Vanlife Guides

Practical, honest answers for life on the road: where you can sleep, what the rules are in each country, how to find water and dump points, and how to meet other vanlifers. Checked against official sources and dated, so you know how fresh they are.

Getting started

The basics every vanlifer asks first.

🌙 Where Can You Park a Campervan Overnight? Every legal way to spend the night in a campervan or motorhome: aires, Stellplätze, campsites, farms, park-ups and wild spots, plus how to check a spot is OK.

⚖️ Is Van Life Legal? Sleeping in a Van, Explained Is it legal to live in a van and sleep in it overnight? How the law treats parking vs camping in Europe, the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand.

🚰 How Vanlifers Find Water, Showers & Dump Points How van lifers get drinking water, take showers, empty toilet cassettes and grey water, and do laundry on the road, and how to find service points on a free map.

Rules by country

Wild camping and overnight parking rules, checked against official sources.

🇪🇺 Wild Camping in Europe: Vanlife Rules by Country Can you sleep in your van? Country-by-country rules for wild camping and overnight parking in Spain, France, Portugal, Italy, Germany, the UK, Norway, Sweden and more.

🇫🇷 Aires in France: The Motorhome & Campervan Guide What an aire de camping-car is, what aires cost, the rules for sleeping in a van outside aires, Crit'Air zones, tolls and how to find aires on a free map.

🇪🇸 Wild Camping in Spain: Rules for Vans & Motorhomes Is wild camping legal in Spain? Pernocta vs acampada, the DGT "parking is not camping" rule, regional bans, fines, áreas de autocaravanas and ZBE zones.

🇵🇹 Vanlife in Portugal: Motorhome Rules Explained Portugal's motorhome rules explained: the 48-hour overnight rule, bans in Natura 2000 and coastal zones, fines, legal stopovers and the toll-free ex-SCUT motorways.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Campervan Overnight Parking in Scotland (and the NC500) Can you wild camp in a campervan in Scotland? What the Outdoor Access Code covers, Loch Lomond permits, NC500 etiquette, water and dump points.

🇳🇴 Vanlife in Norway & Sweden: Does the Right to Roam Cover Vans? Allemannsretten and allemansrätten explained for campervans: where you may sleep in a van in Norway and Sweden, the 150 m rule, rest areas, fire bans and tolls.

🇳🇿 Freedom Camping in New Zealand: The 2026 Rules Freedom camping in New Zealand explained: green self-containment warrants (blue warrants ended June 2026), where you can camp, NZ$400 fines, DOC sites and holiday parks.

Apps & tools

Fair comparisons of the apps vanlifers use.

📱 Free Park4night Alternatives (2026) Looking for a free park4night alternative? A fair comparison of community spot apps for vans and motorhomes: what is free, what costs money, and which suits Europe.

🧭 Free iOverlander Alternatives (2026) iOverlander 2 added paid Pro and Unlimited tiers. Here is what is still free, what the upgrades cost, and the free alternatives for vanlife and overlanding.

🗺️ The Best Vanlife Apps for Europe The apps European vanlifers actually use: spots and aires, campsites, farm stays, offline maps, weather and wind, LPG, low-emission zones and community.

Community & safety

Meeting people on the road, and staying safe.

🤝 Find Your Vanlife Community: Meet Vanlifers Nearby How to meet other vanlifers on the road: live maps of travellers nearby, meetups, festivals, Telegram and Facebook groups, plus privacy tips for sharing your location.

🔥 Vanlife Meetups: Find or Organise One Near You Find vanlife meetups and gatherings near you, or organise your own: how community meetups work, ideas that work well, and upcoming events posted by vanlifers.

💜 Solo Female Van Life: Safety Tips & Community Practical safety tips for women travelling solo in a van: choosing spots, night routines, location sharing, van security and finding other women on the road.

Vanlife by country

Each country page shows the current rules, where to stay legally, spots from the map and vanlifers there.

Vanlife in Spain Vanlife in France Vanlife in Portugal Vanlife in Italy Vanlife in Germany Vanlife in United Kingdom Vanlife in Norway Vanlife in Sweden Vanlife in Croatia Vanlife in Greece Vanlife in Netherlands Vanlife in Morocco Vanlife in New Zealand Vanlife in Australia Vanlife in United States Vanlife in Canada