As of: 4 October 2026

Wild camping at the Gfelalp

The Gfelalp pin above Selden in the Gasterntal is no meadow: it is forest at 1'913 m on a 40-degree slope, 36 m inside Kandersteg's wildlife rest area Lerchiwang. There you keep to marked paths all year, and none runs through it. The alp hut beside it is a private scout hut.

Leon Helg
Leon Helg · Legal situation checked in October 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.

Wild camping at the Gfelalp: what the pin actually is

Wild camping at the Gfelalp is a question about a point the national map names on the slope above Selden, in the Gasterntal south of Kandersteg (the map spells the valley Gasteretal). The gazetteer point Gfelalp lies at 1'913 m, LV95 2'621'318 / 1'143'357, WGS84 46.44122 N, 7.71605 E, on Kandersteg ground in the canton of Bern. The alp buildings, the Berghaus Gfellalp and a cheese hut, stand about 280 m south-east of it and 65 m lower, beside the marked trail from Selden to the Lötschenpass.32

Nobody would sleep at the pin even if it were allowed. It sits in closed forest, the Schleifewald on the north-facing slope that drops towards the Kander, and the ground there runs at 40 to 45 degrees. The alp above the trees is barely kinder: round the hut the slope runs at about 30 degrees, and the only properly level ground nearby is the valley floor at Selden, which is hamlet ground with hotels, chalets and farm buildings.7

The protection layers at the pin are mostly quiet, and one of them decides. The pin lies in the federal landscape inventory object no. 1507, which binds the authorities and sets no rule for a camper. There is no federal game reserve, no cantonal wildlife reserve (the nearest is 5.5 km away) and no cantonal nature reserve (the Gastereholz floodplain reserve is 1.3 km away). What does apply is communal: the pin lies inside a wildlife rest area that Kandersteg set in its own building regulation.36

The rule: a wildlife rest area where you stay on marked paths

Kandersteg's Baureglement, the communal building regulation adopted by the communal assembly on 29 April 2010 and approved by the canton on 25 March 2011, protects the Lerchiwang slope as a Wildruhegebiet, a wildlife rest area. The cantonal cadastre of public-law restrictions lists the overlay at the pin as "Kandersteger Berglandschaft mit Wildruhegebiet", in force, and the federal register of wildlife rest zones carries it as zone no. 69.00 Kandersteg Lerchiwang: legally binding, keep to the paths, 1 January to 31 December. The pin is 36 m inside its edge.123

"Personen sollen sich ausser bei land- und forstwirtschaftlichen Arbeiten an die bestehenden, markierten Wege halten."Baureglement der Gemeinde Kandersteg, Art. 53 para. 2 "Wildruhegebiete". In English: except for farm and forestry work, people are to keep to the existing marked paths.

This catches a bivvy bag as much as a tent. The rule does not mention camping at all; it is about where a person may be. Its purpose, set out in para. 1, is to spare the game disturbance in its wintering, birthing and breeding grounds. No marked trail runs anywhere inside the zone: the nearest, the trail from Selden to the Lötschenpass, passes 280 m south-east of the pin. Anyone lying at the pin at night, in a tent, in a bag or on a mat, is off the paths the rule keeps people to. There is no season, no altitude limit and no exception for hikers; the one exception is farm and forestry work.13

A second ban sits on the same ground. The overlay is the Kandersteger Berglandschaft with the rest area on top of it, and Art. 42 para. 3 lit. c of the same regulation says of the Berglandschaft: "Das Campieren ist verboten", camping is forbidden. The building regulation does not define camping and carries no bivouac exception. The decisive rule at the pin is Art. 53; Art. 42 points the same way. The revised building regulation adopted in 2021, still awaiting cantonal approval, carries both articles in the same words, so the answer does not depend on which version you read.12

Tent or bivvy bag: what each one is up against

A tent is CHF 200, anywhere in Kandersteg. The police regulation in force since 1 January 2021 bans camping outside the areas specially designated and authorised for it, across the whole commune (Art. 7 para. 1). The communal police ordinance fines a breach of Art. 7 a fixed CHF 200, within a frame of up to CHF 5'000 under Art. 26. The commune may grant exceptions on request under Art. 7 para. 2, but that permit belongs to the police regulation, and nothing in either act suggests it can lift a binding zone rule of the building regulation.4

Without a tent, the police regulation steps aside and the rest area does not. Art. 6 lit. c defines camping and leaves out sleeping outdoors without a tent, in an igloo or in a snow cave. On most Kandersteg ground that takes a bivvy bag outside the police ban. But the definition opens with "In diesem Reglement", in this regulation: it governs the police regulation and nothing else. It does not reach the rest-area rule of the building regulation, which never asks what you sleep in, only whether you are on a marked path. At the Gfelalp pin, that rule applies instead.41

What a bivvy bag off the path risks: no fixed fine, and a report is possible. The building regulation has no list of fines. Its Art. 60 sends breaches to the penalty provisions of the cantonal building act and building ordinance (Art. 50 BauG, Art. 108 BauV), to be dealt with by a judge. Those provisions are written for building projects, and no amount for a person off a path is published anywhere. So the straight answer is: no fixed amount, a game warden or the police can report you, and what follows is for a court.15

Is there a way to make it lawful? Not at the Gfelalp

There is no consent route. The rest-area rule and the Berglandschaft ban are public law. Art. 53 contains no permit clause, and its one exception is farm and forestry work, so no landowner can wave you through and no communal camping permit opens a rest area. Who owns the forest parcel at the pin is not published; it would not change the answer.12

The alp hut is not an option either. The Berghaus Gfellalp at 1'848 m, Selden 38, stands outside the rest area and outside the Berglandschaft, in a small zone for tourist activities. It is leased by the Kandersteg International Scout Centre and, in the words of the Gasterntal's own website, not open to the public: the scout centre books it to scout groups with an adult leader in summer. It offers no camping, no tent corner and no public dormitory. The meadow round it falls away at about 30 degrees.287

The valley says the same thing in plain words. The Gasterntal's tourism site states that camping in the Gasterntal is forbidden, and its list of places to stay contains no campsite. That is a statement of the valley, not a norm; the norms are the ones above, and they point the same way.8

  • In Selden, 800 m away and about 370 m lower. The Berghotel Steinbock, +41 33 675 11 62, and the Berghotel Gasterntal, +41 79 437 03 78, gasterntal@doldenhorn.ch, stand on the valley floor at about 1'550 m, down the marked trail from the alp. Check their season and book ahead.93
  • Higher up: the Lötschenpasshütte at 2'690 m. About 3 km south and nearly 800 m above the Gfelalp, on the marked route over the debris-covered Lötschegletscher; private, 86 places, half board, +41 27 939 19 81. In September it announced it would stay open until early November 2026: check its season before you set off.9
  • With a tent: Camping Rendez-vous in Kandersteg, +41 33 675 15 34, in the village below the gorge that leads into the Gasterntal.9
  • Not on the alp and not in the forest. Inside the rest area you keep to the marked paths, and a tent anywhere in the commune is CHF 200. The pass above has its own report, wild camping on the Lötschenpass; how the levels fit together across the region is in the Bernese Oberland overview and the national overview.14

General rules for wild camping

This applies wherever you are genuinely allowed to sleep outside, which near the Gfelalp means a campsite pitch in Kandersteg, not the alp. Take it to the huts as well: it is not legal text, it is decency and common sense.

  • 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 October 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.

The verdict rests on Kandersteg's building regulation, published as a scanned document and read from the scan, on the cantonal cadastre of public-law restrictions, the federal register of wildlife rest zones, Kandersteg's police regulation and police ordinance, the Bernese building act and building ordinance, and on federal and cantonal geodata and the terrain. That Art. 42 applies at the pin as well as Art. 53 is read from the overlay's name in the cadastre; the commune's plan of protected areas is not published online. Whether the rest area is marked on the ground was not established, and neither was the owner of the forest parcel. No court has ruled on how Art. 60 of the building regulation applies to a person off a path. Hotels, huts and seasons change. Before every tour, check the current sources yourself and follow instructions on site. 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

Is wild camping allowed at the Gfelalp?
No, not with a tent and not without one. The gazetteer point Gfelalp lies 36 m inside the wildlife rest area Kandersteg Lerchiwang (federal register no. 69.00, legally binding, all year). Art. 53 para. 2 of Kandersteg's building regulation keeps people there to the existing marked paths, except for farm and forestry work, and no marked path runs through the zone. Art. 42 para. 3 lit. c of the same act forbids camping in the Kandersteger Berglandschaft, which the zone overlays. The pin itself is a forest slope of 40 to 45 degrees.
Is a bivvy bag without a tent allowed at the Gfelalp?
No. Kandersteg's police regulation (Art. 6 lit. c) leaves the tentless bivouac out of its own camping ban, but that definition applies only "in diesem Reglement", in the police regulation. The rest-area rule of the building regulation (Art. 53 para. 2) asks only whether you are on a marked path, and at the pin you are 280 m from the nearest one. The building regulation's camping ban in Art. 42 does not define camping and has no bivouac exception.
What is the fine for camping at the Gfelalp?
CHF 200 for a tent; no fixed fine for a bivvy bag. Kandersteg's police ordinance fines a breach of the camping ban in Art. 7 of the police regulation CHF 200, within a frame of up to CHF 5'000 (Art. 26). The building regulation has no list of fines: its Art. 60 sends breaches of the rest-area rule to the penalty provisions of the Bernese building act and building ordinance (Art. 50 BauG, Art. 108 BauV), before a judge. No amount for a person off the path is published; a report to the authorities is possible.
Why is the verdict Illegal when a bivvy bag has no fixed fine?
Because the rule at the pin binds even where its price is not fixed. Illegal means a named norm forbids the night at this point. Here two do: Art. 53 para. 2 of Kandersteg's building regulation, the rule of a rest area recorded as in force in the cantonal cadastre and as legally binding in the federal register, and Art. 42 para. 3 lit. c of the same act. A tent adds the CHF 200 police fine. That a judge, not a fine list, would set the penalty for a tentless night changes the price, not the rule.
Can I sleep in the Gfellalp hut, or where else nearby?
Not in the alp hut: in Selden or at the Lötschenpasshütte. The Berghaus Gfellalp is leased by the Kandersteg International Scout Centre and is not open to the public. In Selden, about 800 m away and 370 m lower, the Berghotel Steinbock (+41 33 675 11 62) and the Berghotel Gasterntal (+41 79 437 03 78) take guests; check their season. The Lötschenpasshütte at 2'690 m, about 3 km south (+41 27 939 19 81), has 86 places and closes in early November. A tent goes to Camping Rendez-vous in Kandersteg (+41 33 675 15 34).
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. Baureglement der Gemeinde Kandersteg, approval copy in the version of July 2010, adopted by the communal assembly on 29 April 2010 and approved by the cantonal Amt für Gemeinden und Raumordnung on 25 March 2011; named by the cantonal cadastre of public-law restrictions as the act in force at the Gfelalp. Published as a scan; read on 4 October 2026, the decisive lines checked against the page images. Art. 53 "Wildruhegebiete", para. 1: "Die im Plan der Schutzgebiete und -objekte bezeichneten Wildruhegebiete sind besonders wertvoll für das Wild (Wintereinstände, Setzgebiete, Brutgebiete). Das Wild soll vor Störungen durch menschliche Aktivitäten verschont werden." Para. 2: "Personen sollen sich ausser bei land- und forstwirtschaftlichen Arbeiten an die bestehenden, markierten Wege halten. Es dürfen keine für das Wild störende Veranstaltungen organisiert oder durchgeführt werden." Art. 42 "Kandersteger Berglandschaft", para. 2: "Im Schutzgebiet darf nichts unternommen werden, das dem Schutzziel zuwiderläuft."; para. 3 lit. c: "Das Campieren ist verboten." The act does not define camping. Art. 60: "Widerhandlungen gegen die Vorschrift dieses Reglements, gegen die übrigen Gemeindevorschriften und die gestützt darauf erlassenen Einzelverfügungen werden nach den Strafbestimmungen des BauG (Art. 50 BauG und Art. 108 BauV) vom Richter geahndet." The revised Baureglement adopted by the communal assembly on 4 June 2021, cantonal approval still pending, carries Art. 42 and Art. 53 in the same words. Baureglement 2011 (PDF), Baureglement 2023, approval pending (PDF). ↩
  2. Cadastre of public-law restrictions on landownership (ÖREB), canton of Bern, extract for Kandersteg parcel 41, EGRID CH594605843549, 287.0 ha, read on 4 October 2026. At the pin: overlay "Kandersteger Berglandschaft mit Wildruhegebiet", legal basis "Baureglement Kandersteg, vom 03.2011", status in force; base designation "übriges Gebiet". The plain "Kandersteger Berglandschaft" begins 65 m south-south-west of the pin, on the open slope above. Berghaus Gfellalp, LV95 2'621'568 / 1'143'218: outside both overlays, inside a 0.7 ha "Zone für touristische Aktivitäten" (Art. 44 of the building regulation), 206 m from the rest area and 200 m from the Berglandschaft. oereb2.apps.be.ch. ↩
  3. Official federal geodata, read on 4 October 2026. Gazetteer point "Gfelalp" (swissNAMES3D), LV95 2'621'318.5 / 1'143'357.4, WGS84 46.44122 / 7.71605, 1'913 m, commune of Kandersteg. Federal register of wildlife rest zones: "Kandersteg Lerchiwang", no. 69.00, legally binding, keep to paths, protection period 1 January to 31 December, communal protection decision (building regulation), 142.4 ha on the north-facing forest slope; the pin lies 36 m inside its edge. Federal Inventory of Landscapes and Natural Monuments, BLN object no. 1507, at the pin (binding on authorities, no rule of conduct for visitors). No federal game reserve, park, floodplain, mire, amphibian site, dry meadow or forest reserve at the pin. swissTLM3D: the marked hiking trail from Selden to the Lötschenpass passes 280 m south-east of the pin and 4 m from the Berghaus Gfellalp; no marked trail and no mapped path inside the rest area. Federal register of buildings: "Berghaus Gfellalp", Selden 38, 1'848 m, 286 m south-east of the pin; Berghotel Steinbock, Selden 33, 1'547 m, 802 m from the pin. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
  4. Gemeindepolizeireglement der Einwohnergemeinde Kandersteg, in force since 1 January 2021. Art. 6: "In diesem Reglement bedeuten: [...] c. Campieren: jede Form des Übernachtens oder vorübergehenden Verweilens in Zelten, Wohnwagen, Wohnmobilen, Autos oder ähnlichen Unterkünften. [...] Nicht darunter fällt das Übernachten im Freien ohne Zelt, im Iglu oder in einer Schneehöhle (Biwakieren)." Art. 7 para. 1: "Das Campieren ausserhalb der speziell dafür vorgesehenen und bewilligten Flächen ist nicht gestattet."; para. 2: the commune may grant exceptions on request. Art. 26: breaches are fined up to CHF 5'000. Gemeindepolizeiverordnung Kandersteg, in force since 1 January 2021, Art. 8 para. 3 lit. a: "Art. 7 Campingverbot 200.00". Commune of Kandersteg, camping page, read on 4 October 2026: "Wildcamping Verbot auf dem gesamten Gemeindegebiet!"; the page also still cites an article of the 1973 camping regulation that the police regulation repealed, so the operative norm is Art. 7. Police regulation (PDF), Police ordinance (PDF), gemeindekandersteg.ch (camping). ↩
  5. Baugesetz des Kantons Bern (BauG), BSG 721.0, Art. 50, and Bauverordnung (BauV), BSG 721.1, Art. 108, read on 4 October 2026: the penalty provisions to which Art. 60 of Kandersteg's building regulation refers. Art. 50 BauG penalises whoever, as the person responsible, in particular as builder, architect, engineer, site manager or contractor, carries out a building project without a permit or in disregard of conditions or rules, or fails to comply with enforceable building-police orders; Art. 108 BauV penalises breaches of the building ordinance itself. Neither sets an amount for a person off a path in a rest area, and no tariff for that case is published. belex.sites.be.ch (BauG), belex.sites.be.ch (BauV). ↩
  6. Canton of Bern geodata, read on 4 October 2026: cantonal wildlife reserves (Wildschutzgebiete) and cantonal nature reserves (Naturschutzgebiete), checked as polygons. The pin lies in neither. Nearest cantonal wildlife reserve: Kandersteg, object 23, zone 1a, 5.5 km away. Nearest cantonal nature reserves: Gastereholz, no. 209 (2012), 1.3 km away, and Kanderfirn, no. 247, 1.8 km away. geofiles.be.ch (wildlife reserves), geofiles.be.ch (nature reserves). ↩
  7. Terrain and land cover, read on 4 October 2026. swisstopo swissALTI3D: 40 to 45 degrees at the pin; median slope 32.5 degrees within 150 m of the Berghaus Gfellalp; the nearest level ground lies on the valley floor at Selden, at about 1'550 to 1'570 m. Federal Statistical Office, land use statistics 2013/18: closed forest at the pin and beside it, tree groups just below; open grass and scree only above about 2'000 m. swissALTI3D, map.geo.admin.ch (land use statistics). ↩
  8. gasterntal.ch, list of places to stay, read on 4 October 2026: the Berghaus Gfellalp "befindet sich in Pacht des International Scout Centre Kandersteg und ist nicht öffentlich"; the list contains no campsite. gasterntal.ch home page: "Campieren ist im Gasterntal verboten" (a statement of the valley's tourism site, not a norm). Kandersteg International Scout Centre, Gfellalp hut, read on 4 October 2026: 1'847 m, three rooms with 21, 16 and 6 beds, for scout groups of 4 to 43 with a leader over 18, summer season, self-catering. gasterntal.ch (places to stay), gasterntal.ch, kisc.ch (Gfellalp hut). ↩
  9. Beds and campsite, read in September and October 2026: Berghotel Steinbock, Selden, +41 33 675 11 62; Berghotel Gasterntal, Selden, +41 79 437 03 78, gasterntal@doldenhorn.ch; Lötschenpasshütte, 2'690 m, Lötschenpass AG, Wiler, +41 27 939 19 81, private, 86 places, half board, hut news of 9 September 2026: open until early November; Camping Rendez-vous, Hubleweg 2, Kandersteg, +41 33 675 15 34. gasterntal.ch (places to stay), loetschenpass.ch. ↩