Dogs allowed in Swiss lakes?

Hi,are dogs allowed in Swiss lakes?

Hi Ray Buckle,

Welcome to MySwissAlps.

The quick answer to your question is yes. Switzerland is a very pet-friendly country. I see a lot of people take their dogs everywhere with them including to the lakes. Some lakes have restrictions or have designated places for dogs, so look around for signposted rules and do check with your surroundings before taking your dog into the lake.

You might also find this link useful if you're travelling with your dog on public transports: www.myswissalps.com/train/practical/dogs

Regards,

Anna

Thank you Anna

We brought our dog last summer on our trip around Switzerland and found that some of the official parks on lakes didn’t allow dogs but they were allowed along areas outside of the parks. Because we were based a couple weeks in Ouchy we ended up taking out paddle boats with slides a number of times and our dog stayed on the boat with my husband while my girls and I went into the water. It was very cold but magical with fog along the water and France in the distance… and we numbed quickly:). We didn’t go into as many lakes for swimming (other than Lac Leman) in other areas of Switzerland, but our dog sure loved hiking! If you see this photo at the Matterhorn there were some dogs swimming in this little (cold!!!) lake.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I suppose it's much more common to see dogs swimming in mountain lakes because there's less crowd up there to complain about it :)

That's a very cute dog by the way.

Regards,

Anna