Originally Posted by TheSpanishBiker

Can't speak about The Netherlands but Spain is definitely OK for free camping - despite considerble differences of opinion - already in evidence on this great thread!

Free camping is essentailly legal in Spain, as long as it's for one night, i.e. you pitch in the evening and you move on in the morning - it should really be in the sense or spirit of 'bivouac' as mentioned earlier. But this is subject to numerous local restrictions, which is one reason for the controversy I guess.

Another reason is that the various police forces do check up on people free camping for various reason, mainly security of rural properties and in the case of the Basque Country and Navarre where security is tight due to the (ongoing) ETA terrost issue. Nobody likes to be woken up at the end of a Guardia Civil gun barrel, like we used to hear about during the Franco period (1939-75 - a bit before my time, but only a little bit!), but I can't imagine that happening now.

I've long wondered that part of the misunderstanding is if the police use the term "mañana por la mañana" as mañana means both 'tomorrow' and 'morning', so people who don't speak more than rudementary Spanish will misinterpret the strength of the emphasis.

The issue is complicated - so much so that I've devoted a specific page to it on my Spain blog/guide!

Can't speak for Andorra though, it's never occured to me before, but I'll find out next time I'm there - I live about 70k away - aren't I lucky!

Enjoy

Simon