free camping

[Offyougo]

does anyone have any experience of free camping?we have a van and thinking to try a little europe tour this year.
Any ideas on where to find places to park that have a toilet ?as we r going to have the kids with us so thats quite important.
also what do people do about cooking?
thanks.

There is a wild camping app you can download with POI. We've looked into this before but many locations do not have toilet facilities so would require you to have onboard facilities. A porti potty might be an option if you have the space.

Tbh we've decided that with kids, it's easier all round to book sites with facilities (municipal sites in France for example are usually very good and fairly good value) and will look into wild camping when it's just DH and I.

bump

I took the kids round Europe for 5 months in a camper van on a very tight budget so we did some free camping. Yes there's a website but I rarely used any if those spots as they were hard to find. Its easy in France, lots of French people free camp and every little town has camper van parking with water and chemical toilet disposal. In Spain it's illegal in some places (andalusia) but you can of course just park on the side of the road and sleep in the van. I did the free amp much in Italy, not Poland, a hit in Germany. If you're planning to do it, you need a cassette portapotty, £50 in the Range IIRC.

Cooking- just buy a camping cooker, preferably one using the proper calor gas tank rather than disposable canisters (how long are you going for?) as it'll last longer. I'm renting a van (not a camper van) to take to Scotland at Easter and this is what I'm doing for cooking.

"I didn't free camp much in Italy." is what I meant to say .

Thanks for all the answers. We already camp in tents so have had cooker etc.
Will look into the portapotty for night time/emergencies thanks.
Another thing, did you feel it was safe? We are part of a ethnic minority so not sure if that's colouring my views but would you say that would be a concern?

I was alone (female) with 2 children aged 8 and 10, I was careful about where I camped and if I felt uncomfortable I didn't do it. I didn't free camp in Morocco, although the campsites were so cheap it wasn't necessary. France should be OK. I considered, for instance, free camping in a forest in Poland, but as I didn't have any sense that I could judge the safety of it I didn't do it. Mostly I relied on just looking like a regular van parked overnight on a quiet but not too deserted place. I don't know about racist antagonism, I'd like to say it'd be fine, but I'm afraid it might happen. But I think the campervan parking in France is so established that there, it should be OK. And it would be your first country so you could get a feel for it.

Thanks. Now on to try and decide if to add a pop up roof bed, bring a tent or what lol
Another thing, any tips about packing a van?

We have been round France and Germany in our motorhome with two dogs. There are free stop offs and fairly cheap places. In France they are called Aires and in Germany they're called Stellplatz. They vary in quality and facilities - there could a toilet and a shower, free electric hook up. You often felt a breadman comes round making deliveries. They range in size from 2/3 motorhome to room for up to 50. They are often close to a town, in a park or near the river. There's also French passions which could be a farm, a vineyard, an abbey, etc - you are allowed to stay for free and the expectation is that you will buy some of their produce - you don't have to. You send off for a card and the directory from Vicarious books. I think you pay a small sum for the directory

Buy all the aires book and the stellplaz directory from Vicarios books too www.vicarious-shop.com/collections/motorhome-aires-stopovers

Go onto some of the motorhome forums and you'll get lots of info re free places or wild camping and loads of tips as well as reviews of sites. Also advice on where to get POI lists for your Satnav or computer

Sorry predictive text - you don't often felt a breadman - you often get a breadman