Camping in Greece: what the law actually says
Wild camping is illegal in Greece and has been since 1976. Sleeping in a legally parked motorhome is not — and that distinction changed in 2025, which most travel writing about Greece still gets wrong.
The short version
Inside the vehicle, nothing deployed, parked where parking is allowed: legal. An awning, a chair, a levelling block or a tent: camping, and illegal outside a licensed campsite. The fine is €300, charged per person, per tent, or per vehicle.
Is wild camping legal in Greece?
No. Camping outside a licensed campsite is prohibited, and has been since 1976. Article 10 of Law 392/1976 bans pitching tents and parking caravans at archaeological sites, on coasts and beaches, at the edges of public forests, in forests, and in public places generally.
This applies however remote the spot looks. A quiet beach, an olive grove and a forest track are all covered by the same rule, and being far from anyone is not a defence — it mostly just means nobody has reported you yet.
Can I sleep in my motorhome or campervan overnight?
Often yes, and this is the part that changed. Greece's new Road Traffic Code — Law 5209/2025, published in June 2025 and in force since 1 July 2025 — formally defines a motorised or touring caravan as a vehicle with a built-in ability to provide accommodation while parked. Sleeping inside a legally parked vehicle is parking, not camping.
The moment anything goes outside the vehicle, it becomes camping, and camping outside a licensed site is still illegal. That is the whole distinction, and it is the one thing worth remembering from this page.
Source: Law 5209/2025 — GTP Headlines
What exactly counts as camping rather than parking?
Parking is: the vehicle stationary in a place where parking is allowed, everyone inside, nothing deployed.
Camping is: an awning wound out, chairs or a table set up outside, levelling blocks or stabiliser legs down, cooking outside the vehicle, or a tent of any kind. Any one of these turns a legal park into an illegal camp, regardless of whether you intended to stay the night.
Source: Updated Greek law — VanLifeZone
How long can I park a motorhome in one place?
Inside built-up areas, a motorised caravan up to 7.5 metres long is treated like any other passenger vehicle and may park with no time limit, wherever parking is otherwise permitted and no local sign says otherwise.
Over 7.5 metres, and for towed touring caravans, the limit is 24 consecutive hours in built-up areas.
Outside built-up areas there is no length or time restriction, but you must be in a designated space or properly at the side of the road, and local prohibitions still apply.
What are the fines for free camping in Greece?
The standard administrative fine is €300, issued by police or local authorities, and it is charged per person, per tent, or per vehicle — so a group is fined several times over, not once.
Serious or repeated cases can go to court, where reported penalties reach €3,000 and up to three months' imprisonment. Enforcement is active through the summer season and is heaviest in tourist areas, on popular beaches and in protected zones.
Can I camp on a beach in Greece?
No. Beaches and coastal areas are named explicitly in the 1976 prohibition, and they are where enforcement is most visible, because they are patrolled and because complaints come fastest.
This is the single most common way visitors get fined in Greece. The photographs that circulate of tents on Greek beaches are of people breaking the law, not of an exception to it.
What about forests, archaeological sites and protected areas?
All prohibited, and all named in the same article. Forests carry an additional risk that has nothing to do with camping law: Greece has severe wildfire seasons, open flames are restricted in high-risk periods, and penalties for causing a fire are in an entirely different category from a camping fine.
Archaeological sites are policed separately by the antiquities service and treat overnight presence very seriously.
Where can I legally stay, then?
In a licensed campsite, which is what this site catalogues — every campsite in Greece recorded in OpenStreetMap, with vehicle access and amenities marked confirmed or not recorded.
Greece has very few motorhome aires of the kind common in France, Germany or Italy, so a licensed campsite is usually the practical option as well as the legal one. Many are family-run, cost far less than a hotel, and take walk-ins outside August.
Are Greek campsites open all year?
Most are not. The season typically runs from around April to October, with a concentration in July and August, and many sites close entirely for the winter. A minority stay open year-round, mostly near cities and on Crete.
Opening hours are recorded for only a small fraction of Greek campsites, so if you are travelling outside the season, ring ahead rather than trusting any listing — including ours.
Can I park at a campsite and pitch a tent next to my car?
Usually yes, and it is one of the most common ways to camp in Greece — but whether a particular site has parking beside the pitch, or a separate car park you walk from, is almost never recorded anywhere.
It is tagged on 1 of the 573 Greek campsites we hold. So where we have a phone number we say so and suggest you ring and ask. If you do, tell us what they said and we will record it.
Do the rules differ by island or municipality?
The national prohibition is the same everywhere, but municipalities add their own parking restrictions and signage, and some popular islands post explicit bans on overnight motorhome stops at specific beaches and car parks.
Local signs override the general rule. Where a sign prohibits parking or overnight stopping, that is the rule that will be enforced.
This is a summary, not legal advice
Checked against published sources on 28 July 2026. Greek camping law changed materially in 2025, municipalities add their own restrictions, and enforcement varies by region and season. Local signage overrides everything on this page. If a decision matters, confirm it with the local authority or the campsite itself.