Around Europe on the Cheap – Favourite Free Overnight Stays in a Motorhome
This post is from 2012. We have since stopped in hundreds more amazing free places. You can find out how we discover them in our ‘Motorhome Inspiration’ section.
Long term travel in a motorhome or camper van is made far more expensive if you choose to stay on campsites. Even using discount schemes such as the fabulous ACSI, you’ll realistically be looking at an average of maybe €20 a night for a motorhome plus two people, including local taxes. Doing the maths, that’s €7300 (£5800) out of a year’s budget, ouch. Our approach is to use a mix of facilities for overnight stays. Cost isn’t the only factory – for us it’s a balance between: our own feelings of security, finding beautiful and interesting places to stay, the need for electrical hook-up to recharge Dave’s batteries (as we don’t have a generator), and how much time and energy we have that day!
Over the course of a year’s travel we’ve found some great free spots to stay, and we’ve summarised just a few of them below. This single page can’t offer the completeness of a free camping/aire book (like this one), it’s more intended to give a flavour of European motorhome life outside the campsite; hope you enjoy.
In most places there are basic practises to follow to avoid breaking the law, and to show respect to the local populace: don’t put anything outside your van such as chairs, table and BBQ (this rule can be very strict in some places extending to use of wheel chocks and steps), don’t overstay your welcome (typically a single night unless signposted otherwise), park out of sight of houses and leave the place as beautifully clean as it was when you arrived. If unsure about the legal situation, we check with the local tourist information office or the police, as sometimes ‘no motorhomes’ signs are intended for the summer only. A good rule of thumb is to follow what those around you are doing (especially if they’re a locally registered van).
Austria |
The Burg Hochosterwitz is a fairy tale castle, a really delightful place wrapped around a huge rock which rises above beautiful countryside. As a sleeping place, despite being close to the road it was near silent overnight, set among a small grove of trees at the foot of the castle rock. Although it’s not officially marked out as a motorhome overnight stay, we found it to be perfect and stayed alone in the car park, as we had also done at Riegersburg Castle (details here). We chose to pay the entrance fee to visit the castles, which we felt was worth it (at Riegersburg only pay for the lift though; the museums are disappointing). Notes on free camping in Austria: Almost as soon as we travelled into Austria we met an Austrian couple in their motorhome who explained to us that, outside the Vienna and the Tyrol regions, it is legal to stay for a single night in car parks and so on. We made the most of this information, staying in free locations for much of our time in the country. |
Belgium |
The Barrage de la Gileppe is a dam in French-speaking south-east Belgium. It’s in the Hautes Fagnes national park, close to the German border. We arrived to find a refurbished car park, with no parking fee, and no no-motorhome signs, in immaculate condition, surrounded by woods. It’s above the dam with a viewing spot so you can look out over the water and surrounding forest. There are walks and mountain bike tracks around, including a short one marked one a few kilometers which we used. No fellow motorhomes stayed the night we slept there. Notes on free camping in Belgium: in our experience the country takes a relaxed attitude to overnight stays away from official areas. There are a few aires available, but we stayed in car parks and at the side of the road a few times, without any trouble but for the noise of passing cars and returning revellers. |
France |
 Monbazzilac is a small french village set among vineyards. The overnight stop is part of the France Passion scheme, so in theory you need the latest book although in our experience the participant farmers, vineyard and restaurant owners never check or seem to care. In this particular spot, the owner who is a semi-retired motorhome owner, has provided a dedicated grassy camping area to the top end of his vines – the photo above was taken from our van window. He’s also provided all facilities except electricity for free. The trade off? He wanders the site in the evening rounding up folks for a wine tasting, after which you’re not obliged to buy but hey, why not, it’s good stuff and he’s more than game to practice your French!
Notes on free camping in France: in our experience France is by far the easiest country to travel in a motorhome without ever paying a penny to stay if you’re very short on cash, or only paying a few euros a night. The network of motorhome aires is widespread, of good quality, often close to towns or beaches and is very well documented. We used mainly aires, with a few France Passion places and the odd campsite, I don’t think we ever needed to free-camp off an aire.
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Germany |
 We chose Nuremburg as our favourite as, although Germany rivals France for ease of low cost motorhoming and hence has loads of great free places to stay, Nuremburg has such a powerful historical significance. This camping spot is a reserved motorhome parking spot. It is free, popular and right inside the infamous rally grounds, which have been converted back to a landscaped park. Nuremberg city is accessible via the U bahn station a few minutes walk away (€5 for a family day ticket), but we found the park, it’s crumbling monuments and the museum to National Socialism to be the biggest draw.Notes on free camping in Germany: like France, Germany has a widespread network of stellplatz, very well documented, often for a few euros per night, with services (except electricity) and in good condition. We used these almost all of the time, rather than free camping.
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Hungary |
 This is a small gravel car park overlooking the inner lake at Lake Balaton. It Is near to the small town with views out over lake main lake, but the biggest draw was the tranquility. A few cars turned up and left, but no-one paid us any attention as we chilled out and walked Charlie in the nearby fields. There is also a free camping location south of the main lake (click here for the relevant blog post) which was fantastic, but for a horde of flies which descended each evening!
Notes on free camping in Hungary: we quickly discovered that free camping is fine in Hungary and spent a few nights around the lake and the Danube north of Budapest. We used car parks for most of our few days in the country, with a couple of cheap camp sites (the site in Budapest worked very well for us, with free washing machines, a good restaurant and very friendly staff).
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Italy |
 Set high on a hill beside a UNESCO World Heritage site packed full of small churches, we loved this quiet and free spot close to an unspoilt Italian lake. A short walk uphill takes you into the protected area, an interesting array of churches and a fantastic viewing area over the lake. A more demanding walk down and uphill takes you into the lakeside town, which is a tiny bit touristy but walk a couple of hundred meters either way along the shore and you’re alone. Fantastic. There was even a fresh water tap and public loo open next to the parking area while we were there.Notes on free camping in Italy: asking at tourist information offices along the way, we found that as long as you are legally parked, and there are no signs to say otherwise, you can free camp in Italy. If you’re in a parking space with blue lines, it is metered. White lines means it is free. There is also a wide network of well documented parking areas called sostas, which range from free to around €20 a night in cities. We’re currently in Italy and even in November, there are lots of Italian vans on the road. We’ve noted that many Italian vans will avoid parking anywhere where they have to pay!
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Morocco |
 OK, we snuck this one in, even though it wasn’t free, or even in Europe. The camping spot was so out-of-this-world, right on the edge of the Sahara while being easily accessible to most vans (only the last 2km are unsealed road and easily passable), we had to include it. We found ourselves parked with friends in between a good quality hotel and the Erg Chebbi dunes, just the calls of camels at night for company. The hotel services were included in the prices, marble-lined loos and showers, and we could also use the restaurant, bar and spa area for an extra cost. Camel treks and 4 by 4 rides can be arranged (we took a sunset camel ride, which we loved). All of this was in the winter, so it would be worth checking with the hotel whether the same facilities are available in season.Notes on free camping in Morocco: before we arrived we spoke with a few people who had travelled to Morocco a several times over the years. Their general view, backed up by our experience, is that parking up where you like has pretty much stopped happening. Everyone we saw was in a campsite (which are often pretty rough and ready, cramped and dirty walled enclosures) or guarded parking locations (car parks where you pay). We used both with no problems. Our guess would be that free camping is still possible for those braver than us!
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Netherlands |
 Free camping in the Netherlands was hard work for us. It’s illegal, and we saw only a few vans doing it. There are aires, which charge about €10 a night, so we usually used them, or risked it and stayed somewhere we shouldn’t. This car park in Maastrict wasn’t marked out for official motorhome parking, but here were no signs to say we couldn’t stay. As it was a bus ride away from the town, it proved to be below the radar of the authorities and we stayed for a night with no problems.Notes on free camping in the Netherlands: As we understand it, it’s not legal, unlike in neighbouring Belgium. On the ground we saw few motorhomes in unofficial parking, and we chose to generally stick to the official spots and pay up. Our favourite paid parking, for €10 a night including services was at Den Helder, inside the grounds of a wonderful maritime museum.
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Portugal |
 This parking spot is alongside the road on a peninsula jutting out into the Atlantic. It’s an idyllic location, which we expected would be considered off-limits but proved absolutely fine. The police passed several times over the days we stayed and were polite and friendly, even though we were in a line of three motorhomes. The sand and sea is a few meters away, and the nearby town was pleasant to walk around, with free Internet in the tourist information office. Our second choice spot would have been at Faro, where we free camped under the town walls, a few minute’s walk into the old townNotes on free camping in Portugal: we travelled through the country in late autumn/early winter, and found free camping to be very easy. Almost all of our stays were free, with the odd night in a campsite (our favourite by far being at Tomar. Along the Algarve southern coast we found hundreds of motorhomes free camping, many of them British and telling us they had been moved on by the authorities in the previous days, but further north we found very few vans. We personally saw no trouble.
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Spain |
 This was an official, free aire just outside the small season resort town. We loved it for its proximity to the town, and to the fabulous coastal walks along the cliffs. It has free wifi, a free town museum, free services, and you can stay for 5 days. What’s not to like! Along this stretch of coast we didn’t expect to find anywhere lovely to stay, or even less anywhere free, but this spot proved to be just fabulous.Notes on free camping in Spain: we have only travelled off-season in Spain, and have found it to be a country which is relatively easy to free camp in. There is an aire network, but they are few and far between, our favourite one being the free one at Cangas de Onis (click here for our blog post) in the north, which makes a great base for nipping into the Picos de Europa mountains. We have been moved on by the police twice in Spain, both in the South, and both times the authorities were polite and friendly, with no mention of fines.
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Switzerland |
 This parking spot is a wide area of rough road just a few meters below the summit of the Oberalppass. It was idyllic, with a broad view of the mountain ranges around, with easy access to any number of mountain trails, and was free! Another place, which was even more extra-ordinarily beautiful was the glacier field alongside the Sustenpass (click here for blog entry), but we can’t recommend it as we had to ignore ‘no-motorhome’ signs on the private road in (which has a €5 toll) to stay there.Notes on free camping in Switzerland: although this country has a deserved reputation for being expensive (even the locals buy in from the surrounding countries what they can), free camping was confirmed by a local to be completely accepted. In many years of motorhoming around his country he had never paid to stay anywhere. We stayed in several pass summit car parks, but used campsites in more heavily touristed areas.
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That’s it, but if you’ve any free camping places you’d travel out of your way to visit, we’d love to hear about them! Thanks, Ju and Jay (and Charlie the pooch)
Would be pleased to receive any information on motorhome sites. We are purchasing a MH in December 2014. Are there any popular winter destinations?
Sheila luke
Hi Sheila. Winter is basically south for most folks, unless you fancy going skiing that is. Southern Spain and Portugal popular with Brits. Morocco with French and German. Greece with anyone who fancies going that far. Sicily is a pleasant spot too, quite a few Italians and northern Europeans there. Loads of places to head to, just depends on what kind of culture you like. Cheers! Jay
Found a great place for a motorhome free stop over in the Moleson and Gruyere, Switzerland, car park next to the ski lifts to the mountain range. Woke up with the sound of cowbells! Checked at the tourist info and they confirmed all fine to stay overnight and others would come and the did! A little cafe/restaurant slightly uphill in the village with cheese making demos too!
Sounds very nice, thanks May! Jay
Very interesting read! Me and my partner are heading off this autumn with either a caravan or a motorhome. Do you have any advice on how long it’s ”acceptable” yo stay parked up? We were hoping to stay about a week in each location and travel slowly. And one more question, i haven’t read anything about this but is it possible or even ”okay” to unhitch a caravan and meave it parked for a day while exploring by car? Thank you in advance for any information you have!
Hi Vicky. Each aire normally has a time limit posted on a sign in or near the aire – typically between 24 hours and five days. There isn’t usually anything to stop you going to another aire for a night and then returning. Caravans aren’t allowed in aires in most countries (I have no idea why not). Cheers, have fun, Jay
This is such an amazing resource! Thank you so much!