About FreeCampMaps
Official free camping, mapped.
What this site is
FreeCampMaps is an English-language map of places where you are officially allowed to stop for the night without paying: the aires in France, the Stellplätze in Germany and Austria, the sostas in Italy, the municipal stopovers in Spain and Portugal and the Nordics, and free camping on public land in the United States.
We pin only places that a named body has designated. A commune that voted an aire into existence, a town that signed a Stellplatz, a national forest that publishes a dispersed camping area. Every pin carries the source that designates it, the licence that data came under, and the date a person last checked it against that source.
Wild camping is a different question, so it gets different treatment. Where it is legal, restricted or banned is covered as rules and zones, with the statute or access code cited. It never gets coordinates. Publishing exact spots for camping outside a designated place is how quiet places stop being quiet and then get closed, and in most of Europe it would also be telling you to break the law with a map reference attached.
Who it is for
English speakers driving in a country whose paperwork is not in English. Most of what you need already exists, but it exists as a commune's PDF in French, a Gemeinde page in German, a regional decree in Italian, or a Forest Service motor vehicle use map. Some of the best sources are only in the local language, and none of them talk to each other. This site reads them and writes down what they say in plain English.
That means UK, US, Australian and Canadian travellers get the same answer to the two questions that actually matter on the road: can I stop here tonight, and will someone knock on the window at 2am.
Our promise
Some things here will not change, and you should hold us to them. FreeCampMaps stays free to read. You never need an account. Nothing goes behind a paywall or a premium tier, not the rules and not the locations. And it stays independently owned: Lucky Future LLC, with no motorhome manufacturer, campsite chain, or camping app holding a stake. Display ads cover the bills, so the reference itself never has to charge you. Screenshot this page if you want. If we ever walk one of these back, you will have the receipt.
The rule about rules
Every rule on this site cites an official source and shows the date we last verified it. No exceptions. If you want to check us, the link is right there. Please do check us.
When we cannot verify something, we leave it blank and say we do not know. A blank field means unverified, not permitted. That distinction runs all the way into the database: a missing service point is recorded as "nobody has told us", not as "there is no service point". We would rather show you a hole than a confident guess, because a wrong stay limit is how you get a fine, and a wrong "yes, you can sleep here" is how you get moved on in the dark.
Rules change without telling us. Communes withdraw aires, towns pass byelaws, seasonal barriers go up, height limits appear. The posted sign and the local authority's current guidance always beat this website. Start here, then confirm before you commit.
What else is here
Country and region pages that explain the local system before you meet it on a road sign, so you know what an aire de services actually offers and how it differs from a Stellplatz. Rules pages for wild camping and bivouac law, each tied to the specific framework that governs it, because "legal in Scotland" and "legal in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs" are two different claims. And guides on the practical parts nobody explains well: service points, tolls, ferries, and what changes when you cross a border.
Who publishes it
FreeCampMaps is published by Lucky Future LLC, 30 N Gould St Ste N, Sheridan, WY 82801.
It is a small operation, not a magazine with a masthead. We are not going to invent a staff of experts to look bigger than we are. Judge the work by whether the sources check out.
How it makes money
Display ads. That is the whole model. There are no affiliate links, no sponsored places, and nothing on this site is for sale to the places it describes. The full breakdown is in the advertiser disclosure.
Found something wrong?
Tell us. A stale rule is a real problem, and a correction with a link to the official source is the most useful email we can get. info@freecampmaps.com.