Wild camping at Lai da Vons

Wild camping at Lai da Vons: the actual tent rule

A planned tent night on unreleased ground at Lai da Vons is forbidden. Andeer's current Polizeigesetz, effective from 14 August 2024, is specific: Art. 40 allows camping in a tent, car or caravan only on the approved campsite or on other terrain released for camping. The rule applies throughout the commune, including mountain pasture far above the village. Being discreet, arriving late or carrying a very small tent does not create an exception. ¹

"nur auf dem bewilligten Campingplatz sowie auf dem sonst hierfür freigegebenen Gelände gestattet."

The last part matters. Andeer does allow camping on ground that has actually been released for it. But a flat bank, an access road or a tourism photograph is not such a release. Art. 41 requires the Gemeindevorstand's approval for any way of making a place available for camping, including arrangements that are not a commercial campsite. An owner's friendly yes and municipal approval therefore answer different questions. Get both where they are needed. ¹

The penalty provision is Art. 60(1): CHF 50 to CHF 5'000 for violations of this law and rules or orders based on it. Under Art. 60(2), minor cases may receive a warning or no punishment. That is a statutory range with discretion, not an automatic ticket for every small tent. It still gives the camping restriction a concrete sanction. There is no one-night or above-treeline exemption in Art. 40. ¹

The verdict concerns a spontaneous tent night around the named lake. It does not turn every form of outdoor sleep into the same offence, and it does not rule out a future approved tent camp. For a workable trip, decide on approved accommodation before the climb. The Swiss wild-camping overview explains why local rules still matter in a canton with more permissive general mountain advice.

A mountain lake in the forest-line belt

Lai da Vons is at approximately 1'991 m above Sufers, in Graubünden. The lake is the destination, rather than a summit or a remote bare pass. Its map reference is 46.58549, 9.38529, LV95 2'749'184 / 1'161'208. That reference is in the water. Never use a lake's name pin as a tent coordinate, and never mistake level water in a terrain model for level ground. ²

The western side has damp shore vegetation and worked alpine pasture, with tracks and farm facilities nearby. Conifers grow around the eastern and southern surroundings and higher on adjoining slopes. At this elevation, the lake remains in the local forest-line belt. It is not the simple open ground well above the last trees that people often have in mind when they hear the SAC's advice about a quiet bivouac. The park's management plan describes the Seeberge area around Lai da Vons as a mosaic of mires, pasture, rock and groups of Swiss stone pine. ^{2 10}

A useful comparison is the dry pasture shoulder north-west of the water: 46.586529, 9.383443, about 1'999 m. It is approximately 124 m from the actual water edge and locally slopes about 5 degrees. This is a reference for discussing the ground with the commune, not an offered pitch. Farm tracks, nearby trees and buildings make it visibly managed land. Moving there avoids sleeping on a wet bank, but does not turn pasture into an approved camping area. ^{2 3}

Local inspection still matters. A green surface can be saturated below, a small hollow can collect runoff, and grazing animals need their own space. Do not flatten shore vegetation to manufacture a place for a shelter. Keep the public path, the farm access and the water's edge available for their existing uses. There is no sensible reason to leave the legal decision until dusk beside this lake.

Sufers is the approach; Andeer makes the lake rule

The current commune boundary puts the lake and its immediate banks in Andeer. Sufers is an important approach village, but the name of your bus stop does not decide the camping law where you sleep. The lake's nearest edge is still approximately 283 m inside the modern Andeer boundary. Crossing to another commune requires leaving the immediate shoreline, not choosing the other side of the water. ²

The water is Andeer parcel 41, EGRID CH727705075618. The dry north-west reference is parcel 36, EGRID CH775677050772. Those identifiers help the office answer a site-specific question. They are not ownership certificates and do not tell you who currently holds the grazing rights. A trail's public accessibility similarly says nothing about the right to occupy a meadow overnight. ³

Mountain land can involve more than one relevant party: the title owner, an alp organisation and the farmer currently using it. Ask the commune to identify who can consent for the exact piece of ground. Do not treat an old account of a boundary dispute, a nearby chalet booking or a historical alp name as proof of today's authority to grant a tent place.

For this lake, the practical legal question stays the same on each bank: has Andeer actually released this terrain for the proposed camping use, and does the relevant landholder agree? Without that answer, the municipal restriction remains. Another village's reputation for relaxed camping does not carry across the commune boundary.

The local nature zone extends beyond the water

The municipal cadastre places Lai da Vons in a Naturschutzzone. This nature-protection geometry includes the water and substantial adjoining ground, so the edge of the water is not the edge of protection. The same extract shows water-corridor and landscape-protection zoning. These are local planning restrictions worth taking seriously even though the lake is outside the mapped federal mire inventories and federal game reserves. The cantonal nature inventory also maps regional mire and amphibian habitat here. ³

Graubünden's Raumplanungsgesetz, Art. 33, protects the habitats in nature-protection zones and restricts damaging interventions, including drainage and fertilising. Art. 34 deals with landscape-protection zones. Neither provision should be misquoted as a standalone, universal prohibition on every sleeping bag. The express tent rule here comes from Andeer's Art. 40. The wetland zoning explains why a bank is also a poor place to seek a casual release. ^{3 1}

The north-west pasture reference is outside the mapped nature-protection polygon. That is a useful distinction, but it clears only that geometry. It remains agricultural land with landscape protection, near another protected-flora zone, and inside Andeer. Moving about 124 m away from the water therefore does not solve the camping restriction, the ownership question or the forest-line ground problem. ³

Naturpark Beverin is a regional nature park. Its name alone does not impose the Swiss National Park's overnight prohibition. Likewise, an empty federal wildlife layer is not permission supplied by the federal government. There is no mapped federal game-reserve or wildlife-rest-zone camping prohibition at these reference points; the current cantonal wildlife geometries also leave them outside. Here it is the commune's explicit tent rule and the actual shore habitat that decide the trip. ^{2 3 10}

How an approved tent camp could be arranged

Start with the Gemeindeverwaltung Andeer. Contact gemeinde@andeer.ch or +41 81 661 12 52, Veia da Scola 6, 7440 Andeer. Ask the office to route the question to the Gemeindevorstand and to identify the owner and current pasture operator. Send your date, party size, shelter, a marked map point and an explanation of how you would avoid wet ground, farm access and livestock. ⁵

There is a real provision to discuss: the Baugesetz linked by the current cadastre, Art. 24(5), lets the Gemeindevorstand authorise time-limited tent camps outside the camping zone. Ask whether it can apply to your proposed individual stay, and how a decision would satisfy the terrain-release requirement of Polizeigesetz Art. 40 and the approval required by Art. 41. A power to authorise a tent camp is not a standing exemption for every backpacker. ^{4 1}

The office must also resolve the site constraints. A yes for a camp somewhere in the commune is not a yes for the mire beside Lai da Vons. Nor can private consent cancel nature protection. A usable answer should name the ground, dates, permitted shelter, relevant landholder and conditions, including any toilet, water and waste arrangements. Keep the actual written decision with you. If the answer stays general, plan a booked overnight instead.

Andeer adopted a revised Baugesetz on 29 October 2025, whose Art. 37(5) retains a tent-camp approval route. Adoption and cantonal approval are separate stages. On 6 October 2026, the live parcel extracts still link the earlier approved law with Art. 24(5). Ask the office which version governs your application. Either version requires a decision; neither supplies a published general camping release at this lake. ⁴

This is an application route, not the basis for recommending a spontaneous night. The dry pasture beside the lake is still in the forest-line belt. A specific approved site would need its own ground assessment, landholder agreement and protection check. Until those are settled, there is no open lakeshore pitch to offer.

A sleeping bag does not answer every question

Art. 40 expressly names tents, cars and caravans. It does not expressly name a sleeping bag without a tent. Keep that distinction: the text does not justify announcing that every tentless bivouac automatically receives the same camping fine. It also supplies no documented permission for a planned sleeping-bag night on these banks. Ask about your actual shelter rather than quietly changing its name. ¹

A bivvy bag still occupies ground. On wetland or worked pasture, removing poles does not remove trampling, disturbance or the need to respect land use. The SAC recommends particularly careful site choice and avoiding sensitive habitats and forest-line areas. Lai da Vons is precisely the sort of place where that practical caution remains relevant even before a dispute about the word camping. ¹⁰

Moving into the trees is not an escape. Andeer's Waldordnung Art. 25 prohibits camping in the forest. Its Art. 27 provides a separate fine range of CHF 100 to CHF 5'000, plus full compensation for damage. A forest edge is also ecologically different from open ground well above the treeline. Do not select a sheltered copse simply because the exposed lake bank is unsuitable. ⁹

An unforeseen mountain emergency is a different situation from arranging a holiday overnight in advance. A planned lack of accommodation is not an emergency strategy. Keep enough daylight, weather margin and energy to reach your booked destination, and turn back while that option remains comfortable.

Pasture is working land, even without cattle in view

The grassy ground around the lake has an agricultural purpose. Andeer's Flur-, Weide- und Alpordnung, Art. 3, restricts unauthorised entry to cultivated fields during the Flurzeit, normally 20 April to 31 October, with local adjustment possible. That provision concerns the relevant fields; it should not be carelessly extended to every alpine rock. But a cropped or worked meadow is not spare public accommodation. ⁶

The agricultural regulation's Art. 22 provides CHF 50 to CHF 1'000 for its violations, doubled for repeat violations. This is a different provision from the camping fine. Owner consent, the correct access route and any seasonal grazing arrangement matter separately. An absence of animals at sunset does not prove that a paddock is unused or that its grass can be pressed flat for a tent. ⁶

Keep gates as you find them, respect fences and avoid the space around troughs and farm buildings. Give cattle room and follow current signs about dogs or herd protection. If an authorised camp is proposed on agricultural land, settle those details with the person actually using it, before arrival. Do not leave food, litter or toilet waste where it affects the herd or the lake.

When no arrangement exists, make the lake a daytime stop. Walking on the proper route and sleeping at an established accommodation keeps the intended use of the shore, trail and pasture clear.

Book Cufercalhütte or Camping Andeer

Cufercalhütte SAC is the mountain-bed alternative above the lake, at 2'385 m. The current operator lists continuous summer opening until 25 October. Confirm your date, the weather and the actual staffed arrangement directly: info@cufercal.ch, +41 79 954 65 71, or the hut's reservation page. Do not assume that a hut's shoulder-season or winter listing means every service is available whenever you arrive. ⁷

The SAC's normal approach from Sufers via Glattenberg is about 2 hours 45 minutes with 970 m of ascent. Its variant via Lai da Vons is about 15 minutes longer. Those are figures for the full approach from the village, not a promise of a short walk from any point on the shore. The hut sits above the lake on mountain paths; allow daylight and a weather margin, and follow the marked route. ⁷

A hut booking gives you the agreed bed indoors. It does not automatically include permission to pitch a tent outside. If you want any other arrangement, ask the hut team specifically and let them explain the land and municipal conditions. A full dormitory is a reason to arrange another night plan before climbing, not to arrive expecting free camping at the nearest water.

For your own tent, use Camping Andeer in the valley. Its current operator listing says it is open all year and accepts passing tent campers. It is at Camping 6, 7440 Andeer. Contact camping.andeer@viamala.ch or +41 81 650 90 40 to confirm a pitch and arrival arrangements. It is an established campsite, with sanitary facilities, rather than an improvised lake-bank exception. ⁸

Both choices keep Lai da Vons in the trip. Stay in the mountains with a booked hut bed, or camp legally in Andeer and walk to the lake by day. If your route continues towards another named destination, check that destination separately: the Savognin area assessment shows why a regional mountain itinerary can cross different rules.

General rules for wild camping

For an approved outdoor stay: an actual release and landholder agreement come first. Leave no trace, avoid wetland and forest-line habitat, keep farm access clear and follow all conditions of the decision.

• 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 is a journalistic assessment of public official sources as of 6 October 2026, not legal advice. Conditions, temporary restrictions and individual decisions can change. Check the current situation with the municipality and the relevant landholder before travelling.

The public sources establish Andeer's tent restriction and a discretionary tent-camp approval route, but no standing release for the Lai da Vons shore. They do not establish the current title owner or grazing-right holder for an individual pitch, nor a local ruling that treats every tentless sleeping bag as a tent.

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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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