Motorhome in Germany: overnight parking rules

§ 12 of the Straßenverkehrs-Ordnung (StVO, the German road traffic regulations) works by exclusion: it lists where stopping and parking are prohibited; anywhere else, unless a sign says otherwise, you may park. It has no separate category for motorhomes: a 3.5-tonne vehicle follows the same rules as a car.

Sleeping on board is covered by no article, either to ban it or to allow it. What counts is the motoring clubs' reading: according to the ADAC, you may spend one night in your vehicle in a car park or at the roadside to restore your fitness to drive (“Wiederherstellung der Fahrtüchtigkeit”). The ACE adds: once, when tiredness stops you reaching your planned stop, and you leave once rested. Both clubs also give a limit: 10 hours at most. That cap, like the rule itself, is in no statute.

What turns it into camping: anything that comes out of the vehicle (awning, table, chairs, barbecue) and settling in, several nights in the same spot. Camping is allowed only on sites and areas that permit it.

§ 12 is federal; the rest is decided locally.

• • Local signs — no motorhomes, cars only, height barriers, time limits: signs override the general rule, at night too. Read the plate under the P sign: that is often where motorhomes are excluded.
• • Tourist towns — some close car parks to motorhomes at night and send them to their Stellplatz; it is signposted.
• • Private car parks — supermarkets, restaurants, Autohöfe (truck stops): the owner sets the rules. Ask before you sleep.
• • Forests and nature areas — the Länder forest laws ban driving a motor vehicle in a forest without permission, forest tracks included; the rules of nature reserves (Naturschutzgebiete) generally ban camping there.

Fines: there is no federal tariff for “wild camping”. Penalties come from Länder laws and town bylaws, and vary from one Land to the next; we do not repeat the unsourced amounts that circulate. To compare with neighbouring countries, see the European table in our van parking guide.

An Umweltzone is a low-emission zone, marked at the entrance by an “Umwelt Zone” sign (Zeichen 270.1) with a plate showing which stickers may enter, and at the exit by the same sign struck through (270.2). To drive in, you need the green sticker (Umweltplakette) on the windscreen. That is all it is for: you can cross Germany without one by driving around the zones.

Foreign plates: no exemption. The federal regulation (35. BImSchV) exempts from the ban only vehicles carrying the sticker; it makes no provision for vehicles registered abroad, and the French Crit'Air sticker is not recognised by the federal rule. Yes, you need one.

• • The fine — €100 for driving in without a valid sticker (Bußgeldkatalog, annex, no. 153), since the tariff reform that took effect on 9 November 2021. The €80 still shown on some city pages is the old amount.
• • Ordering it — vehicle registration offices and the vehicle inspection bodies (TÜV, DEKRA, GTÜ…) issue it, online too for a foreign vehicle: a copy of your registration certificate; if the Euro standard is not on it, add a manufacturer's document (the certificate of conformity, COC, for instance), otherwise the sticker is assigned by year of first registration. The sticker carries your registration number; order it a few weeks before you leave.
• • The zones — the current list and map are on the Umweltbundesamt (UBA) portal; the list changes. The plate at the entrance is what counts: green, in most zones.

With a motorhome, the easiest option is still to park outside the zone and go into town by public transport.

A Wohnmobilstellplatz is Germany's motorhome aire: a reserved car park, run by a town or privately (farm, winery, thermal spa, marina), where you go to sleep, often with a water and waste point (“Ver- und Entsorgung”), sometimes electricity. A Campingplatz is a regular campsite, where you may set up outside.

• • Paying — many Stellplätze are unstaffed: a pay terminal at the entrance, water and electricity by coin or card. Keep some change.
• • Finding one — PiNCAMP (ADAC), the Bordatlas (DoldeMedien), Park4Night and Campercontact; read recent reviews (season, maximum length, service point).
• • Arrive early — most cannot be booked: first come, first served.
• • Motorway services — fine for a night's rest, but among lorries, and the ADAC advises against them because of break-ins: a Stellplatz near the exit is quieter and safer.

• • No vignette — Germany has no toll for cars: motorways and federal roads are free up to 3.5 t. The only exceptions are two toll tunnels, the Warnowtunnel in Rostock and the Herrentunnel in Lübeck.
• • Above 3.5 t — since 1 July 2024, the HGV toll (Lkw-Maut) applies above 3.5 t to vehicles intended or used for carrying goods. The Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility (BALM) does not apply it to vehicles that carry people, motorhomes with fixed living equipment (beds, kitchen, toilet…) among them. With a cargo bay or a trailer, the ADAC, citing the BALM, adds that the living area must make up at least half of the usable floor space and the trip must be private; otherwise the toll applies (with a boat trailer larger than the living area, for example).
• • Voluntary registration — a toll-exempt vehicle can be registered with Toll Collect (voluntary, valid for two years at most); according to Toll Collect, this avoids most needless checks and back-payment demands. It helps most if yours, on a lorry or bus chassis, does not clearly look like a motorhome. It does not certify the exemption, which comes from the law itself.

Coming from France: tolls and Crit'Air are in our guide to motorhome rules in France. Heading south: the Italy guide and the Croatia guide, where sleeping outside a campsite is banned.

With nights outside an aire limited to a rest stop, the route runs from one Stellplatz to the next, and the limit is whichever tank empties or fills first.

• • Grey water and cassette — empty them at a service point (Entsorgungsstation), never into a ditch or a drain: see the grey water and toilets guide.
• • Fresh water — use and tank sizing in the van water autonomy guide.
• • Electricity — without hook-up, the battery carries you: the van solar and battery calculator sizes panel and battery.

Our motorhome autonomy calculator combines fresh water, grey water, cassette and energy: it tells you how many nights you last between two service points.

1. The green sticker on the windscreen if your route crosses an Umweltzone; otherwise, a car park outside the zone picked in advance.
2. Stellplätze open along the route, and a campsite as plan B.
3. At every arrival, the P sign and its plate read before you switch off the engine.
4. Nothing outside except on a campsite.
5. Above 3.5 t, registration with Toll Collect if the vehicle does not look like a motorhome.