Booking every night takes the best part out of a long ride: you cannot stay when a valley is good, and you cannot stop when you are tired. On my trip I rarely knew at lunchtime where I would sleep. Here is the order I check things in, what works where, what does not work for motorcycles at all, and what to do on the evening when nothing works.
The trick is not a better app, it is time. Start looking about two hours before dark, while you still have fuel, light and patience. After dark every option gets worse: you cannot judge the ground, you cannot read the signs, and a tired rider on an unknown track is how bikes get dropped.
Keep one fallback for every day. Before you ride off in the morning, know the last campsite or the last town with rooms along your route. If the afternoon goes wrong, you ride there instead of into the dark.
For one tent and one motorcycle, campsites are the most reliable option without a booking. You need very little space, and outside the summer holidays a small pitch is usually free even when the campers are packed in. Popular coastal sites in July and August are the exception: call in the afternoon if you are unsure.
Ask for a spot on firm ground for the sidestand, near a socket if you need to charge, and pay in the evening if the office closes early.
Where the law allows it or locals tolerate it, a wild camp is free and often the best night of the week. The rules are different in every country: Sweden, Norway and Finland have public access rights, Croatia fines you, the Balkans are a patchwork. The details are in wild camping in Europe and wild camping in the Balkans.
Germany is stricter than many riders think. The German Alpine Club states that camping without the landowner's permission is prohibited in Germany. Brandenburg allows one night in a tent in the open countryside, but only for people travelling on foot, by bicycle, on horseback or by boat. Motorcyclists are not on that list.
The most underrated option is to ask. A farmer, a vineyard, the sports club at the edge of the village, the café owner: "Can I put my tent behind your barn for one night?" With the owner's permission you are no longer camping wild, you are a guest. Ask before you unpack, offer to pay or bring something, and leave earlier than you have to.
In Two Wheels Apart riders offer other riders a bed, a tent spot or a garage for a night, always free. Hosts appear on the map about two kilometres from their real place, and the exact address comes only after they accept your request. Only verified profiles can host or ask. How it works and how to be a good guest: free places to stay with riders.
The well known hospitality networks are a different case. Warmshowers is for touring cyclists, and new members pay a one-time fee. Couchsurfing has required a paid membership since 2020.
Several stopover networks look perfect and are not for us. France Passion is strictly for self-contained motorhomes and vans. Landvergnügen in Germany is for motorhomes, campervans, caravans and roof tents, and its own rules say no tents. Brit Stops in the UK is only for self-contained motorhomes, campervans and caravans. Do not ride to a farm from these lists and expect to pitch a tent.
Hinterland is different: it lists private pitches you book and pay per night, and many of them welcome tents. Each pitch says what it allows.
When the weather turns or you need a shower and a bed, rooms are often easier to find on the spot than online. In much of the Balkans, signs saying sobe or apartmani mean rooms to rent. Ask for a place in the yard or a garage for the bike before you agree on the price.
A tent, a mat and a sleeping bag open every option in this guide; without them you depend on rooms and hosts. Buy water and food for the evening in the last town, not at the spot, because a wild camp without water is a long night. And keep the tank above a quarter in the afternoon, so riding on to the next option is always possible.
Two Wheels Apart shows wild camps, campsites, hotels and hostels, water and workshops other riders have shared, with photos, price for campsites, distance and the fastest route from where you are. Hosts appear on the same map, and with offline maps the spots of a downloaded region are there without signal. Filter the map to what you need right now, and add the place you found tonight for the next rider.
Outside the summer holidays usually not, because one tent and one motorcycle need very little space. Popular coastal sites fill up in July and August, so call the same afternoon if you are unsure.
No. France Passion is reserved for self-contained motorhomes and vans, and Landvergnügen is for motorhomes, campervans, caravans and roof tents and allows no ground tents (as of October 2026).
No. Warmshowers is a network for touring cyclists. Riders can stay with other riders through hosting in Two Wheels Apart, which is free.
In a wild camp where it is allowed or tolerated, on private land with the owner's permission, or with another rider who hosts.
Free places to stay · Wild camping in Europe · Wild camping in the Balkans