Live cameras in Schwyz, Switzerland

Schwyz is the capital of the Swiss canton of the same name, a small town at about 516 meters on a green plain between Lake Lucerne and Lake Lauerz, watched over by the twin rock peaks of the Grosser and Kleiner Mythen. Around 15,400 people lived in the municipality in 2020. The town gave its name first to the canton and, over the centuries, to the whole country: Schwyzerland became Switzerland. The Bundesbriefmuseum here keeps the Federal Charter of 1291, the alliance between Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden that Swiss tradition treats as the founding of the Confederation. The old center has fine town houses, the baroque parish church of St. Martin and the town hall with its painted facade.

The cameras on this page are MeteoSwiss weather cameras that turn out a full 360-degree panorama every ten minutes. The nearest, at Goldau (535 meters), is about 8 km away, set under the Rigi in the valley between Lake Zug and Lake Lauerz. The other views on this page are MeteoSwiss cameras elsewhere in central Switzerland. Goldau is known for the landslide of September 2, 1806, when part of the Rossberg broke away after heavy rain, burying several villages and killing 457 people; the scar is still visible from the valley, and the debris field is now home to the Natur- und Tierpark Goldau.

When to look

Schwyz keeps Central European Time (UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer). Spring and autumn often bring the warm, dry foehn wind, which clears the air and makes the Alps look close enough to touch. In late autumn and winter, a lid of low fog can cover the lakes while the peaks stay in sunshine, a pattern worth watching on the higher cameras. Snow is common on the Mythen from November to April.

Nearby, Brunnen on Lake Lucerne is a few minutes away, and the Rigi is a classic viewpoint reached by cogwheel trains from Goldau and Vitznau.

Sources: Schwyz - Wikipedia · Goldau - Wikipedia · MeteoSwiss.