Weekly Digest №43 Lawson opens 48 shops to motorhomes overnight Read
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Lawson: motorhome nights at 48 shops · VanLife Weekly #43

26.10.2026 06:34 12 min РУС
Lawson: motorhome nights at 48 shops · VanLife Weekly #43
Original source: AI · OpenVan.camp

From 30 October the Japanese convenience store chain Lawson lets motorhomes stay overnight in the car parks of 11 more of its shops. German campsites logged a record 19.5 million overnight stays this summer, Christchurch City Council in New Zealand has started scanning number plates in its car parks, and Argentine pensioners Reina and Paco told the Pibitos Viajeros channel how they covered 83,000 km in their motorhome.

This week in brief

  • From 30 October the Japanese 24-hour convenience store chain Lawson opens overnight spaces for motorhomes at 11 more shops on the island of Kyushu. That brings the total to 48 shops, and a space for the night costs 2,500–3,000 yen.
  • In the Coimbra region of Portugal, five campsites take motorhomes in autumn. Four of them are open all year, including Orbitur Gala, 400 m from the beach in Figueira da Foz.
  • In the Netherlands, a camper van whose registration is suspended for the winter must not be parked on the street, not even for an hour. The tax office can charge up to a year of back tax and fine you up to €6,709.
  • From 22 October, for six months, Christchurch City Council (New Zealand) is scanning number plates in its car parks and fining anyone who sleeps there without a self-containment certificate.
  • Argentines Reina and Paco, aged 70 and 72, have driven 83,000 km in three years in their Peugeot Boxer motorhome. A single trip from the Pacific coast to the Caribbean and back accounted for 25,000 km of that.

Lawson opens 48 Japanese shops to motorhomes overnight

Lawson, one of Japan's largest convenience store chains, sets aside spaces in its shop car parks where you can spend the night in a motorhome. The service is called RV Park. Lawson runs it with Glory, a Japanese maker of payment and cash machines, and the Japan RV Association. Lawson began trialling it in July 2025 in Chiba Prefecture, and spaces are now available at 37 shops in six prefectures. From Friday 30 October 11 shops on the island of Kyushu join them: two in Saga Prefecture (Karatsu and Imari), five in Nagasaki and four in Oita. Lawson picked shops near tourist sights and toll motorway exits, and in Oita also shops within easy reach of the Beppu hot springs.

You book a space on RV-Park.jp. Each shop takes one vehicle a night and gives it two ordinary parking bays, which staff mark with a sign. A night costs 2,500–3,000 yen per vehicle, not per person, and payment is by credit card only. Check-in is from 15:00 to 22:00, and you leave by 10:00. The shop gives you a permit, a sheet of rules and a rubbish bag, lends you an extension lead for mains power and takes up to one bag of food waste.

In November Lawson plans to open spaces at shops around Tokyo and on the island of Shikoku, and to have about 70 shops taking part by the end of March 2027. According to the Japan RV Association, people in Japan owned more than twice as many motorhomes in 2025 as in 2013. Lawson says it launched the service because people need places where they can sleep in their vehicle undisturbed.

What this means for you

If you are touring Japan in a hired camper van, book on RV-Park.jp in advance: each shop has only one space, and by evening it may be taken. You may sleep only in the booked space with the sign, not in the shop's ordinary car park, even if it is empty. Take a credit card, as cash is not accepted. Arrive before 22:00 and plan to leave by 10 in the morning. If you need power, ask for the extension lead when you check in at the shop. The nearest equivalents in Europe are France Passion in France and Landvergnügen in Germany, but there you stay with farmers and winemakers rather than at shops. You pay for a year's membership, and the nights themselves are free.

Number of the week: petrol got cheaper in 22 of 27 EU countries

Our price checks from 17 to 26 October show that petrol fell in 22 of the 27 EU countries, with a median change across the EU of minus 1.68%. The biggest drop was in Austria, where a litre costs €1.78 instead of €1.86 (4.5% less). In Sweden a litre costs 17.37 kronor instead of 18.17, and in Poland 6.68 zloty instead of 6.94. Diesel, which most motorhomes run on, was flat overall for the week: the EU median was 0.00%, with rises in 13 countries and falls in 12. It fell in Ireland (€2.06 instead of €2.12), Austria (€2.12 instead of €2.17) and Italy (€2.24 instead of €2.29). It rose in Cyprus (€2.01 instead of €1.94, up 3.4%) and Croatia (€1.92 instead of €1.87).

If you are driving a motorhome from Germany to Italy through Austria, fill up in Austria. A litre of diesel costs €2.12 there, against €2.27 in Germany and €2.24 in Italy. Filling an 80-litre tank saves you about €12 compared with Germany and about €10 compared with Italy. We update prices for every country each weekend on our Fuel prices page.

In brief

  • USA, Seattle · passed by the council, awaiting the mayor's signature: a week ago the city council was only preparing to vote. It has now passed a package of six laws by eight votes to one. From 2027 a motorhome without a city permit may be parked on the street for no more than two hours. Offenders get a warning first, then the vehicle is impounded. The permits are meant for people who live in their vehicles, and the mayor still has to sign the law. If you pass through Seattle in 2027, find a campsite for the night rather than parking on the street.
  • Finland, category B licence · directive adopted, deadlines still ahead: posts on social media claimed that under the new EU directive you could drive a motorhome of up to 4,250 kg on a B licence only if it was electric or gas-powered. Finland's Ministry of Transport and the transport agency Traficom have now confirmed that the rule covers motorhomes with any engine, diesel included. Drivers will need extra training, a test or both.
  • Spain, Madrid region · passed: on 22 October the Assembly, the parliament of the Community of Madrid, passed a new tourism law to replace the 1999 one. Sites that take motorhomes overnight are now named in the law as a type of tourist accommodation, on a par with hostels. Until now only separate regional rules covered them.
  • Stellantis, camper vans: the group's commercial vehicle division, Stellantis Pro One, showed four camper vans in Valencia based on Citroën, Fiat Professional, Opel and Peugeot models, priced from €32,000 to €73,500. The cheapest, the Peugeot Rifter, was converted by the Spanish firm Tinkervan. If you are looking for a first camper van for weekend trips, compare dealer prices: the gap between the cheapest and the dearest of the four is more than €40,000.
  • Germany, campsites: according to the booking portal camping.info, the country's campsites recorded 19.5 million overnight stays in July and August. That is a record and almost 4% more than in summer 2025. Saarland (up 16.4%) and Saxony-Anhalt (up 15.1%) grew fastest, and the Dutch remained the main foreign guests, with 1.36 million overnight stays.
  • Austria, Wels show: Caravan Salon Austria drew 46,235 visitors from 14 to 18 October, almost as many as a year earlier (47,200). The number of exhibiting companies rose by more than 20% to about 280. The showground's parking areas recorded 1,404 overnight stays during the show.
  • Webastoⓘ, heater: the German company has released the Air Top Pro 25 air heater for motorhomes and camper vans up to 8 m long. It puts out up to 2.5 kW and runs on diesel, petrol or HVO (diesel made from vegetable oils) from the vehicle's tank, so you do not need a gas bottle for heating. The heater adjusts itself to altitudes of up to 5,500 m.

Where to go

Coimbra region (Portugal), late October and November. Many Portuguese campsites close in autumn, but the local paper Notícias de Coimbra has listed five campsites in the district that stay open. Coimbra's municipal campsite in the Areeiro area, 5 km from the centre, is open all year. In Figueira da Foz, the Orbitur Gala campsite sits in a pine wood 400 m from the beach and is also open all year. The municipal campsite by the beach at Praia da Tocha (Cantanhede) is open all year and has a motorhome service point, but its shop, bar and restaurant open only from June to September. The Vila Caia campsite by the Mira lagoon is open until 8 December, and the sea is about 4 km away. If you prefer the mountains, the campsite by the São Gião river beach on the Alva (Oliveira do Hospital) is also open all year, according to directories, and makes a good base for walks in the Serra do Açor and Serra da Estrela ranges. Ring the campsite before you go: out of season, reception hours and services may change.

Watch out

  • Netherlands, camper van owners · rule in force: since 1 January 2026 camper vans pay half the normal road tax instead of a quarter, so it pays to suspend the registration of a camper van you do not need in winter. A year's suspension costs €88.05 for a vehicle up to 15 years old. You can end it early, but you get no money back. A suspended camper van must not be parked on the street, though, not even for an hour to unload at home. If the tax office finds it there, it can charge back tax for four quarters and add a fine of half the unpaid tax, from €50 to €6,709. In a survey by the Dutch motorhome club NKC, 56% of camper van owners named road tax as their main financial worry. Unload a suspended camper van only on enclosed private land.
  • New Zealand, Christchurch · from 22 October, for six months: the city council is scanning number plates in council-owned car parks and checking whether each vehicle has a self-containment certificate (built-in toilet, water, waste tank). Under national law you may sleep outside campsites only in a vehicle with such a certificate and a green card on the windscreen, and the council fines everyone else. If you hire a camper van, check at pick-up that it has both the certificate and the card.
  • Monaco, visiting in a camper van · rule in force: you can park a camper van in only two car parks: Parking des Écoles in Fontvieille (15 spaces for vehicles up to 7 m, €40 a day) and Parking des Pêcheurs at the foot of the Rock of Monaco. You may not sleep in the vehicle there, and you cannot enter Monaco with a caravan at all. Stay overnight in France and visit Monaco for the day.
  • USA, Kansas, motorway hard shoulder: on 19 October Michael Schreiber, 70, from California stopped his motorhome on the hard shoulder of Interstate 135 near Salina to use the toilet on board. A tipper lorry crashed into the motorhome. Schreiber was killed, but his companion was unhurt. Do not stop on the hard shoulder of a motorway: drive on to a rest area or leave the motorway.

Calendar: 26 October to 1 November

One last good thing

83,000 km after retirement. Reina and Paco from Argentina, aged 70 and 72, started travelling by motorhome during the pandemic. In three years they have covered 83,000 km in a 2021 diesel Peugeot Boxer. Their longest trip took seven or eight months: 25,000 km along the Pacific to the Caribbean, and on the way back they spent five days sailing down the Amazon to the Atlantic. They do not live in the vehicle full time, but set off on trips lasting several months. Their reason for never putting trips off fits in one sentence: “Our lives are not guaranteed, and our day is today.”

A piano in a motorhome. Solange Mendes de Souza from Brazil retired at 64 after working for the federal prosecution service. Now 67, she travels alone in a motorhome weighing about four tonnes with a Roland digital piano on board. Since November 2024, when the motorhome was ready, she has driven almost 50,000 km through Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and Peru and reached Ushuaia in southern Argentina. She took up the piano again during the pandemic with online lessons, decades after giving up lessons as a child.

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