Wild camping is becoming an increasingly popular way of travelling and means sleeping outside of campsites. It can be a park, a parking lot, a beach or somewhere high in the mountains. At wild camping, we do not have to sleep in a tent. We can sleep in a car, motorhome, hammock or just in the sleeping bag on the floor.
People practice wild camping for a variety of reasons. Some want to reduce the cost of travel, others want to break away from the stressful everyday life, who want peace and to avoid the loud neighbours in the camp, while some simply enjoy in finding your place under the sun.
Wild camping in Greece
The ideal destination for wild camping is Greece, which we have chosen this time for our trip. For the purpose of wild camping, we converted our caravan into a bedroom on wheels. Just in case, we also took a tent with us, which in the end turned out to be a very good decision.
Our destination in Greece was Chalkidiki and the area around Parga. The first day we explored the middle finger of Sithonia, where we practiced wild camping as sleeping in a car and sleeping in a tent. We spent the rest of the days exploring Parga and its surroundings, where we also found many great sleeping locations.
Why not help yourself with advanced technology?
While travelling around Greece, we found most of the wild camping sites by »accident«, and two apps were a great help to us. Both overlander and Park4night are mobile apps where travellers take notes of their sleeping locations. Both official campsites and wild camping sites are recorded. Most locations have detailed descriptions, coordinates and a photo. To find a specific location, just click on the navigation and you already have a route.
Our wild camping experience
We have a very good experience with wild camping in Greece, as we had no problems anywhere. We always found a suitable place during the day so we could see where we would set up our tent or park ourselves by car. We were looking for wild beaches where we always set our tent away from peoples eyes. We set up our tent at dusk and put it down in the early morning. This successfully avoided any unwanted visit.
Our wild camping tips:
- Set up the tent after the sunset and put it down it as early as possible in the morning
- look for remote beaches where there is a bar as these usually have a shower
- do not have tables and chairs in front of the tent or car overnight
- if you find a place close to the locals, ask them if they mind if you sleep here. They probably won’t mind. We were even once advised to go elsewhere because police was doing checks every day
Finally …
Wild camping is banned in some countries, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. You need to find a place where you (most likely) will not be found. Of course, these are not places near major landmarks of the country visited. To be discovered, there are more options in the prime season when they perform the most checks. The decision is either up to you, if the risk of getting caught and fining you will deter you from trying wild camping.
