Dorset by campervan: overnight rules, campsites and ferries

Last checked November 2026.

Most of Dorset’s coast is the Jurassic Coast, which runs 95 miles from Exmouth in Devon to Studland Bay, with rocks spanning almost 185 million years. It has been a World Heritage Site since 2001. Add the sandy beaches of Bournemouth and Poole, the Purbeck hills and Corfe Castle, Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door, Chesil Beach and Lyme Regis, and it’s a lovely county to tour in a campervan. The catch is overnight parking: no council car park in Dorset lets a motorhome or campervan stay the night, and the old free spots on the coast are mostly off limits, so plan every night on a campsite.

Where you can and can’t stay overnight

There’s no general law in England against sleeping in a van that’s legally parked on a public road, but in Dorset almost everywhere you’d want to park has its own rule against it. Wild camping in a vehicle needs the landowner’s permission. The National Trust, which owns much of the coast here, doesn’t allow overnight parking at any of its places, and Forestry England doesn’t allow overnight stays in its car parks.

The councils’ rules:

Dorset Council (everywhere except Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole and the town council car parks): motorhomes aren’t allowed in any of its car parks from 10pm to 8am. Its definition of a motorhome includes campervans: any vehicle with fixed seats and a table, a bed and cooking. Some car parks, such as West Bay Road and Station Yard in West Bay, are locked overnight. By day, over 25 of its car parks have motorhome bays.
Portland: the small car parks at Easton, Fortuneswell, Hambro and Lord Clyde, which Dorset Council is taking over from the town council, don’t take motorhomes at all, and the council’s draft order for them bans camping and overnight sleeping.
BCP Council (Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole): no overnight sleeping or camping on the beach, seafront, cliffs or in car parks. A 24-hour beach patrol checks, and the council warns of fines of up to £1,000. The car park orders for all three towns ban using a parked vehicle for sleeping or camping.
Swanage Town Council: motorhomes are banned from all its car parks from 10pm to 8am, and so are camping, cooking and overnight sleeping. Its 2024 car park order ended the town’s old motorhome stopover.
Lyme Regis Town Council: no motorhomes, or any vehicle over 4.8 m long, in its car parks at any time. Dorset Council’s Holmbush and Charmouth Road car parks take motorhomes by day.
Studland: the beach car parks are the National Trust’s, so there’s no overnight parking. On Ferry Road, across the heath to the chain ferry, there’s no waiting from midnight to 6.30am, and that includes the verges.
Lulworth: the Lulworth Estate’s car parks at Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door charge by the day, and tickets are valid until midnight. For a night here, book a campervan pitch at Durdle Door Holiday Park.

Dorset Council’s public spaces protection orders also ban putting up a tent or shelter to camp overnight, without the landowner’s permission, on the beaches at West Bay, from Burton Bradstock along Chesil Beach to Weymouth and Portland, at Lulworth and, since July 2025, at Studland. Other orders ban fires and barbecues, disposable ones included, in the forests and on the heaths around Wareham and on the Purbeck heaths, and the Wareham Forest order also covers anything with a naked flame, so don’t cook outside the van there. A breach means a £100 fixed penalty, or a fine of up to £1,000 in court. On BCP’s beaches, promenades and cliffs, open fires, fire pits and fire bowls are banned at all times.

If you do stop on a road, park facing the direction of traffic at night, use your parking lights on roads with a limit over 30 mph and in their lay-bys, and don’t block anyone. A council can tell anyone living in a vehicle on a roadside to leave, and it’s an offence not to go.

The car parks where vans used to spend the night are mostly off limits now. The car park by Poole Harbour is BCP’s, the Corfe Castle car parks are the National Trust’s and Dorset Council’s, and Wareham Forest’s car parks are open from dawn to dusk. The picnic spots on the hills above Abbotsbury and on Eggardon Hill, and the lay-bys on the road from Studland to Corfe Castle, are still lovely places to stop by day. For the night, use a campsite.

Campsites

Dorset has plenty of campsites, from big holiday parks to small farm sites. Most close from November to Easter, so for a winter trip pick one that’s open all year. Book ahead for the summer holidays, as several have minimum stays in peak season and some won’t take arrivals after 6pm to 9pm. Seasons are for 2026, or 2027 where the 2026 dates are no longer shown.

Area	Campsites and seasons
Poole and Christchurch	South Lytchett Manor, Lytchett Minster, 1 March to 1 January; Sandford Holiday Park, Holton Heath; Meadowbank Holidays, Christchurch
Wareham	Wareham Forest Tourist Park, all year; Hunter’s Moon (Caravan and Motorhome Club, members only), all year; Crossways, Moreton (Caravan and Motorhome Club), 19 March to 1 November 2027
Corfe Castle	Woodyhyde, 1 March to 31 October; Norden Farm, 1 April to 31 October; Burnbake, Rempstone, Easter to October
Swanage and Langton Matravers	Acton Field, 31 March to 31 October; Tom’s Field; Downshay Farm, Harman’s Cross, Easter to 1 November 2027; Haycraft (Caravan and Motorhome Club, members only), 26 February to 1 November 2027
Kimmeridge	Smedmore House, 1 May to 31 October 2027
Lulworth	Durdle Door Holiday Park, 1 March to 2 January
Weymouth and the Fleet	Bagwell Farm, Chickerell, all year; East Fleet Farm, spring to autumn; West Fleet Holiday Farm, Fleet; Pebble Bank, Wyke Regis, Easter to November
Bridport and West Bay	Freshwater Beach, Burton Bradstock; Highlands End, Eype, hard pitches all year; Golden Cap, Seatown, hard pitches all year; Bingham Grange, Melplash (Caravan and Motorhome Club), mid-March to early January; West Bay Holiday Park
Charmouth	Newlands, March to October; Seadown, mid-March to 31 October; Manor Farm, mid-March to the end of October; Camping and Caravanning Club site, Monkton Wyld, 5 February to 1 November 2027

Phone numbers and details are with each place below.

There are also many small Certificated Locations (Caravan and Motorhome Club) and Certificated Sites (Camping and Caravanning Club) on farms around the county. They’re for club members only and take up to five vans, so they’re quiet and usually cheap. In England, pop-up campsites can now open for up to 60 days a year and can take campervans and motorhomes as well as tents. Brit Stops members can also stay a night at some pubs and farm shops that host self-contained vans.

Getting there and driving

Most people arrive on the A31 from the M27 and Ringwood, which joins the A35 at Bere Regis. The A338 runs from Ringwood into Bournemouth, the A35 runs along the south of the county from Christchurch through Poole, Dorchester and Bridport into Devon, the A354 runs from Dorchester to Weymouth and Portland, and the A351 from Wareham through Corfe Castle to Swanage.

There are no clean air zones in Dorset. If you’re heading for the ferries at Portsmouth, its clean air zone doesn’t charge cars or vans, but some larger motorhomes are classed as lorries and may have to pay. Campervans and motorhomes up to 3.05 tonnes unladen have the same speed limits as cars: 60 mph on single carriageways and 70 on dual carriageways and motorways. Heavier motorhomes are limited to 50 mph on single carriageways and 60 on dual carriageways.

Some approaches are tight. The road signposted Kimmeridge after Wareham is narrow and goes over a 1 in 5 hill, so go via Corfe Castle and Church Knowle instead. The entrance to Woodyhyde campsite at Corfe is under a railway bridge 3.18 m high and 2.7 m wide. Golden Cap at Seatown is down a 0.7-mile lane from Chideock with passing places.

The Sandbanks ferry

The chain ferry across the mouth of Poole Harbour, between Sandbanks and Shell Bay on the Studland side, saves the long drive round through Wareham. It crosses in about four minutes, every 20 minutes every day, with the first ferry from Sandbanks at 7am and the last from Shell Bay at 11.10pm. You can’t book, so expect queues on summer days.

Since 1 July 2026 you can’t pay at the toll booth. Cameras read your number plate, foreign plates included, and you pay online at the Sandbanks Ferry website or in its app, any time from 30 days before you cross until midnight the day after. If you don’t, the registered keeper gets an unpaid toll notice with £24.52 added. The toll is £6.26 for cars and vans up to 3,500 kg and £12.52 for goods vehicles over 3,500 kg; other vehicles pay the rate for the nearest similar vehicle, and towing doubles the toll. The ferry takes vehicles up to 20 tonnes.

The ferry is out of service for its refit from 2 November 2026 for about seven weeks, and the date it returns will be announced in December. Until then you have to go round by road.

Ferries from Poole

Brittany Ferries’ Poole to Cherbourg route has closed. The last sailings were in October 2026, three weeks earlier than planned, and Brittany Ferries now sails to Cherbourg from Portsmouth instead.

From Poole, the fast ferry Voyager (Brittany Ferries, also sold by Condor Ferries) sails to Guernsey in about three hours and carries on to St Malo in Brittany, six hours in all, up to six days a week in season. Bookings are open up to 7 November 2027. Motorhomes over 7 m have to book by phone on 0345 609 1024. DFDS sails from Poole to Jersey in about four and a half hours; the route is closed for the winter and restarts in April 2027, and DFDS’s Portsmouth to Jersey route runs all year. Ferries to the Channel Islands no longer sail from Weymouth.

Both islands limit motorhomes. In Guernsey a motorhome can be no more than 2.31 m wide and 9.45 m long, must be booked into one of the island’s four registered campsites, which issue the permit you need for the ferry, and has to be back on the campsite every night. In Jersey you have to stay on a registered campsite, for up to 31 days. If you’re carrying on to France, allow time for the EU’s Entry/Exit System checks, in full use at EU ports since April 2026.

Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch

BCP’s 15 miles of coast run from Highcliffe past Bournemouth to Sandbanks, almost all sandy beach. By day, the car parks that take motorhomes are Kings Park and Queens Road in Bournemouth, Highcliffe Castle and Steamer Point in Christchurch (Steamer Point has a height barrier), and Harbourside and Seldown in Poole. There are also bays for campervans in the Sandbanks and Beach Road car parks. None of them allows sleeping overnight.

Campsites near Poole and Christchurch

South Lytchett Manor, Dorchester Road, Lytchett Minster, Poole BH16 6JB. Tel: 01202 622577. Open from 1 March 2026 to 1 January 2027, then 5 March 2027 to 1 January 2028. Takes motorhomes up to 9 m, but the entrance gates are 3.8 m high and 2.82 m wide at the narrowest point. There’s a bus stop at the entrance.

Sandford Holiday Park, Holton Heath, Poole BH16 6JZ. A big Parkdean holiday park with touring pitches for caravans and motorhomes.

Meadowbank Holidays, by the river between Bournemouth and Christchurch. Tel: 01202 483597. Pitches for motorhomes and caravans, including a small pitch for camper vans. No tents and no pets, and no arrivals after 10pm.

Studland

Studland Bay, at the eastern end of the Jurassic Coast, has long sandy beaches backed by heathland. The beach car parks belong to the National Trust, so there’s no overnight parking, and since July 2025 camping on the beach is banned too. On Ferry Road, which crosses the heath to the chain ferry, there’s no waiting from midnight to 6.30am, verges included.

The B3351 from Studland to Corfe Castle climbs over the heath. Just past the golf course there’s a lay-by on the right with spectacular views, and further on another that overlooks Poole Harbour, a magnificent view with a beautiful sunset. Both get busy during the day. For the night, the nearest campsites are around Corfe Castle and Swanage.

Corfe Castle

The ruined castle above the village belongs to the National Trust. Pull in outside Corfe for nice views of the castle; the steam trains of the Swanage Railway are a bonus.

The National Trust car park at Castle View, at the foot of Castle Hill on the A351, and Dorset Council’s West Street car park in the village are both for day visits; motorhomes can’t stay in West Street from 10pm to 8am. Purbeck Park at Norden, just north of the village, is the park and ride for Corfe Castle and Swanage, with buses and trains on from there. It’s open from 7am to 7pm and motorhomes pay £7.40 for up to 10 hours.

Campsites at Corfe Castle

Woodyhyde Campsite, Valley Road, Corfe Castle BH20 5HT. Tel: 01929 480274. Open from 1 March to 31 October 2026. A 20-minute walk from Corfe, with one field beside the Swanage Railway. Takes tents, campervans and motorhomes but not caravans. The entrance is under a railway bridge 3.18 m high and 2.7 m wide, so you may need to fold your mirrors. If you arrive late, pitch up and check in in the morning.

Norden Farm, Corfe Castle BH20 5DS. Tel: 01929 480098. Open from 1 April to 31 October. Grass pitches only, with a farm shop, bus stops at the entrance and the steam train five minutes’ walk away. No arrivals after 9pm.

Burnbake Campsite, Rempstone, Corfe Castle BH20 5JH. Tel: 01929 480570. Woodland pitches, open from just before Easter to the end of October. Takes campervans and motorhomes up to 7 m, but no caravans, as the access road is single track. Arrive before 9pm.

Wareham and the heath

Take the minor road from Bere Regis towards Wareham and you cross the heath Thomas Hardy called Egdon Heath in The Return of the Native. Much of it is now Wareham Forest, run by Forestry England, with free car parks at Sika Trail, Woolsbarrow, Stroud Bridge and Sugar Hill. The forest is open from dawn to dusk, and barbecues and campfires are banned everywhere in it, car parks included.

Campsites near Wareham

Wareham Forest Tourist Park, North Trigon, Wareham BH20 7NZ. Tel: 01929 551393. Open all year, in the woods, with hardstanding pitches through the winter. Arrivals up to 9pm.

Hunter’s Moon, Cold Harbour, Wareham BH20 7PA. Tel: 01929 556605. A Caravan and Motorhome Club site on the edge of Wareham Forest, open all year, for members only. Outfits up to 9 m.

Crossways, Moreton, Dorchester DT2 8BE. Tel: 01305 852032. A Caravan and Motorhome Club site in woodland, open to non-members, from 19 March to 1 November 2027. It has a late arrivals area with hook-ups, and Moreton station is a seven-minute walk.

Swanage and Langton Matravers

Swanage is the seaside town at the end of the Swanage Railway, with a sandy beach. The town council’s Main Beach car park on Victoria Avenue and North Beach car park, plus a few spaces at Broad Road, have multi-use bays for motorhomes over 4.8 m long; smaller vans can use an ordinary bay if they fit. Motorhomes aren’t allowed in any of them from 10pm to 8am.

Campsites around Swanage

Acton Field Campsite, Langton Matravers, Swanage BH19 3BN. Tel: 01929 424184. Open from 31 March to 31 October 2026. Views over Swanage Bay, a mile’s walk to the coast path, and you choose your own pitch. Takes campervans, motorhomes and caravans.

Tom’s Field Campsite, Tom’s Field Road, Langton Matravers BH19 3HN. Tel: 01929 427110. For tents and motorhomes only. A few minutes’ walk to the village pub and about 20 minutes to the coast path, with a shop on site. Its season isn’t published, so ring first.

Downshay Farm, Haycrafts Lane, Harman’s Cross, Swanage BH19 3EB. Tel: 01929 480316. The caravan field, with hook-ups, is open from Easter to 1 November 2027 and takes campervans and motorhomes up to 8 m. Views of Corfe Castle and a short walk to Harman’s Cross station on the Swanage Railway. Minimum stays of three nights in spring and autumn and five in summer, and no late arrivals.

Haycraft, Haycrafts Lane, Swanage BH19 3ED. Tel: 01929 480572. A Caravan and Motorhome Club site for members only, open from 26 February to 1 November 2027. Outfits up to 9 m. The approach is steep and narrow, with passing places.

Kimmeridge and Tyneham

Kimmeridge Bay has a great beach and cliff walks, with rock pools and fossils. The bay is part of the Smedmore Estate. Come in from Corfe Castle and Church Knowle, not by the narrow road signposted Kimmeridge after Wareham.

Smedmore House, Kimmeridge, Wareham BH20 5PG. Tel: 01929 480702. A Caravan and Motorhome Club affiliated site, open to non-members, from 1 May to 31 October 2027. An open, partly sloping field with views to the sea and Clavell Tower.

From the A351 between Wareham and Corfe, the lanes through Creech and Steeple climb onto the Purbeck ridge. Before you reach the army’s range gates there’s a large car park with great views and, if you time it right, excellent walks around the abandoned village of Tyneham and down to Worbarrow Bay. The Lulworth range walks and Tyneham village are open most weekends and every day over Christmas, Easter and the summer holidays: in 2026 from 25 July to 31 August, and from 19 December 2026 to 3 January 2027. The Tyneham road gate opens at 9am and closes at dusk. Grange Hill, the road between Creech and Steeple, is closed when the army trains at Creech car park. Check the firing times on gov.uk or ring 01929 404714.

Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door

Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door are both on the Lulworth Estate, which runs the car parks. In 2026 the Durdle Door car park cost £15 for up to 6 hours, £25 up to 9 hours and £35 for longer; Lulworth Cove was £9 for up to 3 hours, £17 up to 6, £25 up to 9 and £32 for longer. The car rate covers small campervans. Caravans and large motorhomes can’t park at Lulworth Cove. Tickets are valid until midnight.

Durdle Door Holiday Park, West Lulworth BH20 5PU. Tel: 01929 400200. Open from 1 March to 2 January. Its Sea View Campervan Pitches, at the back of the Durdle Door car park just outside the park, are for campervans and small motorhomes up to 5.5 m, on grass with hook-ups and views to Portland. Bigger motorhomes, up to 8.5 m, go on the hardstanding pitches in the park. Check in from 2pm and before 9pm. A converted van needs a fixed bed, and you can’t sleep in a car anywhere on the park.

Weymouth and Portland

Weymouth has a long sandy beach and a busy harbour, with Portland across the causeway to the south. The easiest place to park a van by day is Weymouth Park and Ride at Mount Pleasant (DT3 5GD): parking is free, there’s no height limit, it’s open from 5am to 12.30am, and buses run into town every 12 to 15 minutes, with a group day ticket for up to five people at £6.50. Lodmoor and the Pavilion car parks have motorhome bays for vans under 6 m, free from 6pm to 10pm, but no motorhomes from 10pm to 8am. On Portland, the Chesil car park takes motorhomes by day; the village car parks don’t take them at all.

Campsites at Weymouth

Bagwell Farm Touring Park, Knights in the Bottom, Chickerell, Weymouth DT3 4EA. Tel: 01305 782575. Open all year, with a heated toilet block and hardstanding pitches for the winter.

Pebble Bank Holiday Park, 90 Camp Road, Wyke Regis, Weymouth DT4 9HF. Tel: 01305 774844. Behind Chesil Beach, under two miles from Weymouth. Open from Easter to November; check the 2026 and 2027 dates when you book.

Chesil Beach, the Fleet and Abbotsbury

Chesil Beach, the long shingle bank west of Portland, shelters the Fleet lagoon. From the hills above Abbotsbury there are the most stunning views over the Fleet towards Portland. The campsites along the Fleet are the place to stay on Chesil Beach.

East Fleet Farm Touring Park, Chickerell, Weymouth DT3 4DW. Tel: 01305 602370. Now run by Away Resorts, on the shore of the Fleet, with grass, hardstanding and fully serviced pitches. Open from spring to autumn.

West Fleet Holiday Farm, Fleet, Weymouth DT3 4EF. Tel: 01305 782218. Takes motorhomes, with views of the Fleet and Chesil Beach; its sister site Sea Barn Farm is a short walk from the shore. Pre-booked pitches only, and the latest arrival is 7pm.

Bridport, West Bay and Eggardon Hill

West Bay is Bridport’s harbour, with cliffs and beaches either side. In West Bay, the West Bay Road car park takes motorhomes by day but is locked from 10pm to 8am, and Station Yard is closed from 10pm to 8am.

Inland, off the A35 between Dorchester and Bridport, turn towards Askerswell; beyond the village the lane climbs Eggardon Hill, an Iron Age hill fort with a number of secluded picnic bays and huge views.

Campsites around Bridport

Freshwater Beach Holiday Park, Burton Bradstock, Bridport DT6 4PT. Tel: 01308 897317. A big family park by the beach that takes campervans and tents up to 7 m on all pitches. Check its season before you go.

Highlands End Holiday Park, Eype, Bridport DT6 6AR. Tel: 01308 426947. On the clifftop with sea views, so it can be windy. Hard and gravel pitches are open all year and grass pitches, for motorhomes and campervans, from 27 March to 2 November 2026. One-night stays are fine in low season.

Golden Cap Holiday Park, Seatown, Bridport DT6 6JX. Tel: 01308 426947. A few hundred metres from Seatown beach and the coast path. Its hard pitches, open all year, take vehicles up to 10 m. The lane down from Chideock is 0.7 miles long, with passing places.

Bingham Grange, Melplash, Bridport DT6 3TT. Tel: 01308 488183. A Caravan and Motorhome Club site, open to non-members, 3 miles from Bridport and West Bay. Open to 4 January 2027, then from 19 March 2027 to 3 January 2028. Outfits up to 8.5 m.

West Bay Holiday Park, West Bay. A Parkdean holiday park 200 m from the beach and harbour, with touring and camping pitches.

Charmouth and Lyme Regis

Lyme Regis, with its harbour wall, the Cobb, and Charmouth next door are at the western end of Dorset’s coast, both known for fossil hunting on the beaches. Lyme Regis Town Council’s car parks don’t take motorhomes, or anything over 4.8 m. Dorset Council’s Charmouth Road and Holmbush car parks, on the edge of town, do by day, but not from 10pm to 8am. There’s also a park and ride for Lyme Regis and Charmouth, with free parking and a charge for the bus. In Charmouth, Lower Sea Lane has a multi-use car park for larger vans, again with no motorhomes from 10pm to 8am.

Campsites at Charmouth

Newlands Holidays, Charmouth DT6 6RB. Tel: 01297 560259. Open to motorhomes from March to October, a short walk from the village and the beach. Standard and hardstanding pitches take vans up to 7 m.

Seadown Holiday Park, Bridge Road, Charmouth DT6 6QS. Tel: 01297 560154. Beside the River Char with its own way onto the beach and the coast path. Open from 14 March to 31 October 2026. Minimum stay three nights, and your pitch is only held until 6pm on the day you arrive.

Manor Farm Holiday Centre, Charmouth, Bridport DT6 6QL. Tel: 01297 560226. A 10-minute level walk from the beach, with hardstanding and a pool. Open from mid-March to the end of October.

Charmouth Camping and Caravanning Club Site, Monkton Wyld Farm, Scotts Lane, Charmouth DT6 6DB. Tel: 01297 32965. Grass and hardstanding pitches and a motorhome service point. Open from 5 February to 1 November 2027.

More on Britain

England by campervan
Devon, the next county west
Hampshire, the next county east
Cornwall
UK camper van hire
European vehicle ferries
Normandy and Brittany, across the Channel

Sources: Dorset Council car park pages, draft Portland car park order and public spaces protection orders; BCP Council beach guidelines, parking terms and car park orders for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole; Swanage and Lyme Regis town councils; Visit Dorset; National Trust; Forestry England; Lulworth Estate; Ministry of Defence (Lulworth ranges and Tyneham); gov.uk (Jurassic Coast, Highway Code, speed limits, clean air zones, Entry/Exit System); Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994; The Sandbanks Ferry; Brittany Ferries; Condor Ferries; DFDS; States of Guernsey; Government of Jersey; campsite and club websites. Checked November 2026. Know of a change? Tell us in the comments below.