Wild camping in Spain and Portugal

dave01736

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Hi all,

We are looking at doing a family trip in our motorhome to Spain and Portugal. (Easter time)
Ferry to Santander.
We have been to France loads and wild camping/aires are great.

How is Wild camping in Spain/Portugal? We will be spending most of our time close to the coast.

Any ideas on must do stops

Many thanks
Dave — looking for recommendations.
 
Hi.
I live in central Portugal and regularly wild camp and up till now have never had a problem having said that I try to be discreet.From what I read and believe wild camping in Spain especially near the coast can be difficult.
 
Look for tips on the European travel forums, here..
Loads of information.

Try not to get between the sea and someone's expensive holiday accommodation..
It really upsets them.
 
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The coastline of Portugal is breathtaking enjoy. We do WC but are hearing more stories of people being moved. We look at all the apps and read the reviews you will get a feel for the WC you are heading for. Portugal has a few free aires by the sea and some very cheap like 5 euros 💶
WC in National Parks is defo no no ;)
You really can’t go wrong follow your nose :)
 
Many of the places in Spain where wilding was tollerated have now clamped down on it, especially near the coast.
 
POI Admin said:
One tip ...

Never put anything outside the 'van, not even levelling ramps.

Follow that rule and you are parking ... otherwise you are camping.
Click to expand...
Wellll!! we are curently parked near a van that has it, awning.,table and chairs and barbi out. and the folks {French} are having a great time, so one takes their chances we are now in Spain and tonight will be our 76 th night away in the van Wilding and aires, Easter is late this year and things may be different regards Wilding particularly on the Algarve and Costs, but there are plenty of cheap Aires here now so it won't be to difficult to find stopovers. The Police have trouble with the assumption about parking or camping so Do not put too much emphasise on that one, the cop has the gun.
 
Wildcamping in Spain is illegal but many police will turn a blind eye to it do as others had said nothing outside the van if the police come round just say you are only parked up becase you have driven a long way and was getting a bit tired so for safety you park up to rest for an hour and never park were there are signs with no motorhomes. Have a nice trip.
 
My experience is that the Spanish do not like wild camping, see above post to confirm. However they are extremely tolerant of overnight stops in car parks. Do not put anything out, and I would not use city parks, however all small towns and villages have a car park on the outskirts and they are free.
Small problem is boy racers. The Spanish also have aires, I reccomend the Aires book. £25 well spent with lots of choice.
Municipal campsites can be good too, especially Portugal. With the authorities being so accommodating I think it is wrong to wild camp.
 
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