Wild camping in Canton Uri

Uri bans camping nowhere in general, and its biggest landowner permits it on its ground expressly. Seven researched spot reports show how that plays out, valley by valley.

No cantonal camping ban, and a fine only inside protection zones. Uri has no general camping rule: the police act, the police reglement and the nature protection act contain none.1 The 150-franc fixed penalty exists solely for whoever camps, tents or rests overnight inside a protection zone.2 On top of that comes something no other canton offers: Korporation Uri, which owns roughly a third of the territory, permits camping on its ground in principle.4

The canton bans nothing, and that is verified

We did not just fail to find a rule, we verified the absence. The Uri police act (RB 3.8111) and the police reglement (RB 3.8127) contain no provision on camping, tenting, bivouacking or overnighting, and the nature and heritage protection act of 1987 (RB 10.5101) uses none of those words anywhere in its text.1 The cantonal Campingverordnung (RB 70.2431) regulates only the building and running of public campsites.

The offence that does exist is narrowly built. The fixed-penalty reglement prices "Lagern, Zelten oder Campieren in Schutzzonen", resting overnight, tenting or camping inside protection zones, at 150 francs, resting on Art. 34 of the nature protection act, which reaches CHF 5,000 in ordinary proceedings.2 Outside a protection zone there is simply no cantonal offence to commit. That puts Uri in the most permissive group in our canton comparison.

Where the 150 francs apply

The protection zones live in the canton's nature-protection reglements, and those are concrete: each one names its area, its zones and its prohibitions. The newest is the reglement protecting the Unteralptal landscape at Andermatt, in force since 1 January 2026. In all of its core zones it is prohibited "zu lagern, zu zelten oder zu campieren", to rest overnight, to tent or to camp.3

Above all of this sits the federal layer, same as everywhere: free tenting and camping is banned inside federal hunting-ban districts,6 fined at CHF 150, and the same amount applies in marked wildlife rest zones.7 What these areas are and how to check them before you walk in is in our protected areas article.

Tent or bivouac: in Uri it rarely decides anything

In many cantons everything hangs on the verb in the prohibition. A ban on "pitching tents" does not catch a bivy bag; a ban on "resting overnight" does. Uri went for the broadest wording available: "lagern, zelten oder campieren". Inside a protection zone that covers the night in a bivy bag just as much as the tent.

Outside the zones the picture flips: there the canton bans neither. The distinction that tips verdicts elsewhere barely matters in Uri. What counts is where you are, not what you set up. How the verbs work in detail is in When is a bivouac a bivouac.

The Korporation, the communes, and a reglement that only looks scary

Ground above the treeline in Uri is rarely nobody's. Korporation Uri, by its own description the biggest landowner in the canton with roughly a third of the territory in alps and forests, writes on its own page: "Auf Gebiet der Korporation Uri ist das Campieren somit grundsätzlich erlaubt", camping on Korporation ground is permitted in principle. Notification is asked only above three nights or ten people.4 Near a working alp, a word with the alp farmer is still the right first move.

Communes can still write their own rules, and Göschenen has: its Campingverordnung of 2022 bans "Aufstellen von Zelten, Wohnwagen, Wohnmobilen und Campingbussen zum Campieren", pitching tents, caravans, motorhomes and camper vans, outside authorised sites.5 At the Göscheneralp it is therefore the commune, not the canton, that has the say.

And one warning against the wrong kind of fright: the reglement protecting the waters between Silenen and Göschenen (RB 10.5118) sounds like a protection zone, but it protects only the waters themselves against power use and construction. It contains no camping provision at all, so it creates no zone of the kind the fixed-penalty tariff requires.8

How it plays out

Seven Uri spots researched in full. What decided each night is in its report.

  • ChaiserstuelReport

    The grassy summit at 2,400 m is in Uri, not Obwalden or Nidwalden, and the ground belongs to the Korporation. What that means for the night is in the report.

  • SpilauerseeReport

    Not Schwyz but Uri, and the Korporation pre-permits camping. A working alp though: pitch away from the huts and let the herder know.

  • BälmetenReport

    Every federal inventory came back empty at the summit, and no cantonal protection measure is in force. The report walks all three layers.

  • GöscheneralpReport

    The canton is silent, but Göschenen passed its own camping ordinance in 2022. At the reservoir the commune decides, not the canton.

Somewhere else in Canton Uri?

Put it into the wild camping check. The cantonal answer is friendly; what decides is the protection zone and the commune. For picking ground in the wider region, see our Central Switzerland article.

Is wild camping allowed in Canton Uri?
There is no general ban. The police act, the police reglement and the nature protection act contain no camping provision. Resting overnight, tenting and camping are prohibited only inside protection zones with their own reglement, and on Korporation Uri ground camping is, by the landowner's own statement, permitted in principle. A commune can still have its own rules; Göschenen for example does.
What does wild camping cost in Canton Uri if it is banned?
Inside protection zones CHF 150 as a fixed penalty, and up to CHF 5,000 in ordinary proceedings under Art. 34 of the nature protection act. Inside federal hunting-ban districts and wildlife rest zones, CHF 150 under federal law comes on top. Communal fines are separate; Göschenen names no amount in its ordinance.
Is bivouacking treated differently from tenting in Canton Uri?
Inside the protection zones no: "lagern, zelten oder campieren" covers the night without a tent as well. Outside the zones neither is banned at cantonal level. The distinction that decides cases in other cantons barely matters in Uri.
Do I need permission from Korporation Uri?
Not for a normal night. The Korporation permits camping on its ground in principle and asks for prior notification only above three nights or groups of more than ten people. Near a working alp, the short conversation with the alp farmer is still part of doing it right.

Sources

  1. Canton Uri, Urner Rechtsbuch, consulted August 2026: the Polizeigesetz (RB 3.8111) and the Polizeireglement (RB 3.8127) contain no provision on camping, tenting, bivouacking or overnighting; the Gesetz über den Natur- und Heimatschutz of 18 October 1987 (RB 10.5101) uses none of those words anywhere in its consolidated text; the cantonal Campingverordnung (RB 70.2431) regulates only the building and operation of public campsites. NHG UR Art. 34 Abs. 1 fines whoever contravenes protection measures with up to CHF 5'000. rechtsbuch.ur.ch. ↩
  2. Reglement über die Erhebung von Ordnungsbussen (RB 3.9223), Ziff. 2.1: "Lagern, Zelten oder Campieren in Schutzzonen (Art. 34 Abs. 1 Bst. a des Gesetzes über den Natur- und Heimatschutz, RB 10.5101 in Verbindung mit dem jeweiligen Reglement)": 150 Franken. The offence exists only inside a protection zone whose own reglement forbids it. rechtsbuch.ur.ch. ↩
  3. Reglement über den Schutz der Landschaft Unteralptal in der Gemeinde Andermatt of 9 December 2025 (RB 10.5132, in force since 1 January 2026), Art. 5 Abs. 1: in all core zones it is prohibited, among other things, "zu lagern, zu zelten oder zu campieren". rechtsbuch.ur.ch. ↩
  4. Korporation Uri, Wildcampieren page: "Auf Gebiet der Korporation Uri ist das Campieren somit grundsätzlich erlaubt." Prior notification is asked only for stays longer than three nights or groups of more than ten people; observe protection-zone rules, contact the alp farmer near a working alp, pack out all waste. The Korporation describes itself as "die grösste Grundeigentümerin in Uri", holding roughly a third of the cantonal territory as alps and forests. korporation.ch. ↩
  5. Campingverordnung der Einwohnergemeinde Göschenen, adopted by the Gemeindeversammlung on 29 April 2022, Art. 2: "Das Aufstellen von Zelten, Wohnwagen, Wohnmobilen und Campingbussen zum Campieren ausserhalb behördlich bewilligter Camping- oder Stellplätzen ist nicht gestattet." Art. 3 Abs. 3 permits temporary free camping on the plot of a residential house with the owner's consent; Art. 12 threatens a fine without naming an amount. goeschenen.ch. ↩
  6. Verordnung über die eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebiete (VEJ, SR 922.31), Art. 5 para. 1 lit. e: "Das freie Zelten und Campieren ist verboten. Vorbehalten bleibt die Benutzung offizieller Zeltplätze. Die Kantone können Ausnahmen bewilligen." The prohibition is federal, so no cantonal or communal permission reaches inside a hunting-ban district. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩
  7. 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. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩
  8. Reglement über den Schutz der Gewässer im Gebiet Uri Mitte zwischen Silenen und Göschenen of 1 December 2015 (RB 10.5118): Art. 3 Abs. 2 forbids only using the protected waters for energy generation and erecting structures within them; "Schutzobjekt ist jeweils nur das eigentliche Gewässer." No camping, tent or access provision, and therefore no protection zone of the kind the fixed-penalty tariff requires. rechtsbuch.ur.ch. ↩