In Germany, there is no land that belongs to nobody or to everyone. Therefore, if you set up your tent or your camper without permission on a meadow, in a forest, or on a beach, you are theoretically committing a breach of public peace.

Here are a few examples of the penalties to be expected for the various offenses: Pollution, arson or trespassing: 1,000 € Camping in a nature reserve or campfires without a permit: up to 5,000 €

Wild camping is strictly forbidden throughout Germany in national parks, nature reserves, landscape protection areas and natural reservoirs, regardless of the federal state. Significantly higher fines threaten here than in non-protected areas.

Sleeping in your vehicle in Germany - general rules There's just one exception, and that's to do with parking on the side of the road. No vehicle heavier than 2.8 tonnes can be parked there. So just to summarise, in Germany you can park basically anywhere where there isn't a sign saying you can't.