Is wild camping legal? The country-by-country guide (2026)

Where is wild camping legal? It depends on the country — and within the country, often on the region, the park or the town hall. The internet is full of forum answers mixing repealed laws with invented fines.

This guide does something else: every rule comes from the official source — the statute, the park decree, the gazette — carries a visible review date, and when something isn't clear we say so plainly: unconfirmed. And where we slept ourselves, the proof is on the map: the photos.

How to read the statuses

allowedallowed with conditionsbannedvaries by areaunconfirmed

France

allowed with conditionsChecked July 2026Legal by default with the landholder's permission — but banned on the seashore, tightly limited in the national parks, and any town hall can ban it locally.25 verified rules

Spain

varies by areaChecked July 2026There is no single rule: each autonomous community decides — most ban camping outside campsites, the coast is off-limits under state law, and a one-night bivouac lives in a limbo that depends on where you are.31 verified rules

Portugal

allowed with conditionsChecked July 2026Restrictive on paper: camping outside a campsite needs a municipal licence plus the owner's permission, parks run on their own plans — and motorhomes get their own national rule: 48 hours per municipality, outside protected areas.20 verified rules

Italy

varies by areaChecked July 2026Italy has no national answer: regions and autonomous provinces rule — Sardinia bans it across its whole territory, the Dolomites nature parks too, and in many places the honest answer is 'unconfirmed': check the local rule.16 verified rules

United Kingdom

varies by areaChecked July 2026Four nations, four laws: Scotland has a statutory right to camp (with conditions and common sense); England and Wales run on landowner permission — with Dartmoor as the big exception —; Northern Ireland, permission nearly always.16 verified rules

Germany

varies by areaChecked July 2026Federal law lets you enter countryside and forest, not sleep in them: tents are each Land's business. Brandenburg gifts non-motorised travellers one night; Bavaria and Saxony want permission; and there are named regimes, from Saxony's Boofen to the Black Forest trekking camps.15 verified rules

Norway

allowed with conditionsChecked July 2026Here the law starts the other way round: allemannsretten gives you the right to camp on uncultivated land — private included — 150 m from occupied houses and two nights per spot. Bans are the exception, not the rule.14 verified rules

Sweden

allowed with conditionsChecked July 2026Allemansrätten is even in the Constitution: a few tents, one or two nights, away from houses and harming nothing — no permission needed. The limits: the 'home peace zone', farmland, and whatever reserves and local orders say.14 verified rules

Greece

bannedChecked July 2026The 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'.9 verified rules

Changes

2026-07-30: Eight countries in one go: Spain, Portugal, Italy, the UK, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Greece — 134 more rules.
2026-07-30: The guide launches with France: 25 rules verified against official sources.

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.

See the numbers →