Wild camping in Canton Bern

Canton Bern has no cantonal camping ban. A full-text search of the Bernese law collection finds exactly one in-force act that names camping or bivouacking: the wildlife protection ordinance, whose annex bans both, by name, in 28 protection areas.¹ Breaching those orders is fined with up to CHF 20,000.² Everywhere else, the commune decides, and the Oberland communes are the strictest in Switzerland.

The canton itself bans nothing

We searched the whole cantonal law collection for "campieren" and "biwakieren". Each word appears in exactly one act that is in force: the Verordnung über den Wildtierschutz (WTSchV, BSG 922.63).¹ There is no cantonal camping act, no police-law ban, nothing in the building law that reaches a hiker's tent. Camping in Bern is, by design, a communal matter.

That means the default from above is permissive: a considerate single night above the treeline, outside every protected perimeter and in a commune without its own rule, breaks no cantonal norm. The work is in those two qualifiers, because both layers below the canton are busy. Where Bern sits in the national picture is in our canton comparison.

The 28 areas where both are banned by name

The WTSchV lets the canton restrict disturbing leisure activities inside its wildlife protection areas (Art. 3, category F). Annex 2 then does it, with one sentence that repeats verbatim across 28 object sheets: "Freies/wildes Campieren und Biwakieren sind verboten." Free or wild camping and bivouacking are banned. Hohgant, the Kandersteg area, Niesen and Gehrihorn are all on that list.¹ The Justistal sheet carries a seasonal variant instead: free camping banned from 1 September to 30 November.

The sanction behind those orders is the cantonal hunting act: whoever disregards binding wildlife protection orders is fined with up to CHF 20,000.² On top of the cantonal areas sit the federal ones, with their own CHF 150 fixed penalty: the hunting-ban district Kiental for instance runs its border 8 metres north of the Hohtürli pass.⁶⁷ How to check both kinds of perimeter before you walk in is in our protected areas article.

The communes: the strictest rules in Switzerland live here

Lauterbrunnen banned camping outside campsites across the whole municipality on 1 January 2025, tents and vans alike, with fines up to CHF 5,000, while exempting occasional camping on private ground for private purposes.³ Grindelwald bans pitching tents municipality-wide with no exception above the treeline, up to CHF 1,000, which is what decides the Bachalpsee.⁴ Kandersteg bans tents across the commune through Art. 7 of its police reglement, up to CHF 5,000 and in practice around CHF 200 plus costs, which is what decides the Oeschinensee.⁵

It is not all bans. Thun wrote a rule that permits the night and prohibits the tent, which we unpacked in the Thun report. And Innertkirchen has no camping rule at all, which is exactly what our Gadenlouwisee report turns on. For picking ground in the mountains specifically, our Bernese Oberland article is the practical companion to this one.

Tent or bivouac: two different questions in Bern

Inside the 28 wildlife protection areas the question is settled: the clause names Biwakieren, so sleeping without a tent is banned exactly like camping. No wiggle room.¹

In the communes it genuinely depends on the wording. Grindelwald and Kandersteg ban pitching tents, caravans and the like, a device list that a bivy bag is not on. Lauterbrunnen extends to "similar accommodations", which is broader. The sharpest illustration is the Hohtürli pass, where the commune boundary crosses the saddle: the tent is banned on both sides, the tentless bivouac only on one.⁵ The full logic of these verbs is in When is a bivouac a bivouac.

How it plays out

Five of the 26 researched Bern spots, picked to show the range. The canton appears in none of the reasoning; the area or the commune always does.

• OeschinenseeReport

  Tents are banned across the whole municipality of Kandersteg, fine up to CHF 5,000, in practice around CHF 200 plus costs. At the lake itself a judicial prohibition comes on top.

• BachalpseeReport

  Grindelwald bans tents municipality-wide with no above-treeline exception, so 2,265 m of altitude does not help. Fine up to CHF 1,000.

• HohtürliReport

  The federal game reserve Kiental ends 8 m north of the pass and the commune boundary crosses the saddle. The tent is banned on both sides, the tentless bivouac only on one.

• ChasseralReport

  The Bern Jura, not the Oberland, and the layer that looks decisive is not: the wildlife area on the summit regulates dogs and winter sports, not camping. The commune of Nods decides.

• GadenlouwiseeReport

  No federal perimeter, none of the 28 cantonal areas, and Innertkirchen has no camping rule. The report walks all three layers.