Vanlife Summer 2025: New Rules, Red Tape & Rolling Festivals
Vanlife Summer 2025: New Rules, Red Tape & Rolling Festivals
Remember that dreamy scene in your head—parking nose-out to a turquoise bay, kettle whistling, dolphins giggling? Well, this summer a few bureaucrats have barged into the picture brandishing clipboards saying…mostly no. Meanwhile, the van-life tribe is busier than ever, packing out festival fields from Yorkshire to Saxony. Here’s the latest shake-up of life on the European road.
New Rules & Updates on the Road
1. Greece pulls a U-turn—sort of
Back in January, Athens slammed the door on almost every form of roadside parking, slapping €300 fines (and the odd jail threat) on anyone who so much as unfolded a deckchair near a road. Van-lifers howled, locals grumbled, and—miracle of miracles—the government listened. Law 5209/2025, in force since 1 July, now lets rigs under 7.5 m park like ordinary cars, while bigger beasts get a 24-hour grace window. But—and it’s a Zeus-sized but—sleeping, cooking or popping an awning is still classed as illegal “camping.” Day-park, yes. Wild-camp, no. Keep that in mind before you crack open the retsina. (vanlifezone.com, Spots4Kite)
2. The UK’s overnight see-saw
Keyhaven, Hampshire has just banned motorhomes from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., adding daytime pay-and-display fees for good measure. Locals claimed their postcard seafront was turning into a free campsite; councillors agreed and out came the “NO OVERNIGHT STAYS” signs. (Modern Campground, Hampshire County Council)
Farther north, North Yorkshire is trialling similar curfews on three coast-road lay-bys, while Lancashire is flirting with the opposite approach—Fleetwood now welcomes vans for £7.50 a night in its central car park and swears local chip shops are booming. The bigger tussle is national: campaign group CAMpRA argues that 80 % of owners would gladly pay for French-style “aires” instead of playing cat-and-mouse with wardens. Place your bets, but check each county’s signage before bedding down. (North Yorkshire Council, Lancashire Evening Post)
3. Borders & paperwork: the calm before the queue
Relax—no new forms this summer. The EU’s long-awaited Entry/Exit System (EES)—think airport e-gates for land borders—won’t start scanning passports until November 2025, and the €7 ETIAS travel authorisation has slipped to late 2026. British passports still collect manual stamps and must obey the 90-in-180-day Schengen rule, so keep your day-counter app handy and arrive at Dover with time (and tea) to spare. (Travel Europe, Travel Europe, Travel Europe)
Community Pulse: Festivals on Fire
Vanlove Fest, Yorkshire (18-20 July) – Elvington Airfield morphs into Britain’s friendliest plywood palace: conversion show-and-tells, welding demos, sunrise yoga and enough live music to rattle every fairy-light string in sight. Bring earplugs and your best “Oh wow, you fitted a shower in there?” face. (Vanlove 2025, tickets.vanlove.com)
Vanlife Ferropolis, Germany (21-24 August) – Imagine 600 campervans basking beneath Cold-War-era megadiggers on a lakeside peninsula. Add paddle-boards, tech talks, children’s soldering workshops (yes, really) and midnight DJ sets. It’s Mad Max meets glamping—and tickets are flying. (VANLIFE Ferropolis, Ferropolis)
Ticketed-out already? Smaller meet-ups are sprouting across Ireland, Portugal and Spain faster than a compost loo at Glastonbury. Keep an eye on our events calendar (and the Wheely Great Instagram stories) for pop-up gatherings near you.
How to Roll With It
Mindset Why it matters Quick fix Stay informed Laws now change faster than the weather. Bookmark this News & Updates page and set an alert. Stay flexible Wild spots dry up? Campsite fees bite? Ferry queues swell? Pad the budget, pad the schedule, and keep Plan B on speed-dial. Stay connected Fellow nomads offer real-time advice (and the odd spare part). Say hello at a festival, share coordinates on safe group chats, pay forward good tips.
Lastly, Lucy and I are hammering away on deeper legal guides and shiny planning spreadsheets, so you can spend less time googling and more time stargazing. Stick around, and you’ll be first in the queue when they drop.
Until the next roundup—see you down the road.
— Harvey
(Missed the last dispatch? Catch up here: Vanlife 2025 – The Boom, the Rules, and the Road Ahead)
