Wild camping at the Joeriseen: the tent is banned, and the ban has no fine behind it

Graubuenden delegates, and Klosters put the ban in its building law

Wild camping at the Joeriseen is not governed by a police regulation, which is where almost everyone looks. It sits in the commune's building law. That is normal in Graubuenden and it is why the rule is easy to miss and easy to misquote.

"Das Campieren in Zelten, Wohnmobilen etc. sowie das ständige Stationieren unbewohnter Wohnwagen und Wohnmobile ist ausserhalb der Bauzone sowie generell auf öffentlichem Grund untersagt."Baugesetz der Gemeinde Klosters, Art. 100 para. 1: camping in tents, motorhomes and the like, and the permanent stationing of unoccupied caravans and motorhomes, is forbidden outside the building zone and generally on public ground.

Two halves, and either one alone catches the lakes. Federal zoning data returns no building zone at the pin, with a positive control at Chur returning residential zones, so the first half applies without argument. Art. 100 para. 2 lists the only exceptions: sites the commune expressly designates, places for unoccupied caravans, and one-off permits on application, with organised tent camps given as the example.¹

Now the part we got wrong for a year. We used to write that breaches run CHF 200 to CHF 40'000 through cantonal planning law. They do not, or at least not for you. The Klosters Baugesetz contains no penalty provision: a full-text search of both published consolidations for Busse, Strafe and Widerhandlung returns nothing across 48 pages. So the only possible fine channel is the cantonal one, and that channel has a filter on it.

"Strafbar ist die vorsätzliche oder fahrlässige Widerhandlung, begangen durch die nach Artikel 93 verantwortlichen Personen."Raumplanungsgesetz für den Kanton Graubünden (KRG), BR 801.100, Art. 95 para. 2. Art. 93 para. 1 defines that circle as "Bauherrschaften, Eigentümerinnen und Eigentümer, sonstige Berechtigte sowie die mit der Projektierung und Ausführung von Bauvorhaben beauftragten Personen".

A walker with a tent is not a client, not an owner, not otherwise entitled, and not commissioned with a building project. And the contrast one article earlier is what turns this from a quibble into a reading: Art. 94 para. 3 imposes the duty to restore lawful conditions on owners and on whoever caused the unlawful state. The legislature widened that circle on purpose and left the punishment circle narrow. Two articles apart, that is a choice, not an oversight.

So what can actually happen to you, and where the bivouac sits

Be clear about what this does and does not mean. It does not mean camping at the Joeriseen is allowed. Art. 100 says it is not, the rule is in force, and a communal officer can order you to pack up on the spot and can enforce that order. What the text does not give anyone is a fine to hand you for having pitched.

The bivouac is a further step removed. Every camping norm in this valley is written around objects, and not one of the three communes uses the word Biwakieren:

• Klosters: "das Campieren in Zelten, Wohnmobilen etc."
• Davos: "das Campieren, d.h. das Aufstellen von Zelten, Wohnwagen und Wohnmobilen"³
• Zernez (Romansh, fractions Brail and Zernez): "eriger tendas per pernottar", to erect tents for overnighting⁴

Davos is the tell. When a commune in this valley legislates the word Campieren it defines it, and the definition it reaches for is the putting up of a shelter. A sleeping bag on the grass with nothing erected is not that. Nobody has tested it, so it is a reading and not a certainty, but it is the reading the wording supports.

And there is a real boundary route, unlike at most spots. Cross the Joeriflesspass at 2'558 m, about 1.2 km east of the pin. At 947 m south-south-east on bearing 150 the ground becomes Zernez, on what used to be the commune of Susch, and the Susch Baugesetz has no camping prohibition at all: Art. 51 para. 4 lets the Gemeindevorstand permit tent camps outside the camping zone, and there is no ban to be excepted from. The Zernez tent ban that people quote, Uorden champester 1991 Art. 7 with its CHF 5'000, is scoped to the 1991 commune and the commune's own index publishes it under the fractions Brail and Zernez only, with no Susch entry.⁴

What the maps say, and what the BLN listing does not do

The federal layers are quieter here than the reputation suggests. Queried at the pin, the federal hunting-ban district layer returns nothing, and so do the wildlife rest zone, mire, floodplain and amphibian inventories. There is no federal camping offence anywhere near these lakes.⁵

What the lakes do carry is a BLN listing, object 1910 Silvretta-Vereina, 14'251 hectares. This gets quoted as though it banned camping. It does not. Under Art. 5 and 6 of the federal nature and heritage act an inventory entry binds the authorities when they perform a federal task, for instance when a lift or a road permit is assessed. It creates no offence for a walker. There is also a federal-adjacent floodplain object outside the inventory, no. 1019 "Joerigletscher", a glacier forefield of 137 hectares, and at communal level a Landschaftsschutzzone under KRG Art. 34, approved 15 January 2024. Neither carries a camping verb.⁵

One geographic note, because the distances people quote vary. The pin we publish sits about 434 m south-east of the point swisstopo labels Joeriseen, on the shoulder above the water rather than at it. Both are in Klosters, both outside the building zone, and the answer is the same at both, so we have not moved it. Davos begins 1'075 m west, which is why the Davos ordinance, whatever it says, is not the rule at the lakes.⁵

Where you can legally sleep

• Berghaus Vereina, 1'943 m, dormitories and rooms, roughly mid June to mid October, with a bus down to Klosters. The standard base for the circuit⁶.
• East over the Joeriflesspass, on former Susch ground, where no camping prohibition applies at all. The longer, honest answer for a tent.
• Without a tent, at the lakes, on the reading set out above: no norm here writes the word bivouac.
• Tent pitches at Davosersee and the campsites in Klosters and the Praettigau, if you want it beyond argument.

General rules for wild camping

This applies wherever you sleep outside, and at the Joeriseen it applies with extra force: this is a glacier forefield in a federally inventoried landscape, and the reason there is no fine here is that nobody has needed to write one yet. Do not be the reason they start.

• 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 July 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.

The reading of the cantonal sanction articles set out above has not been tested in court, and we have written to the commune to ask them to confirm or correct it. Communal building laws and camping ordinances change. Before every tour, check the current sources yourself 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.

Frequently asked questions

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.

About Hikebeast Wildcamping Legality Checker Wild camping Lac d'Emosson Swiss Gems Guide