Schwanden is situated at an elevation of at the point of
confluence of the
Linth and
Sernf rivers. The village is located along the roads to
Elm,
Linthal and
Schwändi, and includes the formerly independent (until 1876)
hamlet of Thon. The villages of
Nidfurn and
Haslen lie to south in the valley of the Linth, whilst the village of
Engi lies to the east in the valley of the Sernf. To the north, the village of
Mitlödi lies in the valley of the Linth, whilst Schwandi and
Sool are respectively on the west and east slopes of the valley. South of Schwanden is the oldest
Jagdbanngebiet (literally hunting-banned area) in Switzerland, the
Freiberg Kärpf, which has been protected since 1548. Also to the south, the Niederenbäch stream descends from the slopes of the mountain of
Kärpf (). This stream has been dammed to create the
Garichtisee reservoir. Schwanden has an area, as defined by the former municipal boundaries in 2006, of . Of this area, 32.3% is used for agricultural purposes, while 38.3% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.2% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (26.2%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains). ==Transport==