banned
The 2025 law leaves little romance: tents banned on beaches, archaeological sites, public-forest edges and common-use spaces — €300 per person — and for the van, parking yes, setting up no. Outside those categories, the honest answer is 'depends on the parcel'.
Checked July 2026
This is not legal advice: it's what the official sources say, checked by hand, plus what I lived myself. Verify before you bet the fine on it.
My nights in Greece
The 2025 list
Beaches and seashores
The ban's star category: tents, and caravan or motorhome installation too, barred on the aigialoi and paralies — the legally delimited seashore and beach. Inland of that line, the law doesn't stretch by itself.
Fine: €300 per person or per tent/vehicle (art. 7(18) of law 4276/2014, as replaced in 2025).
Archaeological sites, forest edges and common spaces
The rest of article 27's list: archaeological sites, public-forest edges and common-use spaces generally. The law doesn't define the 'edge' geometrically or classify your specific parcel — that stays a local check.
Fine: €300 per person or per tent/vehicle.
Private land
The national law lists public and protected categories; a general private-land tent rule doesn't appear. Unconfirmed — and the owner's consent won't save you from planning, forest law, a protected area or a local restriction.
No-tent bivouac
The 2025 text bans 'installing tents' — about a bare sleeping bag it says nothing, and we won't invent it either: unconfirmed. Local access, fire, archaeology and police rules still count.
Protected areas
Parks and protected areas
The protected-areas agency (NECCA) tells hikers camping inside isn't permitted — and asks visitors to report camping in national forest park cores as illegal activity. But that's visitor guidance, not the specific park's decree: unconfirmed until the named area's instrument is read.
Van and motorhome
Parking yes, setting up no
The Greek line is crisp: a motorhome may park wherever the code and signs allow, but may not occupy a hand's width beyond the vehicle. The Ministry itself gives the examples: table and chairs out, awning open — that's installation, and it falls under the ban.
Fine: The extra footprint falls under art. 7(18)'s €300 per person.
Sources
Νόμος 5170/2025, art. 27.2 — Εφημερίδα της Κυβερνήσεως · Respuesta del Ministerio de Turismo (A.P. 1755) — Υπουργείο Τουρισμού
Checked July 2026
Sleeping inside the parked vehicle
No official text draws the line between sleeping inside (parking) and using the vehicle as housing (installation). Unconfirmed: park impeccably, deploy nothing, and know even then that the legal boundary isn't written down.
The new road code (5209/2025)
Three 2025-code rules that touch the van: in inhabited areas, motorhomes over 7.50 m can't stay parked beyond 24 continuous hours; outside inhabited areas, park at provided places or on the shoulder, tight to the right edge; and municipalities can designate enclosed motorhome parking areas.
Fine: €30 + ten-day licence removal (E1-B breach, arts. 38 and 108).
Sources
Νόμος 5209/2025 — Κώδικας Οδικής Κυκλοφορίας, art. 38 — Εφημερίδα της Κυβερνήσεως
Checked July 2026
Caravans on private land
A 2025-law curiosity: a private person may not host more than ONE caravan for free on their land. The single caravan isn't expressly blessed — the clause only bans from the second one — so planning, licensing and local rules still apply.
Fine: €300 per person or vehicle beyond the limit.
Before you go
Sleeping for free was half the budget
€3.16 per person, per day. The trip's full accounts — and the playbook to do it yourself — are in the budget dossier.