Cabo de Gata cracks down as almost 100 camper vans fined for illegal beach parking

One vehicle wasn’t simply parked in the wrong place, it had been turned into a makeshift campsite, and it is far from the only one caught out this summer.

Almost 100 denuncias across Almería’s best-known beaches 

Officers from the Junta de Andalucía’s Agentes de Medio Ambiente (environmental protection agents), working alongside Níjar’s Local Police, have issued 98 denuncias (formal citations) so far this year to camper vans, caravans and motorhomes parked overnight in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park. 

The fines have been concentrated at some of the park’s most popular spots, including El Playazo, Isleta del Moro, Playa de los Genoveses and Playa de Mónsul, as well as along the wider protected coastline.

Why one case went beyond ordinary bad parking

The rule being enforced bans habitable vehicles and tents from stopping overnight, between sunset and sunrise, in areas not set aside for camping inside the natural park. Officers said one vehicle had gone further than simply parking badly: it had chairs and other camping equipment set up outside it, turning a parking offence into an unauthorised campsite.

Previous enforcement seasons in the park have seen fines of up to around €601 under Andalucian protected-space law, though amounts for this year’s citations have not been published. Officials described the fines as a last resort, saying teams usually warn campers and ask them to move on first. Some vehicles have also been towed by municipal trucks, with parking areas temporarily closed off. It is the park’s seventh consecutive year of special summer patrols, which last year recorded 268 violations and removed 22,400 kilograms of rubbish from the coastline.

The same clampdown is spreading along Spain’s coast

Cabo de Gata is far from the only area facing the issues. A national instruction from the DGT (Spain’s traffic authority), in force since March 2026, tried to settle years of confusion by ruling that parking is not the same as camping. A motorhome resting on its wheels in an ordinary space is legal, but putting out awnings, tables or stabiliser legs turns it into camping, which stays banned outside designated sites, and beaches remain strictly off-limits under Spain’s 1988 Coastal Law regardless.

Other tourist hotspots have gone further still. Ibiza has issued fines of up to €30,000 for unauthorised motorhome parking on rustic land this year, while on the Costa del Sol, camper van owners were warned of €200 fines after a parking overhaul at Fuengirola’s former Feria grounds, and Vélez-Málaga council is still weighing options for Torre del Mar’s long-running motorhome parking problem.