The Czech Republic has no single law banning wild camping, and that helps you less than it sounds. Two statutes cover almost every spot you would actually sleep in: the forest act for woodland, and the nature protection act for national parks and protected landscape areas. What is left over belongs to somebody, and then the owner decides.

In a forest, both halves are banned

Section 20 of the lesní zákon, the forest act (Act 289/1995 Sb.), bans smoking, lighting or keeping open fires, and tábořeni, meaning camping and pitching a tent, outside designated places. The Hasičský záchranný sbor, the Czech fire and rescue service, cites the same provision along with a fine of up to 15,000 Kč, and adds that open fires are also banned within 50 m of the forest edge (verified 15 September 2026).

If you are in a motorhome, the second half matters more. Lesy České republiky, the state forest enterprise, writes it this way: the forest act bans driving and standing with motor vehicles in forests. Only the forest owner can grant an exception, which for state forest means the local forest administration, and the entry permit (povolenka k vjezdu) is expressly not issued for outings, mushroom picking or parties (verified 15 September 2026). That rules out the forest track with the turning circle at the end, even with no sign anywhere near it. The ban lives in the statute, not on a post.

National parks and CHKO: same answer, different authority

Inside a national park, section 16(2) of the nature protection act (Act 114/1992 Sb.) bans two things, and the Krkonoše National Park Administration quotes both verbatim. First, tábořit a rozdělávat ohně mimo místa vyhrazená orgánem ochrany přírody: camping and lighting fires outside places designated by the nature conservation authority. Second, vjíždět a setrvávat s motorovými vozidly a obytnými přívěsy mimo silnice, místní komunikace a místa vyhrazená: driving in and staying with motor vehicles and caravans off roads, local roads and designated places (verified 15 September 2026).

In a CHKO, a chráněná krajinná oblast or protected landscape area, AOPK ČR says camping and fires are banned outside the built-up area of a municipality. One more line from the same agency applies everywhere: an exemption or permit from the nature conservation authority does not replace the landowner’s consent.

Where a bivouac ends

AOPK ČR draws a line that matters to walkers and drivers alike. Simply bivouacking is not treated as camping: one night in the open, essentially without shelter, and leaving no signs of a stay, above all no litter. In bad weather the agency accepts a simple cover such as a tarp. In a národní přírodní rezervace, a national nature reserve, even that is out.

For vehicles, the same page says a single night’s sleep in a vehicle, at a place where no ban on entering and staying with motor vehicles applies, usually does not meet the definition of camping. Add more to it, a stay of several days, a shelter put up, cooking outside, litter, and it can become prohibited tábořeni (verified 15 September 2026). Translated into your evening: sleeping inside a closed vehicle in a parking lot where you may legally park is a different act from awning, chairs, leveling ramps and two nights. The second version is the one that gets you a knock. How that same line is drawn elsewhere is in the overnight parking guide.

What is left

The ordinary answer is a campsite, often an autokemp in Czech, and every holiday region has them. Two special cases are worth knowing, both for walkers rather than vehicles.

Šumava National Park keeps seven nouzová nocoviště, designated emergency overnight sites: Bučina, Hůrka u Prášil, Modrava, Nové Údolí, Pod Plešným jezerem, Poledník and Strážný. They run year round from 6 p.m. to 9 a.m., for one night only, with no fire of any kind including camping stoves, at 5 to 10 tents or 10 to 20 people depending on the site, and cannot be booked: first come, first served (verified 15 September 2026).

Krkonoše has no equivalent. The park administration says camping is not permitted anywhere in the park, and that the útulny, the shelters on the ridges, exist for sitting out bad weather rather than for sleeping.

Where a sign at the entrance or current guidance from the park administration says something different from a website, including this one, the sign wins. What a violation costs elsewhere in Europe is in the wild camping penalties comparison, the neighbor with the messier answer is covered in wild camping in Austria, and every country page sits under rules.

Sources

  1. Chci tábořit ve zvláště chráněném území, Agentura ochrany přírody a krajiny ČR (Czech Nature Conservation Agency)
  2. Visitor rules, basic rules in KRNAP, Krkonoše National Park Administration
  3. Frequently asked questions, Krkonoše National Park Administration
  4. Nouzová nocoviště (emergency overnight campsites), Šumava National Park Administration
  5. Aby v přírodě nehořelo, Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic
  6. Povolení k vjezdu do lesa (forest entry permits), Lesy České republiky, s. p.

When a source is not in English, follow the link for the official wording.