A night on the road
Sleeping in a camper in 🇨🇭 Switzerland
Sleeping in the vehicle is restricted in Switzerland and depends on where you stop. A tent is allowed in places and with conditions. A pitch runs about €34 a night.
The same rules the planner warns with when it puts you to bed in Switzerland. Where a rule is what everyone does rather than what a statute says, this page says so.
In the vehicle
Restricted — it depends where
Switzerland — one late-arrive/early-leave night on public parking is often tolerated if you don't 'camp'; motorway rest areas, no.
In a tent
Allowed, with conditions
There is no national answer — the Alpine Club says so outright, and the rules are cantonal and communal. Forest and pasture are open to walk on, but free camping is expressly prohibited in the Swiss National Park, the federal game reserves, many nature reserves and wildlife rest zones in season. The practical steer from the SAC: one night, a small group, above the tree line, where no local rule says otherwise — and an emergency bivouac is generally fine.
🔥 Use existing fire rings and watch the cantonal Waldbrandgefahr level — bans are cantonal, not seasonal.
The instrument: ZGB Art. 699 (access to forest and pasture); cantonal and communal rules decide camping
What a night costs
- In the vehicle €0 · derived
- A campsite pitch €34 · derived
- A hostel bed €77 · derived
Per night, for two. A figure marked derived is computed from the country's price level, not read off a price list — the plan says the same.
Plan the drive and we place the nights for you: the free lawful spots first where you sleep in the vehicle, a pitch where you asked for one, each priced the same honest way.
Looking for tonight rather than a trip? Find a place for the night near you →