Wild camping at Isenau
Nothing forbids a night on this plateau, at any level. Vaud's camping act turns out to be about equipped sites rather than one small tent, and neither the canton nor the commune adds a word to it. Here is where the flat ground is, well above the treeline.
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.
Three levels checked, three levels silent
Wild camping at Isenau is not prohibited by anything I can find, and because that is an unusual answer it is worth showing the work rather than stating it.
The federal level returns nothing at all. Queried at the point on 13 August 2026: the landscape inventory, the game reserves, the wildlife rest zones, the raised bogs, the fens, the mire landscapes, the floodplains, the dry meadows, the amphibian sites and the parks of national importance are all empty. That is not a common result in the Alps, and it is only worth anything if the query itself is sound, so both directions were controlled: a deliberately invalid layer name errors with HTTP 400 rather than returning an empty set, and a positive control at a known reserve returns that reserve.1
The cadastre puts almost nothing over the point either. The Vaud cadastre carries 312 restrictions on this parcel, which sounds like a lot until you look at where they are: at the point itself the plan returns only "Affectation non renseignée", no assigned zoning, alongside the perimeter of the legalised plans. The groundwater protection zones are close but not underneath: S2 at 81 metres, S3 at 140, S1 at 165. Noise sensitivity level III and the agricultural zone both start 173 metres away, and the forest area is 1'488 metres off. Reading that extract at all took a parser written for this canton specifically, which is a caveat worth carrying rather than burying.32
"Est réputé terrain de camping l'emplacement aménagé en vue de recevoir régulièrement des installations mobiles servant à l'habitation passagère ou saisonnière, telles que tentes, caravanes, fourgonnettes ou voitures de tourisme avec couchettes."Loi 935.61 sur les campings et caravanings résidentiels, art. 1.
Vaud does have a camping act, and reading it is what settles this. The canton devotes a whole section of its statute book to camping, which at first looks like bad news. Then you read article 1. A terrain de camping is an equipped site intended to receive mobile installations regularly. Article 2 says such a site may only be established in a zone reserved for it in the communal plan, and article 3 requires a building permit for laying one out. The act regulates the making of campsites. It says nothing about one person, one tent, one night, and stretching it to cover that would be the same error as reading a caravan-parking rule as a bivouac ban.4
The cantonal nature act is silent too, and I checked the current one. This matters because the old 1969 LPNMS was replaced: the act in force since 1 January 2023 is the Loi sur la protection du patrimoine naturel et paysager. Read in full, 73 articles, it returns zero occurrences of camping, tente, bivouac or caravane, against control terms of 73 for "Art." and 87 for "protection". Its implementing regulation, 83 articles, returns zero as well.6
And the commune. The Ormont-Dessus building and planning regulations of 9 January 2001, 45 articles, contain no occurrence of camping, camper, campeurs, tente, bivouac or caravane, against controls of 8 for "interdit" and 16 for "autorisé". A regulation that uses prohibitive language sixteen times and never once about sleeping outside has not simply forgotten to mention it.5
One instrument does mention camping near here, and it is worth naming so nobody is caught out by it second-hand: the model regulation for the groundwater protection zones permits "terrains de camping, terrains pour caravanes et mobil-homes" in S3 and Sm zones only if they have sealed connections to the waste-water network, and makes S1 a closed list of permitted uses which camping is not on. Those are rules for installations in water-catchment zones, and the nearest of those zones is 81 metres from the point rather than under it.7
Where to sleep, and what a clear yes costs you
A permission is only useful with a place attached, so here is the ground.
This is a broad, gentle plateau, which is why the answer is worth having. Sampled on the federal terrain model over an 800-metre box, 1'089 points, no standing water anywhere in the box: the slope at the point is 3.6 degrees, and 102 of 961 evaluated samples come in under 7 degrees. Requiring at least 150 metres of clearance from every registered building still leaves 59 of them. The best is 1.0 degrees at 1'878.7 metres, LV95 2'580'933 / 1'135'514, WGS84 46.370728 N / 7.190854 E, 106 metres from the point and 177 metres from the nearest building.8
Keep off the chalets. Three registered buildings stand at 78, 96 and 120 metres from the point, addressed Chemin d'Isenau, and there is a fourth further out. They are why the pitch above is placed away from the point rather than on it: there is no rule against being near them, only the ordinary courtesy of not putting a tent in somebody's view when fifty-nine alternatives exist within a few hundred metres.9
Stay off the water-catchment zones. The groundwater protection zones start 81 metres from the point. Nothing prohibits you from walking through them, but a spring catchment is exactly the ground where a badly sited camp does real harm, and the published pitch sits clear of all three. If you improvise a different spot, put distance between yourself and anything that looks like a captation.3
Altitude is on your side and so is the Alpine Club. At 1'864 metres you are above the local treeline, and the SAC's position is that a single considerate one-night bivouac above the treeline and outside protected areas is generally tolerated in Switzerland. Isenau satisfies both halves of that qualifier, which is unusual: at most spots one half or the other does the work of turning a yes into a maybe. Here neither does.10
What a clear yes actually costs. Places stay open because nothing accumulates. Arrive late, leave early, one small tent, no fire, no trace, and carry out everything including the things that seem harmless. Isenau is an alp: there will be stock, there will be fences, and gates are left as you found them. This spot has no rule against you precisely because nobody has yet had to write one.
The place
Isenau: WGS84 46.370055 N / 7.191832 E, LV95 2'581'008 / 1'135'439, 1'864.1 m on the federal terrain model, commune of Ormont-Dessus, canton Vaud, on the alp plateau north-west of Les Diablerets. The cadastral parcel is 1764 and covers 6'143'848 m², which is the scale you are dealing with: an alp, not a corner of one.3
The approach is the Col d'Isenau side or up from the village; the Skilift Isenau lies 778 metres from the point and the Col d'Isenau 799 metres. Note that the resort village of Les Diablerets below and the Diablerets massif itself are a different question from this plateau, and this page does not speak for either: a request for "Les Diablerets" covers a village, a massif and five communes across three cantons, which is why the answer has to be pinned to ground this specific.9
One document I could not read, and I would rather say so than let its absence pass unnoticed: the règlement for the plan governing the Isenau cable-car project is published as an image-only PDF, two pages, from which no text can be extracted. It is a zoning instrument for a lift installation, so it is unlikely to bear on a tent, but I have not read it and I am not going to imply that I have. If that plan is ever what matters to you, ask the commune for a readable copy.
One more caveat with a date on it. The cadastre records a plan modification with anticipated effect 912 metres from the point. Zoning here is being worked on, and a verdict resting on the absence of a rule is only as durable as that absence. This page is dated for that reason.3
Where you can legally sleep
- Here, on the plateau: no federal, cantonal or communal instrument prohibits a single night, and 59 candidate pitches sit under 7 degrees and at least 150 m from any building8.
- Best measured spot: 1.0 degrees at 1'878.7 m, LV95 2'580'933 / 1'135'514, 106 m from the point and 177 m clear of the nearest chalet8.
- Not beside the Chemin d'Isenau chalets, 78 to 120 m from the point, which is courtesy rather than law9.
- Not in the groundwater catchment zones, which begin 81 m away and are the one piece of ground here where a bad camp does lasting damage3.
- Not as a base camp: what makes this lawful is that a single night is not a "terrain de camping" under cantonal law. Stay several nights in one spot and that argument weakens4.
General rules for wild camping
This is one of the few spots in this series where the answer is simply yes, and that makes the list below the whole price of admission. Every rule this plateau does not have is a rule nobody has needed to write.
- 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.
A verdict of legal here rests on a verified absence rather than on an express permission, and an absence is a weaker thing: a commune can post a sign or adopt a plan at any time, and the cadastre already records a plan modification with anticipated effect nearby. The reading of the cantonal camping act as a campsite-facility law follows from its own definition in art. 1, but a court could read it more broadly than I have. I was unable to extract text from the cable-car plan regulation, which is published as an image-only PDF, and I have said so rather than treating it as silent. Distances are measured against published polygons and register points, not markers in the terrain. Before every tour, check the current sources yourself and follow the signs 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 Isenau?
Doesn't Vaud have a camping law?
Where exactly should the tent go?
What about the chalets and the ski lift?
How long is this answer good for?
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.
Sources
- Official federal geodata, queried 13 August 2026 at Isenau, WGS84 46.370055 N / 7.191832 E, LV95 2'581'008 / 1'135'439, 1'864.1 m, commune of Ormont-Dessus. Every inventory layer returns an empty result set: the federal landscape inventory, the game reserves, the wildlife-rest-zone portal, the raised bogs, the fens, the mire landscapes, the floodplains, the dry meadows and pastures, the amphibian spawning sites and the parks of national importance. Verified in both directions: a positive control at LV95 2'626'000 / 1'154'500 returns federal game reserve no. 3 Kiental, and an invalid-layer control returns HTTP 400 rather than an empty set, so an empty answer here means absence and not a bad query. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
- Method note on the Vaud cadastre, recorded because it changes what a negative is worth. The RDPPF extract for this canton uses a different structure from the German-speaking cantons: the parcel sits at
Item.RealEstateand each restriction's geometry atGeometry[].Itemas GML-styleexteriorandinteriorrings ofpolyline.Items[]points, rather than the GeoJSON-styleSurfacekey used elsewhere. A parser written for another canton reads zero geometry here and would report a confident, empty "nothing at the pin". The analysis in this article parsed 311 polygon geometries and 21 line or point geometries out of 312 restrictions. rdppf.vd.ch. ↩ - Cadastre of public-law restrictions on landownership, canton of Vaud, extract fetched with geometry on 13 August 2026 for EGRID CH798395824511: parcel 1764, 6'143'848 m², 312 restrictions. Point-in-polygon at the point returns "Affectation non renseignée" and "Valeur non renseignée" alongside the perimeter of the legalised plans, so the communal plan assigns no zone at this exact location. Every restriction was then ranked by distance rather than tested only at the point: Zone de protection des eaux souterraines S2 at 81 m, S3 at 140 m, S1 at 165 m, Degré de sensibilité III and Zone agricole 16 LAT both at 173 m, a plan modification with anticipated effect at 912 m, and the Aire forestière at 1'488 m. rdppf.vd.ch. ↩
- Loi du 11 septembre 1978 sur les campings et caravanings résidentiels (LCCR), BLV 935.61, in force since 1 January 1979, read in full on 13 August 2026, 46 articles. Art. 1: "Est réputé terrain de camping l'emplacement aménagé en vue de recevoir régulièrement des installations mobiles servant à l'habitation passagère ou saisonnière, telles que tentes, caravanes, fourgonnettes ou voitures de tourisme avec couchettes." Art. 2 para. 1: such a site "ne peut être installé que dans une zone réservée à cet effet dans le plan d'extension communal en vigueur". Art. 3 subjects laying one out to a building permit and a special cantonal authorisation. The act therefore governs the creation and operation of campsites; its two prohibitions concern non-potable water taps and the construction of bungalows or chalets, and neither addresses a single night in a tent. lexfind.ch. ↩
- Commune d'Ormont-Dessus, Règlement communal sur le Plan d'extension et la police des constructions, 9 January 2001, the act the cadastre names as in force at this parcel, read in full on 13 August 2026, 45 articles. Word-boundary scan: zero occurrences of camping, camper, campeurs, tente, tentes, bivouac or caravane, against control terms returning 45 for "Art.", 8 for "interdit" and 16 for "autorisé". A regulation that reaches for prohibitive language sixteen times and never once about sleeping outside is silent by choice rather than by oversight. rdppf.vd.ch. ↩
- Loi sur la protection du patrimoine naturel et paysager (LPrPNP), BLV 450.11, in force since 1 January 2023, read in full on 13 August 2026, 73 articles. This is the act that replaced the 1969 Loi sur la protection de la nature, des monuments et des sites, and reading the superseded version would have answered the wrong question. Word-boundary scan: zero occurrences of camping, camper, campeurs, tente, bivouac or caravane, against control terms returning 73 for "Art.", 3 for "interdit" and 87 for "protection". Its implementing regulation, BLV 450.11.1, 83 articles, likewise returns zero camping terms. lexfind.ch. ↩
- État de Vaud, Règlement-type d'application des zones S de protection des eaux souterraines, the instrument behind the groundwater restrictions near this point, read 13 August 2026. Art. 4 makes zone S1 a closed list of permitted uses, permanent meadows, forest under conditions and fencing, with camping absent from it. Art. 15 permits, in zones S3 and Sm only, "Terrains de camping, terrains pour caravanes et mobil-homes avec raccordements individuels parfaitement étanches au réseau d'évacuation des eaux usées". Both provisions govern installations in water-catchment zones rather than a single tent, and the nearest such zone lies 81 m from the point rather than under it. rdppf.vd.ch. ↩
- Terrain analysis, 13 August 2026, from the federal terrain model on a 25 m grid over an 800 m box centred on the point, 1'089 samples, all returned. A box-wide sweep for standing water returned no water features, so no mask was required and no false plane is present; the most repeated elevation occurs five times. Slope at the point 3.6 degrees, steepest sample 61.1 degrees. 102 of 961 evaluated samples come in under 7 degrees, and 59 of those are also at least 150 m from any registered building. Best of those: 1.0 degrees at 1'878.7 m, LV95 2'580'933 / 1'135'514, WGS84 46.370728 N / 7.190854 E, 106 m from the point and 177 m from the nearest building. geo.admin.ch. ↩
- Federal register of buildings and dwellings and the swisstopo gazetteer, queried 13 August 2026 around the point: three registered buildings at 78, 96 and 120 m, addressed Chemin d'Isenau, 1865 Les Diablerets, and a fourth further out within 800 m. The gazetteer records the site as "Gebiet Isenau (VD), Ormont-Dessus", with the Skilift Isenau 778 m away and the Col d'Isenau 799 m. Note that Les Diablerets village and the Diablerets massif are separate questions from this plateau and are not covered by this page. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
- Swiss Alpine Club, information on bivouacking and wild camping. The SAC position is that a single, considerate, one-night bivouac above the treeline and outside protected areas is generally tolerated in Switzerland. Isenau satisfies both halves of that qualifier at once, which is uncommon: at 1'864 m the plateau is above the local treeline, and the federal sweep returns no protected area of any kind at the point. Guidance, not law, and it is not what makes this lawful; the absence of any prohibition is. sac-cas.ch. ↩