Wild camping in France: what the law says, from beaches to national parks

The basic rule: allowed, with the consent of whoever uses the land

A meadow above a lake, the sun going down, a 1 kg tent in your rucksack: it is the stuff of daydreams, and it always comes with the same question. The answer starts off rather well. The principle, set out in the planning code (Code de l’urbanisme), fits in one sentence [1]:

In other words: on private land, you need the consent of the owner, or of whoever works the land, such as a farmer who rents the meadow. On public land, such as a state forest (forêt domaniale) or land belonging to a commune (a French municipality), consent comes from whoever manages it, and its rules apply. Either way, never on a road or any other public thoroughfare.

The word ‘bivouac’ appears nowhere in this code, which only talks about camping. A bivouac only has an official definition where a set of rules gives it one, as in the national parks: a single night, a minimal set-up, a small tent you cannot stand up in, pitched in the evening and taken down in the morning [2]. As for bivouacking without asking anyone, on land whose owner you do not know: it is common practice, but it is not a right. The law itself makes the consent of whoever has the use of the land a condition, and the owner can object and ask you to leave [1].

Where camping is banned across France

Enlarge photo

The same code lists the places where ‘isolated’ camping (camping pratiqué isolément), meaning camping outside a campsite, is banned unless the authorities grant an exemption [1]:

• the seashore: all the ground the sea covers and uncovers, as far as the highest tides can reach [3];
• registered and classified sites (sites inscrits and sites classés), as well as sites in the process of being classified: landscapes protected under the Code de l’environnement, France’s environment code;
• classified outstanding heritage sites (sites patrimoniaux remarquables) and the surroundings of historic monuments: where no boundary has been drawn, anything visible from the monument, or visible at the same time as it, within 500 m [4];
• the area around drinking water intakes: 200 m around the points where water is drawn for public consumption.

Add to these the protection forestsWoods and forests classified by the State to protect slopes and soil, for their role around large cities, or for ecological reasons. (forêts de protection), where camping outside the tracks and areas provided for it is a class 5 offence, with a fine of up to €1,500 [5]. French law sorts its minor offences, the contraventions, into five classes, each with its own maximum fine.

A classified site is not always easy to spot. The Géoportail de l’urbanisme, a government map site in French, shows the local development plans published there (plan local d’urbanisme, or PLU) and the land-use restrictions that go with them, including registered and classified sites, which trigger this camping ban [6].

Local rules: communes and public forests

A commune’s local development plan can ban camping outside campsites in certain zones. The mayor can also ban it by order (arrêté) when camping harms public health, safety or peace and quiet, the landscape, natural habitats, or farming and forestry [1].

Enlarge photo

These local bans only apply if they are posted at the town hall (mairie) and signposted at the usual access points to the areas concerned [1]. So the sign at the entrance to the car park or the path is not there for decoration: it is the local rule. The national bans above apply with or without a sign. Breaching a police order (arrêté de police) is a class 2 offence under the Code pénal, France’s criminal code, with a fine of up to €150 [7, 8].

In a state forest, managed by the Office national des forêts (ONF), the French state forestry agency, no national regulation covers bivouacking. According to the ONF’s visitors’ charter, a bivouac ‘may be authorised’ depending on the site, but not camping, which lasts several days [9]. So the rules are local. In the forest of Fontainebleau, south-east of Paris, for example, three bivouac areas set up in the state forest, with room for no more than 20 tents, welcome campers, and wild camping in any other form remains banned everywhere else in the forest [10].

National parks, park by park

A French national park has two zones. The core zoneThe most protected zone of a national park, subject to its own regulations. (cœur), where the park’s regulations apply. And the surrounding areaThe communes around the core that have signed up to the park’s charter; the core’s regulations do not apply there. (aire d’adhésion), where bivouacking remains allowed unless a commune has decided otherwise, within the general rules above [2]. In the core, camping is banned and bivouacking is regulated, with hours and places specific to each park [2].

In the Écrins, a park order of 16 June 2026 tightened the rules: a portable gas stove is allowed, but no other burner of any kind and no open fire; no bivouacking within 500 m of the Lauvitel and Muzelle lakes outside the signposted areas; and no nights in car parks or on roads or tracks in the core, even in a vehicle [11]. The national parks portal page, last updated in February 2025, does not reflect this yet: if in doubt, the park’s own text prevails.

The hour’s walk is counted from the nearest road access or from the edge of the core. To estimate it before you set off, our guide to estimating walking time explains the method.

Bivouacking outside the core rules is a class 3 offence, with a fine of up to €450 [14]. Fire is banned there: carrying or lighting a fire, a lit cigarette included, is a class 5 offence, with a fine of up to €1,500 [14]. Park wardens (gardes-moniteurs) have the power to record these offences [2]. Regional nature parks and nature reserves have their own rules too, to be checked case by case [2].

Fire, the real red line

If you remember only one rule, make it this one. The Code forestier, France’s forestry code, bars anyone other than the owner, or an occupier with the owner’s consent, from carrying or lighting a fire in woods and forests, or on any land, wooded or not, within 200 m of them [15]. It is a class 4 offence, with a fine of up to €750 [16]. Since 2023, smoking has also been banned in woods and forests, and within 200 m of them, during the fire-risk period set by the prefect (préfet), the State’s representative in each département, an administrative area similar to a county [15].

In summer, access to the forests themselves can be restricted. In the Bouches-du-Rhône, the département around Marseille, for example, from 1 June to 30 September, access to the forest areas is set each day according to weather and drought conditions, and published around 6pm for the next day [17]. Other départements exposed to forest fires publish their own access maps.

The fines in plain English

Checking your spot before you go

1. Pin down the spot: seashore, classified site, national park core, nature reserve, public forest? The Géoportail de l’urbanisme shows the local development plans and the protected sites published there.
2. Read the land manager’s rules: the regulations page of the park, reserve or forest, checking when it was last updated.
3. Contact the town hall or the tourist office about local orders, especially in summer and on the coast.
4. In summer, in départements exposed to forest fires, check the forest access map the evening before.
5. On site, read the signs at access points (interdit means prohibited, feu means fire), and ask the owner or the farmer for permission when you can.

French law is more welcoming than you might think to anyone who travels light and leaves early. To anyone who lights a fire, rather less so.

Guillaume Hoarau

Camping, wild camping, bushcraft and hiking

Guillaume Hoarau writes for Outfarer about camping, wild camping, bushcraft and hiking. A survival-skills enthusiast and a collector of old field manuals, he likes clear explanations, lists that earn their place and other people’s stories, which he tells well.

All their articles