Wild camping by canton in Switzerland, and the claim everyone repeats

"Only Aargau and Obwalden allow it" is the most repeated canton-level fact about Swiss wild camping. Half of it is right and cited from the wrong document. The other half is about something else entirely.

The canton is usually not the level that decides your night. Most cantons have no camping law at all, which is why the answer nearly always comes from a commune instead. Where a canton has legislated, it is worth reading the actual article rather than the summary: Obwalden's law starts by prohibiting camping outside campsites and then writes a single-night exception into the next article but one.1

Obwalden: right claim, wrong law

Obwalden is the canton people mean, and the substance holds up. What does not hold up is the citation. The document that circulates is GDB 971.41, the Verordnung über das Kampieren of 1977, and it was repealed on 28 February 2015.2 The law in force is GDB 971.4, the Gesetz über das Campieren of 4 December 2014, in force since 1 March 2015.

Read it and the structure is the opposite of the summary. Art. 6 sets the baseline: pitching tents, caravans and motorhomes for camping outside authorised campsites is not permitted. The permission everyone quotes is two articles later, at Art. 8, headed "Einmaliges Übernachten": for a single overnight stay a tent, caravan or motorhome may be pitched without a permit outside authorised campsites, provided no public or private interests are impaired, at your own risk.1

That condition is the part that never survives the summary, and it is doing real work. It is also why Art. 11 penalises camping without permission and, separately, repeatedly breaching the ban: one night is carved out, a pattern is not. There is a second route in Art. 7 para. 3 as well, easy to miss: with the owner's consent you may camp temporarily and free of charge on the plot of a residential house.

Aargau: a different question answered

The Aargau half of the claim is a category error that has been copied so many times it now reads as fact. Every source that describes the actual rule describes a vehicle tolerance: one night on a public parking area that carries no explicit prohibition, leave in the morning, and no camping behaviour, meaning do not put the table and chairs out.

That is a rule about where a motorhome may stand overnight. It is not a permission to pitch a tent in open country, and the two get merged because both end up filed under "wild camping" by whoever is writing the summary.

It is also worth noting what the most-cited article for the claim actually contains. The 2024 piece headlined "Im Aargau und in Obwalden ist Wildcampen erlaubt" names no law, no ordinance and no article for either canton. We read it to check.3 We did not enumerate the full Aargau collection ourselves, so we are not claiming that no Aargau camping norm exists anywhere; we are saying the claim as published is uncited and describes parking.

The cantons where the answer is an absence

The more useful pattern is the opposite of a permission. In several cantons nothing prohibits you because no norm was ever written, and that absence is what produced most of the legal verdicts in our corpus.

Appenzell Innerrhoden is the cleanest case: it repealed the penalty articles of its camping ordinance in 2005, so no cantonal camping fine exists there at all, and the lawful route at the Fälensee runs through the alp tenant's consent instead.4 Uri has no camping ban, which is why the Chaiserstuel and the Spilauersee came out legal. Glarus has no cantonal camping norm, which decides the Fessisee. Nidwalden has no on-the-spot camping fine anywhere.

Graubünden has no cantonal ban either, but it is the clearest warning against reading a canton as an answer: communes there prohibit camping municipality-wide on their own authority, and Silvaplana reaches CHF 30,000 through building law.5 Canton clean, commune closed.

Why the commune is the level that matters

Because that is where the prohibitions actually live. Bern has no cantonal camping ban, and yet the Bernese Oberland contains some of the strictest rules in the country, all communal: Lauterbrunnen up to CHF 5,000 municipality-wide since 1 January 2025, Grindelwald with no above-treeline exception, Kandersteg banning tents at Art. 7. Valais has no cantonal ban, and Zermatt still prices a tent at about CHF 200 at Art. 43.

So a canton-level answer is the wrong shape of answer. Knowing your canton has no camping law tells you only that nobody has closed the question from above. The commune can still have closed it, and roughly 2,000 of them each decide independently.

The one place a canton-level fact is decisive is the federal layer above it, which no canton and no commune can undo: inside a federal hunting-ban district, free camping is prohibited outright.6

What the cantonal level actually says, where we have read it

Read to the named article for the spot reports behind each. A canton column is the start of an answer, never the whole of one.

  • ObwaldenOne night, conditional

    GDB 971.4 Art. 6 prohibits camping outside campsites; Art. 8 permits a single overnight stay without a permit if no public or private interests are impaired. The 1977 ordinance everyone links was repealed in 2015.1

  • Appenzell InnerrhodenNo fine

    The penalty articles of the camping ordinance were repealed in 2005, so no cantonal camping fine exists. The lawful route is the owner's or alp tenant's consent.4

  • UriNo cantonal ban

    No camping prohibition at cantonal level, and on Korporation Uri ground a night is pre-permitted. This is what produced two of our legal verdicts.

  • GlarusNo camping norm

    No cantonal camping norm at all, which decides the Fessisee. Fire is the expensive part here instead: the forest act reaches CHF 20,000.

  • GraubündenNo cantonal ban, communes act

    Nothing cantonal, but communes prohibit municipality-wide on their own authority. Silvaplana reaches CHF 30,000 through building law rather than camping law.5

  • BernNo cantonal ban, strict communes

    No cantonal camping ban, and yet some of the strictest rules in Switzerland: Lauterbrunnen up to CHF 5,000 municipality-wide, Grindelwald with no above-treeline exception, Kandersteg banning tents outright.

Why a canton map would mislead you

Because a canton coloured green would mean only that the canton has not legislated, and that is the situation in most of Switzerland. It says nothing about the roughly 2,000 communes that can and do prohibit camping across their whole territory, private ground included, at any altitude. The two strictest sets of rules we have found sit in Bern and Valais, both cantons with no cantonal camping ban at all.

Which cantons allow wild camping in Switzerland?
The honest answer is that most cantons have not legislated on it, which is not the same as allowing it, because the commune can still prohibit it. Obwalden is the one canton with an explicit written permission for a single overnight stay, at Art. 8 of its Gesetz über das Campieren, conditional on no public or private interests being impaired.
Is wild camping really allowed in Aargau?
Not in the sense usually meant. The rule people are describing is about vehicles: one night on a public parking area with no explicit prohibition, gone in the morning, no camping behaviour. That is not a permission to pitch a tent in open country, and the widely shared article making the claim names no law for it.
What does Obwalden's law actually say?
Art. 6 of GDB 971.4 says pitching tents, caravans and motorhomes for camping outside authorised campsites is not permitted. Art. 8 then permits a single overnight stay without a permit, provided no public or private interests are impaired, at your own risk. Art. 7 para. 3 additionally allows temporary free camping on the plot of a residential house with the owner's consent.
My canton has no camping law. Does that mean I can sleep anywhere?
No. It means nobody closed the question from above. Your commune can still have a camping or police regulation covering its whole territory, and federal protected areas apply regardless. Bern and Valais both have no cantonal camping ban and contain some of the strictest communal rules in the country.
Is there any rule that applies across all of Switzerland?
Yes, at the federal level and it only ever restricts. Free camping inside a federal hunting-ban district is prohibited by federal ordinance with a fixed penalty of CHF 150, and no canton or commune can permit it there. The Swiss National Park is closed to it outright.

Sources

  1. Kanton Obwalden, Gesetz über das Campieren (GDB 971.4) of 4 December 2014, in force since 1 March 2015, read in full from the official PDF. Art. 6: pitching tents, caravans and motorhomes for camping outside authorised campsites is not permitted. Art. 7 para. 3: with the owner's consent, temporary free camping is permitted on the plot of a residential house. Art. 8 "Einmaliges Übernachten": for a single overnight stay a tent, caravan or motorhome may be pitched without a permit outside authorised campsites if no public or private interests are impaired, at own risk. Art. 11: fine for camping without permission and for repeatedly breaching the ban. gdb.ow.ch. ↩
  2. Kanton Obwalden, Verordnung über das Kampieren (GDB 971.41) of 25 February 1977. Confirmed abrogated: the collection records it as in force from 1 May 1977 until 28 February 2015. This is the document most pages citing "Obwalden allows wild camping" still link to. gdb.ow.ch. ↩
  3. Prime News, April 2024, "Im Aargau und in Obwalden ist Wildcampen erlaubt". Read to check what it cites: the piece names no law, ordinance or article number for either canton, and gives no conditions or time limits for either. It is nonetheless the piece most often pointed at for the claim. primenews.ch. ↩
  4. Appenzell Innerrhoden repealed the penalty articles of its Campingverordnung in 2005, so no cantonal camping fine exists in the canton today, while the ordinance still permits camping with the owner's consent. Read in full for our Fälensee and Seealpsee reports. our Fälensee report. ↩
  5. Graubünden has no cantonal camping ban; the commune of Silvaplana reaches up to CHF 30,000 through cantonal building law rather than camping law. Read in full for our Silvaplanersee report. our Silvaplanersee report. ↩
  6. Verordnung über die eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebiete (VEJ, SR 922.31), Art. 5 Abs. 1 lit. e, with the fixed penalty of CHF 150 at Ordnungsbussenverordnung (OBV, SR 314.11) Anhang 2 Ziff. 12005. Federal, so no cantonal or communal permission reaches inside a district. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩