Is it legal to camp outside in France and Spain?
I plan on hiking the St-Jacques-de-Compostelle trail, starting in France and ending in Spain. To lower the costs, I would like to camp on my own outside.
Is it legal to camp outside in a small tent or bivy bag?
Best Answer
As for spain, no, you are not allowed to free camp everhwere, but , there are camping zones and free camp zones ( different concepts ) in many places.
There is one important concept here :
every autonomous community of Spain has it's own legislation.
now, seeing that you want to go to the pyrinees, not a single of the AC there allows free camping (Navarre, Basque country, Aragon, Catalonia). you should rent a spot in one of the many mountain campings, they are cheap ( from 5€ to 25€ / night) , and offer commodities such as bathrooms, restaurant, etc. most of those campings are very vast in size, so you won't have trouble with neighbours.
These communities don't allow free camping due to the high number of forest fires caused by it, for example, since the ban in the 80's, forest fires caused by human hand on purpose ( leaving wood/coal burning, glass bottles on the ground, cigarettes...) gone down a lot.
1994 was a special case : an electrical failure on a landline that caused 45.000 burned ha of forest. and 1986 was a chemical accident.
as a gift : St. James trail , french route (from western france) campings.
http://www.campings.net/en/camino-santiago-ruta-camino-santiago-frances-ID2.htm
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Is wild camping in France legal?
Wild camping in France is a legal grey area, but is generally tolerated with the permission of landowners, or if you're well away from tourist sites. You are also advised not to stay beyond 9am the next day. And whatever you do, don't light a fire.Can u camp anywhere in France?
The principal rulesWild camping is permitted anywhere in France subject to the permission of the landowner or tenant of the land, and subject to certain general limitations. The basic rules are set out in Article R111-33 of French town and country planning law.Is it legal to wild camp in Europe?
Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova are countries that do not really have any laws against wild camping, So you are free to camp pretty much anywhere you want to; with the exception of some national parks in Ukraine.Can you tent camp in Spain?
Wild camping, also known as boondocking, dry camping, or dispersed camping, is tolerated in Spain depending on the region, but can result in penalties in some areas. We have put together a few tips for you that you need to consider.Is “wild camping” legal in Spain? (Ep. 7 Van Life Spain 2022)
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Answer 2
As for France,
You are not -in theory- allowed to stay on private property without the owner's consent. /!\ forests might be private...
That's the theory, in practice if you set up a tent in the woods for a night (but don't step in homes' garden though ^^), don't set the forest on fire and leave it as clean as when you arrived, nobody would care.
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