Wild camping on the Dreispitz: forbidden on top, and legal 357 metres away

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.

The ban, and why partial protection does not soften it

Start with where the summit is. Queried on 15 August 2026 at 2'624'600 / 1'160'200 in LV95, 46.592611 N / 7.759644 E, on ground the national model puts at 2'516.1 metres: the point returns federal game reserve object no. 3, "Kiental", 8'392.1 hectares. Every other federal layer is empty here. No wildlife rest zone, no BLN landscape, no mire, no bog, no dry meadow, no park, no forest reserve, and no building zone. Verified with an invalid-layer control that returns HTTP 400 rather than an empty list.¹

The reserve's official object sheet, 2023 revision, describes it as the two side valleys of the Kandertal, the Spiggegrund and the Gorneregrund, running up to the chain of the Morgenhorn and the Chilchflue and down the valley floor towards Reichenbach im Kandertal. Its stated objectives are the conservation of the area as a habitat for wild mammals and birds, with particular importance given to the protection of grouse, and the regulation of chamois and roe deer so that damage to the forest falls.²

Then the rule. The Verordnung über die eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebiete, SR 922.31, art. 5 para. 1 lit. e reads in full: "Das freie Zelten und Campieren ist verboten. Vorbehalten bleibt die Benutzung offizieller Zeltplätze. Die Kantone können Ausnahmen bewilligen." Free tenting and camping is prohibited, the use of official campsites is reserved, and cantons may permit exceptions.³

Now the objection you will hear, because it is a good one. The inventory types Kiental as a Gebiet mit partiellen Schutzbestimmungen, an area with partial protection regulations, not integral. The Säntis reserve above the Schwägalp is integral. Surely partial means the rules are softer?

Not for camping, and the ordinance shows this itself in two ways. First, art. 5 para. 1 opens with "In den Banngebieten gelten folgende allgemeine Bestimmungen", these general provisions apply in the reserves, without distinguishing type. Second, where the drafters did want an exception for partial-protection areas, they wrote one explicitly: lit. d, on carrying weapons, lets the cantons permit exceptions "für Gebiete mit partiellem Schutz". Lit. e contains no such clause. A carve-out that exists in one letter and not the next is a decision, not an oversight.³

And the object sheet closes the last gap. Under special measures it says only "Für das ganze Gebiet gelten die partiellen Schutzbestimmungen", and a word-boundary scan of the whole sheet returns zero occurrences of Zelt, Campier or Biwak. There is no object-specific camping rule here that could loosen or tighten the general one.²

The price is on the fixed-penalty list. The Ordnungsbussenverordnung, SR 314.11, carries at no. 12005 of its annex the offence "Freies Zelten oder Campieren in eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebieten", referring to art. 18 para. 1 lit. e and para. 3 of the Hunting Act and to art. 5 para. 1 lit. e of the game-reserve ordinance, at 150 francs. Being on that list is what makes it a ticket written where you stand rather than a theoretical exposure.⁴

The boundary runs along the north side of the summit

This is the part worth carrying in your head, because the reserve is enormous and its edge is not where you would guess.

Walking outwards from the summit on eight compass bearings and asking the federal layer at each step, with a control point deep inside the reserve and another far outside it to prove the queries answer honestly:¹

North: outside from about 25 metres. The boundary runs right along the top. North-east: still inside at 100 m, outside by 200 m. East, south-east, south, south-west and west: inside at every step out to 800 metres and beyond. North-west is ragged, outside around 200 to 400 m and inside again at 800 m, which is a good reminder that the perimeter is a drawn line and not a circle.¹

So the reserve fills the ground south and east of the Dreispitz for kilometres, and the only short way out is downhill to the north. That matters more here than at most spots: on a reserve of 8'392 hectares, "just walk outside it" is usually an hour's work. Here it is a few minutes, if you go the right way.

Where you can legally sleep, 357 metres away

A masked slope scan over the 700 metres around the summit, stepping every 70 metres and discarding anything inside a water polygon, found exactly one spot at or under 7 degrees. It is a good one.¹

3.6 degrees at 2'253.4 metres, LV95 2'624'670 / 1'160'550, 357 metres from the summit on a bearing of 11 degrees, so north-north-east and 263 metres lower. The nearest building is 1'553 metres away and there is no standing water within a kilometre.¹

And it is outside the reserve. Checked directly at its own coordinate, with the same controls: outside. So the flat ground and the lawful ground are the same ground, which is a luckier alignment than this file usually gets.¹

That is the honest recommendation: do not pitch on the Dreispitz, walk down the north side, and sleep on the shelf at 2'253 m. You keep the view east over the Kandertal, you are out of the reserve, and nobody has to write you a ticket.

Two things that still apply out there. The reserve boundary is a line on a map with no fence and no sign, so navigate to the coordinate rather than eyeballing it, and give yourself margin. And the grouse the reserve exists for do not read perimeters either: they sit tight in the low scrub and flush late, so keep to worn ground, keep it to one night, and keep the noise down whichever side of the line you are on.²

And the summit was never a tent site anyway

Worth saying plainly, because it changes what you are actually giving up. The summit measures 26.9 degrees. It is the local high point, and the ground within 100 metres drops from 2'515.7 m to 2'424.0 m around a mean of 2'481.2 m. That is a steep, narrow top, which is what makes it a viewpoint.¹

The approaches match. The usual line comes up from Kiental over the Renggpass at 1'817 m, and the ridge traverse from the Latrejespitz at 2'436 m is described by people who have done it as loose slate that crumbles and slips underfoot, on top of roughly twelve kilometres of rough road into the Spiggegrund just to reach the start. This is a long day out, not a stroll with a tent.⁵

So the rule and the mountain agree for once. You were not going to sleep on the Dreispitz. The question was only whether the flat ground below it was legal, and it is.

General rules for wild camping

If you take the pitch north of the boundary, you are on open alpine ground in a valley whose whole point is undisturbed wildlife. That asks for more than the usual:

• 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

Everything here is a journalistic assessment as of August 2026, from the sources linked below, and it is not legal advice.

The boundary figures come from point queries against the federal layer, re-run after a first pass rendered failed queries as if they meant outside. The figures above are from a run with a deep-inside control, a far-outside control, and query errors kept distinct from a negative answer. They are still point samples: treat 25 metres as a warning that the edge is close, not as a surveyed line.

The terrain values come from the national height model, not from a visit. Use your own eyes on arrival.

Frequently asked questions

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. Official federal geodata and the national height model, queried 15 August 2026 at the Dreispitz summit, WGS84 46.592611 N / 7.759644 E, LV95 2'624'600 / 1'160'200, terrain height 2'516.1 m. The game-reserve layer returns object no. 3 "Kiental", 8'392.1 ha, type "Gebiet mit partiellen Schutzbestimmungen"; the wildlife-rest-zone, BLN, mire-landscape, fen, raised-bog, dry-meadow, park and forest-reserve layers and the building-zone layer all return an empty set, verified with an invalid-layer control returning HTTP 400. Canton Bern, commune Reichenbach im Kandertal from current-year boundary records only. Terrain: 26.9 degrees at the summit, which is the local maximum, with ground within 100 m running 2'424.0 m to 2'515.7 m around a mean of 2'481.2 m. Boundary sampling on eight compass bearings, with a deep-inside control and a far-outside control and query errors kept distinct from a negative: outside from about 25 m to the north, inside at 100 m and outside by 200 m to the north-east, inside to 800 m and beyond east, south-east, south, south-west and west. Masked slope scan over 700 m in 70 m steps: one point at or under 7 degrees, 3.6 degrees at 2'253.4 m, LV95 2'624'670 / 1'160'550, 357 m from the summit on bearing 11 degrees, nearest building 1'553 m, no standing water within 1 km; that point was queried directly and returns outside the reserve. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
2. Federal inventory of game reserves, object sheet no. 3 "Kiental", 2023 revision, canton Bern, read in full on 15 August 2026. The area description covers the two side valleys of the Kandertal, "die beiden Seitentäler Spiggegrund und Gorneregrund bis hinauf zur Kette des Morgenhorns und der Chilchflue", reaching down the valley floor towards Reichenbach im Kandertal. Objectives: conservation as a varied habitat for wild mammals and birds, with "Besondere Bedeutung hat der Schutz der Rauhfusshühner", and regulation of chamois and roe deer to reduce damage to the forest. Under special measures the sheet says only "Für das ganze Gebiet gelten die partiellen Schutzbestimmungen." A word-boundary scan of the whole sheet returns zero occurrences of Zelt, Campier or Biwak, so there is no object-specific camping provision. Object sheet, admin.ch. ↩
3. Verordnung über die eidgenössischen Jagdbanngebiete (VEJ), SR 922.31, of 30 September 1991, consolidated version read in full on 15 August 2026. Art. 5 para. 1 opens "In den Banngebieten gelten folgende allgemeine Bestimmungen", without distinguishing partial from integral protection. Lit. e in full: "Das freie Zelten und Campieren ist verboten. Vorbehalten bleibt die Benutzung offizieller Zeltplätze. Die Kantone können Ausnahmen bewilligen." The partial-protection carve-out that does exist sits in lit. d, on carrying weapons, where the cantons may permit exceptions "für Gebiete mit partiellem Schutz"; lit. e contains no equivalent clause. Note that the site serves a JavaScript shell to a plain fetch, so the text was read in a rendering browser. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩
4. Ordnungsbussenverordnung (OBV), SR 314.11, of 16 January 2019, annex read in full on 15 August 2026. No. 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)", fine 150 francs. Neighbouring entries in the same section price letting dogs roam and ignoring the leash requirement in federal game reserves at 150 francs each. fedlex.admin.ch. ↩
5. Route and terrain descriptions for the Dreispitz, consulted 15 August 2026 for the approach only. The mountain is given as roughly 2'520 m and reported as a viewpoint summit with a large number of published ascents; the usual approach runs from Kiental past the Renggpass at 1'817 m, and a traverse from the Latrejespitz (2'436.4 m) is described as loose slate that crumbles and slips, on top of about twelve kilometres of rough road from Kiental into the Spiggegrund. Used for the approach and difficulty description only, not for any legal conclusion. hikr.org. ↩