The Cliffs of Moher in County Clare dropping into the Atlantic under a bright sky
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Ireland by campervan

Ireland has no right to roam and no national camping law. Wild camping needs the landowner's permission, and several coastal councils have byelaws that name campervans directly. Everything else you need before the ferry: the M50 toll that has to be paid by 20:00 the next day, driving on the left on roads built for a tractor, and a season that runs May to September and no longer.

Published 18 September 2026Last checked 18 September 2026

Basics

Basics

This guide covers the Republic of Ireland only. Northern Ireland is a different jurisdiction with its own rules, and nothing on this page describes it. The Republic uses the euro, drives on the left, and is in the European Union but not in the Schengen area, so you can be asked for a passport or a national identity card at the port even though you sailed from another EU country.

A painted pub front on a narrow street in an Irish village
The pub is the information desk of rural Ireland. Ask inside about parking

The Irish day

  • Breakfast is big and early if you want it to be. Filling stations do a good one.
  • Lunch, 12:00 to 14:30. The carvery in a pub is the value meal, hot food at a fixed price.

Power, water and getting online

  • 230V, 50Hz, type G sockets. The flat three-pin plug, the same as the UK. It is the only general purpose outlet in Ireland, so continental type C and type F plugs all need adapters.
  • Campsite hookups use the standard blue round European connector, so the hookup lead you already own is fine. It is the plugs inside the van that need the adapters.

Good Friday is not a public holiday in Ireland, although some schools and businesses close. There are ten public holidays a year, up from nine since 2022, and six of the ten are defined as a Monday in the statute rather than as a date: the first Monday in February, May, June and August, the last Monday in October, and Easter Monday. That is the thing to plan around, because a bank holiday Monday means a full coastal car park on the Sunday night before it, and Irish domestic campervan traffic is concentrated on exactly those weekends.

Common questions about Ireland by campervan

Can you sleep in a campervan in Ireland?

Only where you have permission or where nothing prohibits it. There is no right to roam in Ireland and no general right to sleep in a parked vehicle. All land has an owner whose consent you need, and local authorities make byelaws under the Local Government Act and the Road Traffic Act that can prohibit overnight camping outright. Several coastal byelaws define overnight camping to include simply parking a campervan to stay the night, so staying inside the vehicle makes no difference.

Is wild camping legal in Ireland?

No, not as a right. Wild camping in Ireland needs the landowner's permission. The Occupiers' Liability Act is often cited as the basis for tolerated access, but it does not grant access: it limits what a landowner owes a recreational user or a trespasser to not injuring them intentionally and not acting with reckless disregard. Where camping is tolerated it is because the landowner allows it, not because the law provides for it.

Which Irish councils have byelaws against campervans?

Clare County Council has four instruments from 2023 prohibiting overnight camping at Doughmore Beach car park, Loop Head Lighthouse car park, Illaunamanagh car park and across the whole village of Lisdoonvarna, plus the Kilkee Parking Bye-Laws 2024, which allow overnight campervan parking in one marked area only, capped at eight campervans and 48 hours. Galway County Council's Beach Bye-Laws 1997 prohibit parking a dormobile, caravan or camper overnight on a road or car park at 21 named beaches. Kerry's Beach Bye-Laws 2022 run from 1 June to 15 September and, by the council's own summary, do not generally extend to nearby car parks or public roads.

What is the fine for overnight camping in a campervan in Ireland?

It depends on the byelaw, because there is no national figure. Under Clare County Council's 2023 byelaws an authorised person or a Garda can serve a fixed payment notice of 75 euro as an alternative to prosecution, and the offence carries a fine of up to 1,904.60 euro on summary conviction and up to 126.97 euro for each day it continues. Separately, on-the-spot litter fines rose from 150 to 250 euro on 1 September 2026, with up to 3,000 euro on conviction in the District Court.