The police in the South of Iceland has approved a resolution which prohibits campers from camping in populated areas, outside of regulated campsites, mbl.is reports. “We are tackling ‘sleeping cars’. They have not been prominent in police resolutions until now as we are trying to react to them. We will try to attend to this like other police matters, and try to point travelers to approved service areas” Kjartan Þorkellson, chief of police in the South of Iceland, commented.
The resolution, which took effect yesterday, states that it is prohibited to stay the night in populated areas in a tent, tent trailer, or campers. This will from now on only be possible in specific campsites in the South of Iceland, which includes fourteen different municipalities.
This does not affect travelers looking to camp in the wilderness. “If you intend to run around mountainsides with your tent on your back, then you are not in trouble”, Kjartan explained. The resolution declares that populated areas are those areas that are not considered wilderness. Wilderness is defined, in the resolution, as those areas where people do not have permanent residence and where structures are not in place, or not prominent.
