Van life in Portugal: rules, registration and stays

Lei n.º 66/2021, in force since 24 August 2021, rewrote the Código da Estrada's rules on parking, overnight stays (pernoita) and standing (aparcamento) for autocaravanas. It bans pernoita and aparcamento outright inside Rede Natura 2000 areas, protected-landscape areas and zones covered by a Plano de Ordenamento da Orla Costeira (coastal-zone management plan), except where a location is expressly authorised for the purpose. Outside those zones, and where a municipality has not adopted its own regulation, a motorhome homologated by the IMT (Instituto da Mobilidade e dos Transportes) may pernoitar for up to 48 hours in the same municipality; locations expressly authorised for the activity carry no such limit. Camping-style behaviour — pitching outside the vehicle's own footprint, discharging waste outside an approved disposal point, or occupying more space than the vehicle's outline — stays banned everywhere and carries fines from €30–150 up to €60–300 for the more serious of these breaches. Because municipal bylaws take precedence wherever one exists, the practical rule for any specific town is whatever its own regulation says, not the national default.

Lisbon's Zona de Emissões Reduzidas (ZER) covers the Baixa/Avenida area and is enforced by automatic number-plate recognition rather than a windscreen sticker; the minimum Euro standard accepted varies by sub-zone within it, so checking the current threshold before entering is safer than assuming last year's rule still applies.