No lake, no canton, no permit
An eFoil has nowhere legal to go in Switzerland. Lake Zurich, Lake Lucerne, the Swiss part of Lake Geneva and every river and reservoir between them are closed to it by a single paragraph of the federal Inland Navigation Ordinance, and that paragraph reaches the border lakes as well. In February 2023 the Federal Council put it in one sentence: “E-Foils und E-Surfbretter sind in der Schweiz und auf den Grenzgewässern gemäss den rechtlichen Grundlagen nicht zugelassen”, meaning that eFoils and electric surfboards are not admitted in Switzerland or on its border waters.
No eFoil operator works from the Swiss shore of Lake Geneva, and none from Locarno, Ascona, Brissago, Magadino or Gambarogno on Lake Maggiore. The lessons start just over the border: at Cannobio in Italy, at Thonon and Saint-Gingolph on the French shore of Lake Geneva, and near Basel with a school from Freiburg im Breisgau.
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| Where | Operator | Entry offer |
|---|---|---|
| Cannobio, Lake Maggiore (Italy) | Follow Me Adventures | About €170, 1½ h with 1 h on the water |
| Cannobio, Lake Maggiore (Italy) | Lakeview eFoil Center | - |
| Thonon and Saint-Gingolph, Lake Geneva (France) | Evolution 2 | €70, group session, about 30 min on the water |
| Saint-Gingolph, Lake Geneva (France) | Gliss Camp | €60, 30 min rental after a level check |
| Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany) | eFoil Emotions | €119, 90 min with 50 min on the water |
Art. 121 para. 5, the paragraph behind the ban
The rule comes from the Binnenschifffahrtsverordnung, the Inland Navigation Ordinance of 8 November 1978 (BSV, SR 747.201.1, consolidated as of 1 January 2022). Its Art. 1 para. 1 sets the reach: “auf schweizerischen Gewässern einschliesslich der Grenzgewässer”, on Swiss waters including the border waters. Lake Geneva, Lake Constance, Lake Maggiore and Lake Lugano are all inside it.
Art. 121 para. 5 lists craft that “dürfen nicht mit einem Motor ausgerüstet sein”, may not be fitted with a motor: boats under 2.50 m, beach craft, paddle boats, sailboards and kiteboards, and inflatable pleasure craft. Diving scooters under 2.50 m are the one exception.
An eFoil board is not named in that list. The Federal Office of Transport (FOT) fills the gap in its FAQ on leisure boating. Surfboards, sailboards and closed-hull pleasure craft may not carry a motor under that paragraph, “unabhängig von ihrer Länge und unabhängig davon, ob sie mit oder ohne Foils ausgeführt sind”, whatever their length and whether or not they have foils. The Federal Council's French answer to interpellation 22.4313, dated 1 February 2023, uses the wording “quelle que soit leur longueur et qu'elles soient ou non équipées d'hydrofoils”.
Put the three texts together and the ban hangs on the motor, not on the board's length or on whether it carries a foil. A board you bring from home is caught as surely as a rental. The texts do not say that in so many words, but we see no other way to read them.
What a canton can and cannot do
Swiss lakes are cantonal waters, and the Federal Inland Navigation Act of 3 October 1975 (BSG, SR 747.201) says so in Art. 3: “Die Gewässerhoheit steht den Kantonen zu. Das Bundesrecht bleibt vorbehalten.” Water sovereignty lies with the cantons, subject to federal law.
The second sentence is the one that matters for an eFoil. A canton may ban or restrict navigation on its own waters, and many do. Zürich, for instance, allows kitesurfing on its part of Lake Zurich and not on the Greifensee or the Pfäffikersee. What a canton cannot do is admit a craft that the federal ordinance keeps out. So far as we read Art. 3, no cantonal permit or lake order can open a Swiss lake to an eFoil.
Fines and the eFoil case at the Federal Court
Breaches of the act or of the federal and cantonal rules made under it are punished “mit Busse”, with a fine, under Art. 48 BSG. The article gives no amount. Art. 106 para. 1 of the Swiss Criminal Code caps a fine at 10,000 francs unless the law says otherwise. The act does not, so we take 10,000 francs as the ceiling.
One eFoil case is on the record. On 25 April 2020 a rider set off from a landing stage in the canton of Geneva on what the Federal Court later described as “un eFoil [...] soit un engin assimilé à un véhicule nautique à moteur”, a device treated as a personal watercraft. He was fined 300 francs. His appeal reached the Federal Court, which dismissed it in judgment 6B_315/2022 of 29 September 2022, upheld the fine and charged him 3,000 francs in court costs. The costs are not part of the fine, but they come out of the same pocket.
The court also dealt with the French side of the lake. The French prefectoral rule, it held, does not bind Swiss courts (consid. 1.6). Whatever the Haute-Savoie order allows off Évian carries no weight once you are on Swiss water.
Lake Geneva, where France shares the water
Of the lake's 580 km², about 345 km² are Swiss and 235 km² French. A Franco-Swiss navigation regulation covers all of it (RS 0.747.221.11), and since 1 June 2019 its art. 78d has read: “L'usage des véhicules nautiques à moteurs et de tout engin similaire quel qu'en soit le mode de propulsion est interdit”. Personal watercraft and any similar device are banned, whatever drives them. That is the article the Federal Court applied to the eFoil in the Geneva case, and on Swiss water the BSV comes on top of it.
The prefecture of Haute-Savoie wrote something different into its own order for the French shore. Art. 6.5, added by amendment no. 5 of 23 July 2020, says “L'usage des foils pour les planches nautiques à moteur électrique [...] n'est autorisé qu'en dehors de la bande de rive”: foils on electric boards only outside the 300 m shore band, and on a list of conditions.
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| Point | Franco-Swiss regulation, art. 78d | Haute-Savoie order, art. 6.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | The whole lake | The French shore |
| eFoil | Personal watercraft and similar devices banned, whatever the propulsion | Foils on electric boards only outside the 300 m shore band |
| Start | - | From the bank |
| Range | - | Not beyond 3.7 km (2 nautical miles) from a shelter |
| Closed spots | - | Public ports; 100 m around navigable passes and public landing stages |
| Kit | - | Helmet, buoyancy, waterproof light lasting at least six hours |
| Courts | Applied to an eFoil by the Swiss Federal Court in 2022 | No French judgment |
On the French shore the two texts stand side by side, and no French judge has yet ruled on how they fit together. On Swiss water there is no such tension, because the treaty and the BSV both close it.
The lessons are on the Haute-Savoie side. Evolution 2 teaches from Thonon (Quai de Ripaille) and from Saint-Gingolph (1 Quai André Chevallay), and Gliss Camp works off the Saint-Gingolph beach from the Evolution 2 base. A supervised group session costs €70 for about 30 minutes on the water and €125 for about an hour. Private lessons run €130 for 45 minutes or €160 for the hour. Once a level check is passed, Gliss Camp rents a board from €60 for 30 minutes to €90 for an hour.
Saint-Gingolph is one village cut in two by the border, which runs along the Morge. Launch from the French side and keep to it.
Thonon needs no car from Geneva. The Léman Express L1 runs to Thonon-les-Bains and Évian-les-Bains, and CGN boats cross from Lausanne to Évian and Thonon and from Nyon to Yvoire. By road, Thonon is about 34 km from Geneva and Saint-Gingolph about 62 km. More French bases and the national rules are in our France eFoil guide.
Ticino closed, lessons at Cannobio
Roughly 80 % of Lake Maggiore is Italian. The Swiss north, from Locarno and Ascona to Brissago and across to Magadino and Gambarogno, has no eFoil operator. Lake Lugano covers about 49 km², roughly two thirds of it Swiss, with Campione d'Italia on its shore as an Italian exclave.
Both lakes fall under the Italo-Swiss agreement of 2 December 1992 (SR 0.747.225.1). Art. 55a of its regulation bans personal watercraft “oder ähnlichen Geräten”, or similar devices, “unabhängig von der Antriebsart”, whatever the drive, on the Swiss waters of both lakes. Art. 43 is stricter: craft under 2.5 m “dürfen keinesfalls mit einem Motor ausgerüstet sein”, may on no account have a motor, and its wording, as we read it, covers both lakes whole. On the Swiss side BSV Art. 121 para. 5 applies on top.
On the Italian water no text mentions the eFoil by name. Two operators teach at Cannobio. The Lakeview eFoil Center sits at the Lakeview Cannobio Camping & Resort, Strada Nazionale 3, about 800 m before the town as you arrive from Switzerland. It uses Audi e-tron eFoils built by Aerofoils, teaches one rider at a time and rents only to experienced riders after an introductory lesson. Its own page states that eFoils are not permitted on Swiss waters, the Swiss part of Lake Maggiore included.
Follow Me Adventures works from the LakeView Beach. Its “Let's TRY” session lasts 1½ hours, half an hour on land and an hour on the water, for about €170 for one person with wetsuit, helmet and jacket.
Driving down from the north
Take the A2 through the Gotthard or the A13 over the San Bernardino to Bellinzona Süd, then Locarno, Brissago, the Valmara crossing and the SS34 along the shore. The Swiss leg needs a motorway vignette and Italian motorways are tolled. Book a morning slot if you can. The Tramontana blows early, the Inverna sets in from late morning or early afternoon, and Lakeview finds the lake often mirror smooth before it does. The other bases on the Italian shores are on our Lake Maggiore eFoil page.
Lake Constance, Basel and Freiburg
Lake Constance, 536 km² of water running 63 km end to end and 251 m deep at the deepest point, has its own navigation order, the BSO. By Art. 0.01 it takes in the lake with the Untersee and the Rhine from Konstanz down to the bridge between Schaffhausen and Feuerthalen, and Art. 14.01 para. 7 no. 3 refuses admission to motor craft with a hull under 2.50 m. On our reading that closes every shore, Swiss, German and Austrian alike.
The Bavarian palace administration, which looks after the Bavarian state lakes and the Bavarian shore of Lake Constance with them, spells it out. Motorized water sports gear such as e-surfboards “mit und ohne Foil-Technik” is “ausnahmslos nicht gestattet”, not allowed, without exception. Austria's side of the lake is covered on our Austria eFoil page.
The Rhine through Basel is closed. The Basel-Stadt Rhine police list jet skis and water scooters, sailboards, kiteboards and towed inflatables or similar devices as not allowed on the river in the city, and the BSV keeps an eFoil off it regardless.
North of Basel, eFoil Emotions of Freiburg im Breisgau takes students onto the Tunisee in Freiburg and the Rhine at Breisach. A taster is 90 minutes with 50 on the water for €119; the beginner course is 120 minutes with 80 on the water for €159. Both prices include protective gear and VAT, and riders must be at least 16.
Wingfoil on Lake Zurich, Lake Lucerne and beyond
Take the motor away and the ban goes with it. BSV Art. 121 para. 5 targets only the motor, and a wing, a kite or a surf foil has none, which leaves them outside it. What remains are the rules for sailboards and kiteboards.
Art. 54 para. 1 allows them only by day and in clear sight, not before 08:00 and not after 21:00. If a handheld wing counts as a sailboard, and it may, the window applies to it, so keep to those hours. Sailboards and kiteboards give way to all other craft (Art. 44 para. 1 let. f), and the FOT reminds riders that “Kursschiffe haben Vorrang”. Scheduled boats have priority, find it hard to swerve and need a long way to stop.
Wear a buoyancy aid. The FOT asks for at least one to SN EN ISO 12402-5:2006 on kite and windsurf boards, and on a sailboard it is usually worn. Strictly, the BSV exempts such boards from the rescue-device duty within 300 m of a lake shore (Art. 134 para. 4bis and Art. 134a), and beyond that line and on rivers a buoyancy aid is enough. Insurance is simpler. Under Art. 153 a privately used craft without an engine needs no liability cover, while a kiteboard does, at least 750,000 francs per event (Art. 155 para. 5). A private wingboard has no engine and is not a kiteboard, so by our reading it needs none.
Each lake then adds its own lines. On Lake Zurich and the Walensee the intercantonal agreement of 4 October 1979 keeps sailboards out of the lower basin north of a line from the Wollishofen landing stage to the south mole of Tiefenbrunnen harbour, and away from scheduled boat landing stages by 150 m on both lakes. It names sailboards and says nothing of wings. On the Hallwilersee in Aargau, SRF summed up the cantonal rule: “Pumpfoilen ist auf dem Hallwilersee nicht erlaubt, Wingfoilen hingegen schon”, no pump foiling, wingfoiling yes.
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| Lake | School | Beginner offer |
|---|---|---|
| Lake Zurich (Kilchberg) | Waterman Sports | CHF 120 a day, wing, board and foil rental |
| Urnersee (Sisikon) | Swiss Foiling School | CHF 329, Einsteigerkurs |
| Urnersee (Flüelen) | Windsurfing Urnersee | CHF 330, Wing Surf Basic |
| Alpnachersee | Surfstation Alpnachersee | CHF 349, Wingfoil Einsteigerkurs |
| Thunersee (Gunten) | Badhuus du Lac | CHF 149, 3 h wing course without foil |
| Lake Murten (Murten) | Bise Noire | CHF 189, 2½ h starter session |
| Sempachersee (Nottwil) | Caribbean Village | CHF 195 per person for two, 2 h |
| Silvaplana | Windsurfing Silvaplana | CHF 220, 2½ h Wing Surf Basic |
Lake Lucerne's wing bases are on the Urnersee, its southern arm. Swiss Foiling School, at the Bucheli campsite in Sisikon a few minutes' walk from the station, teaches wing and parawing in groups of four at most with radio coaching, and every course is available in English. Windsurfing Urnersee in Flüelen coaches from a boat and warns that the winds there are very local and rarely shown reliably in the usual forecasts.
Lake Zurich has no school with its own wing course on the lake. ASVZ runs WingSUP from the Badi Wollishofen, and Waterman Sports in Kilchberg rents a beginner package and holds dock start and pump foil clinics. On the Thunersee, HONU at the Grunderinseli in Thun teaches wing foil and pump foil.
Silvaplana has a second school beside Windsurfing Silvaplana. Swiss Kitesurf, at the Sportzentrum Mulets, runs a three-hour beginner group for CHF 200 with VDWS-licensed instructors. Riders enter the lake only at the approved entrances, and the school's beach by the sports centre is where wings go in.
Most Swiss courses open with wing handling on land, then move to a big board or a SUP without a foil. Several add a towfoil session behind a boat before wing and foil come together, and at Sisikon and Alpnach the instructor talks you through it by radio.
Wing sizes, boards and foils for a first season are in our wingfoil gear guide, and the sport itself in the wingfoil overview.
Motion 24.4515 and the ordinance overhaul
On 19 December 2024 Marcel Dobler filed motion 24.4515, “E-Surfboards und E-Foils auf Schweizer Gewässern zulassen”, which asks for eFoils and electric surfboards to be admitted on Swiss waters. On 19 February 2025 the Federal Council proposed rejecting it, saying a total revision of the BSV could largely meet its aim. Where it stands now is on the parliament's Curia Vista page ↗.
A new BSV alone would not open every lake. Lake Geneva, Lake Maggiore, Lake Lugano and Lake Constance each carry their own treaty or order, and those texts ban the craft in their own words, so as far as we can see they would need changing too. Until then the nearest lessons stay at Cannobio, Thonon, Saint-Gingolph and Freiburg. How other countries treat the eFoil, from licences to shore bands, is set out in our eFoil rules guide.
Read this as a summary and not as legal advice: the ordinance, the lake treaties and the cantonal orders are quoted as published, and the authority for each water decides how they are applied.
