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The view of a pine forest from inside an open tent
Photo by Scott Goodwill / Unsplash

Wild camping in Norway: the rules and the best spots

Where you can pitch a tent, how long you can stay, and five places worth the walk.

Norway lets you camp almost anywhere, for free, thanks to an old right called allemannsretten. It comes with a few simple rules, and they are worth knowing before you unpack.

Getting there

Keep at least 150 metres from the nearest house or cabin, stay no more than two nights in the same place and leave nothing behind. Fires are banned near forests from April to September.

Where to stay

My favourite spots were a beach on Senja, a ridge above Reine and a quiet lake two hours from Bergen. None of them had a sign, a fee or another tent.

The bow of an orange kayak in a narrow fjord
Some of the best spots are easier to reach by kayak. Photo by Benjamin Davies / Unsplash

What I would do differently

I would bring a warmer sleeping bag. Summer nights above the Arctic Circle are bright, but they are not warm.

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Prices in this guide are what I paid. They move every season, so use them as a rough guide.
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Lena Hartmann

I left a desk job in 2019 to travel slowly. This blog is everything I wish I had known before each trip: honest itineraries, real budgets and the places worth the detour.

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