Wild camping at Schattigseeli

Wild camping at Schattigseeli: one night still needs the owner's yes

Wild camping at Schattigseeli starts with the rule of Oberwil im Simmental, the Bernese commune that contains the lake. Its Campingreglement has applied across the whole commune since 5 December 2011. Art. 9 distinguishes occasional overnight tents from other camping outside operated sites. A short stay can be permitted, but the landowner remains part of the decision.¹

"In jedem Falle ist die Zustimmung des betreffenden Grundeigentümers einzuholen."Campingreglement Oberwil im Simmental, Art. 9 para. 2. In English: the relevant landowner's consent must be obtained in every case.

Art. 9 para. 3 then allows tents and caravans for occasional overnight stays outside campsites without a municipal permit. Its wording is "Zum gelegentlichen Übernachten dürfen Zelte und Wohnwagen ohne Bewilligung durch die Gemeinde ausserhalb von Campingplätzen aufgestellt werden." Campers must follow instructions from the competent authorities. That removes the municipal permit for an occasional tent night; it leaves the owner's consent intact. For other camping outside sites, para. 4 gives a prohibition.¹

For a planned tent night beside the lake, get permission for that actual ground before the hike. Tell the owner the date, number of people and where you want to pitch. A yes for an alp elsewhere, or an answer about whether the commune issues a permit, does not give you a lakeside pitch. The municipal rule is an allowance with a specific private condition, rather than a general right to camp on every open bank.

The fine clause has a qualification. Art. 39 para. 2 provides a fine up to CHF 1'000 for repeated deliberate or negligent breaches of the regulation. The word is "Wiederholte", repeated. It is a maximum under that clause, not a fixed CHF 1'000 ticket for any first tent night. The rule to obey remains Art. 9: an occasional tent night still needs the owner.¹

A tentless bivouac is not expressly named in this communal allowance. Art. 2's definition concerns overnighting in tents, caravans, mobile homes and accommodation, and Art. 9's allowance specifically names tents and caravans. A sleeping bag does not supply a known permission to occupy the worked bank. Discuss the exact kind of night with the owner instead of choosing it as a way round the consent question. In the adjacent Scheibe core zone, the separate rule explicitly bans bivouacking as well as camping.¹²

A lake in worked alp ground, at the forest line

Schattigseeli lies at 1'788 m, above Oberwil im Simmental, at 46.68660 N, 7.41289 E (LV95 2'598'030.3 / 1'170'598.2). Those coordinates identify the lake, on open water. They are a map reference for the place, not a suggested point to sleep.⁵

The open basin has pasture around the water, stock paths on its banks, scattered conifers beside and south of it, and woodland farther down. The road runs to the east. Official aerial imagery shows why the lake can look like a place for a tent and still be part of somebody's working alp. Grass by a mountain lake is not automatically ground offered to visitors.⁵

The north bank includes small grassy patches, among sloping pasture and livestock tracks. The surrounding ground rises and falls, so the whole lakeside is not a flat meadow. Finding room for a small tent changes the practical question, but leaves the owner-consent requirement in place. In this forest-line belt, an open patch alone is too little to plan an unarranged night.⁵¹

The Swiss Alpine Club recommends checking with the alp staff on grazed alps about whether, and where, one night is possible. Its advice for considerate nights above the forest line always sits alongside local law. Here Oberwil has supplied an express owner-consent requirement, and conifers and worked pasture frame the banks. The useful question is which exact ground the owner offers, rather than whether a tent will disappear from view.⁸¹

Keep the shore vegetation intact and the water clean. The commune's building regulation protects waterside woody vegetation; the cadastre places the lake in agricultural ground and the Au water-protection sector. The Au designation is a water safeguard, not a blanket camping ban. It gives no permission to wash, empty food water or leave toilet waste beside the lake.⁶

Scheibe: the lake is Zone 1a, the core-zone ban is just south

The lake is inside the cantonal wildlife reserve Scheibe, no. 31, in Zone 1a. Bern's official reserve map separates it from core Zone 1b immediately to the south. The closest core boundary is about 50 m south-south-east of the mapped lake centre. That distance starts on water, so it is not a buffer of 50 m measured from the bank. Consult the zone line before leaving the path to the south.³

Zone 1a has no camping prohibition in the reserve ordinance. The WTSchV, BSG 922.63, Annex 2 no. 31, in its version in force since 1 December 2024, assigns its camping and bivouac prohibition only to the paragraph headed "In Kernzone 1b zusätzlich", additional rules in core Zone 1b. The lake's Zone 1a still has the communal consent rule described above.²¹

"Freies/wildes Campieren und Biwakieren sind verboten."WTSchV, Annex 2 no. 31 Scheibe, under "In Kernzone 1b zusätzlich". In English: free or wild camping and bivouacking are prohibited. This is the year-round rule inside core Zone 1b, not a camping prohibition for Zone 1a.

Inside the core, a bivvy bag is caught just like a tent. The wording names both activities and sets no seasonal window for their prohibition. Landowner permission alone cannot remove a cantonal wildlife-protection rule. Bern's KOBV, BSG 324.111, Annex 1 item 29, sets a CHF 100 fixed penalty for breaching wildlife-reserve prohibitions under WTSchV Art. 3 para. 1 lit. f and JWG Art. 31 para. 1 lit. c. That penalty concerns a breach where the prohibition applies.²⁴

The reserve has rules for day visitors too. In both zones, drones are prohibited and dogs must be on a lead in the forest from 1 December to 31 July. In core Zone 1b during those dates, access is confined to the existing designated paths and roads, apart from a specific fishing-rights exception along the Morgetenbach. Winter sports and winter walking there are confined to designated routes. A winter walk round the lake needs its own look at the map; the summer permission question is not the only one.²

The lake point is outside the federal protected-area inventories and Bern's nature reserves. A cantonal wildlife reserve can still apply, as Scheibe does here. The absence of a federal game reserve does not erase a communal camping rule or a cantonal core-zone boundary. There is no separate nature-reserve camping prohibition at the lake point.³⁵

Where you sleep: a booked tent pitch at Camping Arnist

Camping Arnist in Oberwil im Simmental is the concrete tent option. The operator's own website includes tents among the pitches it takes reservations for and asks guests to call ahead. It is an operated campsite in the valley, at Mühlebühl 35e, rather than an unarranged lake bank. Reserve your night directly with the campsite and visit Schattigseeli as a day hike.⁷

If you specifically want a lakeside night, the missing part is a named owner's permission. The lake lies on Oberwil parcel 4, EGRID CH494604453515. Bern's ownership service uses GRUDIS public with an AGOV login. The parcel identifier makes an enquiry precise; it is not itself permission. There is no public offer of a tent pitch beside Schattigseeli.⁶

The Gemeindeverwaltung Oberwil im Simmental, +41 33 783 13 53, info@oberwil-im-simmental.ch, is the starting point for asking who controls that ground. Explain that you need the owner's contact for one overnight tent under Art. 9. The office's general advice about permits does not replace the landowner's yes, and a private yes applies only to ground where the wildlife rules allow the activity.¹⁶⁹

Until that yes exists for a specific place, book Arnist. Finish the day's visit in time to get down without turning a missing permission into a planned bivouac. Campsite availability and the mountain conditions are separate checks: make the reservation before the hike, and carry what you need for the walk rather than treating the lake as a drinking-water supply.

The nearby ridges and lakes have their own answers

A short move around Schattigseeli does not provide an automatic workaround. South is the direction of the Scheibe core zone. North is grazed ground subject to the same communal consent rule. Moving onto a path or forest fringe also leaves you in worked land or visitor access, rather than a place offered for a night.¹³

For a different hike in the Stockhorn chain, the Blumenstein report concerns the high pasture on the other side of the range, and the Stockhorn report distinguishes its tourist summit from the Obere Walalp arrangement. Those are different destinations with their own ground and conditions. For the wider framework, see wild camping in Switzerland.

Permission attaches to the place and the date agreed with the person entitled to give it. Keep any such agreement on your phone, stay within the area they offer and follow the alp staff's instructions. A one-night plan should leave the bank and the animals' access as it was before you arrived.

General rules for wild camping

These rules apply wherever you actually have permission for a night. At Schattigseeli that would require a specific owner's yes on ground outside the Scheibe core zone. For an unarranged visit, keep it a day hike and sleep at the booked campsite.

• 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, based on the official and public sources below. It does not replace legal advice and is not a binding statement by a public authority.

The precise landowner's identity and permission, current grazing, signs on site and campsite availability have not been confirmed. The terrain assessment uses official aerial imagery and the elevation model, rather than a site visit. Protected-area boundaries, communal rules and operating arrangements can change. Before every tour, check current official sources, secure any required permission and follow instructions on site. A genuine emergency bivouac in distress is a separate question from a planned night. Anyone who spends the night outside bears responsibility for their own conduct and its consequences. 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.

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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.

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