Information about wild camping in Greece !

no_campingIt may sounds odd but this post is the only one which is not based on our personal experience. We are traveling and almost exclusively wild camping all over Greece for the last 10 years and we NEVER encountered any kind of problem with the police authorities. Lately we hear more and more about cases where the Greek police issued citations for illegal camping, not just fines and penalties but calls for a trial in a Justice of the Peace Court. We tried to understand what happened and what one can do to protect oneself. Here are our findings…

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In Greece, as in many other European countries, wild camping with a tent or a caravan is prohibited according to a 1976 law. Although this law was amended several times in subsequent years, it never included any kind of diversification between caravans and campers/motorhomes.

This confusion had at times resulted in unfair penalties. Be careful though: when you are in your camper/motorhome but you pitched an awning/tent/shade or you created your ‘own’ terraced site in front of your dοor to put your table and chairs or you lighted your barbecue or even you hung out clothes to dry, this is considered illegal camping and you have absolutely no right to complain about unfairness. You just broke the law. Instead, when you are simply parked, like all the other cars, you are completely legitimate.

Although according to the Greek law this is quite clear and obvious, it derives from a combination of legislation and it is not contained in one single paragraph. So, it might happen that an ‘ignorant’ policeman (or even worse a policeman ‘stressed’ by the owners of a nearby camping ground) could create you some problems. In any case, if you are following the law and you show them that you know your rights, you have nothing to fear.

Last year I tried to contact the Hellenic Motorhome Club in order to find a way to clarify the confusing situation. I found no response. I admit that for us who are Greeks or for who speak Greek, it is not such a big problem as we always find the way to solve the situation; nevertheless, it is not the case for the majority of the foreign motorhomers.

For these reasons we decided to act alone. I wrote to the Greek National Tourism Organization, to the Greek Ministry of Tourism and to the Road Traffic Police asking for clarifications about the motorhomes status regarding the ‘camping legislation’ . From them, only the Road Traffic Police responded to my note almost immediately. Here is the paper that they sent in March 27, 2015  to all the Police Departments of the country:

 

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The highlighted part of the text says that: “the law prohibiting the wild camping refers to the caravans and obviously not to the motorhomes that belong to the category of vehicles and therefore they can stop and park in the public spaces following the regulations of the Traffic Code and the traffic signs as applied to all vehicles.”

The following paragraph says: “Special note: when you see a parked motorhome this doesn’t mean ‘wild camping’. There must be other factors to account for this, such as awnings, table, chairs, etc.”

This paper belongs to the internal communication between the Traffic Police and the Police Departments. You can download it and keep it handy in case of emergency (if you are being harassed).
 

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6 thoughts on “Information about wild camping in Greece !

  1. Just been moved off the beach at Kastro Kilini by the police ( 29th Aug 2017 ) showed them the highlighted section of the legislation but they said it didn’t cover staying on the beach it just covered cities Luckily I didn’t have anything out but several people who did were find 300 euros

    • Bad to hear this! If you have something out of your mh they are perfectly right, but if you are parked where it is not forbidden than you have the same rights in the cities as near a beach… But it’s not easy to argue 😉

  2. Hi, if I have caravan coupled to the car, and I stop a night to rest in a parking on the route, this means wild camping in Greece?

    • Technically, if the caravan is coupled to the car and you are legally parked, it should not be considered as camping…

  3. Hi, in summer 2016 I’ve been free camping for a couple of months in Gavdos, Anafi and Kato Koufonissi. While in Gavdos and Kato Koufonissi it was completely well accepted, in Anafi there were some signs prohibiting nudism and free camping – nobody took care ’bout them and during the period I’ve been there police never bothered me or anybody else at all.
    These places are also absolutely safe, you can leave whatever you like in your tent, you can leave your phone and your camera plugged to charge at the nearest taverna and have a trip around on the island, when you’ll come back you’ll find everything where you left it.
    People are friendly and nobody never refuses its help if you’re in need; I was travelling alone and I made a lot of new friends in every place I was.
    Of course you must respect locals, environment and all that surrounds you: take your rubbish away, don’t use trees for fire, don’t damage anything, don’t do nudism where you see people don’t, be friendly, take care of yourself and people around you, and have a great time!

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