Where you can legally park a campervan overnight in India, and what a registered caravan park must have

The short answer is that your overnight halt is supposed to happen inside a registered caravan park, not on a highway shoulder or a beach access road. Every state that has written a caravan tourism policy has built it in two halves, the vehicle and the place it stops. Goa's policy is the bluntest on this point. It defines a caravan park as "an area not within any restricted zone, and shall only be the area designated for parking of Caravans which have accommodation facility for the tourists". Maharashtra's policy describes caravan parks as the places where such vehicles can stay overnight with amenities for tourists. Nothing in either document sets up a right to free-camp a motorhome wherever you like.

The second thing to understand is that a tourist caravan carries two registrations, not one. In Goa, operators and caravans must register with the regional transport office and with the Department of Tourism, at an annual fee of ₹1,000 per caravan. In Maharashtra, the caravan is registered with the transport commissioner and with the tourism directorate, where the registration fee is ₹5,000 and renewal is ₹2,000, and the directorate also trains promoters on management and hygiene.

What a registered park has to provide

Kerala is the most specific about the ground itself. Under Keravan Kerala, a caravan park needs at least 50 cents of land with space for five vehicles at a time, plus a food park, restrooms, an activity area and a driver's lodge. That driver's lodge matters more than it sounds, because most Indian caravan hires come with a driver who has to sleep somewhere.

Kerala Tourism also recognises that one size will not fit the state. Its caravan park page lists full facility parks with reception, kitchen, dormitory, electricity, septage connection, toilets and bathrooms, day parks with minimal amenities, hybrid parks inside existing resorts, parks on independent house plots and plantations, and parks run by KTDC and local self government institutions. Goa likewise points operators towards either hybrid parks at existing hotels and resorts or standalone parks at scenic spots with the right licences.

Maharashtra's test is infrastructure led. Parks must sit where water, road access and electricity already exist, they can be on private land or on government land including MTDC guest house areas, and the operator has to look after safety, security and facilities for differently abled guests.

The money, and why parks are still thin

Subsidy is how states are trying to get vehicles and parks on the ground. Kerala's scheme pays the first 100 caravans ₹7.50 lakh or 15 per cent of cost, whichever is less, the next 100 caravans ₹5 lakh or 10 per cent, and caravans 201 to 300 ₹2.50 lakh or 5 per cent, capped at five caravans per investor or group and available for three years. Maharashtra offers stamp duty and electricity duty waivers and a GST refund to operators.

What this means for a trip out of Bengaluru

Plan the halts before the route. Operators do not publish tariff cards, so you will be quoting. Motohom, for instance, lists six caravan classes on its site and works on a quotation request after you pick a location. Camp Monk, registered as Caravan Adventures Private Limited and based in Bangalore, sells camping and glamping stays through landowner partners, which is the practical substitute for a formal park network on most Karnataka routes.

Two questions to ask any operator before you pay. Where exactly does the vehicle sleep each night, and is that site a registered caravan park or a private arrangement with a resort or farm. The answer changes what happens if a local authority asks you to move at midnight.

Sources

• Caravan Tourism Policy, Department of Tourism, Government of Goa
• Keravan Kerala registration, Kerala Tourism
• Caravan Parks in Kerala, Kerala Tourism
• Maharashtra passes Caravan Tourism policy, Autocar Professional
• Motohom Caravans
• Camp Monk