As of: 11 August 2026

Wild camping on the Chasseral

Camping on the Chasseral needs a permit from Nods, and only on places the commune designates. The legally binding protected area over the summit is about hunting, dogs and winter sports, and never mentions camping. The park adds nothing either.

Leon Helg
Leon Helg · Legal situation checked in August 2026 · Published 11 August 2026
What do these mean?

Illegal A specific rule bans it, usually with a fine, and it can be enforced. Sleep somewhere else.

Not allowed No real place to camp here. A gated site, a developed area, or nowhere sensible to lie down, even if no fine is attached.

It depends You can sleep here, but there's a condition first: ask the landowner, book a spot, stay inside a set zone, or use a bivvy instead of a tent. The report says which.

Tolerated No rule clearly allows or bans it, but a single night is accepted in practice and nobody enforces against it. Normal for high bivouacs above the treeline.

Legal Camping one night is fine here. Either a rule allows it, or we checked every law and found nothing against it. Still: pitch late, leave early, no trace.

What "wild camping" means here: one night. A small tent or a bivvy bag, up towards evening, gone in the morning. Not a base camp, not a camper van. Most Swiss bans are written against camping; whether a single night also falls under them depends on the exact wording, so this article checks that wording. The full difference: wild camping vs bivouacking.

The zone that looks like the answer, and what it actually says

Query the Chasseral summit against the federal map services and one result jumps out. There is a wildlife protection area here, it is marked rechtsverbindlich, legally binding, and its protection period is 1 January to 31 December. Binding, and all year.2

Stop there and you would write this spot off. That would be wrong, and the reason is the most useful thing in this article: the season field tells you when a zone applies, not what it says. For that you have to read the cantonal objectsheet, which lists exactly which categories of the Bernese wildlife protection ordinance have been switched on for this object.3

"Kategorie C: Die Jagd ist gestattet. Vom 1. Dezember bis zum 31. Januar ist bei geschlossener Schneedecke die Jagd mit Hunden verboten. · Kategorie E: Hunde sind vom 1. Februar bis zum 30. Juni an der Leine zu führen. · Kategorie F: Wintersport und Winterwandern ausserhalb der bezeichneten Routen sind verboten."Objektblatt Chasseral (Nr. 79), Jagdinspektorat, canton Bern: commune Nods, 1'004.29 ha. These three categories are the entire protective content of the area.

So the binding, year-round protected area on the Chasseral is, in substance, a hunting rule, a dog-leash rule and a winter-sports rule. There is no camping provision in it at all, and the ordinance it rests on, the Bernese Verordnung über den Wildtierschutz, contains no occurrence of tent, camping, bivouac or overnighting across its whole text.

One part of it does matter to you directly, and it is not the part people expect: dogs must be on a lead from 1 February to 30 June. If you walk this ridge with a dog in spring, that is a binding rule and it applies whether or not you sleep out.

The park is not a rule either

The summit also sits inside the Parc régional Chasseral. As at every regional nature park, that status carries no camping, tent or access prohibition: the federal parks ordinance contains none, and its single access restriction applies to the core zone of a national park, which a regional park does not have. A park label binds authorities and planning, not a person with a bivvy bag.4

The park's own guidance for visitors says the same thing in plainer words: wild camping is subject to authorisation, and on public land the requests go to the communes, which alone can allow it. That is not a park rule, it is the park correctly describing communal law, and it points exactly where this article does next.4

The federal landscape inventory object "Chasseral" also covers the summit. As everywhere, it binds federal and cantonal authorities in their planning decisions and carries no fine for someone sleeping out.2

What actually decides it: one line of Nods police law

The summit is in the commune of Nods, and the answer is in its Règlement de police, art. 27, headed "Camping".1

"Le camping n'est autorisé que sur les places définies par le Conseil communal. L'autorisation est délivrée par le Conseil communal."Art. 27 al. 1 and 2: camping is authorised only on the places defined by the communal council, and the authorisation is issued by that council. Al. 3 deals separately with commercially operated campsites on private land, which need an authorisation and an approved camping regulation.

That is a restriction rather than a flat prohibition, and the difference is the second sentence. The commune has not said camping is forbidden; it has said camping happens where the council says, and the council is the body that decides. There is an address, and asking it is the route.

The price of not asking is set by art. 67: a fine of up to CHF 5'000 for breaching the reglement, imposed by the Conseil communal, with the useful addition at al. 3 that in minor cases a reprimand is given instead of a fine. Authorisations can also be revoked or suspended under al. 4.1

Canton Bern adds nothing. Its hunting and wildlife act and its nature protection act were read in full and neither contains a single occurrence of tenting, camping, bivouacking or overnighting. So this is a purely communal question, which is why the ridge matters: Nods holds the summit and the southern and eastern slopes, but Cormoret lies to the north, Villeret to the west and Courtelary about 2 km to the north-east. Walk off the top in the wrong direction and you are asking a different council.5

Being honest about what this summit is

Everything above is about what the law permits. This section is about whether you would want to, because on the Chasseral the two answers pull in different directions and it would be dishonest to publish the first without the second.

This is a road-served summit. The Hôtel Chasseral stands 1.25 km away at 1'547 m, there is a large telecommunications tower on the top itself, and the ridge road brings cars and day visitors up in numbers. It is one of the best viewpoints in the Jura and it is not, by any reasonable description, wilderness. A tent on the summit ridge here is not a discreet night out; it is camping next to a car park with a view.5

The protected area reflects that. Sampled outward from the summit, the wildlife protection zone covers half the bearings at 500 to 1'000 metres, two of eight at 2 to 3 kilometres, and none at 4 kilometres. It is a compact perimeter drawn around the busy heart of the massif, and its winter-sports rule exists because this is exactly the kind of place where people spread out across open ground in numbers.2

The Métairie de Saint-Jean, 1.41 km away at 1'439 m, sits in Villeret and is outside the wildlife protection area, which is a useful thing to know if you are planning a route rather than a pitch. The valley villages are close and low: Cormoret 3.64 km at 752 m, Villeret 3.99 km at 744 m, and Les Bugnenets 4.87 km at 1'090 m on the Neuchâtel side.5

None of that changes the verdict. It changes what a sensible person does with it, which is the point of the next section.

Ask the commune, and ask the right one. Art. 27 gives the Conseil communal de Nods the power to define where camping happens and to issue the authorisation. That is the route, and it is written into the rule rather than left to be inferred. Say one night, roughly where, and how many of you, and ask well before you travel rather than on the day. If your route puts you on the northern or western side of the ridge, the council you need is Cormoret, Villeret or Courtelary instead.15

If you take a dog, the lead rule is binding and it is not seasonal folklore. Category E of the protected area requires dogs on a lead from 1 February to 30 June, and the area is legally binding. This applies to a day walk just as much as to a night out, and it is the single most commonly broken rule on this ridge.

In winter, the other category bites. Category F prohibits winter sports and winter hiking away from the designated routes. That is a real restriction on where you may move across this massif between the snows, and it is the reason the protection period runs all year rather than stopping in spring.3

And consider not sleeping on the summit at all. The hotel is 1.25 km away and is the obvious answer in bad weather at 1'606 m on an exposed Jura ridge, where the wind is the thing that ruins nights. If you want to be out, the honest advice is to walk on: put distance between yourself and the road, the tower and the car park, and pitch late and small on ground where nobody has to walk around you.5

Ground rules on top of the law. No fire. Nothing left behind, and that includes the flattened grass where a tent stood, because this is grazed pasture worked by the métairies. Keep well clear of the buildings and the stock. And remember that a commune which currently regulates by designating places can just as easily designate none: the reason places like this stay askable is that the people who ask behave well.

General rules for wild camping

This applies along the whole ridge, and two of them are binding rules rather than courtesies: dogs on a lead from 1 February to 30 June, and no winter sports or winter hiking off the designated routes.

  • No fire. An open fire has no place in the mountains. A gas stove is enough.
  • Pitch late, strike early. Set up towards evening, gone again early. A bivouac is one night, not a base camp.
  • Leave no rubbish. Everything you carry up you carry down, organic scraps and toilet paper included.
  • At least 50 metres from any water for the big business, so you do not foul what people and livestock drink.
  • Stay small and quiet. A small group, no speaker, no drone, dogs on the lead, and the alp staff's word goes.

Disclaimer

This article reflects my research and assessment to the best of my knowledge, as of August 2026. It is based on the publicly accessible and official sources linked below. It does not replace legal advice and is not a binding statement of the current legal situation.

Communal regulations change and protected-area perimeters and categories are revised, so check the current version before relying on any of this, and follow instructions on site. The ridge is shared between several communes and the authorisation under art. 27 is issued by the council of the commune you are actually in, so establish that before you write. The terrain and distance figures are measured against the official federal geodata and describe the ground, not the safety of your route. A genuine emergency bivouac in distress is a separate question from a planned camp. Anyone who spends the night outside bears responsibility for their own conduct and any consequences themselves. Hikebeast, Leon Helg and Saftladen GmbH accept no liability for decisions made on the basis of this text, and call on no one to break applicable law.

Frequently asked questions

Can you wild camp on the Chasseral?
Only where the commune says, and the commune will tell you if you ask. The summit is in Nods, and art. 27 of the Nods police regulation provides that camping is authorised only on the places defined by the Conseil communal and that the authorisation is issued by that council. Breaches are punished under art. 67 with a fine of up to CHF 5000, with a reprimand instead in minor cases. That is a restriction with a named route rather than a flat prohibition, which is why the verdict is that it depends. Canton Bern adds no camping rule of its own.
There is a year-round protected area on the summit. Does that forbid camping?
No, and this is the most important point in the article. Wildlife protection area no. 1079.00 does cover the summit, is legally binding and does run from 1 January to 31 December. But the season field tells you when a zone applies, not what it says. The cantonal objectsheet lists the categories actually switched on for this object, and they are: hunting permitted with a restriction on hunting with dogs from 1 December to 31 January on closed snow, dogs on a lead from 1 February to 30 June, and a prohibition on winter sports and winter hiking away from designated routes. There is no camping provision in it, and the Bernese wildlife protection ordinance itself contains no occurrence of tent, camping, bivouac or overnighting.
Does the Parc régional Chasseral prohibit camping?
No. A regional nature park is not a camping rule. The federal parks ordinance contains no camping, tent or access prohibition for a regional nature park; its only access restriction applies to the core zone of a national park, which a regional park does not have. The park's own visitor guidance agrees and is worth quoting for what it does say: wild camping is subject to authorisation, and on public land the requests go to the communes, which alone can authorise it. That is the park correctly describing communal law rather than adding a rule of its own, and it points to exactly the same place this article does, art. 27 of the Nods police regulation.
Which commune do I actually ask?
Nods for the summit, but the ridge is shared. Sampled on rings around the summit point, Nods holds the summit itself and the southern and eastern slopes, Cormoret lies to the north, north-east and north-west, Villeret to the west, and Courtelary appears about 2 km to the north-east. All four are in canton Bern. The authorisation under art. 27 is issued by the council of the commune whose ground you are actually on, so work out which side of the ridge your route puts you on before you write to anyone.
I am walking with a dog. Is there anything binding?
Yes, and it catches more people than the camping rule. Category E of the wildlife protection area requires dogs to be kept on a lead from 1 February to 30 June, and the area is marked legally binding. That applies to a day walk exactly as it applies to a night out. Category C separately prohibits hunting with dogs from 1 December to 31 January when the snow cover is closed, which is aimed at hunters rather than walkers.
Is the Chasseral a good place to sleep out anyway?
Legally it can be arranged; practically it is a road-served summit. The Hôtel Chasseral is 1.25 km away at 1547 m, there is a large telecommunications tower on the top, and the ridge road brings day visitors up in numbers. It is one of the finest viewpoints in the Jura and it is not wilderness, so a tent on the summit ridge is camping beside a car park with a view. The hotel is the sensible answer in bad weather on an exposed ridge at 1606 m. If you want to be out, walk on and put distance between yourself and the road before pitching.
Leon Helg

Leon Helg

Swiss filmmaker and software developer. Spends his free time in the Swiss Alps and maps his favourite spots for Hikebeast. Posts as @leon.helg on Instagram and TikTok.

Swiss Guide Wildcamping Checker Color Grading

Sources

  1. Règlement de police de la commune mixte de Nods (RSN 1.13.4), text extracted from the published PDF. Art. 27 "Camping": al. 1 "Le camping n'est autorisé que sur les places définies par le Conseil communal."; al. 2 "L'autorisation est délivrée par le Conseil communal."; al. 3 provides that anyone commercially operating a campsite on private land must hold an authorisation and present a camping regulation approved by the Conseil communal and binding on the campsite's users. Art. 67 "Infractions": al. 1 "Sera puni d'une amende de Fr. 5'000.- au maximum celui qui enfreint le présent règlement pour autant que des dispositions pénales cantonales ou fédérales ne soient pas applicables."; al. 2 gives the imposition of fines to the Conseil communal; al. 3 provides that in cases of little gravity a reprimand is imposed instead of a fine; al. 4 allows police authorisations to be revoked or suspended. Art. 29 separately subjects the parking of non-motorised vehicles such as caravans and trailers on public land for more than 24 hours to authorisation. nods.ch. ↩
  2. Official federal geodata, queried 11 August 2026 at the summit of the Chasseral, LV95 2'571'227 / 1'220'301, terrain surface 1606.2 m via the federal height service, commune Nods. Identify returns the wildlife protection area "Chasseral (Nr. 1079.00)", Schutzstatus "rechtsverbindlich", Bestimmung R900 "Andere Bestimmung", Schutzzeit 01.01. to 31.12., Grundlage "BSG 922.63 - Verordnung über den Wildtierschutz (WTSchV)", Beschlussjahr 2020, canton BE; the federal landscape inventory object "Chasseral"; and the park "Parc régional Chasseral", kategorie RN, zone RN. Identify returns empty for federal game reserves, floodplains, raised bogs, fens, mire landscapes, and dry grasslands and pastures. Every query ran alongside a deliberately invalid layer id: that control returned HTTP 400 while all real layers returned HTTP 200. Sampled outward from the summit, the wildlife protection area covers four of eight bearings at 500 and 1'000 m, two of eight at 2'000 and 3'000 m, and none at 4'000 m. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
  3. Objektblatt "Chasseral (Nr. 79)", Jagdinspektorat, Amt für Landwirtschaft und Natur, Wirtschafts-, Energie- und Umweltdirektion des Kantons Bern, published as the cantonal sheet for this wildlife protection area: Gemeinde Nods, Wildraum 1, Beschlussjahr 1951, Fläche 1'004.29 ha, "Schutzbestimmungen gemäss Wildtierschutzverordnung WTSchV, Art. 3, Kategorien A, B, C, D, E, F". The categories in force across the whole perimeter are stated as: "Kategorie C: Die Jagd ist gestattet. Vom 1. Dezember bis zum 31. Januar ist bei geschlossener Schneedecke die Jagd mit Hunden verboten."; "Kategorie E: Hunde sind vom 1. Februar bis zum 30. Juni an der Leine zu führen."; "Kategorie F: Wintersport und Winterwandern ausserhalb der bezeichneten Routen sind verboten." No category concerning camping, tents or overnighting is listed. The underlying Verordnung über den Wildtierschutz (BSG 922.63), read in full through the cantonal legal collection API, returns zero whole-word occurrences of "Zelt", "Campier", "biwak" and "übernacht" across 26'072 characters of body text. geofiles.be.ch. ↩
  4. Verordnung über die Pärke von nationaler Bedeutung (Pärkeverordnung, PäV, SR 451.36), consolidated version of 1 April 2018: the ordinance contains no occurrence of "Zelt", "Campier", "camping", "biwak", "Übernacht" or "Verbot", and its only access restriction is art. 17, which concerns the Kernzone of a Nationalpark; a Regionaler Naturpark, the category recorded for the Parc régional Chasseral, has no such zone, and its provisions at art. 19 and 20 impose duties of conservation and enhancement on the park and on planning rather than on visitors. The park's own visitor guidance is consistent with this: it states that wild camping, whether as a bivouac or in a camper van, is subject to authorisation, and that on public land requests must be addressed to the communes, "qui sont seules à même d'autoriser ou non le camping en pleine nature", which alone can authorise camping in the open. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩
  5. Cantonal law of Bern and reference points. The Gesetz über Jagd und Wildtierschutz (BSG 922.11) and the Naturschutzgesetz (BSG 426.11), read in full through the cantonal legal collection API, each return zero whole-word occurrences of "Zelt", "campier", "biwak" and "übernacht", so the canton adds no camping provision of its own. Commune membership sampled on rings at 200, 500, 1'000 and 2'000 m around the summit returns Nods to the south, south-east and east, Cormoret to the north, north-east and north-west, Villeret to the west, and Courtelary from about 2'000 m to the north-east, all in canton Bern. Reference points with distance from the summit, commune and wildlife-area status: Hôtel Chasseral 1.25 km, 1'546.7 m, Nods, inside the area; Métairie de Saint-Jean 1.41 km, 1'439.2 m, Villeret, outside it; Cormoret village 3.64 km, 751.7 m; Villeret village 3.99 km, 744.3 m; Les Bugnenets 4.87 km, 1'089.5 m, Val-de-Ruz NE, outside it. belex.sites.be.ch. ↩