Wild camping at Le Grammont: Valais has no camping law, this commune has a ban

Valais delegates, and Vouvry used the delegation

Wild camping at Le Grammont is the clearest illustration of how Swiss camping law actually works. Valais has no cantonal wild-camping ban: the often-quoted 1977 camping ordinance is not in the in-force collection, the hospitality law covers only commercial camping offers, and the building ordinance asks for a permit only beyond three weeks or twelve tents. The canton says so itself in its spatial-planning file on camping, which hands the matter down: communes set the rules on wild camping in their police regulation³. That is the sentence most people never read, and it is why "Valais has no law" keeps getting repeated as if it meant "you may camp".

"Le camping, le caravaning et ce qui leur est assimilable sont interdits en dehors des emplacements autorises expressement designes comme tels par l'Autorite."Police regulation of the communes of St-Gingolph, Port-Valais, Vouvry and Vionnaz, Art. 56 al. 2: camping, caravanning and anything comparable are forbidden outside places expressly designated by the authority. Homologated by the Conseil d'Etat on 21 February 2018.

The wording decides the bivouac question: ce qui leur est assimilable means anything comparable to camping, not only tents, and the commune reads it that way in writing, as the next section shows. Vouvry used the delegation. The regulation applies to the entire territory of all four communes (Art. 4 al. 1), violations cost up to CHF 5'000 (Art. 79 al. 1), and even negligence is punishable (Art. 77 al. 3)¹. There is one more nuance worth knowing, because it closes the last theoretical door: the only bivouac norm actually in force in Valais law sits in the hunting regulation, which permits a temporary bivouac tent in hunting terrain, and then adds "sous reserve du respect des autres exigences legales en la matiere ... reglements communaux"⁴. The cantonal yes explicitly defers to the communal no.

Why consent does not help here

At most spots we research, the useful answer is an exception: a farmer's yes, a border a hundred metres away, an altitude above which nobody minds. At Le Grammont there is none, and it is worth being precise about why, because the usual escape routes all fail here.

The landowner cannot waive it. The Bourgeoisie de Vouvry owns the alp, but Art. 56 al. 2 is public-law policing, not a property rule, and Art. 4 al. 2 expressly lets the communal authority act on private land¹. Walking to the next commune does not help either: the summit is Vouvry, the Saint-Gingolph boundary runs about 60 to 110 metres north of it and Port-Valais starts a few hundred metres northeast, but all of them are named in the same regulation⁷. And the above-treeline tolerance does not apply: the SAC's single-night guidance holds only where no contrary rule exists, and here one exists in black and white⁸. The commune's own wording leaves no room to argue about bivouac versus tent:

"Nous vous informons que le camping sauvage, bivouac compris, est interdit sur l'ensemble du site (parkings et montagnes environnantes compris)."Commune of Vouvry, on its official Taney site: wild camping, bivouac included, is forbidden across the whole site, car parks and surrounding mountains included.

The campsite they closed

The strongest evidence that this ban is real is that Taney once had the opposite. For years there was an official espace campeurs at the lake, an authorised camping area exactly of the kind Art. 56 al. 2 still allows the authority to designate. In April 2016 the commune closed it, for an indefinite period, after too much damage and too many nuisances. The municipal officer responsible said so plainly in the regional press, and signage plus a warden followed⁵. Three years later the commune president confirmed the line had held⁶.

That history matters for a practical reason: it means the one legal camping option in the basin was deliberately removed, so there is nothing left to designate yourself into. And the pressure has only grown. For the 2025 season Vouvry tightened access again against overtourism, with a mandated security agent, and the shuttle and taxi services to the col were discontinued¹⁰. Enforcement is not hypothetical either: the Police Intercommunale du Haut-Lac covers these four communes with ten officers around the clock, alongside a wildlife warden and a site warden².

What the maps say

I checked the official geodata at the summit, the refuge and the lake, with a positive control⁷. No federal hunting-ban district, no wildlife rest zone, no mire or floodplain inventory at the summit or the refuge. What the layers do show is the BLN landscape inventory, object 1702 "Lac de Tanay", covering about 1'481 hectares including both points. Be precise about what that means: a BLN listing binds the authorities when a federal task is performed, it does not by itself create a camping offence for a private person¹¹. The federal amphibian inventory also touches the lake shore, which is worth knowing before pitching anywhere near the water.

I also went looking, deliberately, for a cantonal nature-reserve decree over Taney, because at the Engstlensee exactly such a decree turned out to be the decisive ban and it is invisible on the federal maps. Here there is none: the register searches come back empty, and the 1967 protection contract has lapsed, with protection today running through the federal inventories and a 2021 collaboration charter between the commune, the Bourgeoisie, Pro Natura and the SAC section. That charter is a private-law agreement, not a norm with a penalty¹². So the verdict rests entirely on the communal regulation, which is more than enough. For the wider system, see our national overview, and for the Valais spot where the same "no cantonal ban" fact produces the opposite outcome, the Lac d'Emosson.

Where you can legally sleep

• Auberge-Refuge Le Grammont, on the shore at Taney, rooms plus dormitory, roughly 66 beds, summer and winter, +41 24 481 11 83, le-grammont.ch⁹.
• Auberge Refuge la Vouivre at Taney, +41 24 481 14 80, and Auberge Baabuk, +41 79 542 32 03.
• Camping Rive-Bleue, Le Bouveret, April to September: an authorised camping site inside the same police regulation, the lawful tent option in this corner of the Chablais.
• Les Cornettes de Bise in Miex, down at the road, if the lake houses are full.

General rules for wild camping

This applies wherever you are genuinely allowed to sleep outside, which at Le Grammont means nowhere. Carry it to the places where you are: it is not legal text, but decency and common sense, and it is the reason the few remaining tolerances still exist.

• 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 July 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, access rules and enforcement practice change, and Vouvry has adjusted its Taney rules repeatedly in recent years. 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

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.

About Hikebeast Wildcamping Legality Checker Wild camping Lac d'Emosson Swiss Gems Guide