Wild camping in Canton Zug

Zug once had an ordinance that told campers outside official sites to behave, and repealed it without replacement. What is left is precise: a CHF 100 fine that exists only inside the nature protection areas, roughly 125 protection plans that define them, and a city that bans unpermitted camping in its parks while zoning one lakefront meadow expressly for tents.

No general ban, a reserve-only fine. Nothing in Zug law prohibits camping in general: campieren, zelten and biwakieren return zero hits across the collection.1 The one fixed penalty, CHF 100 for "Missachten des Lager- und Campierverbots", is chained to the nature protection act and its protection areas, and applies nowhere else.2 The old tent-site ordinance of 1962 even addressed campers outside official sites without banning them, and was repealed in 2012 without replacement.3

The fine that only lives in the reserves

Zug's fixed-penalty catalogue prices, at Ziff. 4.4, the breach of the Lager- und Campierverbot at CHF 100, and its legal chain names § 7 and § 8 of the nature protection act together with the protection-plan powers. That chain binds the offence to the nature protection areas; a canton-wide camping offence does not exist.2 The same catalogue prices fires in the reserves at CHF 200 and entering closed zones at CHF 100.

The reserves themselves come from roughly 125 Schutzpläne, published as plans rather than laws, and their wording varies: the Choller and Sumpf plan on the Zugersee south shore bans camping by name, newer plans work with path duties and the act's catch-all for zone A, where everything that could impair the area is off.4 Where Zug sits nationally: our canton comparison.

A repealed ordinance, and a zoned tent meadow

The historical marker is worth knowing because it settles the default. From 1962 to 2012 Zug had a tent-site ordinance whose § 8 addressed "Zelt- oder Wohnwagenbenützer ausserhalb eines bewilligten Zeltplatzes", telling them to observe general police rules and the landowner's rights. Even the old law treated the conduct as permissible; in 2012 it was repealed without replacement.3

The city of Zug shows both faces at once: its public-facilities reglement bans unpermitted camping in the city's parks and lakeside grounds, and its building ordinance zones the Brüggli lakefront expressly for, among other uses, camping with tents.5 The federal layer applies as everywhere.6 How to check the perimeters: our protected areas article.

Tent or bivouac: Lagern again

Inside the protection areas the priced offence covers Lagern as well as Campieren, so the tentless night is caught there. Outside them neither is regulated at cantonal level, and the word Biwak appears nowhere in Zug law. The Zugerberg moors are exactly where the reserve rule bites; the farmland between them is landowner country. The full verb logic is in When is a bivouac a bivouac.

How it plays out

No researched spot lies in Zug yet. The nearest researched ground rises one ridge south.

  • RigiReport

    The next summit over: no cantonal ban on either side, communal protection zones deciding, developed terrain the real constraint. The Zug pattern, one canton further.

Somewhere in Canton Zug?

Put it into the wild camping check. In this canton the whole answer is whether one of the 125 protection plans or a communal rule reaches your pitch, and that is a perimeter question the spot reports answer.

Is wild camping banned in Canton Zug?
Not generally. The camping and resting ban exists only inside the nature protection areas, where it costs CHF 100 as a fixed penalty. On other ground the commune decides, the city of Zug requiring a permit in its public facilities, and the landowner decides the rest.
What does wild camping cost in Canton Zug?
CHF 100 for camping or resting inside a nature protection area, CHF 200 for a fire there, CHF 100 for entering a closed zone. Outside the reserves there is no cantonal camping fine. Inside federal hunting-ban districts and marked wildlife rest zones, CHF 150 under federal law.
Is bivouacking treated differently from tenting?
Inside the protection areas no: the priced offence covers Lagern as well as Campieren. Outside them the canton regulates neither, and the word Biwak does not appear in Zug law.

Sources

  1. Kanton Zug, Bereinigte Gesetzessammlung (bgs.zg.ch), full-text searched 16 August 2026: campieren, kampieren, zelten and biwakieren return zero hits; the Polizeigesetz (BGS 512.1), Übertretungsstrafgesetz (BGS 312.1) and EG Waldgesetz (BGS 931.1) contain no camping provision, the forest act guaranteeing access at § 9 Abs. 1. bgs.zg.ch. ↩
  2. Kanton Zug, Bussenkatalog zum Übertretungsstrafgesetz (BGS 312.1-A1, Stand 01.01.2025), Ziff. 4.4: "Missachten des Lager- und Campierverbots (§ 7 Abs. 1, § 8 in Verbindung mit § 3 Abs. 2 Bst. a und f sowie § 14 Gesetz über den Natur- und Landschaftsschutz)": 100 Franken. Ziff. 4.5 fires in the reserves 200, Ziff. 4.6 entry bans 100. The chain binds the offence to nature protection areas; no canton-wide camping item exists. bgs.zg.ch. ↩
  3. Kanton Zug, Verordnung über die Errichtung und den Betrieb von Zeltplätzen (BGS 943.15, 1962), § 8: "Wer sich als Zelt- oder Wohnwagenbenützer ausserhalb eines bewilligten Zeltplatzes aufhält, hat die allgemeinen Polizeivorschriften über Ordnung, Ruhe, Sitte, Anstand und Hygiene zu beachten. Die privaten Rechte der Grundeigentümer bleiben vorbehalten." Repealed per 01.07.2012 without replacement; the collection records the abrogation. bgs.zg.ch. ↩
  4. Schutzplan Choller/Sumpf (Zugersee south shore, communes of Zug and Cham; RRB 1982/2006/2017), special protection provisions: banned in the nature protection areas are, among others, entering zone A, camping ("zu campieren"), fires outside official fire places and disturbing the night rest between 22.00 and 07.00. One of roughly 125 protection plans; perimeters on the cantonal geoportal. zg.ch. ↩
  5. Stadt Zug, Reglement über die Benützung der öffentlichen Anlagen (SRS 7.7.1-1, Stand 01.01.2025), § 5 Abs. 1 lit. b: "Verbot des unbewilligten Campierens" in the city's public facilities, § 22 penalty. Counterpart: Bauordnung der Stadt Zug (SRS 7.1-1), § 60a dedicates the Brüggli lakefront zone expressly, among other uses, to "Campieren mit Zelten und dergleichen". zug.tlex.ch. ↩
  6. Ordnungsbussenverordnung (OBV, SR 314.11), Anhang 2, Ziff. 12005: freies Zelten oder Campieren in eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebieten, CHF 150; Ziff. 12003 Wildruhezonen, gleicher Betrag. Verordnung über die eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebiete (VEJ, SR 922.31), Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. e. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩