Questions and answers about staying overnight
Where are you staying tonight, what does the traffic light show, what does a night cost? Answers on spots, rules and check-ins – free, no account.
This page is about the on-the-road part of Caraplace: finding a spot, understanding the rules, helping out. Questions about winter storage are under Questions and answers about storage spaces. Something missing? Write to info@caraplace.ch.
FAQ
What is the difference between Caraplace and Place me?
Caraplace has two parts. Place me is the map for the road: motorhome spots, campsites, service points, and the rules that apply on the ground – that is the home page. The storage marketplace is the other part: a hall, barn or carport for the winter. You'll find it under Storage.
What does Place me cost?
Nothing. Map, search, rules, weather, saved list and check-ins are free – no subscription, no advertising, no commission. Reporting a missing spot costs nothing either.
Do I need an account?
No. Searching, viewing a spot, reading the rules and reporting a place all work without signing up. You only need an account to keep your saved list across devices, plan a trip, or attach your check-ins to your profile. Without an account the list stays in your browser – when you sign in, we carry it over.
Can I book or pay for a spot through Caraplace?
No. There is neither booking nor payment through the platform, and we take no commission. Arrival, registration and payment are settled directly on site.
How many spots are covered, and in which countries?
More than 75,000 spots across 43 countries. The network is densest in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands; Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Turkey are covered too.
What kinds of places will I find?
Four kinds: around 47,000 campsites, around 20,000 official motorhome spots, around 8,000 service points for fresh water and waste, and about a thousand car parks where an overnight stay is a realistic option.
Can I filter by facilities?
Yes: free, electricity, drinking water, waste disposal, dogs allowed and quiet – where "quiet" means a measured minimum distance from the road, not someone's impression. Then there are the type of place and the "Legal" filter, if you would rather not see tolerated or forbidden locations at all.
How do I find places that fit my vehicle?
Enter length, height and weight once in your vehicle profile, and the filter hides everything where you would get stuck at the barrier, the height limit or the weight limit. Places with no figure stay visible instead of quietly disappearing – a missing value is not a no. The profile stays in your browser, even without an account.
Where do the spots come from?
From OpenStreetMap (ODbL licence) and from the community. No editorial team keeps them current – whoever is standing there does: a check-in confirms a spot, corrects the price or reports that it is gone.
What does a night cost?
It is shown on the spot when someone has recorded it: around 10,000 spots are marked as free, around 16,000 as charging a fee. For the rest the price is not yet recorded – that gap closes with every check-in where someone enters the price they actually paid.
Are service points, water and electricity included?
Yes. Service points are a category of their own and can be shown on the map by themselves – useful when you are not looking to sleep but only to take on fresh water and empty the cassette. Electricity, water, shower and toilet appear among the facilities of each spot.
What does the traffic light on a spot mean?
It shows where you stand legally if you sleep in your vehicle there. Allowed: an official motorhome spot or campsite. Tolerated: no explicit permission, but no ban either – signage, the municipality and the landowner decide. Forbidden: there is a rule against it. Where the situation is unclear, we say so plainly rather than dress it up.
Where do the legal details come from?
From laws, authorities and associations – never from blogs or forums. Rules are on file for 42 countries, and for Switzerland an additional 15 cantons with their own provisions. Every rule names its source and the date we last checked it.
Can I rely on the traffic light?
It is a guide, not legal advice. On the ground, signage, municipal bylaws and the landowner have the final say, and they change faster than any database. If there is a prohibition sign, the sign wins – even where the map shows green.
Parking or camping – where is the line?
Almost everything turns on that line. Sleeping inside the vehicle usually counts as parking and is permitted wherever you may park. The moment table, chairs, awning or levelling jacks come out, it is camping – and camping is precisely what most places forbid.
May I sleep in a car park in Switzerland?
There is no national rule; cantons and municipalities decide, and some cantons have provisions of their own. The details are under Wild camping in Switzerland, and for the neighbouring countries under Germany, Austria and Italy.
What is a check-in?
A short report from a spot: open, full, closed or no longer there – along with the price paid, a note and photos. A check-in takes a few seconds and keeps the map from going stale.
What is the on-site seal?
A check-in where your phone showed that you really were standing at the spot. That is what sets it apart from an entry made from the sofa, and why you can put more trust in the details that carry it.
Is my location stored?
No. For the seal the app compares your position with the spot's once; only the result is kept – whether it matched, and when. Your coordinates go neither into the database nor into a log. We also strip the embedded GPS data from uploaded photos.
Does Place me work without a signal?
Partly – and exactly where it matters. A check-in with its photos, made in a dead zone, stays on the device and goes out as soon as you have a connection again; it counts with the time you entered it, not the time it was sent. Map and weather still need a connection.
How do I report a missing spot?
Through "Add spot": set the point on the map, choose the kind of place, add a name and a few details, done. It works without an account and appears on the map immediately. If there is already a spot nearby, we point that out – in that case a check-in on the existing one is usually the right move.
Something about a spot is wrong – how do I correct it?
The quickest way is a check-in: status, price and notes can be put right that way, and the spot shows the new state at once. Whoever added a spot can also edit it in full. If an entry is entirely wrong or does not belong here, write to info@caraplace.ch.
Is Place me in the App Store?
No, deliberately not. Place me is a web app: through "Add to Home Screen" you get your own icon and a start without the browser bar – no download, no updates, always the current version. Instructions for iPhone and Android are under Motorhome spot app.
Where does the weather forecast come from?
The weather at the spot comes from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway), the rain forecast from the open models of the German weather service – the finer ICON-D2 across the Alps, ICON-EU beyond. Both are shown on the spot, because the question before a night out is usually not "how warm" but "will it rain tonight".
Which languages is Caraplace available in?
German, French, Italian and English. The rules for every country are on file in all four languages.
Who is behind Caraplace?
Manuel Meyer from Gipf-Oberfrick in Aargau, a sole trader, on the road in a motorhome himself for years. Caraplace is independent and belongs to no publisher and no travel operator. Contact: info@caraplace.ch, operator details in the imprint.