Wild Camping in Austria: What the Laws Allow, State by State

Can you wild camp in Austria? It depends on where you pitch your tent. In the woods, a federal law sets the rule for the whole country [1]. Outside the woods, there’s no single rule: the provisions sit in the laws of Austria’s nine states (Bundesländer), some of which let municipalities pass their own ordinances [2]. Unlike Scandinavia, Austria has no legal basis that allows camping in the wild, the Austrian Alpine Club (Österreichischer Alpenverein, ÖAV) points out [3]. We read the forest law and the nine state laws in the RISAustria’s federal legal information system: the official database with the current versions of federal and state laws., as they stood on October 29, 2026. Here’s what they ban, what they allow under conditions and what is merely tolerated.

In the woods: only with consent, everywhere in Austria

What the law says, first. Austria’s Forest Act of 1975 lets everyone enter the woods for recreation and stay there. Any use beyond that, “such as resting in one spot after dark, tent camping, driving or riding,” requires the forest owner’s consent, or on forest roads the consent of whoever maintains them [1]. The law also applies in the forest’s “combat zone” at treeline, the KampfzoneUnder the forest law, the zone between the natural limit of tree growth and the actual edge of closed forest. [1]. What that means for you: without the owner’s permission, a night in the woods is illegal in all nine states; with it, it’s allowed, as long as no state law or protected area says otherwise.

Austria’s federal government portal, oesterreich.gv.at, also counts sleeping in a vehicle as such a use [4]. Closed-off forest areas are completely off-limits: the owner may, for example, temporarily close logging sites or storm-damaged areas, and marks them with signs [1]. The penalty is modest: using the woods without the necessary consent, or entering a closed area, risks a fine of up to €150 [1].

Nine states, three situations: an overview

Outside the woods, the laws talk about “Zelten” (tent camping), “Campieren” or, in Tyrol and Vienna, “Kampieren,” and each draws the line differently. Three situations stand out. Banned: the law prohibits spending the night outside campgrounds, and a violation is an administrative offenseIn Austria, a violation of an administrative rule, which an authority punishes with a fine. (Verwaltungsübertretung). Allowed with conditions: there’s no statewide ban, but municipalities, landowners or protected areas can prohibit a night out. Tolerated: something isn’t actually allowed, but an authority says in writing that it accepts it; we only mention such tolerance along with its source.

Where tents are banned: five states

Tyrol has the clearest rule. The Tyrolean Camping Act of 2001 bans camping (Kampieren) outside campgrounds, except on land where a municipality has made a temporary exception by ordinance [12]. Camping means spending the night in mobile accommodations such as tents, travel trailers, cars or RVs “as part of tourism” [12]. BivouackingIn mountaineering, spending the night in a makeshift shelter or under the open sky, in a bivy sack, for example. (Biwakieren) in high alpine terrain isn’t covered, “for a short period required by the occasion” [12]. A violation costs up to €600, even an attempt is punishable, and the authority must order you to remove your shelter within a set deadline [12].

Carinthia bans pitching a tent or parking a travel trailer, RVs included, in open countryside outside officially authorized campgrounds; “alpine bivouacking,” among other things, is exempt [6]. The fine can reach €3,630, or €7,260 with aggravating circumstances or for a repeat offense [6]. Lower Austria bans setting up or parking travel trailers, RVs or “mobile dwellings” on undeveloped land outside built-up areas and outside approved campgrounds [7]. The law doesn’t mention tents; the federal portal and the ÖAV count them as mobile dwellings [8, 17]. The text makes no exception for mountaineers, and its maximum fine is the highest of the nine states: up to €14,500, and an attempt is punishable [7].

In Burgenland, camping in open countryside outside officially authorized campgrounds or mobile home parks is banned, with fines of up to €3,600, or up to €7,300 for repeated and serious offenses [5]. Finally, Vienna’s 1985 camping ordinance (Kampierverordnung) bans, in outdoor public places outside campgrounds, even laying out and using a sleeping bag, putting up a tent, and parking a car, RV or travel trailer to live or sleep in [14]. The fine is up to €700 [15].

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Where the municipality decides: Upper Austria, Salzburg, Vorarlberg

Upper Austria’s Tourism Act of 2018 contains no general ban. It does, however, let a municipality decide by ordinance that camping outside campgrounds is only allowed in certain places or on certain occasions, is banned in certain places, or even across the entire municipality [13]. Even where an ordinance applies, camping is still allowed if the person who controls the land tolerates it without seeking financial gain. Violating an ordinance risks a fine of up to €3,000 [13].

In Salzburg, the mayor can ban camping outside campgrounds if it significantly harms, among other things, safety, farming or the natural balance, and the town council can decide by ordinance where it’s allowed and where it isn’t [9]. Some municipalities use this to ban, for example within town limits, setting up tents, travel trailers or RVs to sleep in at night, the federal portal says [20]. A violation can cost up to €10,000; bivouacking in high alpine terrain is outside the law’s scope [9]. Salzburg’s Nature Conservation Act, however, protects alpine ÖdlandUnder Salzburg’s Nature Conservation Act, land above the zone of closed forest that is cultivated neither for farming nor for forestry., the uncultivated land above the forest: any measure that could harm it needs a permit from the nature conservation authority [19]. Whether a single night in a tent counts, the act doesn’t say.

Vorarlberg follows the same pattern: the mayor must ban the setting up of tents, travel trailers and similar mobile shelters outside campgrounds by formal decision if certain interests are “grossly harmed,” and the town council can restrict them to certain places by ordinance [16]. Pitching anyway risks up to €700 [16]. Finally, Styria has no provision expressly dealing with camping outside campgrounds, according to the federal portal [11]. Its 1921 law on free access in the mountains opens the uncultivated land above treeline to visitors, except alpine pastures used for something other than grazing: anyone may go there [10]. The ÖAV concludes that camping on this land should be possible too [17]. That’s the club’s reading, not the text of the law.

Above treeline: bivouacs, emergency bivouacs, shelters

The exceptions for mountaineers are tersely worded and defined nowhere. Tyrol and Salzburg exclude bivouacking in high alpine terrain from their camping laws, and Carinthia exempts “alpine bivouacking” from its tent ban [12, 9, 6]. How far that goes is read in different ways. For Tyrol, the federal portal takes it to mean a single makeshift night on a mountain tour above treeline, planned or forced by a sudden change in the weather, an injury or darkness [21]; for Carinthia, by contrast, it says a planned bivouac that doesn’t arise from an emergency is banned [18]. In its overview, the ÖAV warns in general that a deliberate bivouac is treated like a night in a tent, but for Tyrol it gives the same reading as the federal portal [17]. So anyone planning a bivouac is relying on an interpretation, not a clear text; if in doubt, ask the district authority.

The alpine clubs’ bivouac sheltersSmall, unstaffed emergency huts made of wood or metal in the high mountains. (Biwakschachteln) are mostly meant for emergencies, too. According to the alpine club, the Fleischer-Biwak on the Hochschwab is an unlocked emergency room with no beds and no water, where a planned overnight stay isn’t possible [23]. For the Konrad Schuster Biwak below the Lalidererspitze in the Karwendel range, the Alpine Gesellschaft Gipfelstürmer, the Alpenverein Innsbruck and the Karwendel Nature Park urge visitors to use it only as intended: emergency bivouac shelters aren’t freely accessible self-service huts, and a planned stay doesn’t match their intended use [24].

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National parks and protected areas: mostly off-limits

In protected areas, the rules get stricter, even in states with no general ban. In the Salzburg part of Hohe Tauern National Park, camping is banned in the outer zones, except tents at authorized sites, alpine bivouacking and youth camps; in the core zones, anything banned in the outer zones counts as a prohibited intervention [25]. In Kalkalpen National Park in Upper Austria, a regulation from January 2026 bans spending the night and camping anywhere other than the sites provided and marked for that purpose [26].

Gesäuse National Park in Styria bans camping and planned bivouacking throughout the park, parking lots included. The only exception, in the park’s own English: “Bivouacs for alpinists in case of (mountain) distress are tolerated” [27]. That’s one of the few written tolerances we found. More generally, the ÖAV names national parks, nature reserves and special protection areas (Sonderschutzgebiete) as the protected areas with the strictest rules, and advises checking before a trip with the area’s management or with the state and district nature conservation departments [17].

Sleeping in a car, camper van or RV

An RV isn’t a free pass, and neither is the station wagon. Most of the state laws mention vehicles expressly, each in its own way.

Carinthia also bans driving motor vehicles in open countryside off the areas meant for moving or parked traffic, or parking them there; parking on the roadside is allowed [6]. And in Gesäuse National Park, sleeping in the parking lots is banned too [27].

What a violation costs

The amounts in the table are ceilings, not set rates. Under Austria’s Administrative Penal Act (Verwaltungsstrafgesetz), a fine depends on how important the protected interest is and how seriously the offense harms it; in ordinary proceedings, how far the offender is at fault and their income and assets also count [29]. For certain offenses, an authorized officer may collect an on-the-spot fineA fine an authorized enforcement officer collects on the spot, at an amount set in advance. (Organstrafverfügung) of up to €90, if a regulation sets the amount [29]. Carinthia has done so for pitching a tent in open countryside: €50 [30]. The highest ceilings apply to serious cases and repeat offenses, for which Carinthia and Burgenland set their own maximums [6, 5].

Sleeping out legally: huts, winter rooms, permission

The ÖAV itself points to the alternative: Austria’s dense network of mountain huts, affordable and “quite definitely legal” [3]. At the alpine clubs’ category I huts, a bunk in a shared dorm (Matratzenlager) or in the winter roomA simple room in a mountain hut that serves as shelter when the hut isn’t staffed. (Winterraum) costs adult members at most €15 under the clubs’ rate rules, and at most €18 starting in 2027; nonmembers pay at least €12 more [31, 32]. Our comparison of alpine club memberships explains what joining costs.

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And a tent next to the hut? The alpine clubs’ hut and rate rules cover overnight stays, meals and self-catering, but say nothing about pitching a tent nearby [31]. We found no general tolerance in the ÖAV’s rules: the state law and the landowner’s word are what count. The owner’s consent helps, but not everywhere. Under the forest law, it makes camping in the woods legal, and in Upper Austria it even applies despite a municipal ordinance, as long as the owner seeks no financial gain [1, 13]; Tyrol’s Camping Act, on the other hand, makes no exception for it [12].

Before you go: the checklist

1. The state: in Tyrol, Carinthia, Lower Austria and Burgenland, tents outside campgrounds are banned in principle, in Vienna in public places; in Upper Austria, Salzburg and Vorarlberg, municipalities have a say, as the table above shows.
2. The municipality: is there an ordinance or a ban by the mayor? The municipality, the district authority or the state’s nature conservation department can tell you [3, 20].
3. The place: woods, open countryside or uncultivated alpine land, national park or nature reserve?
4. The owner: in the woods you need the owner’s consent, on forest roads that of whoever maintains them [1].
5. Emergencies: bivy sack, emergency blanket, headlamp, and the numbers 140 and 112 memorized [33, 34].

Austria has no right to camp wherever you like; instead it has nine state laws and many municipal ordinances, and every rule has a date: we read these on October 29, 2026. So check before you go: the current version of the state law in the RIS, and the ordinance of the municipality where you plan to sleep; a rule from last summer won’t cover you this summer. For Austria’s neighbors, see our articles on wild camping in Germany, Switzerland and France; to plan your first night out, read our guide to your first backcountry camp.

Arnaud Couderc

Fact-checking, regulations, and safety

Arnaud Couderc reviews our contributors’ articles and writes for Outfarer about regulations, safety, fishing, the ocean, and outdoor activities. He traces every rule back to its official text and every number to its source, so you head out with solid benchmarks.

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