Wild camping in the Alpstein and Appenzell

The Alpstein is the most asked-about range in Switzerland for this question, and the answer surprises people: Appenzell Innerrhoden cannot fine you for camping. Its camping ordinance contains no penalty provision at all, and the canton says so itself.

The canton has no camping fine. Consent is the mechanic. Art. 4 of the Appenzell Campingverordnung (GS 935.610) allows occasional camping with the landowner's consent, capped at one month per year. The ordinance contains no penalty provision,1 and the canton's own 2025 camping report states that there is no possibility of punishment for camping outside the camping zone.2 What can still fine you is federal: the hunting-ban district on the Saentis.

Gems of Switzerland

My 141 favourite spots in the Swiss Alps. Coordinates, the walk in, and a wild-camping read on every single one.

See the guide

Appenzell Innerrhoden did not write a ban and it did not write a blanket permission. Art. 4 of the Campingverordnung allows occasional pitching of individual caravans and tents outside authorised campsites with the consent of the landowner, and it caps that at one month per year for any given plot. It also reserves special enactments of the district authorities.1 That is the entire cantonal answer, and it puts a person rather than a map at the centre of your evening.

In the Alpstein that person is usually the alp tenant, the Senn, and the alps here are worked, not abstract. At the Faelenalp you ask, you pay a few francs, you pitch where you are shown. At the Seealpsee the same structure applies with a different Senn. This is not a loophole, it is the route the ordinance actually names.

Because the ordinance carries no penalty article, a refusal is not a fine. It is a refusal, and pitching anyway is trespass on someone's working ground rather than a ticketable camping offence. That distinction is real, and it is also exactly why the arrangement survives: it runs on people not abusing it.

The one thing that does fine: the Saentis hunting-ban district

The federal hunting-ban district on the Saentis is a different legal world. Inside it a tent is prohibited outright,3 and the fixed-penalty catalogue tariffs it at CHF 150.4 Consent from a landowner does not help, because the ban is federal and the landowner is not the one granting it.

The line matters more than the mountain. At the Loetzisalpsattel it runs straight through the saddle: north and east of it you are outside and back under the consent rule, a short distance south or west and you are inside and looking at a tent ban. The exact offsets are in the spot report; we have not re-measured them for this article. A boundary you cannot see on the ground decides the answer, so check the pin on the federal map before you go, not the summit name.

One further trap sits inside the ordinance itself. Art. 6 para. 3 says the restrictions in Art. 6 para. 2 apply "sinngemäss" to Art. 4, so consent alone does not clear them. Those restrictions are broader than BLN: they also bar ground that is unsuitable by its nature, danger zones, and anywhere close to busy roads and buildings.1

The ground decides as often as the law

The Alpstein is small, steep and busy, and several of its best-known viewpoints simply have nowhere to sleep. The Schaefler is the clean example: legally it is a consent question like anywhere else, but the flattest ground for 300 m in any direction is the viewpoint itself, 75 m from a guesthouse that sleeps 85. That is not a wild camp, that is someone's terrace.

This is the part no statute covers and the part people get wrong most often. Before the law, ask whether anybody would actually sleep here. Below the treeline, on a working alp, next to a mountain inn, on the only flat patch that everyone photographs at sunrise: the answer is usually no, whatever the ordinance permits.

How it plays out

Five Alpstein spots we have researched in full, and none of them turns on the canton. They turn on the alp, the federal line, or the ground.

  • Saxer LückeTolerated

    Widely repeated online as forbidden with a fine coming. That is wrong. Outside the hunting-ban district, no cantonal fine exists, and an Alpstein ranger said so directly.

  • FälenseeIt depends

    The clean version of the consent route: ask the alp tenant at the Faelenalp, pay roughly CHF 12 per person and night, stay in the marked zone. Word of mouth, so treat the figure as guidance.

  • SeealpseeIt depends

    No public right and officially discouraged, but no fine either. The legal route is the responsible Senn's consent. Higher up, inside the Saentis district, the federal ban takes over and consent stops helping.

  • LötzisalpsattelIt depends

    The hunting-ban boundary runs through the saddle itself. North and east you are outside it, a short distance south or west you are inside and a tent is prohibited at CHF 150.

  • SchäflerIt depends

    Fails on its address rather than its law. A tent fits, but the only flat ground is the viewpoint, 75 m from a three-storey guesthouse.

Another Alpstein spot?

Put it into the wild camping check. The Alpstein is the best-covered range we have, so there is a good chance the report already exists.

Is wild camping allowed in the Alpstein?
There is no cantonal camping fine in Appenzell Innerrhoden, because its camping ordinance (GS 935.610) contains no penalty provision, which the canton confirms in its own 2025 camping report. Art. 4 of the Campingverordnung allows occasional camping with the landowner's consent, so the honest answer is that it depends on the alp tenant. Inside the federal hunting-ban district on the Saentis a tent is prohibited regardless of consent.
Do I have to pay to camp at the Fälensee?
The alp tenant at the Faelenalp asks roughly CHF 12 per person and night, about 15 if you register in advance, and shows you a marked zone. That figure comes from word of mouth rather than a published tariff, so treat it as guidance and ask when you get there.
What does a fine cost in the Alpstein?
Appenzell Innerrhoden has no camping fine outside one mire decree. The fine that does exist is federal: inside the Saentis hunting-ban district, pitching a tent is tariffed at CHF 150 under the fixed-penalty catalogue.
Is the Saxer Lücke forbidden?
No. It is widely repeated online that camping there is banned and a fine is coming, and that is wrong. It sits outside the hunting-ban district, and the canton has no camping penalty. Behave well and stay one night.

Sources

  1. Kanton Appenzell Innerrhoden, Campingverordnung (GS 935.610), read in full via the ai.clex.ch API on 3 August 2026. Art. 4: "Das gelegentliche Aufstellen von einzelnen Wohnwagen und Zelten ausserhalb bewilligter Campingplaetze darf die Dauer eines Monats pro Jahr nicht ueberschreiten und ist an die Zustimmung des betreffenden Grundeigentuemers gebunden. Besondere Erlasse der Bezirksbehoerden zur Wahrung oeffentlicher Interessen bleiben vorbehalten." Art. 6 Abs. 2 bars camping zones near churches, schools and busy roads, in danger zones, in ground unsuitable by its nature, and where nature or heritage protection gives an area special value; Art. 6 Abs. 3: "Die Bestimmungen von Abs. 2 dieses Artikels sind sinngemaess auf Art. 4 dieser Verordnung anzuwenden." The ordinance contains no penalty article: zero occurrences of Strafe, Busse, bestraft or Uebertretung in the full text. ai.clex.ch. ↩
  2. Kanton Appenzell Innerrhoden, report on camping tourism (Massnahme B4), June 2025, 47 pages: "Die Campingverordnung (GS 935.610) enthaelt keine Strafnorm. Zwar greifen indirekt die Strafnormen des Baugesetzes und des Gastgewerbegesetzes. Die Strafnormen gelten allerdings nur beschraenkt. Fuer verbotenes Campieren ausserhalb der Campingzone besteht keine Strafmoeglichkeit." That is the canton stating its own position. ai.ch. ↩
  3. Verordnung ueber die eidgenoessischen Jagdbanngebiete (VEJ, SR 922.31), Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. e: "Das freie Zelten und Campieren ist verboten. Vorbehalten bleibt die Benutzung offizieller Zeltplaetze. Die Kantone koennen Ausnahmen bewilligen." The prohibition is federal, so no cantonal or communal permission reaches inside a hunting-ban district. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩
  4. Ordnungsbussenverordnung (OBV), Anhang 2, Ziff. 12005: "Freies Zelten oder Campieren in eidgenoessischen Jagdbanngebieten (Art. 18 Abs. 1 Bst. e und Abs. 3 JSG, Art. 5 Abs. 1 Bst. e VEJ)", CHF 150. Ziff. 12003 covers wildlife rest zones at the same amount. Read in the consolidated PDF on 3 August 2026. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩
  5. Bundesgesetz ueber den Natur- und Heimatschutz (NHG, SR 451), Art. 5 and 6: an inventory entry such as a BLN listing binds the authorities when they carry out a federal task. It does not create a camping offence for a private person on foot. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩

Gems of Switzerland

My 141 favourite spots in the Swiss Alps. Coordinates, the walk in, and a wild-camping read on every single one.

See the guide