Wild camping at Lai da Palpuogna

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.

The tent ban is in Bergün's planning law

A tent on the lake shore is prohibited by Art. 59 of the Bergün Baugesetz. Its second paragraph forbids erecting caravans and tents outside campsites on public and private ground. The provision does not limit itself to running a commercial campsite, and it has no exception for arriving late, leaving early or staying for a single night. The size of your tent does not change that sentence.¹

The lake lies in the former municipality of Bergün/Bravuogn, now Bergün Filisur. Under the merger contract, predecessor laws continue on their original territory until they are replaced. This is why the Bergün text governs Palpuogna. A camping provision from the former Filisur police law answers for a different part of the merged commune; it is not the basis for this lake's ban.¹

Art. 59 also gives the municipal executive power to grant exceptions for agriculture, forestry and tent camps. That is an application route for an eligible exceptional camp, not an open invitation for individual hikers. A friend at the farm, a tourism office or the owner of a nearby meadow cannot replace the municipal decision. For a normal walking trip, reserve a campsite or a room instead.

The same wording catches a tent on private land. Asking permission remains useful when an authority wants the owner's agreement for an exception, but an owner's yes alone does not make the tent lawful. Before buying into an informal invitation, establish both who controls the ground and what municipal permission, if any, actually covers your planned night.

The fine is a proceedings range, not a camping tariff

Graubünden's current KRG Art. 95 sets the ordinary statutory range at CHF 200 to 40'000. It applies to breaches of the planning act and the cantonal and communal enactments and orders based on it. Deliberate and negligent breaches are punishable. In especially serious cases, particularly when driven by profit, the authority is not bound by the ordinary upper limit.²

The older Bergün Baugesetz Art. 104 still prints a CHF 30'000 ceiling. KRG Art. 107 makes the directly applicable cantonal formal building provisions, including Art. 95, prevail over differing communal rules. The current range is therefore the one to carry forward, rather than presenting the old municipal ceiling as today's penalty.¹²

That range describes the law's ordinary proceedings, across many kinds of planning offences. It is not a statement that a hiker should expect the maximum, and it is not an established fixed ticket for one tent at Palpuogna. An individual penalty depends on the case.

The often-quoted CHF 150 federal game-reserve camping penalty is also a different thing. Palpuogna is outside those federal reserves. Here the decisive tent prohibition is the commune's Art. 59. Keep the reason and its enforcement basis together: quoting a familiar national number beside an unrelated municipal ban would give you the wrong cost as well as the wrong law.³

A woodland shore, a road and daytime picnic places

Palpuogna lies at about 1'918 m, above Preda on the Bergün side of the Albula Pass. Larches frame the lake, the road runs close to the northern bank and the shore path follows the water through woodland. A map label placed in the lake identifies the destination; the sleeping ground would have to be on the bank. There, grass, roots, path and water occupy a narrow strip.³⁷

This is below the local tree line and a popular accessible day stop. The picnic places and fireplaces belong to that daytime use. A bench, fire ring or clearing does not grant overnight permission. Using an existing picnic surface for a tent would still fall under Art. 59, and it would put your night into a place other visitors use for walking and sitting.

The official lake page describes a woodland circuit of about 45 minutes, recommends the train to Preda because parking is scarce, and prohibits bathing. Plan your visit around that actual setting: walk up, stop by the water and carry your rubbish back. Keep equipment off the path and avoid trampling the soft edge to find a more private viewpoint.⁷

For a sunrise or evening visit, choose your sleeping place first and leave enough daylight for the return. A nearby hotel or a valley campsite makes that possible without leaving a tent beside the lake. A small camping footprint still needs the right ground and the right permission; darkness does not turn a well-used shore into an alpine bivouac site.

Parc Ela and the southern forest have different roles

Parc Ela is a regional nature park. Its name does not supply a camping permission or automatically create the same overnight prohibition as a federal game reserve. At Palpuogna, the federal inventories show no game reserve, wildlife-rest zone or national mire, floodplain, amphibian or dry-meadow object at the lake point. The local tent ban applies independently of those inventories.³

The southern woodland is part of the Crap Alv/Ervedi natural forest reserve. The canton's reserve sheet describes the high larch and stone-pine forest and its conservation purpose. The reserve reaches ground a visitor might otherwise mistake for a sheltered, quieter night. Leave deadwood, vegetation and the woodland structure intact, and use the existing paths.³

The communal cadastre also places the shore in a Ruhezone and landscape and water-protection zones. Bergün Baugesetz Art. 36 regulates motor traffic and mechanised tourist transport in the Ruhezone; the name alone is not a provision banning every person from entering or sleeping. The tent prohibition comes from Art. 59, without having to pretend that every protection label says the same thing.¹³

Parc Ela's summer guidance asks visitors to avoid free camping on communal ground and obtain consent on private ground. For Palpuogna, read that guidance alongside the stricter municipal tent wording: Art. 59 explicitly includes private ground. If someone offers a private meadow nearby, establish the legal route before treating the park's general consent advice as sufficient.⁶

Murtel Salamun is a hunting refuge

The name Murtel Salamun also appears in the cantonal hunting-protection ordinance, as Niederjagdasyl no. 513. Its boundary description runs through the Palpuogna, Crap Alv and Murtel Salamun area. This is a cantonal small-game hunting refuge, with its own legal purpose; it is not the federal game reserve Piz Ela.⁴

Under the current VWSG, Art. 9 restricts small-game hunting in those refuges. Art. 10's corresponding access prohibition concerns access while carrying out the relevant hunt. These provisions do not turn the lake into a general hikers' entry ban or create the familiar federal CHF 150 camping ticket. Respect wildlife and local instructions without attaching a camping offence to a hunting clause.

Graubünden's annual hunting provisions separately regulate hunters' tenting and bivouacs during hunting. That scope matters. A paragraph governing a hunter's camp is not a general mountain-walking rule. For a visitor with a small tent at this lake, the direct answer remains Bergün Baugesetz Art. 59; for a visitor walking the shore path, follow the ordinary access and conservation instructions.

Farther west, the federal Piz Ela reserve is a different protected area with a federal tenting prohibition. A longer hike into another valley needs the rules for that exact ground. For an overnight plan centred on Palpuogna, the simpler lawful option is already close: a booked bed in Preda or an official campsite farther down the Albula valley.

Who to ask about an exceptional camp

The municipal executive is the exception authority named in Art. 59. Contact the Bergün Filisur administration at +41 81 410 40 40 or gemeinde@berguenfilisur.ch. Give the exact parcel or map point, date, number of people and intended shelter. Ask whether your proposal is eligible for an exception and which owner or tenant must also agree.¹⁵

The northern shore point is on parcel 1011; the southern woodland and larger surrounding land are on parcel 1087. The commune's published ownership-settlement document lists both in the section assigning former Bergün property to the Bürgergemeinde. Its vote and signature dates are blank, so use it to direct an ownership enquiry, not as a substitute for a current land-register confirmation.³⁵

That distinction gives you a practical route. Ask the administration to identify the current owner and agricultural user of the precise ground, then follow the authority's instructions. Do not infer that the political municipality, the nearby ETH research farm or a tourism employee can approve a night simply because their name appears around the lake.

There is no public standing arrangement that lets an individual hiker pitch here for a stated fee. A tent-camp exception would be a specific municipal decision with its own conditions. Until you actually hold an applicable permission, keep your ordinary tent night at an authorised campsite. The destination's visitor-information contact can help with the walk; it is a different service from granting a statutory exception.

What changes if you leave the tent at home?

Art. 59 expressly names tents and caravans. It does not expressly name a sleeping bag, a bivvy sack or a tentless overnight. The statutory sentence supports a clear answer for a small tent, including one erected only from dusk to dawn. Treating every tentless form as covered would require an interpretation beyond those named objects.¹

The wooded, narrow tourist shore nevertheless remains poor ground for a planned night without a tent. Removing fabric does not remove the road, the roots, the soft bank or the path. A visitor sleeping at a picnic place would still occupy a well-used day destination below the tree line. Choose a campsite or room rather than organising a tentless night to evade the wording.

If you have a concrete proposal for a tentless overnight elsewhere, ask about that actual ground and describe it honestly. A general question about bivouacking in Switzerland cannot settle a local parcel, posted instruction or protected-area provision. The distinctions between tents and sleeping bags are useful when deciding the law, but they do not substitute for terrain judgement.

A genuine emergency bivouac after injury, dangerous conditions or an unavoidable delay is a separate situation from a planned visit. It is not the basis for choosing an overnight destination. Plan the lake visit with a return route and a booked night so that the emergency question stays where it belongs: in unforeseen circumstances, rather than in the itinerary.

The lawful night: Bergün, Filisur or Preda

Camping Albula Bergün is the straightforward tent option. Its published 2026 season runs from 15 May to 18 October. Contact +41 77 205 51 67 or camping@berguen-filisur.ch for your night. Reception hours are 08.00 to 10.00 and 15.00 to 18.00. Arrange arrival with the operator instead of finishing a late lake visit and assuming you can pitch anywhere on arrival.⁸

Camping Islas Filisur is a second authorised tent option farther down the valley. Its 2026 season runs from 1 April to 31 October, with contact +41 79 684 31 43, info@campingislas.ch. It is particularly useful when Albula's October season has ended, subject to space and the operator's actual opening on your dates.⁸

For a bed close to the walking start, Hotel Preda Kulm stands beside Preda station at about 1'800 m. Contact +41 81 407 11 46, info@preda-kulm.ch. The hotel's current homepage announces a seasonal break from 18 October. Reserve a room and confirm the opening dates directly, especially for an autumn larch trip.⁹

From Preda, the official route to the lake is about 1.7 km and 40 minutes, with 142 m of ascent. That gives you a manageable day visit from the train or hotel. Keep the return in your transport plan and check your actual train times. The pass road and its seasonal opening matter for a car visit; scarce lake parking is another reason to start on foot in Preda.⁷

You can still build the trip around the lake's evening or morning light. Book a lawful overnight base, carry only what you need for the walk, and return to that base afterwards. The lake stays a destination for the hours you visit it, while your sleeping place has the services and permission that a one-night plan needs.

General rules for wild camping

For the broader picture: wild camping in Switzerland. Local rules decide the actual ground.

• 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 journalistic assessment reflects the public sources linked below as of 5 October 2026. It is not legal advice and does not replace a decision by the competent authority.

The tent prohibition in Art. 59 is explicit. Its application to a tentless bivouac is not settled here, and no permission for a particular individual night is promised. The quoted KRG range is the ordinary statutory proceedings range, not a predicted camping ticket. Opening dates, local orders and conditions can change. Check the current rules and actual availability before your visit, and follow instructions on site.

Anyone spending a night outside is responsible for their conduct and its consequences. Hikebeast, Leon Helg and Saftladen GmbH accept no liability for decisions made from this assessment, and call on no one to break applicable law. A genuine emergency bivouac is a separate matter.

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.

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Sources

1. Bergün Baugesetz, current cadastre text, Art. 59 tent prohibition and exception authority; printed p. 27. Art. 104's older penalty is superseded by directly applicable KRG rules. Official communal legislation, merger contract IV.4 preserving predecessor territorial scope. ↩
2. Graubünden KRG, BR 801.100, current Art. 95 ordinary sanction CHF 200 to 40'000 and Art. 107 direct applicability of formal building provisions. ↩
3. Federal map, lake point, WGS84 46.5811/9.7858, LV95 2'779'884/1'161'560; no JBG or wildlife-rest zone at lake or queried shores. Graubünden cadastre, north parcel 1011; south parcel 1087 EGRID CH442294771684. Crap Alv/Ervedi natural forest reserve, cantonal designation sheet, southern forest. ↩
4. Graubünden hunting-protection ordinance, BR 740.200, Arts. 9 and 10, Niederjagdasyl 513 Murtel Salamun in the annex. Small-game hunting scope, not a general camper ban. Annual hunting provisions, Art. 13 hunting camps and bivouacs. ↩
5. Published municipal ownership-settlement document, section A.I.2, parcels 1011 and 1087, blank approval/signature dates. Bergün Filisur administration, +41 81 410 40 40, gemeinde@berguenfilisur.ch. ↩
6. Parc Ela summer visitor guidance, camping advice, protected ground and landowner consent. General guidance does not override Bergün Art. 59. ↩
7. Official destination page, Lai da Palpuogna, woodland circuit, scarce parking and bathing prohibition; Preda to Palpuogna official walking route, 1.7 km, 40 minutes, 142 m ascent. ↩
8. Camping Albula Bergün, 15 May to 18 October 2026, reception and contact; Camping Islas Filisur, 1 April to 31 October 2026 and contact. Confirm availability directly. ↩
9. Hotel Preda Kulm, operator homepage, rooms and +41 81 407 11 46; seasonal break announced from 18 October, checked 5 October 2026. ↩