UKC

hi all heading to the Dolomites for some Via Ferrata and some easy multi pitch climbing this summer for a quick week on a tour of other parts of Europe.

whats it like for parking up in a stealth van, was thinking of heading around canazei and picing of some of the Via Ferrata s and multi pitch  around there!

any heads up appreciated!

cheers r

Water available from almost every village. It's supposedly illegal but wild van camping is very common, I stayed 6 weeks around canazei and didn't ever get moved on and that was in a big fiat ducato. Lots of spots along the switchback passes and the ski carparks fill up with motorhomes at the weekends.

This is Italy not Switzerland, they don't seem to give a stuff about people camping in vans by the roadside. Last time I was there about 4 years ago the road up to the Sella Pass from Canazei had vans in almost every lay-by.

The supply of campsites in that area is seriously lacking and they are extortionately overpriced (guess why the local authorities won't allow more sites to open) so people just 'wild' camp near the road and being Italy nobody really cares.

Think about how "stealth" a UK plated (or indeed any) van is going to be parked up in anywhere reasonably quiet. I'm not saying put the bloody awning and deck chairs out, but its obvious to anyone local what you're up to. Be considerate and leave your chosen spot cleaner than you found it and you'll be fine. Check out park4night app

... leave it cleaner than you found it..

Really not difficult, watch your step. 

Overpriced!  I was paying £30 quid a night for two in a van at portland this spring, with crap showers. Made the dollies seem super reasonable at £26 including electric. 

4 years ago 2 of us with 1 tent (no electricity) paid £40 per night for a campsite just outside Canazei. This was only slightly more than the one in Canazei which we couldn't always get on because it was often full. There may be more expensive campsites out there somewhere but by any normal reckoning that's extortionate.

Elsewhere in the Dolomites campsites are a bit cheaper, they're just expensive but the fact there is a chronic shortage around Canazei and the local powers won't allow the building of more sites so that the existing ones can charge extortionate prices speaks volumes for the way Italy works (or rather doesn't work).

Anyway, the good news is they can't be arsed to enforce the rules about wild camping. Presumably the police aren't being "paid" enough to enforce that one.