Wild camping in Canton Obwalden

Obwalden is the canton the whole Swiss wild-camping debate leans on: the one with a written permission for a single night. The permission is real. Nearly everyone who cites it links a 1977 ordinance that was repealed in 2015, so here is the law that actually applies.

One night is expressly lawful, with conditions. Art. 6 of Obwalden's camping act bans pitching tents, caravans and motorhomes outside authorised campsites. Art. 8 then permits exactly one overnight stay without a permit, provided no public or private interests are impaired, at your own risk.1 The ordinance everyone links to for this was repealed in 2015; the rule lives in the Gesetz über das Campieren of 2014.2

The law everyone cites from the wrong document

The act in force is the Gesetz über das Campieren of 4 December 2014 (GDB 971.4), in force since 1 March 2015. Its structure is a ban with two doors. Art. 6: "Das Aufstellen von Zelten, Wohnwagen und Wohnmobilen zum Campieren ausserhalb behördlich bewilligter Campingplätze ist nicht gestattet." Art. 7 Abs. 3 opens the first door, temporary free camping on the plot of a residential house with the owner's consent. Art. 8 opens the second: "Zum einmaligen Übernachten darf ein Zelt, ein Wohnwagen oder ein Wohnmobil ohne Bewilligung ausserhalb bewilligter Campingplätze aufgestellt werden, wenn keine öffentlichen oder privaten Interessen beeinträchtigt werden."1

The document that circulates online is the Verordnung über das Kampieren of 1977, GDB 971.41, with the old K spelling. The cantonal collection records it as in force from 1 May 1977 until 28 February 2015: abrogated.2 The popular claim about Obwalden is right in substance and wrong in citation, and it usually drops both the Art. 6 baseline and the Art. 8 conditions.

What the one night actually requires

Three things carry the permission. Single means single: Art. 11 fines whoever camps without permission and whoever repeatedly breaches the camping ban, which is the penalty regime telling you the one-night reading is literal.1 No public or private interests impaired means in practice: away from buildings and working alps, outside protected perimeters, off farmed ground in season, no trace in the morning. And "auf eigenes Risiko", at your own risk, is in the act itself.

The federal layer sits on top as everywhere: hunting-ban districts and wildlife rest zones carry their own bans at CHF 150, and Obwalden marks wildlife rest zones that close high terrain in winter, the Hochstollen area among them.34 How to check the perimeters is in our protected areas article. Where Obwalden sits nationally: our canton comparison.

Tent or bivouac: both lists name devices

Obwalden's verbs are strictly device-tied, in the ban and in the permission alike: tents, caravans, motorhomes. A bivy bag is on neither list. On a literal reading the tentless bivouac is simply outside this act, resting on the general position that nothing else in the canton prohibits it. For the tent, the one-night permission is the cleaner route anyway. The full verb logic is in When is a bivouac a bivouac.

How it plays out

Two researched cases where the Obwalden rule is the deciding layer.

  • HochstollenReport

    Obwalden wrote the permission down, which almost no other canton has done: Art. 8 allows the one-night tent outside campsites. The wildlife rest zone closes the area in winter; the report draws the season line.

  • Brienzer RothornReport

    The canton boundary is the whole answer here: the Bern side runs under different rules than the Eisee basin on Obwalden ground, where the one-night rule applies. The report draws the line.

Somewhere else in Canton Obwalden?

Put it into the wild camping check. The cantonal answer here is the friendliest in Switzerland; what remains to check is the federal perimeter and whose interests your pitch touches, and those are spot questions.

Is wild camping allowed in Canton Obwalden?
For a single overnight stay, yes, expressly: Art. 8 of the Gesetz über das Campieren permits pitching a tent, caravan or motorhome for one night without a permit, outside authorised campsites, provided no public or private interests are impaired. Staying longer, or repeatedly, falls back under the Art. 6 ban and the Art. 11 penalty.
Is the 1977 Obwalden camping ordinance still valid?
No. The Verordnung über das Kampieren of 1977 (GDB 971.41) was abrogated on 28 February 2015. The law in force is the Gesetz über das Campieren of 4 December 2014 (GDB 971.4). Most articles repeating the Obwalden claim still cite the dead ordinance.
What does a fine cost in Canton Obwalden?
Art. 11 of the camping act fines camping without permission and repeated breaches of the ban; the act names no fixed amount. Inside federal hunting-ban districts and marked wildlife rest zones, CHF 150 applies under federal law, and several Obwalden rest zones close high terrain in winter.
Does the one-night rule cover a bivouac without a tent?
The act does not mention it: both the ban and the permission list tents, caravans and motorhomes. A tentless bivouac is outside the act on a literal reading and rests on the absence of any other prohibition. For a tent, Art. 8 is the express route.

Sources

  1. Kanton Obwalden, Gesetz über das Campieren vom 4. Dezember 2014 (GDB 971.4), in force since 1 March 2015. Art. 6 Abs. 1: "Das Aufstellen von Zelten, Wohnwagen und Wohnmobilen zum Campieren ausserhalb behördlich bewilligter Campingplätze ist nicht gestattet." Art. 7 Abs. 3: temporary free camping on the plot of a residential house with the owner's consent. Art. 8: "Zum einmaligen Übernachten darf ein Zelt, ein Wohnwagen oder ein Wohnmobil ohne Bewilligung ausserhalb bewilligter Campingplätze aufgestellt werden, wenn keine öffentlichen oder privaten Interessen beeinträchtigt werden. Das einmalige Übernachten erfolgt auf eigenes Risiko." Art. 11 Abs. 1: fined is whoever camps without permission (lit. a) and whoever repeatedly breaches the camping ban outside a campsite (lit. c). gdb.ow.ch. ↩
  2. Kanton Obwalden, Verordnung über das Kampieren vom 25. Februar 1977 (GDB 971.41). The collection records it as in force from 1 May 1977 until 28 February 2015: abrogated. Its Art. 20 carried the old ban ("Das Aufstellen von Zelten und Wohnwagen zum Kampieren ausserhalb behördlich bewilligter Campingplätze ist verboten"), its Art. 22 the old traveller exception. This is the document most online sources still cite. gdb.ow.ch. ↩
  3. Verordnung über die eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebiete (VEJ, SR 922.31), Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. e: "Das freie Zelten und Campieren ist verboten. Vorbehalten bleibt die Benutzung offizieller Zeltplätze. Die Kantone können Ausnahmen bewilligen." fedlex.admin.ch. ↩
  4. Ordnungsbussenverordnung (OBV), Anhang 2, Ziff. 12005: "Freies Zelten oder Campieren in eidgenössischen 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; Obwalden marks several that close high terrain in winter. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩