Turkey is a huge, and varied country with a lot to explore. In fact, if you visit Turkey and only see Istanbul, I would argue that you have missed out on the best parts of Turkey. Since we enjoyed our time so much in Turkey, we have decided to dedicate a whole travel series so that we can go into greater detail on every aspect of van life in Turkey.
This article will only focus on the core camping aspects of travelling in Turkey, to help give you an idea of how easy or difficult it is to travel around Turkey with your camper. We have a separate article that will focus on the other aspects of van life in Turkey, such as driving, general safety, and insurance.
We spent three months travelling around Turkey in our 1993 Mercedes 711D self-converted van, and had an incredible trip. This was our first trip living in the van, and in some ways it was jumping into the deep end of the pool, yet in other ways it was actually quite easy.
There are a lot of different aspects to consider when travelling to any new country, especially when you want to explore that country with your camper. Parking up for the night, and finding safe drinking water, are all easy tasks when travelling Turkey. Disposing of your grey, and black water may be tricker. Overall, Turkey is very camper friendly, and Turkey as a destination is gaining in popularity with campers.
Wild Camping in Turkey with your Motorhome
Wild camping is completely legal in Turkey, provided there is no local signage prohibiting it. It may happen that the local Jandarma (one of the Police services in Turkey) comes by to ask you some questions as part of their regular patrol, but unless they think the area is unsafe, they typically will not ask you to move.
We only had this happen to us once during our three months of travelling in Turkey; the Jandarma came by at 2am in the morning, and woke us by turning on their blue lights, and honking, which was quite a shock. In the end they were friendly enough, and after asking us where we were from, what we were doing in Turkey, and what our occupation was, they told us we could stay, and moved on.
Local Turks also do not seem to object to wild camping, and will barely give you a second glance, unless you have a unique looking vehicle. In contrast to most European countries there are also no restrictions against ‘camping’ behaviour, and some Turks definitely take this to an extreme. We spent the night in a parking lot for a Ski resort in Eastern Turkey, and our neighbours were parked with a caravan, and had installed their canopy tent along with a wood stove, and chimney to keep the Cai (Turkish tea) flowing, and the tent warm. Although there were people in and out of the parking lot all day, nobody seemed to bat an eyelid, and it honestly felt like we were the only ones who seemed to find this fantastic set up a bit out of place in a regular parking lot.
We spent a week in Cappadocia, and were able to find some great spots overlooking Love Valley, and with an ideal view for watching the hot balloons rise into the air at sunrise. If you want some tips for visiting Cappadocia, take a look at our posts on what to do in Cappadocia, along with what not to do in Cappadocia.
We only stayed at one campground for the first few weeks we were in Turkey, and usually managed to find some fantastic wild camping spots. There is a strong chance that you may wake up surrounded by goats, but the goats, and herders were all friendly, and happy to be greeted with a smile and a friendly ‘Merhaba’ (hello in Turkish).
Generally you will find lots of opportunities for wild camping in the West of Turkey, however as you start moving further East, and past Cappadocia, the security situation becomes different. Although we never personally felt unsafe, we read lots of Park4Night reviews where people had been moved on by the Jandarma, who told them that it was not safe to wild camp. The good news is that there are plenty of municipal campgrounds as you travel further east, so we made the personal decision to only stay at campgrounds whilst we were travelling around Eastern Turkey.
To better secure our camper van before our trip, we added two HeoSafe exterior locks for the rear and sliding doors, in order to be able to double lock them. An exterior door lock is both easy to install, easy to use, and a great visual deterrent to any casual thieves. On the inside of our camper we have a safe that is hidden away from prying eyes, in which we place our valuable electronics, and documents whenever we leave the van.
To this day, some of our absolute favourite wild camping spots have been in Turkey, with the absolute best being the night we spent on Radar mountain near Marmaris. The views were incredible, and we slept soundly, until the goats arrived, and our German Shepherd got upset.
With that being said, always follow your intuition, we left a couple of spots because we felt uncomfortable with the people surrounding us, or the general vibe. Regardless of which country you are camping in, you should always follow your instincts, and just leave if you feel uncomfortable.
RV Camping at Campgrounds in Turkey
Since vehicle camping is not as established in Turkey as elsewhere, with tent camping being the most popular amongst the Turks, a lot of the private campgrounds do not have formal facilities for motorhomes. They are usually happy to welcome you though, and will find a patch of grass for you to park on, and will jerry rig as many extension cords as it takes to get you power if you need it. Since they are set up for tent camping, it is also common to find a communal kitchen, along with a shower and toilet block. Google Maps reviews are pretty common in Turkey, so definitely read the reviews of a campground first, before booking it.
As you move further East, and more off the tourist trail, you will find fewer private campgrounds. Luckily a lot of the local municipalities in the bigger cities have built excellent campgrounds, usually combined with picnic areas, where you will have full facilities.
If you are travelling from Europe the services at the municipal campgrounds will be very familiar to the typical campground, with power at the site, and sometimes grey water disposal as well. Although we did not see any of the pull over grates to empty grey water, so you will need to bring a hose of sorts to direct your grey water into the drain if you have an undermount tank. Chemical toilets are normally just emptied in the communal toilets.
Regardless of whether you are staying at a municipal or private campground all the power outlets are just regular European plugs, as opposed to the CEE plugs that many European campgrounds insist on. As long as you carry an adapter, and a long extension cord, you will not have any issues getting power to your camper.
North American travellers will find the sites a bit sparse, as you usually have to empty your grey and black water away from your campsite, and fill up your fresh water tank at a communal fill up point.
As we were travelling in the off season, we experienced that two of the municipal campgrounds did not charge us for staying there, even though we had access to the full facilities. Even when there is a charge for the campground, it is usually a very reasonable flat fee that includes power, water, and full use of the facilities. When we were travelling, the municipal campgrounds usually cost around 250 Turkish Lira (TRY) per night, which is around €7 ($8). Private campgrounds were more expensive, and usually ended up being around 4-500 TRY per night, which is around €11.50-14.50 ($12.50-15.50).
Finding Drinking Water When You Visit Turkey
In rural areas, and sometimes even on the outskirts of major cities, we were always able to find a fountain where we could fill up water for free. We would often see locals fill up stacks of water jugs to take home with them, as they preferred it over tap water. We always see it as a quality indicator when locals are drinking the water as well. We never got sick from drinking this water, although we did always filter it, and it smelt and tasted clean. Certainly in the rural areas, this water likely comes from a local spring, and will thankfully not be treated with chlorine or fluoride.
If you want to stick with bottled water, you will find it in every single grocery store, I would recommend buying the big 5-7 litre jugs as they are a much better value. The price will vary depending on the supermarket, but we could usually pick up a big jug for around 20 TRY or less (0.68 EUR).
Most of the fountains do not have a threaded tap, making it difficult to attach a hose to. As such I would recommend buying a folding plastic jug, and a funnel so that you can refill your tanks. Alternatively you can buy a water bandit, so that you can still attach your hose to the spigot, even without a thread.
Emptying Your Camper’s Grey and Black Water Tanks in Turkey
As we mentioned above, the mobile home infrastructure in Turkey is nowhere near as developed as it is in Spain, France or Portugal where you rarely struggle to find an Aire to empty, and fill your tanks at.
Most gas stations will have clean toilets that you can use to empty your cassette toilet into, just carry it in a bag to be a little bit discreet. If you have a composting / separating toilet then you can also empty the pee bucket at a gas station, again exercising discretion.
If you have an undermount grey water tank you will definitely struggle a little bit, as even the campgrounds do not have the drive over grates that are common in Western Europe. Most local campers seemed to have a hose they could attach, and thereby direct it into a little tube by each individual site. Most camping stores will probably have an attachment that works for your motorhome, otherwise you could jerry rig one with a small length of hose, and a thumb screw clamp.
If you are careful about using only biodegradable soap, which you really should be doing anyway, then we have seen local campers empty their grey into sewers in remote areas where the water will not stagnate.
Filling up LPG / Natural Gas when You Travel Türkiye in Your Camper
As is to be expected any LPG bottles you may be carrying from Europe would not be accepted for exchange in Turkey. However, the good news is that almost every single gas station in Turkey has one or several LPG pumps, since a lot of Turks have converted their old cars to run on natural gas. This means that as long as you have a refillable gas tank, or even a refillable gas bottle, you will not struggle to keep yourself topped up. We did not see anyone refilling their gas bottles outside of their motorhome, but Turks are usually exceptionally willing to help, so I would be surprised if they would not refill it.
If you use a portable gas stove, and rely on the little propane bottles, you will have to work a little harder to find them. Your best bet is to stock up on them before you leave Greece, as they could be purchased at Lidl for very cheap. If you do find yourself running out when in Turkey, then I recommend looking for hunting stores, as they normally carry a few bottles.
Is Van Life Turkey Worth It?
Absolutely, and emphatically yes. Asides from the lack of motorhome infrastructure, Turkey is honestly one of the easiest countries to travel in with your motorhome. A combination of relaxed wild camping rules, and relaxed locals means that you can find some incredible spots to park in. Beyond the day to day logistics, there is so much to see in Turkey that even after spending 3 months travelling we feel like we have barely scratched the surface.
1 comment
Geofff
Hi, I had a great 6000 trip Uk to top of Norway with a 2 week flight back to UK half way.
I want to do the same in 2025 to Istanbul.
But a utube said some countries hit you with big fines if you don’t exit with the vehicle. Is it possible to take a 2 weeks return flight from Istanbul & back without problems?