needs the landowner's permission.
- 🇫🇮 Finland. An awning, chairs, a table or a grill turn a night in the vehicle into camping, which everyman's rights don't cover.
- 🇮🇹 Italy. A motorhome stays "parked" while it rests on its wheels only — no levelling legs, awning or chairs; paid car parks may charge motorhomes 50 % more.
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands. Parking a camper is usually fine for up to 3 days; sleeping in it on the road is banned outright in places like Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Texel.
- 🇳🇴 Norway. A motorhome may park and sleep where parking is allowed and at rest areas — the right to roam itself is a tent's.
- 🇵🇹 Portugal. The rule is written for motorhomes: up to 48 hours in one municipality outside protected areas, "overnighting" meaning people aboard 22:00–07:00.
- 🇪🇸 Spain. A stopped motorhome is just parked; deploying it as a dwelling is what crosses the line, and the coastal public domain bans parking outright.
- 🇸🇪 Sweden. Allemansrätten covers a tent, not the vehicle: at a rest area, as a rule 24 hours on weekdays; parking in terrain is forbidden outright.
The full data
Every country's rule for the vehicle and for a tent, the instrument where one is named, when we read it, and the counts. sleep-rules.csv
Free to use with credit: copilot.travel (CC BY 4.0). The rules are our reading of each country's instruments on the dates shown; the counts are OpenStreetMap's (ODbL).
The table (28 countries)
| Country | In a vehicle | A tent | Stops (free) | Read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | allowed, with real exceptions | in places, with conditions | 250 (44) | 2026-09-04 |
| Belgium | allowed, with real exceptions | campsite or the landowner's word | 339 (135) | 2026-09-04 |
| Bulgaria | allowed, with real exceptions | in places, with conditions | 40 (0) | 2026-09-04 |
| Croatia | campsite only | campsite or the landowner's word | 102 (0) | 2026-09-05 |
| Czechia | allowed, with real exceptions | campsite or the landowner's word | 234 (6) | 2026-09-04 |
| Denmark | allowed, with real exceptions | campsite or the landowner's word | 430 (51) | 2026-09-04 |
| Estonia | a night where parking is allowed is normal | a public right to pitchigaüheõigus | 27 (1) | 2026-09-04 |
| Finland | a night where parking is allowed is normal | a public right to pitchjokamiehenoikeus | 356 (3) | 2026-10-08re-checked 2026-10-12 |
| France | a night where parking is allowed is normal | in places, with conditions | 5,485 (2,879) | 2026-09-04 |
| Germany | a night where parking is allowed is normal | campsite or the landowner's word | 5,878 (1,364) | 2026-09-04 |
| Greece | a night where parking is allowed is normal | campsite or the landowner's word | 63 (10) | 2026-09-04 |
| Hungary | a night where parking is allowed is normal | in places, with conditions | 23 (1) | 2026-09-04 |
| Ireland | no rule held | campsite or the landowner's word | caravan parks incl. | 2026-09-04 |
| Italy | a night where parking is allowed is normal | campsite or the landowner's word | 2,819 (518) | 2026-09-04 |
| Latvia | allowed, with real exceptions | in places, with conditions | 36 (2) | 2026-09-04 |
| Lithuania | allowed, with real exceptions | campsite or the landowner's word | 15 (0) | 2026-09-04 |
| Luxembourg | allowed, with real exceptions | no rule held | 34 (10) | 2026-09-04 |
| Netherlands | allowed, with real exceptions | campsite or the landowner's word | 749 (56) | 2026-09-04 |
| Norway | a night where parking is allowed is normal | a public right to pitchallemannsretten | 562 (29) | 2026-10-08re-checked 2026-10-11 |
| Poland | allowed, with real exceptions | in places, with conditions | 364 (13) | 2026-09-04 |
| Portugal | allowed, with real exceptions | campsite or the landowner's word | 449 (103) | 2026-09-04 |
| Romania | allowed, with real exceptions | campsite or the landowner's word | 21 (0) | 2026-09-04 |
| Slovakia | allowed, with real exceptions | campsite or the landowner's word | 51 (2) | 2026-09-04 |
| Slovenia | allowed, with real exceptions | campsite or the landowner's word | 145 (17) | 2026-09-04 |
| Spain | allowed, with real exceptions | campsite or the landowner's word | 2,271 (1,075) | 2026-09-04 |
| Sweden | a night where parking is allowed is normal | a public right to pitchallemansrätten | 883 (114) | 2026-09-04 |
| Switzerland | allowed, with real exceptions | in places, with conditions | 354 (33) | 2026-09-04 |
| United Kingdom | no rule held | differs by jurisdictionScottish access rights | caravan parks incl. | 2026-09-04 |
Each country's full rule and the instrument it rests on: hover or tap it on the map, open its page, or see the CSV.
Notes, caveats and sources
- Guidance, not legal advice: rules change, and local signs and bye-laws always win.
- A penalty here is the range the statute provides for the offence, never a prediction of what a night costs: we read the instruments, not how they are enforced.
- "No data" means we hold no rule we could read from a source — not that anything goes.
- Motorhome-stop counts come from OpenStreetMap (tourism=caravan_site; free = fee=no) and grow as people map them.
- Vehicle rules: each country's traffic, nature and hospitality instruments and its national motoring and camper associations, read 4 Sept 2026; Norway and Finland re-read 8 Oct 2026 (NAF, Autoliitto).
- Tent rules: the instrument named per country in the table, read from primary sources 4 Sept 2026.
- Finland, re-checked 2026-10-12: Vehicle: re-read by hand
- Finland, re-checked 2026-10-12: Tent: re-read by hand
- Norway, re-checked 2026-10-11: Tent: 150 m from an inhabited house or cabin, at most 2 nights without the owner's permission (Friluftsloven §9)
- Counts: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via our place store; our place store as fetched 2026-10-09–2026-10-09, counted 2026-10-11. Map borders: Natural Earth.