How to do it right and what hosts need to know before welcoming campers. From the building permit and the different zones to the tourist tax, including contacts for every canton.
Traditional camping is not keeping up. Besides official pitches, the gap is increasingly being filled by hosts offering spots on farms and meadows, in the middle of nature.
The catch: a pitch counts as a facility. Even without any construction work, regular use as a pitch affects land and the environment. That is why it usually requires a permit (Art. 22 Spatial Planning Act, RPG).
If you regularly rent to strangers, you need a building permit. Letting friends stay over now and then is a different matter.
Most private gardens are in a residential zone, where commercial pitches are not allowed.
Access, water, wastewater, electricity, toilet and waste must all be taken care of.
Outside the building zone, a paid pitch is generally not allowed. It is usually only approved as a side business of a farm.
The municipality steps in when a complaint is filed. A report from the neighbourhood is enough.
Can a farm offer campers a place to stay overnight?
It depends on the canton. Each canton sets its own rules, and the municipalities decide on tourist tax and parking themselves. In 2024 the Federal Council saw no need for action, and a uniform solution is not in sight.
A pitch right next to the farm is allowed without a permit, but only from 1 May to
31 October.
A pitch right next to the farm is allowed without a permit as long as it is occupied on fewer than 30 days per season.
Anyone who occasionally lets guests stay overnight must notify the municipality. Regular guests require a building permit.
As soon as guests stay overnight regularly, a permit is always required.
Some areas are completely ruled out for pitches, others are only possible with conditions. Check your plot before you start planning.
For a quick overview, use map.geo.admin.ch. The binding source is your canton's PLR cadastre (ÖREB-Kataster): it shows all zones and restrictions for every plot.
A large platform earns money on every booking. According to its terms and conditions, however, the host is liable for permits, tourist tax and taxes. If the authorities turn up, they knock on your door, not the platform's.
Whoever brokers the stay should carry the responsibility.
A paved area in a suitable zone, such as a mixed or leisure zone, is the easiest way.
Talk to the municipality and the cantonal office first, then invest.
Bern, Lucerne, Graubünden, Nidwalden and Uri, for example, have their own rules. You will find the links further down.
With a link to the farm, such as a farm breakfast or a show dairy, the Federal Council considers at most 3 to 5 pitches to be approvable.
In Bern, 3 pitches are allowed without a permit for a maximum of two seasons.
A pitch is only legal with tourist tax and guest registration. The municipality sets the amount of the tax. Anyone accommodating guests commercially reports foreign guests to the cantonal authority (Art. 16 AIG). With Parkn'Sleep the tax is handled automatically.
For pitches outside the building zone the canton decides, inside it usually the municipality. Here you will find the responsible office, existing guidelines and the PLR cadastre for all 26 cantons. Office names and documents are in the official language of each canton.
Together with 250 Swiss municipalities, we have automated the tourist tax.
This direct contact helps our hosts on their way to a legal pitch.
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