Lake Sarnen covers approximately an area of 7.5 km2 (2.9 sq mi).

The town is surrounded by mountain chains and a protected bog can be found nearby.

The most well-known mountain close to Sarnen is Mount Pilatus with an elevation of 2,132 m (6,995 ft).

Over the same time period the amount of forested land has increased by 27 ha (67 acres).

[4][5] The municipality is made up of 5 sections; Sarnen (population 5,984), Stalden (pop.

[5] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (91.0%), with Italian being second most common (1.6%) and Albanian being third (1.6%).

The remainder of the list contains the Cantonal Rathaus, the musical collection of the Frauenkloster, the Landenberg armory and the State Archives of Obwalden.

The entire small city of Sarnen, the hamlet of Ramersberg and the Kirchhofen area are part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

[15] In the 2015 federal election a small, local party received 65.6% of the vote, compared to 57.6% in 2011.

In the federal election, a total of 4,505 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 61.0%.

[16] In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 34.8% of the vote.

[8] As of 2008[update], the religious membership of the municipality was; 7,403 or 74.7% are Roman Catholic, while 779 or 7.9% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

Giswil is served by Sarnen station on the Brünig line, an inter-regional narrow-gauge railway from Interlaken to Lucerne.

The wettest month is August during which time Sarnen receives an average of 162 mm (6.4 in) of precipitation.

The driest month of the year is January with an average of 66 mm (2.6 in) of precipitation over 13.6 days.

[17] In 2014 the crime rate, of the over 200 crimes listed in the Swiss Criminal Code (running from murder, robbery and assault to accepting bribes and election fraud), in Sarnen was 65.6 per thousand residents, which is very close to the national rate of 64.6.