Can I take my motorhome to Portugal? Can you park a campervan anywhere in Portugal? These are important questions to keep in mind if you're planning to travel in your motorhome or campervan. Taking your motorhome to Portugal is completely legal, but there are rules to keep in mind. When it comes to travelling by motorhome in Portugal, there are some new rules to take into account for summer 2021. These new motorhome rules will only affect caravanning in the Southwest Alentejo area and the Costa Vicentina. The Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) has already approved the normative that foresees criteria for the location and installation of the so-called Motorhome Service Areas (ASA). The aim is to manage motorhome tourism in Portugal, which has seen an "exponential growth" in this region of the country in recent years.
These new rules are directed to the Southwest Alentejo region and the Costa Vicentina, as these areas have been the target of "high pressure" in this matter and were released on 28th May 2021. This comes after a joint effort with local authorities, Tourism of Portugal and the Commissions of Coordination and Regional Development of Alentejo and the Algarve, said the ICNF in a statement.
The aim is an attempt to overcome the imposition of the Ordinance Plan of the Natural Park of Southwest Alentejo and Costa Vicentina (known as POPNSACV), that "forbids the practice of camping and caravanning outside the sites intended for such" and provides a special authorisation, to be issued by ICNF, to install support structures for motorhoming, says the same statement.
In an attempt to establish "adequate criteria to harmonise the practice of motorhome tourism with environmental, public health and regional planning requirements", the ASA (Motorhome Service Areas) are now considered as a "complement to the camping and caravaning parks", no longer falling under the typologies of tourist resorts that result from the legal regime of installation, exploitation and operation of tourist resorts (RJET).
What are Motorhome Service Areas (ASA)? And where can they be installed?
Motorhome Service Areas, known in Portugal as ASA, are spaces which are signposted and covered with waterproof materials and which integrate one or more service stations. They must be equipped with structures which allow the maintenance of the motorhomes, such as: draining waste water, emptying chemical toilets/washing system, supplying drinking water, the ability to dispose of urban solid waste. Staying overnight in these locations for a period not exceeding 72 hours is now allowed, the publication also states.
The same document describes a set of criteria for the location and installation of these service areas, being, for example, prohibited in areas of total and partial protection (known as type I and type II) and also prohibited in the "coastal zone to 500 meters measured from the line of maximum high tide of equatorial waters, except in areas identified in the summary plan as areas not subject to the protection regime".
Note that these criteria "do not preclude or replace compliance with the remaining provisions contained in the POPNSACV as well as other licenses, permits or approvals required by law," it also states.