As of: 1 August 2026

Wild camping at the Albula Pass: nothing fines you here, and it is still the wrong place to sleep

There is no verified camping ban with a fine at the Albula Pass, and we still tell you not to. The point we carry is the pass summit itself, which is a paved road with a guesthouse, a bus stop and a car park. That is a place to drive through, not a place to lie down.

Leon Helg
Leon Helg · Legal situation checked in August 2026 · Published 1 August 2026

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What do these mean?

Illegal A specific rule bans it, usually with a fine, and it can be enforced. Sleep somewhere else.

Not allowed No real place to camp here. A gated site, a developed area, or nowhere sensible to lie down, even if no fine is attached.

It depends You can sleep here, but there's a condition first: ask the landowner, book a spot, stay inside a set zone, or use a bivvy instead of a tent. The report says which.

Tolerated No rule clearly allows or bans it, but a single night is accepted in practice and nobody enforces against it. Normal for high bivouacs above the treeline.

Legal Camping one night is fine here. Either a rule allows it, or we checked every law and found nothing against it. Still: pitch late, leave early, no trace.

What "wild camping" means here: one night. A small tent or a bivvy bag, up towards evening, gone in the morning. Not a base camp, not a camper van. Most Swiss bans are written against camping; whether a single night also falls under them depends on the exact wording, so this article checks that wording. The full difference: wild camping vs bivouacking.

The legal situation, and why the No is not a legal one

Wild camping at the Albula Pass is a case where the honest answer starts by taking a claim off the table. The line you read most often is that Graubünden is a strict canton for sleeping out. That is a fair practice summary from tourism bodies and the TCS, and it is not a cited statute. There is no single blanket cantonal wild-camping article in Graubünden that we can point you to, so this article does not invent one.5

The rule that would actually reach a tent at this spot, if any did, is communal. The pass summit sits on the boundary of the commune of La Punt Chamues-ch, and its police law is the enactment to read.

We read it, and it contains no camping article at all. The Polizeigesetz of La Punt Chamues-ch, in its version of 27 July 2023 taken from the official commune PDF, has no occurrence of Wildcampieren, Zelten, Campieren or Biwakieren anywhere in its text. Its penalty side is two general provisions: art. 22, the Strafbestimmungen, sets a fine of up to CHF 10'000 for contraventions of the law, and art. 24, the Ordnungsbussenverfahren, allows fixed penalties of up to CHF 500. Neither of them names camping, a tent or a bivouac. The concrete list of which conduct carries which fixed penalty is not in the law: art. 47 delegates that Bussenliste to a separate decree of the Gemeindevorstand, and that decree is not published where we could read it.4

So the accurate statement is narrow, and we are going to keep it narrow. There is no verified named camping prohibition with a sanction at the Albula Pass. That is not the same as saying camping is expressly permitted, and it is not the same as saying it is banned. It means the one thing you will read online, a "CHF 100 fine for wild camping in La Punt", rests on a single park4night user review and not on any statute we could find. We record that claim only to mark it as unverified. It is not a named norm, we do not cite it as one, and nobody should.4

Because there is no verified ban, this is not an Illegal verdict. It is a Not-allowed verdict for a different reason, which the next sections set out: the point is a developed road pass, and no reasonable person would lie down on it. That is our common-sense gate, and here it does all the work.1

The federal layers are clean here, and the reserve is 5.9 kilometres west

The federal protection layers are the hard lines in Graubünden, and at this pass they are all empty. We queried the point on the national geodata portal and confirmed each empty result came from a valid layer. There is no federal game reserve, no wildlife-rest zone and no BLN landscape inventory object at the pass summit. The positive control passed: the nearest game reserve, Piz Ela object 20, returns a hit about 5.9 kilometres to the west, so the layer works and the pass is simply outside it.6

That clean result is why this is not an Illegal verdict, and also why the direction you walk matters. The Piz Ela reserve lies to the west and south-west, across the ground towards Piz Ela and the Val d'Err. Inside it, art. 5 para. 1 lit. e VEJ (SR 922.31) prohibits free tenting and camping with no consent exception, and the on-the-spot penalty is CHF 150 under annex 2 no. 12005 of the federal fixed-penalty ordinance, not the CHF 20'000 that gets quoted, which is the Hunting Act ceiling once a case leaves the summary procedure. If any pin drifts west or south-west off the pass, re-check the layer before you unpack, because a hit changes everything.6

The point is above the treeline, and that is the one thing in its favour. At 2'312 metres the pass summit is open alpine ground, not forest, and outside all three federal layers. The alpine-club single-night frame lives exactly here: above the treeline, one night, outside protected areas, considerate. On paper that frame would tolerate a discreet single-night bivouac in the open terrain off the road. Which is the whole point of the How below: if you sleep out near here at all, you do it away from the pass, not on it.3

Who to ask, and where the rules actually live. The commune of La Punt Chamues-ch owns the police law on the Engadine side of the pass, so a question about the summit itself goes there. For the Bergün and Palpuogna side to the north-west, the reachable door is Bergün Filisur Tourismus, Veja Stazion 11, 7482 Bergün, +41 81 407 11 52, info@berguen-filisur.ch, which also promotes the Palpuognasee as a drive-to day-trip lake. No fee is established for sleeping out anywhere near this pass. There is no named alp tenant, no reported arrangement and no franc figure, so any figure you see online is not one we can stand behind. If you want a bed on the spot, the Gasthaus Albula-Hospiz is right there.2

No fire, and treat that as the default, not a nicety. The pass is open pasture and rock, and an open fire on grazed alp ground is a nuisance and a risk regardless of any local ban in force. Use the guesthouse if you want warmth and a kitchen. If you carry a stove, the discreet single-night frame means no trace, no fire ring, and nothing left on the ground in the morning.1

The reason for the verdict: you would be pitching on a road pass

Start with the question that decides this one, and it is not a legal question. If sleeping here were entirely lawful, would anybody put a sleeping bag down on this exact ground? The answer is no, and the ground says why. The published point is the pass summit itself at 2'312 metres, and it is fully developed: a paved through-road that carries traffic all season and closes only in winter, the Gasthaus Albula-Hospiz on site, a PostBus stop named Albulapass, Hospiz, a car park opposite the guesthouse, a bench, a fireplace and a bin.1

This is a traffic and tourist node, not open mountain. A pass like this is somewhere people drive over, park at, photograph and move on from, and the guesthouse and the bus stop are there precisely because it is busy. Put a tent on the summit and you are lying between a road, a car park and a guesthouse terrace, in headlights and in plain view, and you will be seen at both ends of the night. Statutory silence does not change that. Our common-sense gate caps a spot like this at "Not allowed" on its own, before any law is even opened.7

If you actually meant the nearby lake, that is the same answer. The usual candidate for anyone who wanted alpine ground near here is the Lai da Palpuogna, the Palpuognasee, on the Bergün side to the north-west and lower down. But that too is a drive-to lake with a small car park and fire pits, promoted as a day-trip destination, not a wild-camp target. It reads exactly like the pass: developed, visited and easy to reach, so the same gate applies and the answer is again "discouraged".2

The honest move, if you insist on sleeping out near here, is to leave the developed ground behind. A legitimate version is a discreet single-night bivouac on open alpine ground well away from the road and the buildings, above the treeline, tent down by day, arriving on foot late and leaving early, no fire, on pasture only with the alp tenant's consent, and staying outside the Piz Ela reserve to the west. None of that happens on the pass summit, which is exactly why the point we publish is a No.36

  • Gasthaus Albula-Hospiz, on the pass summit itself, a serviced bed right where you are standing. This is the answer the pass itself gives.
  • Official campsites down-valley, towards La Punt Chamues-ch and the Engadine, or on the Bergün side towards the Albula valley. These are the lawful, serviced options for a tent near this pass.
  • A discreet single-night bivouac well away from the road, above the treeline, on open alpine ground, with the alp tenant's consent and outside the Piz Ela reserve to the west. Arrive on foot late, leave early, no fire, no trace.
  • Not the published point, on the pass summit between the road, the car park and the guesthouse.
  • Not west or south-west onto Piz Ela ground. About six kilometres that way you are inside the federal game reserve, where a tent is banned outright and nobody local can give you permission.

General rules for wild camping

This applies wherever you are genuinely allowed to sleep outside, which near this pass means away from the road and the buildings, above the treeline, and with the alp tenant's yes. It is not legal text, it is decency and common sense, and on a busy road pass it is the difference between a night nobody notices and a night nobody should have had.

  • No fire. An open fire has no place in the mountains. A gas stove is enough.
  • Pitch late, strike early. Set up towards evening, gone again early. A bivouac is one night, not a base camp.
  • Leave no rubbish. Everything you carry up you carry down, organic scraps and toilet paper included.
  • At least 50 metres from any water for the big business, so you do not foul what people and livestock drink.
  • Stay small and quiet. A small group, no speaker, no drone, dogs on the lead, and the alp staff's word goes.

Disclaimer

This article reflects my research and assessment to the best of my knowledge, as of August 2026. It is based on the publicly accessible and official sources linked below. It does not replace legal advice and is not a binding statement of the current legal situation.

There is no verified named camping ban with a sanction at the Albula Pass, and the widely repeated CHF 100 La Punt fine comes only from a park4night user review, not from any statute; do not rely on it. Communal and cantonal rules can change, and a pin that drifts west or south-west towards the Piz Ela reserve enters ground where a federal tent ban applies, so before every tour check the current sources yourself, get the landowner's consent, and follow instructions on site. A genuine emergency bivouac in distress is a separate question from a planned camp. Anyone who spends the night outside bears responsibility for their own conduct and any consequences themselves. Hikebeast, Leon Helg and Saftladen GmbH accept no liability for decisions made on the basis of this text, and call on no one to break applicable law.

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Frequently asked questions

Is wild camping allowed at the Albula Pass?
There is no verified camping ban with a fine here, and we still say no. Graubünden has no single blanket cantonal wild-camping article, and the commune La Punt Chamues-ch police law, in its version of 27 July 2023, contains no camping, tent or bivouac article at all. So we cannot call it illegal. Our reason for advising against it is the ground: the point we publish is the pass summit itself, a paved through-road at 2'312 metres with a guesthouse, a PostBus stop and a car park. That is a place to drive through, not a place to lie down. If you actually mean open alpine ground, walk well away from the road, stay above the treeline, and keep outside the Piz Ela reserve to the west.
Is there a CHF 100 fine for wild camping in La Punt?
Not one we could verify in any statute. That figure circulates online, but it comes only from a park4night user review, not from a named norm. We read the La Punt Chamues-ch Polizeigesetz in its version of 27 July 2023 in full, and it has no camping, tent or bivouac article. Its penalty provisions are general: art. 22 sets a fine up to CHF 10'000 for contraventions of the law, and art. 24 allows fixed penalties up to CHF 500, but neither names camping, and the concrete fixed-penalty list is a separate Gemeindevorstand decree that is not published. So there is no verified named camping fine at the Albula Pass, and the CHF 100 claim should not be cited as one.
Is Graubünden a strict canton for wild camping?
That is a practice summary, not a cited statute. Tourism bodies and the TCS describe Graubünden as one of the stricter cantons for sleeping out, and as a practical warning that is fair. But there is no single blanket cantonal wild-camping article that we can point you to, so nobody should quote a Graubünden cantonal article number for it. The alpine-club single-night frame still applies where it should: above the treeline, one night, outside protected areas, considerate. At the Albula Pass that frame is not the problem. The problem is that the pass summit is a developed road, not open terrain, so it is discouraged regardless.
Where is the nearest federal game reserve, and does it reach the pass?
About 5.9 kilometres west, and it does not reach the pass. We queried the point on the federal geodata portal: no game reserve, no wildlife-rest zone and no BLN at the pass summit, with the layers confirmed working by a positive control. The nearest game reserve is Piz Ela, object 20, about 5.9 kilometres to the west. Inside it, art. 5 para. 1 lit. e VEJ (SR 922.31) prohibits free tenting and camping regardless of any consent, with a fixed penalty of CHF 150 under annex 2 no. 12005 of the federal fixed-penalty ordinance. So if a pin drifts west or south-west towards Piz Ela or the Val d'Err, re-check the layer before you unpack.
Can you camp at the Palpuognasee instead?
It is the same answer, discouraged. The Lai da Palpuogna, the Palpuognasee, on the Bergün side to the north-west and lower than the pass, is the candidate people reach for when they want alpine ground near here. But it is a promoted drive-to day-trip lake with a small car park and fire pits, not a wild-camp target. It reads exactly like the pass: developed, easy to reach and visited, so the same common-sense gate applies. For a lawful pitch, use an official campsite down-valley, or a discreet single-night bivouac well away from any road, above the treeline, with the alp tenant's consent.
Leon Helg

Leon Helg

Swiss filmmaker and software developer. Spends his free time in the Swiss Alps and maps his favourite spots for Hikebeast. Posts as @leon.helg on Instagram and TikTok.

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Sources

  1. Wikipedia, "Albula Pass", read for the basic geography. The pass lies at 2'312 m in canton Graubünden and links the Albula valley towards Bergün with the Engadine at La Punt Chamues-ch; on the summit of the pass stands a hospice, the Gasthaus Albula-Hospiz, and the Romansh name is Pass d'Alvra. The road is a through-route closed in winter. This establishes the pass as a developed road summit with a guesthouse, which is the fact the common-sense gate turns on. en.wikipedia.org. ↩
  2. Bergün Filisur Tourismus, the destination body for the Bergün and Palpuogna side of the pass, contact Veja Stazion 11, 7482 Bergün, +41 81 407 11 52, info@berguen-filisur.ch. It promotes the Lai da Palpuogna, the Palpuognasee, as a drive-to day-trip lake reached from a small car park, which is exactly why the lake reads as a developed, visited spot rather than a wild-camp target. This is also the reachable local door for questions about the Bergün side; the commune of La Punt Chamues-ch owns the police law on the Engadine side of the summit. No sleeping-out fee is established for this pass, and no named alp tenant, reported arrangement or franc figure was found. berguen-filisur.ch. ↩
  3. Swiss Alpine Club single-night frame, applied to this point. The SAC tolerates a discreet single-night bivouac above the treeline, outside protected areas, and conducted considerately: arrive late on foot, leave early, no fire, no trace, and on pasture only with the alp tenant's consent. The Albula Pass summit is above the treeline at 2'312 m and outside all three federal protection layers, so the frame would in principle tolerate such a night in the open terrain off the road, which is precisely why the legitimate version of sleeping out near here happens away from the pass and never on it. This is our own standing rule rather than a Swiss statute, and it never overrides a protected-area ban. sac-cas.ch. ↩
  4. Polizeigesetz der Gemeinde La Punt Chamues-ch, version of 27 July 2023, read from the official commune PDF. The summit of the pass sits on the La Punt Chamues-ch / Bergün Filisur watershed boundary; the current-year swissBOUNDARIES record at the point returned La Punt Chamues-ch, which is why this is the police law to read for the pass. The text contains no occurrence of Wildcampieren, Zelten, Campieren or Biwakieren, so there is no camping, tent or bivouac article at all. Its penalty side is two general provisions: art. 22 Strafbestimmungen sets a Busse of up to Fr. 10'000 for contraventions of the law, and art. 24 Ordnungsbussenverfahren allows Ordnungsbussen of up to Fr. 500, neither of which names camping. Art. 47 delegates the concrete Bussenliste to a separate decree of the Gemeindevorstand, which is not published where it could be read, so there is no verified named camping prohibition with a sanction at this pass. The widely repeated "CHF 100 Wildcampieren fine in La Punt" appears only as a park4night user review and is not a statute; it must not be cited as a named norm, and because no verified named ban exists the spot is discouraged on the common-sense gate rather than forbidden. lapunt.ch. ↩
  5. Touring Club Suisse (TCS), "Wildcampen in der Schweiz", read for the cantonal practice picture. The TCS lists Graubünden among the stricter cantons for sleeping out and notes a general single-night, above-the-treeline exception in the alpine-club sense. This is a practice summary from a tourism and mobility body, not a cited cantonal statute: Graubünden has no single blanket cantonal wild-camping article that can be quoted, so the "strict canton" line must never be dressed up as a cantonal article number. It is a useful warning to be careful and to ask locally, and nothing more. tcs.ch. ↩
  6. Official federal geodata, queried at the Albula Pass summit, WGS84 46.582451 / 9.837891, LV95 2'783'870.60 / 1'161'831.21, at 2'312 m. Every layer was queried individually and each empty result confirmed to come from a valid layer id, tolerance 0. The game reserve, wildlife-rest-zone and BLN landscape-inventory layers all return empty at the point: no Jagdbanngebiet, no Wildruhezone, no BLN. Positive control: the nearest game reserve, Piz Ela object 20, returns a hit about 5.9 km to the west, so the layer works and the pass is simply outside it. Inside the Piz Ela reserve, which lies west and south-west across the ground towards Piz Ela and the Val d'Err, art. 5 para. 1 lit. e VEJ (SR 922.31) prohibits free tenting and camping regardless of any consent, the fixed penalty is CHF 150 under annex 2 no. 12005 of the federal fixed-penalty ordinance (SR 314.11), and the CHF 20'000 figure is the ceiling under the Hunting Act (SR 922.0) in ordinary proceedings only. Any pin that drifts west or south-west off the pass must be re-checked against this layer. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
  7. Terrain and development at the published point, the pass summit itself. Elevation about 2'312 m, above the treeline, open alpine pasture and rock rather than forest. The summit is fully developed: a paved pass road that carries traffic through the season and closes only in winter, the Gasthaus Albula-Hospiz on site, a PostBus stop named "Albulapass, Hospiz", a car park opposite the Hospiz, plus a bench, a fireplace and a bin. This is a drive-to traffic and tourist node, not open terrain anyone would pitch a tent on, which is why the common-sense gate caps the verdict at discouraged before any statute is opened. Coordinates cross-checked against deine-berge.de, which gives the summit at 46.582451 / 9.837891 and 2'312 m; the LV95 pair E 2'783'870.60 / N 1'161'831.21 is the reframed WGS84 position. deine-berge.de. ↩

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