About Van Spots
A simple, easy way to find spots to camp in your van.
Van Spots is free resource, with no ads. The aim is to keep it that way.
It takes some clever engineering in order to do this. You may notice at times the site takes a long time to load, this is because it turns off when no one is using it.
We're working at the moment to try and improve performance across all areas of the site.
Van Spots is an open-source project built by one person in their spare time using Ruby on Rails.
It is still in development so let me know if anything isn't working as expected.
All the core functionality is now live; you can sign up, add, find and review spots.
If there are any features you would like to see, any feedback you would like to give, or any bugs that you find please get in touch.
If you want to keep track of progress (or contribute with a pull request) you can see what needs doing on the Trello Board and the codebase lives on GitHub . If want to use the data, then we also have an API. G et in touch and we can talk to you about usage.
If you want to get in touch with suggestions or just to have a chat, drop me an email.
More information coming soon!
Latest Updates
20/02/2025
The app has been rebuilt from scratch to improve speed, performance and security.
If you have an issues please drop me an email
26/11/2019
Update the front page to add most recent spots and reviews
08/11/2019
Updated the default sorting of spots on the index page, so the best rated spots are now at the top.
Added loading icon to increase descriptiveness of background processes.
01/11/2019
Van Spots has had some performance improvements and a load more spots added.
Please let us know if you have any issues!
25/09/2019
Update to front page
23/09/2019
Lots of little background updates and a major change to the design of the Spot Finder page
Latest Reviews
5/10
Porthkerry Country Park
Porthkerry 2025
Many changes and not just the cafe ownership. What was once a beautiful spot has now been ‘updated’: the 2 bbq spots have been dismantled and so people use the ground...
1/10
Llyn Aled, Wild Camping Spot, Unnamed Road, Abergele LL22 8UY
llyn aled
llyn brenig have taken over this lake,it was ok but now bit iffy, so it is patrolled regular they will not allow overnight parking,parking for anglers only ,they will ...
8/10
Pretty Corner Ln Sheringham NR26 8TW
Great walks
Ideal spot for family walks. Easy going and lots of routes to choose from. Clean and tidy however plenty of signage stating no overnight stays. Worth a visit but look ...
10/10
Wild camping Beach Stop, Beach Rd Holt NR25 7XW
Amazing Site
Amazing place, a little hidden gem. Clean and tidy. Lots of Dog walkers around and very friendly people. Didn't overnight stay but wish I had. 5 minute walk to the sea...
5/10
St Abbs harbour
Great view, toilets
Great view as you park right on the harbour side. There are toilets but, pretty basic. Cafe on harbour side too open during the day. No pub in this village
9/10
Cromaty point, Unnamed Road Cromarty IV11 8XH
Beautiful free spot overlooking the Moray Firth
Really quiet spot up a dirt road (you’re going the right way). Can walk to Cromarty from here along a wooded coastal path (approx 1.5 miles). Amazing sunrise! A coupl...
How to use Van Spots
More details coming soon
Finding a Spot
There are two ways of finding a spot to camp in, you can either browse the Map or use the Spot Finder to browse for a spot.
There are some basic filters on the spots index with hopefully some more coming soon.
Signing Up
Click the link in the nav bar and sign up
Adding a Spot
Either find the location on the map and click or tap on the map or enter the latitude and longitude yourself on the create spot page
Rating a Spot
View the Spot and click Rate Spot
Editing a Spot
If you are the person who created the spot then you can edit it. There should be an Edit Spot button next to the Rate Spot button
Editing your profile
From your Profile page, click the Edit Profile button