Spain rewrites motorhome parking rules · VanLife Weekly #30

Plenty happened in the motorhome world last week: Spain rewrote the rules for motorhomes in four separate decisions at once — from a law that will ban anyone from blocking their parking starting in October, to a 200-euro fine for a bald tyre on a trailer; Honda announced its own four-wheel-drive camper, the Trail Master, at 80,000 dollars; in Turkey hotel prices are pushing tourists into caravans in droves; and in Adana the police found and returned a teacher's stolen mobile home worth 1.65 million lira.

Spain made four motorhome decisions in one week — and they pull in different directions

Spain is Europe's second most popular country for wintering in a motorhome, and for years the rules there were up to each individual municipality: in some places parking was tolerated, in others you were moved on. Last week four pieces of news at once showed where this is heading. The main one is good: from October 2026 a law takes effect that bans anyone from obstructing motorhome parking in specially designated areas. In other words, it will be harder for local authorities to simply roll boulders onto a site, as they have done for years along the coasts. In the same province of Jaén there are already 33 places to spend the night — campsites, paid and free stopovers among nature parks and Europe's densest scattering of castles.

The other three decisions tighten the screws. The government of the Canary Islands has sent a bill on outdoor accommodation for approval: it introduces safety and quality requirements for campsites and motorhome sites — which means some of the informal spots in southern Gran Canaria will not survive in their current form. In Asturias, Gijón is putting an outright ban on dumping waste water from motorhomes anywhere it likes up for discussion. And across the whole country a minimum tread depth for trailers, trucks and buses has been set for the first time — 1 mm, and it is no longer a recommendation: the fine is 200 euros per tyre.

Taken together it looks like a trade-off: the state recognises motorhomes as a legitimate way to travel and protects their right to park — but in return it demands that you park in the right places, empty your tanks in the right places and drive on sound tyres. A year or two ago that trade was only discussed on forums in Spain; now it is being written into law, and other southern countries usually copy Spanish decisions a couple of seasons later.

In brief

• USA, off-road: Honda has announced the 2027 Trail Master camper — permanent four-wheel drive, a sleeping area, a kitchen and a toilet from the factory, priced from 80,000 to 130,000 dollars. Big carmakers used to leave vehicles like this to conversion specialists; now they are building them themselves.
• Germany, electric: Ari Motors has shown the compact electric camper Ari 458 Pro for 30,000 euros — a range of up to 230 km with 20 hp. Not a machine for long hauls, but a rare case where an electric camper costs about as much as an ordinary car.
• Germany, premium: Concorde has updated its flagship line — the 10.5-metre Centurion 1050 GI is built on an 18-tonne Mercedes-Benz Actros chassis with a 395 hp diesel.
• Japan, compact: Annex RV has presented the Liberty 52 REi, about 5.2 metres long with seating for eight — on a Toyota Camroad chassis, with a kitchen and a bathroom.
• Japan, rental: JAL has launched camper van rental right at Narita Airport: the vehicle is handed over five minutes after a free shuttle ride, and the rental earns air miles.
• Switzerland, lightweight: Alpencamper has released the Eco Slide Out camper weighing 52 kg that a bicycle can tow — the walls slide out in a few seconds.
• Spain, crime: the Guardia Civil has uncovered a channel for illegally importing caravans from the UK into Asturias through the port of Santander — 37 reports and around 28,000 euros in unpaid duties. If you are buying a used caravan with British paperwork, check that the customs clearance is in order.
• France, thefts: at the Montélimar-Est service area along the A7 motorway, around ten campers and caravans were cleaned out in a single night while their owners slept inside. Transit service areas on motorways are the worst place to spend the night.
• Canada, skills: British Columbia has added 64 training places, 48 of them for motorhome technicians. Repair queues in high season are a shared headache, and they are trying to fix it through training.
• China, manufacturing: in the Dalian free economic zone work has started on a motorhome factory for 3,000 vehicles a year costing 207 million yuan.
• USA, service: Winnebagoⓘ and the insurer Progressive have agreed on joint insurance products for owners of the brand's motorhomes.
• Brazil, retro: at the Expoclassic show from 21 to 23 August a 1951 Mercury Country Squire wagon and a 1972 Airstream trailer from the same private collection will be on display.

Where to go

Turkey, September. This season Turkey saw something people had been waiting a long time for: a caravan became cheaper than a hotel, and the market noticed. Tourists are switching to caravans en masse because of accommodation prices — in Kemer near Antalya a four-berth caravan with air conditioning, a kitchen and a shaded seating area costs 2,500 lira a night in July and August and drops to 2,000 lira in September, with the price not depending on the number of guests. That is exactly why September is the month to go: the heat eases, the coast empties out, and the campsites of Antalya and Alanya, booked months ahead in summer, finally free up. If you want more than the sea, head up into inland Anatolia: at Lake Emre near Afyonkarahisar the first camping and caravan festival was held, drawing around a thousand participants from across the country — the region clearly intends to develop this. One warning: city rules are getting stricter — in Bursa caravan parking around Hüdavendigar Park has been banned, though a separate site has been set aside in the Nilüfer district. If you have been eyeing Turkey for a while but were put off by the summer heat and prices, September is your month.

Take care

• Southwest France and Spain, until the end of summer: the wildfire in Gironde forced almost 20,000 people off the Cap Ferret peninsula, before that six campsites near Bordeaux were evacuated, and in Spain fire destroyed 32,000 hectares near Madrid. Keep your tank at least half full and park so you can drive off within a minute; while you are at it, check your policy — a burnt-out caravan is only covered by separate insurance, and compulsory third-party cover will pay you nothing.
• Germany, A9 autobahn: in Thuringia a motorhome driver failed to notice a queue and ran into stationary vehicles at full speed — 34 people injured, with 350,000 euros in damage. A loaded motorhome brakes noticeably worse than a car: keep more distance than you are used to and slow down the moment brake lights come on ahead.
• Cyprus, Larnaca, right now: the authorities have removed illegally parked motorhomes from the beach by the Nautical Club — 12 owners left on their own, six vehicles were towed away and nine structures were demolished. Before a long stay on a Cypriot beach, check the status of the spot with the municipality: "everyone parks here" no longer works in Cyprus.
• South Korea, until 23 August and beyond: in Hallasan National Park on Jeju raids are under way against sleeping in vehicles, with the threat of criminal charges, and in Pohang an amendment allowing long-parked campers on the riverfronts to be towed comes into force on 28 August. Sleep only at marked sites and do not leave your vehicle in a free car park for several days.

Something good to finish

Two stories worth forwarding.

A home came back to its owner. In June a mobile home worth around 1.65 million lira was stolen from Burcu Güven, a 37-year-old teacher from Adana in Turkey — she found out while on holiday in Bali and came back to an empty space. The story looked hopeless: a small home on a trailer is easy to tow away and almost impossible to find. But the police found it and returned it to its owner, and the suspects have been put on a wanted list. A rare case where a story like this has a happy ending.

The saloon saved from the scrapyard. Estonian enthusiast Allar bought a rare Lancia Thesis saloon that was heading for scrap and turned it into a camper with a hard-shell roof tent, printing the missing parts on a 3D printer. Usually people buy a van when they want a home on wheels; here an executive saloon became a camper — and a car nobody else would take on for repair was saved along the way.

This week's questions

What changes for motorhomes in Spain from October?

A law takes effect that bans anyone from obstructing motorhome parking in areas specially designated for it — it will be harder for local authorities to close such sites off with boulders and signs. But this is not permission to park anywhere: in parallel, the Canary Islands are preparing safety and quality requirements for sites, Gijón is introducing a ban on dumping waste water from motorhomes, and a nationwide tread depth requirement for trailers has appeared, with a 200-euro fine per tyre. Put simply, the right to park is being protected, but only in the right places and on roadworthy vehicles.

Is September a good time to take a motorhome to Turkey?

September is the best month: the heat eases, the campsites of Antalya and Alanya that are booked months ahead in summer free up, and rentals get cheaper — a four-berth caravan in Kemer costs 2,000 lira a night against 2,500 at the height of the season. If you want more than the coast, it is worth heading up into inland Anatolia: at Lake Emre near Afyonkarahisar the first caravan festival for a thousand people was held. In the cities, though, check the local rules — in Bursa, for example, caravan parking by the central park has been banned.

What should you do if a campsite is evacuated because of a wildfire?

Leave immediately and without packing: at Cap Ferret people were moved out by the thousand within a few hours. Take your documents, keys, phones, medicines and money — the rest is not worth the risk. Check the route with the campsite management and do not try to go "your own way": on coasts and peninsulas there is often only one way out, and the oncoming lane is taken up by fire crews. And keep your tank at least half full in advance — inside an evacuation zone there is usually nowhere left to refuel.

Is it really possible to buy an electric camper for 30,000 euros?

Yes, with caveats. Germany's Ari Motors offers the compact Ari 458 Pro from exactly 30,000 euros, but it has 20 hp and a range of up to 230 kilometres. It is a vehicle for short trips and life within a few hundred kilometres of home, not for crossing Europe. What it does show is where prices are heading: not long ago an electric camper of any kind cost several times more.

Can a stolen mobile home be found?

There is a chance, and this week two cases confirmed it: in Adana the police returned a stolen mobile home to a teacher, and in Reșița in Romania a motorhome worth 70,000 euros was found after being on an international wanted list since 12 July. Anything that makes the vehicle recognisable and traceable helps: saved body and component numbers, photos of the interior, a hidden GPS tracker and a mechanical hitch lock when parked. File a report straight away — while the trail is fresh, vehicles are found far more often.

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