Motorhomes in Spain: where to park and sleep overnight legally

What you should do: park, never camp

If you are travelling around Spain in a motorhome or camper van, the practical rule is simple: you can park wherever a car could park and sleep inside, but as soon as you put anything outside the vehicle you are no longer parked, you are camping. And camping is only allowed in designated places, such as campsites or motorhome areas, under the rules of each autonomous community.

In practice:

• Park within the road markings and respect the maximum time if there is one.
• Do not put out an awning, chairs, tables, chocks, levellers or stabiliser legs.
• Do not discharge water or waste onto the road.
• Check the municipal signs: the town council may have its own restrictions.
• To stay several days or use services, look for a motorhome area or a campsite.

The Directorate General of Traffic (DGT) sets all this out in its Instruction on motorhomes, which it updated and presented in a press release of 16 March 2026.

Parking or camping: the DGT rule

The DGT Instruction starts from a clear distinction:

• Parking is a manoeuvre governed by the General Traffic Regulations. It is part of traffic and is covered by traffic law.
• Camping is a tourist activity and is regulated by tourism law, not traffic law.

According to the DGT, a motorhome is parked when it is in a permitted place, without going beyond the road markings of the parking area or its time limit, if any. It does not matter whether the occupants are inside. It is enough that what happens inside does not extend outside through items that go beyond the vehicle’s footprint, understood as its outline seen from above: stalls, awnings, levelling devices or stabiliser supports, among others.

If these requirements are met, the DGT concludes that parking a motorhome is, as a general rule, identical to parking any other car, with no obligations different from those of other vehicles.

Can I sleep inside?

Yes. The DGT considers the presence of occupants inside entirely irrelevant to deciding whether the vehicle is properly parked. You can sleep, eat or read inside.

There is a nuance worth knowing. In an interview published in the DGT magazine, José Manuel Jurado warned that you should not open the windows either, because the area occupied would be larger. The official DGT definition does not mention windows, only items such as awnings, levellers or supports. To be on the safe side, avoid opening outward-hinged windows on the street.

What the autonomous communities add

Each community regulates camping and motorhome areas in its tourism decrees. Many repeat the DGT idea: a motorhome stopped or parked in authorised areas of urban or interurban roads under traffic rules is not camping. Some set out the requirements in more detail. According to the texts cited by the DGT, some regional rules also require that:

• the only contact with the ground is through the wheels;
• the vehicle stands on its own wheels without using chocks;
• there are no emissions or noise beyond those the engine may produce;
• no substances or waste are discharged onto the road.

These are some of the rules listed by the DGT:

• Catalonia: Decree 75/2020, of 4 August, on tourism, which leaves room for touring tourism in line with traffic law.
• Asturias: Decree 61/2022, of 23 September, on campsites and special reception areas for motorhomes in transit.
• Andalusia: Decree 26/2018, of 23 January, regulating campsites.
• Castilla-La Mancha: Decree 94/2018, of 18 December, on campsites and motorhome areas.
• Cantabria: Decree 51/2019, of 4 April, on campsites and service areas for motorhomes.
• Murcia: Decree 193/2022, of 27 October, which excludes parking areas, free or otherwise, governed by municipal bylaws and the General Traffic Regulations.
• Navarre: Foral Decree 22/2024, of 6 March, on overnight areas for touring tourism.
• Galicia: Decree 159/2019, of 21 November, which bans tourist camping outside authorised campsites.
• Castilla y León (Decree 9/2017, of 15 June) and Aragon (Decree 35/2023, of 5 April) do not mention traffic law in relation to motorhomes.

The DGT notes that the new Instruction also includes changes from Extremadura and the Community of Madrid, among others.

What town councils can ban

This is the most common question, and the DGT itself acknowledges that one of the most frequent complaints it receives from users is parking bans applied to motorhomes.

The answer has two sides:

• What they can do: the Supreme Court, in its ruling of 13 March 2018, established that a municipality’s traffic bylaw may limit parking times and ban camping with caravans, motorhomes or similar vehicles on urban roads and adjacent spaces, except in areas authorised by the council. The court considers that these measures aim to prevent the negative effects of prolonged parking on traffic flow and safety, on pedestrian use of the streets or on the fair sharing of spaces.
• What they cannot do: under the General Traffic Regulations, municipal bylaws may under no circumstances contradict, alter, distort or cause confusion with what the regulations themselves say.

For you as a driver, the consequence is practical: a motorhome can park in town like any car, but you must respect the rules and signs the council has put up on its streets.

Interurban roads and coastal areas

Outside towns, signs banning parking on interurban roads, for any type of vehicle, are the responsibility of the road owner, under article 57.1 of the consolidated text of the Traffic Act, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 6/2015, of 30 October.

On the coast another law comes into play. The DGT points out that motorhome users, like those of any vehicle, must respect Law 22/1988, of 28 July, on Coasts, which protects the maritime and terrestrial public domain, and especially the seashore. A beach looking like a good place to spend the night does not mean it is allowed.

Ibiza: the strictest exception

The island of Eivissa has its own law, published in the Official State Gazette, which establishes:

• A ban on camping and sleeping overnight in motor vehicles on the island’s rural land outside legally existing campsites.
• A ban on any kind of parking of motor vehicles on rural land if they do not hold the entry or stay authorisation for the island regulated by that law.

The law instructed the Island Council of Eivissa to begin, within 2 months of its entry into force, the procedure for a tax bylaw setting the fee to obtain and check that entry and stay authorisation, including parking.

Where to sleep with services: motorhome areas

The DGT magazine recommends parking in motorhome areas, especially on your first trip. Spain has around 1.300 equipped areas, compared with 6.000 in France, so it is worth keeping that information to hand.

Some communities set minimum services for these areas. Navarre, for example, requires a clean point connected to the water supply and a self-cleaning container or discharge pit.

On the road, sign S-128 “Emptying point for caravans and motorhomes”, included in the Catalogue of vertical signs in Royal Decree 465/2025, of 10 June, shows where you can empty waste water.

To find them, the DGT mentions apps such as Caramaps, Park4night, Furgo perfectos or BeVanLifer.

Prices and how to pay

Charges at motorhome areas, campsites and regulated zones depend on each operator or council, and some parking areas are free, as the Murcia rules acknowledge. On the street you pay like any car, in the restricted parking zones each municipality has.

To store the vehicle when you are not travelling, the DGT magazine estimates an average of around €600 a year, about €50 a month. Many companies in the sector have spaces for their customers at their own premises.

In Ibiza, the entry and stay authorisation fee depends on the Island Council’s tax bylaw.

Checks and fines

Checks can come from three directions:

• Traffic: if you park outside the markings, exceed the permitted time or ignore a sign, the same applies as to any car.
• Town council: bylaws can penalise camping on their streets and prolonged parking.
• Tourism, coastal or island rules: camping outside authorised areas, offences on the coast or sleeping overnight on rural land in Ibiza are governed by their own laws.

The amount of the fines depends on the rule applied in each case, so the best protection is to follow the DGT criteria and local signs.

Other exceptions and traps

• Sources that disagree: an article in the DGT magazine states that you may sleep overnight anywhere not signposted as prohibited. The reality is more restrictive: municipal bylaws, the Galician decree and the Ibiza law restrict camping and overnight stays.
• Towed car: you may not drive your motorhome while towing a car. The General Vehicle Regulations only allow a towing vehicle to pull a trailer or semi-trailer.
• Manoeuvres: when parking, the DGT recommends that someone gets out to guide the driver.

Checklist before you travel

• Install a motorhome area app and mark the ones on your route.
• Check whether you are going to Galicia, the coast or Ibiza, where specific rules apply.
• Apply for the entry or stay authorisation if you are taking the vehicle to Ibiza.
• When parking on the street: within the markings, within the time limit, without chocks or levellers.
• Do not put out an awning, chairs or tables outside a motorhome area or campsite.
• Only empty waste water at points marked with sign S-128 or in motorhome areas.
• Always check the council’s signs when you arrive in each municipality.