Home › Norway
Sleeping in a motorhome in Norway
The three legal facts are distinct: parking, sleeping inside and camping. The mistake that costs money is assuming that the second follows from the first.
Park
Park
IT DEPENDS — No national time limit on the public highway: neither the vegtrafikkloven nor trafikkreglene § 17 sets a maximum parking duration. The only national period: 14 days for an unregistered vehicle / one without legal plates (vegtrafikkloven § 17). In utmark (off the road or outside a designated area) the limit is zero without the landowner's permission.
- There is NO Norwegian national rule based on length >6 m or on mass >3,500 kg. Trafikkreglene § 17 (FOR-1986-03-21-747, Forskrift om kjorende og gaende trafikk) only lists PLACES where stopping/parking is prohibited; it does not distinguish by weight or length (verified on lovdata: '§ 17 ... does not specify maximum parking time limits ... Vehicles over 3500 kg: Not mentioned in § 17 ... Vehicles longer than 6 metres: Not addressed'). Restrictions on heavy vehicles and time limits are imposed by each municipality through signage (skiltforskriften). Off the roadway, motorferdselloven § 3 (LOV-1977-06-10-82) prohibits motorised traffic in utmark and vassdrag, so it is not possible to access or park in nature without permission: 'I utmark og vassdrag er motorferdsel ikke tillatt med mindre annet folger av denne lov eller vedtak med hjemmel i loven'. In car parks with conditions that are open to the public, the parkeringsforskriften applies (FOR-2016-03-18-260, https://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/2016-03-18-260), with kontrollsanksjon instead of gebyr.
Forskrift om offentlig parkeringsgebyr (FOR-2016-03-18-261); complementarias: Lov om vegtrafikk, vegtrafikkloven (LOV-1965-06-18-4); Lov om motorferdsel i utmark og vassdrag, motorferdselloven (LOV-1977-06-10-82); Forskrift om kjorende og gaende trafikk, trafikkreglene (FOR-1986-03-21-747) art. FOR-2016-03-18-261 § 2 (gebyr e importe); vegtrafikkloven § 3 y § 17; trafikkreglene § 17; motorferdselloven § 3 y § 12 · verified on 2026-08-09
«Gebyr kan ilegges ved stans eller parkering i strid med vegtrafikkloven § 3 og § 17, trafikkreglene § 17, skiltforskriften, denne forskrift og bestemmelser gitt i medhold av vegtrafikkloven § 4 og § 9. [...] Gebyr skal ikke ilegges hvis stansen eller parkeringen har voldt eller kunne ha voldt alvorlig trafikkhindring eller fare for person eller gods. I slikt tilfelle er overtredelsen straffbar etter vegtrafikkloven § 31. [...] Gebyret er kr 900,-.»
document archived · sha256 5fbb85997a468754…
Municipalities by initial
A27 municipalitiesB20 municipalitiesD7 municipalitiesE11 municipalitiesF19 municipalitiesG20 municipalitiesH31 municipalitiesI5 municipalitiesJ1 municipalitiesK18 municipalitiesL25 municipalitiesM15 municipalitiesN21 municipalitiesO7 municipalitiesP2 municipalitiesR18 municipalitiesS54 municipalitiesT15 municipalitiesU6 municipalitiesV27 municipalitiesØ8 municipalities
The signage on site and the local authority prevail. This reproduces the written rule as at the date indicated: it is not legal advice or an authorisation.