Wild camping at the Brienzer Rothorn: a hotel and two mountain stations sit on the summit, and the commune bans the bivouac
The summit sits on a tripoint of three cantons, and the commune that owns the exact pin forbids camping and the bivouac. Even without that, you would be pitching between a hotel, a steam railway and a cable car. Here is where you can actually sleep instead.
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What do these mean?
Illegal A specific rule bans it, usually with a fine, and it can be enforced. Sleep somewhere else.
Not allowed No real place to camp here. A gated site, a developed area, or nowhere sensible to lie down, even if no fine is attached.
It depends You can sleep here, but there's a condition first: ask the landowner, book a spot, stay inside a set zone, or use a bivvy instead of a tent. The report says which.
Tolerated No rule clearly allows or bans it, but a single night is accepted in practice and nobody enforces against it. Normal for high bivouacs above the treeline.
Legal Camping one night is fine here. Either a rule allows it, or we checked every law and found nothing against it. Still: pitch late, leave early, no trace.
The commune at the pin bans camping and the bivouac, up to CHF 5'000
Wild camping at the Brienzer Rothorn runs into a rule most people never look up, because the summit is a tripoint and the exact pin falls on the Bernese side, in the commune of Schwanden bei Brienz. Federal geodata put the point at 2'346 metres, in that commune (BFS 592), and it is that commune's police ordinance that decides the ground.1
The commune's Gemeinde-Polizeireglement, in force since 1 January 2021, does the one thing many communal ordinances leave out: it names the bivouac by name. Its definition of camping is written to cover a night with no tent at all.
"Campieren: jede Form des Übernachtens ausserhalb dafür vorgesehener Bauten. Dazu zählen das Übernachten in Zelten, Wohnwagen, Wohnmobilen, Autos sowie das Biwakieren."Gemeinde-Polizeireglement Schwanden bei Brienz, Art. 3 lit. c. Camping is any form of overnighting outside buildings meant for it, and the bivouac (Biwakieren) is listed alongside tents and vehicles.
That definition matters, because the ban then attaches to it directly. Art. 10 Abs. 1 reads: "Auf öffentlichem Grund ist das Übernachten in Fahrzeugen und Zelten (Campieren) verboten." On public ground, overnighting in vehicles and tents, camping, is forbidden, and since Art. 3 lit. c folds the bivouac into "Campieren", a night in a bivvy bag is caught as squarely as a tent. This is not a case where we have to guess whether a camping ban reaches a tentless sleeper. Here it says so.2
And it carries a real penalty. Art. 18 Abs. 1 provides that whoever breaches the listed provisions "wird mit Busse bis zu CHF 5'000.00 bestraft", a fine up to CHF 5'000, and the list of fined provisions expressly includes "Art. 10 Abs. 1". So the camping and bivouac ban is not a dead letter, it has teeth.2
So why do we say "Not allowed" and not "Illegal"? Because of one word in Art. 10: the ban is on "öffentlichem Grund". In the ordinance's own definitions, "öffentlicher Grund" is the narrower commune-managed common-use ground, distinct from "öffentlicher Raum", which also covers forest and pasture open to everyone under ZGB Art. 699. The developed summit apron, the station and path area, is clearly commune-managed ground, so the ban plainly bites there. Out on the open pasture ridge a step away, whether a plain bivvy sits on "öffentlicher Grund" is genuinely arguable. The neighbouring commune of Brienz removed that ambiguity by banning camping across the whole "öffentlicher Raum" including Wald und Weide, again up to CHF 5'000; Schwanden did not. That editorial gap is the only reason this is not a clean "Illegal". The honest answer at the developed pin is still no.3
No game reserve at the summit, and the one lawful bivouac is a few minutes east
First, clear up a myth that used to sit on this spot. The Brienzer Rothorn is often written up as protected wildlife ground where camping is federally banned. At the summit pin that is wrong: the federal layers return nothing. No Jagdbanngebiet, no Wildruhezone, no BLN landscape inventory, no mire. The nearest federal game reserves, Augstmatthorn and Tannhorn, sit on the WEST Brienzergrat, close on the ridge but not at the top.1
That distinction decides which way you walk. If you drift west along the grat toward Tannhorn and Augstmatthorn, you cross into the federal game reserve, where VEJ (SR 922.31) Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. e forbids free tenting and camping, with a fixed penalty of CHF 150 under the federal fines ordinance. That western ridge is patrolled and fines are handed out there in practice, reported by SRF. So the ridge that looks like the wild option is the one to avoid.58
The clean, honest overnight is the hotel on the summit. The Berghaus Rothorn Kulm sits about 100 metres from the Brienz Rothorn Bahn top station, with rooms and dormitory beds, run by the railway. It lets you have sunset and sunrise on the Rothorn without touching the commune ban or the wildlife rest to the west. Contact runs through the Brienz Rothorn Bahn.7
For an actual bivouac, the lawful ground is a few minutes east and down. Do not sleep at the pin, at the stations, on the Wanderweg or on the summit apron, that is where the Schwanden ban and the developed summit both catch you. Instead drop east and down onto the Obwalden (Giswil) side, staying above the treeline and outside every reserve. The established spot is the Eisee, an alpine lake at about 1'895 m in the commune of Giswil, roughly 1.5 km east of and below the summit, reached by the Eisee chairlift or on foot, and people already camp there.1 Obwalden is one of the few cantons with a statutory allowance: the Gesetz über das Campieren (GDB 971.4) Art. 8 permits a single overnight tent outside licensed sites, without a permit, as long as no public or private interest is impaired. If you are on worked alp pasture, ask the alp tenant first. Note that the Obwalden government proposed a revision of this law in 2026, so check it is still in force before you rely on it.4
One seasonal caveat. Two Wildruhezonen named Nesslenstock, one on the Lucerne side and one on the Obwalden side, sit near the descent routes and carry a winter entry ban, roughly December to April or May. They do not reach the summit pin, but if you are dropping east or south in winter, check the zone edges and any snow drift.6
No fire. An open fire has no place on this pasture, and the cantons here run fire bans through dry spells in summer. A gas stove is enough, and check the current cantonal fire warning before you count on any flame.8
The reason for the verdict: you would be pitching between a hotel and two stations
Start with the question that settles this one before any statute. If sleeping here were entirely lawful, would anybody actually put a sleeping bag down on this exact ground? The pin sits about 8 metres from the gazetteer summit point. The Brienz Rothorn Bahn "Rothorn Kulm" station and the Berghaus Rothorn Kulm hotel are roughly 100 to 150 metres off. The Sörenberg cable-car top station is about 150 metres the other way, with a summit restaurant and terrace. This is a developed, lift-and-railway summit that day visitors ride up to, not a lonely bivouac ledge.71
Put a tent on the summit here and you are camping in a resort. A steam cog railway climbs to the top from Brienz, a cable car brings people from Sörenberg, and both run day traffic in season. You would be pitching in sight of a hotel and two stations, seen at both ends of the night, on ground built for visitors who go back down. That is the picture the common-sense test is for, and it caps the verdict at "Not allowed" no matter how the commune boundary lines fall.7
Why not "Tolerated" or "Legal" either. There is a named ban with a real fine covering the pin's commune, and the exact point is a developed tourist top. That rules out anything softer than "Not allowed". The only reason it is not the harder "Illegal" is the single-word gap in Art. 10, "öffentlicher Grund", that leaves a plain bivvy on the open pasture ridge legally arguable. Weigh both and the honest verdict is a clear no at the pin, with a lawful bivouac available a short walk east.3
Where you can legally sleep
- Berghaus Rothorn Kulm, at the Brienz Rothorn Bahn top station, about 100 metres from the summit, rooms and dormitory beds, booked through the Brienz Rothorn Bahn. The clean way to wake up on the Rothorn.
- A single considerate bivouac a few minutes east and down, on the Obwalden (Giswil) side, above the treeline and outside every reserve, where OW GDB 971.4 Art. 8 allows one night if no public or private interest is impaired. On worked alp pasture, ask the alp tenant first, and confirm the law is still in force after the 2026 revision proposal.
- Down in the valley, at Brienz on Lake Brienz or at Sörenberg, with the railway or the cable car back up in the morning if you missed the last one down.
- Not the summit itself. The pin, the stations, the summit apron and the Wanderweg are commune-managed ground where the Schwanden Polizeireglement bans camping and the bivouac, up to CHF 5'000.
- Not west along the grat. The ridge toward Tannhorn and Augstmatthorn is a federal Jagdbanngebiet where free tenting is banned and fines are handed out, so keep camping plans off the western ridge.
General rules for wild camping
This applies wherever you are genuinely allowed to sleep outside, which around the Brienzer Rothorn means the lawful ground east on the Obwalden side, never the developed summit. It is not legal text, it is decency and common sense on a busy lift-served ridge.
- No fire. An open fire has no place in the mountains. A gas stove is enough.
- Pitch late, strike early. Set up towards evening, gone again early. A bivouac is one night, not a base camp.
- Leave no rubbish. Everything you carry up you carry down, organic scraps and toilet paper included.
- At least 50 metres from any water for the big business, so you do not foul what people and livestock drink.
- Stay small and quiet. A small group, no speaker, no drone, dogs on the lead, and the alp staff's word goes.
Disclaimer
This article reflects my research and assessment to the best of my knowledge, as of August 2026. It is based on the publicly accessible and official sources linked below. It does not replace legal advice and is not a binding statement of the current legal situation.
Communal police ordinances and protected-area boundaries can change, cantonal fire bans come and go through the summer, and the Obwalden camping law was under revision in 2026, so material written about this area earlier may be out of date. Before every tour, check the current sources yourself, respect the protection zones and the commune's own rules, and follow instructions on site. A genuine emergency bivouac in distress is a separate question from a planned camp. Anyone who spends the night outside bears responsibility for their own conduct and any consequences themselves. Hikebeast, Leon Helg and Saftladen GmbH accept no liability for decisions made on the basis of this text, and call on no one to break applicable law.
Gems of Switzerland
My 141 favourite spots in the Swiss Alps. With directions and a wildcamping analysis for every spot.
Frequently asked questions
Is wild camping allowed at the Brienzer Rothorn?
Does the ban catch a bivouac without a tent?
Is there a federal game reserve at the Brienzer Rothorn summit?
Where can I legally bivouac near the Brienzer Rothorn?
Why is the verdict 'Not allowed' and not 'Illegal'?
Leon Helg
Swiss filmmaker and software developer. Spends his free time in the Swiss Alps and maps his favourite spots for Hikebeast. Posts as @leon.helg on Instagram and TikTok.
Sources
- Federal geodata at the pin, WGS84 46.7871 / 8.04701, LV95 E 2'646'454.1 / N 1'181'949.8, elevation about 2'346 m (geo.admin.ch reframe and height services). The swissBOUNDARIES layers place the exact point in the commune of Schwanden bei Brienz, canton Bern (BFS 592), on the tripoint with Flühli (LU) and Giswil (OW). Identify at the point with tolerance 0 returns no hit on the federal game-reserve layer (ch.bafu.bundesinventare-jagdbanngebiete), the wildlife-rest-zone layer (ch.bafu.wrz-wildruhezonen_portal), the BLN landscape inventory or the mire inventories; an invalid layer id used as a control returns an error, so the empty results are trustworthy. The nearest federal game reserves are Augstmatthorn (object 1, BE) and Tannhorn (object 5, LU), both on the west Brienzergrat, not at the summit. A separate identify at the Eisee (WGS84 46.7910 / 8.0653, commune of Giswil OW, about 1'895 m, roughly 1.5 km east-north-east of and below the summit) returns no hit on the game-reserve, wildlife-rest-zone, BLN, mire or Moorlandschaft layers either, so a tent at the lake falls under the Obwalden allowance. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
- Gemeinde-Polizeireglement der Einwohnergemeinde Schwanden bei Brienz, adopted by the Gemeindeversammlung on 11 December 2020, in force since 1 January 2021, read from the commune's own PDF. Art. 3 lit. c (Begriffe): "Campieren: jede Form des Übernachtens ausserhalb dafür vorgesehener Bauten. Dazu zählen das Übernachten in Zelten, Wohnwagen, Wohnmobilen, Autos sowie das Biwakieren." Art. 10 Abs. 1 (Campingverbot): "Auf öffentlichem Grund ist das Übernachten in Fahrzeugen und Zelten (Campieren) verboten", with Abs. 2 allowing case-by-case exceptions by the commune. Art. 18 Abs. 1 (Strafbestimmungen): "Wer gegen eine der nachfolgenden Bestimmungen dieses Reglements ... verstösst, wird mit Busse bis zu CHF 5'000.00 bestraft", and the fined list expressly includes "Art. 10 Abs. 1". Because Art. 3 lit. c folds the bivouac into Campieren, the Art. 10 ban catches a tentless night as much as a tent. schwandenbrienz.ch. ↩
- Gemeindepolizeireglement der Gemeinde Brienz (BE), the neighbouring commune on the lake side of the summit, read for comparison. It carries a parallel but broader camping ban: its definition of Campieren also includes the bivouac, and its prohibition reaches the whole "öffentlicher Raum", which is defined to include forest and pasture (Wald und Weide) accessible under ZGB Art. 699, so alpine pasture is caught even where privately owned. Fine up to CHF 5'000. This is the harder ban that would apply to any part of the summit on the Brienz side, and the reason the Schwanden ban's narrower "öffentlicher Grund" wording, not a genuine freedom, is what leaves a plain bivvy on the open ridge legally arguable. brienz.ch. ↩
- Kanton Obwalden, Gesetz über das Campieren (GDB 971.4), Art. 8. It permits a single overnight tent outside licensed campsites without a permit, provided no public or private interests are impaired, the statutory basis for the lawful bivouac a few minutes east and down onto the Giswil side of the ridge, above the treeline and outside every reserve. On worked alp pasture the alp tenant should still be asked. The Obwalden government proposed a revision of the camping law in 2026, so the exact wording should be re-checked before relying on it. gdb.ow.ch. ↩
- Federal game reserves on the west Brienzergrat and the VEJ tent ban. The nearest federal hunting-ban districts to the summit are Augstmatthorn (object 1, BE) and Tannhorn (object 5, LU); the Tannhorn object sheet describes it as protecting the north flank of the Brienzer-Rothorn chain. Inside a Jagdbanngebiet, the Verordnung über die eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebiete (VEJ, SR 922.31) Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. e forbids free tenting and camping, and the breach is tariffed at CHF 150 under the Ordnungsbussenverordnung (OBV, SR 314.11), Anhang 2 Ziff. 12005. The reserves lie west of the summit pin, so a camp anywhere along the ridge toward Tannhorn and Augstmatthorn falls inside the ban, while the summit itself does not. bafu.admin.ch. ↩
- Wildruhezonen near the descent routes (federal portal layer ch.bafu.wrz-wildruhezonen_portal). Two zones named Nesslenstock, one on the Lucerne side (Nr. 1066.0, entry restriction roughly 1 December to 31 May) and one on the Obwalden side (Nr. 11.0, roughly 1 December to 30 April), sit near the ways down but do not reach the summit pin. They matter only for a winter descent east or south: keep to marked routes at the zone edges. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
- The Brienzer Rothorn summit as a developed tourist top, and the setting at the pin. The Brienz Rothorn Bahn is a steam cog railway that climbs from Brienz on Lake Brienz to the Rothorn Kulm station near the summit, where the railway also runs the Berghaus Rothorn Kulm with rooms and dormitory beds; a cable car from Sörenberg reaches the summit from the Lucerne side, with a restaurant and terrace. The pin is about 8 m from the gazetteer summit point, roughly 100 to 150 m from the railway station and hotel and about 150 m from the cable-car top station. This is a lift-and-railway summit that day visitors ride up to, which is the basis for the common-sense reasoning that almost nobody would wild camp here. brienz-rothorn-bahn.ch. ↩
- Ranger enforcement on the western Brienzergrat. Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported in 2023 on wardens patrolling and fining wild campers on the Brienzergrat and around the Augstmatthorn and Lombachalp, inside the federal game reserve, confirming that the tent ban on the western ridge is enforced in practice rather than only on paper. This is the reason the article steers a bivouac east onto the Obwalden side and explicitly away from the western ridge. srf.ch. ↩
Gems of Switzerland
My 141 favourite spots in the Swiss Alps. With directions and a wildcamping analysis for every spot.