Dnevnik urges crack down on wild camping in Ljubljana

Ljubljana – The newspaper Dnevnik raises the issue of illegal camping by camper vans in Ljubljana in Tuesday’s commentary headlined When Tourist Sleeps Under Your Window. It says the authorities should crack down on the practice.

The paper notes that the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way people travel with individual travel by car or camper vans now in focus. “And the city residents are shocked to find that tourists are suddenly sleeping in cars under their bedroom windows in public car parks.”

The paper writes that camper van travel apps show areas where it is possible to spend the night for free, including in leafy residential areas of Rožna Dolina, Prule or Trnovo. The problem is that it is prohibited to spend the night in a camper van in Ljubljana car parks, except for the park and ride areas in Dolgi Most and Stanežiče.

It notes that the municipalities in the Gorenjska region have this year launched a campaign against wild camping and locals can report the offending tourists via a dedicated web site.

“It sounds draconian but in countries with regulated tourism it is clear what is allowed an what not. No camper van visitor who spends the night illegally along the Ljubljanica would ever thought of doing the same in the vicinity of the Plitvice Lakes as everyone knows the authorities in Croatia are very strict about wild camping,” writes the paper.

“For citizens to feel good on the street it is not just that cars are driven away, that cyclist ride properly, electric scooters are parked correctly and food delivery drivers slow down, but also that foreigners should know our rules of the game. Above all, feeling good in the city also means feeling that the same rules apply to everyone. Instead of chasing local cyclists in the central market, at least in summer, we should pay more attention to foreigners who sleep rough on Ljubljana’s streets. Because if there is order for Janez, there must also be order for Johann.”

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