As of: 14 September 2026

Wild camping on the Lenzerhorn

The Lenzerhorn is the 2'906 m rock horn above Lenzerheide, reached over its north-west ridge with a chain near the top. Its summit sits on the line between Lantsch/Lenz and Albula/Alvra, and both communes ban camping outside designated places, CHF 100 on the spot. The mountain settles it anyway: nothing flatter than 24 degrees within a hundred metres of the top. You climb the Lenzerhorn, you do not sleep on it.

Leon Helg
Leon Helg · Legal situation checked in September 2026 · Published 14 September 2026
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.

What the Lenzerhorn is: a summit you climb, not one you sleep on

Wild camping on the Lenzerhorn is a question the mountain answers before any commune does. The summit, LV95 2'764'881 / 1'175'356, 2'906 m, is the highest point of the ridge between the Lenzerheide plateau and the Albula valley, and the swisstopo gazetteer spells it Lenzer Horn. The normal route is the north-west ridge from Alp Sanaspans: a white-blue-white alpine trail the SAC grades T5, exposed scree and slate slabs, one chain below the top, four to five hours and 1'470 m of climbing from Lenzerheide.11

The top is a few metres of rock with a cross. On the elevation model the north face falls 132 m in the first 100 m below the summit, near-vertical rock and old snow; the south flank is scree at about 26 degrees; along the crest the ground drops 82 m per 100 m to the south-west and 129 m to the north-east. In a 25 m grid of 529 cells around the pin, no cell within 100 m is gentler than 24 degrees, and the one 12-degree cell 182 m west turns out to be the footpath where the route crests the ridge, wedged between a 27- and a 46-degree neighbour. On the orthophoto there is no grass, no gravel flat, nothing tent-sized within 100 m in any direction.8

The nearest ground a person would actually lie on is the Sanaspans basin a kilometre north and 900 m lower: the alp hut at 2'030 m, the tarns Lai Pintg and Lai Grond under the Piz Mosch. That is a tip location, not the pin, and as the next section shows it is inside the same ban.

Two communes meet on the summit, and both ban the tent

The commune boundary runs along the crest: the pin and the whole north-west flank are Lantsch/Lenz, and 1.5 m to the south-east the ground is Albula/Alvra, the former Brienz/Brinzauls territory. Neither commune's rule is visible in the cadastre or on the cantonal statute portal; both live in the communes' own law collections.8

"Das Campieren ausserhalb von Campingzonen ist auf dem gesamten Gebiet der Gemeinde Lantsch/Lenz grundsätzlich verboten. Zeitlich befristete Zeltlager können vom Gemeindevorstand ausserhalb der Campingzone bewilligt werden."Baugesetz of the commune of Lantsch/Lenz, Art. 36 para. 5, consolidation approved by the canton on 15 January 2024: camping outside camping zones is prohibited as a rule across the whole communal territory; the Gemeindevorstand may permit time-limited tent camps.

Lantsch/Lenz writes the ban twice. The building law above has no penalty article of its own, so on that text alone the commune can order a tent removed but cannot fine you: the cantonal planning act punishes only owners, clients and the people commissioned with a building project, not a hiker.14 The fine comes from the police law: Art. 17 para. 2 lit. f lists "das Campieren (in Zelten, Wohnwagen und dergleichen) ausserhalb der von den Behörden bezeichneten Stellen" among the uses of public ground that need a communal permit, Art. 28 sets the ceiling at CHF 10'000, and the commune's fine ordinance of 2025, item 20.f.1, puts "Unzulässiges Campieren auf öffentlichem Grund" at CHF 100 on the spot.23 The summit parcel is by every indication the commune's own alp land, Alp Sanaspans being one of the communal alps its alp law names, so the commune will read it as public ground; whether commune-owned pasture counts as such for the tariff has not been tested here, which is the one hedge on the CHF 100.10

Albula/Alvra is shorter. Its police law, Art. 20 para. 1: "Das Campieren sowie das Aufstellen von Zelten und bewohnten Wohnwagen ist nur auf bezeichneten Plätzen zulässig." Commune-wide, no public-ground qualifier, tent camps for scouts and holiday camps by permit under para. 2. Art. 35 fines a breach with up to CHF 5'000, warning possible in light cases, and the fine list puts camping on public ground outside designated places at CHF 100 on the spot.56

A tentless bivouac? Lantsch/Lenz names tents, caravans "und dergleichen"; Albula/Alvra names camping and the pitching of tents. Neither writes the word bivouac, so a sleeping bag on the rock is outside the letter of both, untested, and on this summit academic: the terrain makes the question moot.25

Two more things worth knowing. The Lantsch/Lenz forest law bans camping in forest (Art. 29, fine CHF 100 to CHF 5'000), which reaches the wooded approach below Alp Sanaspans, not the summit.14 And both communes have new building laws adopted but not yet approved by the cantonal government, Lantsch/Lenz's of 27 August 2024 and Albula/Alvra's of 18 July 2025; both keep an explicit camping ban, so nothing changes when they enter into force.17

What is actually possible: a permit written for scout camps, and beds in the valley

Both communes leave a door, and both doors are shaped for groups. In Lantsch/Lenz the Gemeindevorstand can permit "zeitlich befristete Zeltlager" outside the camping zone under Art. 36 para. 5, and the police law's permit for camping outside designated places costs up to CHF 200 a day at the Vorstand's discretion, applications "in der Regel mindestens zwei Wochen vorher". No form, no published practice and no published price for a single tent exist; the pending 2024 text caps such camps at two weeks and again says Zeltlager. Gemeindeverwaltung Lantsch/Lenz, +41 81 659 01 01, verwaltung@lantsch-lenz.ch.12 In Albula/Alvra the same instrument is Art. 20 para. 2 of the police law, "für Zeltlager (Pfadfinder, Ferienlager etc.)", Gemeinde Albula/Alvra, +41 81 681 12 44.5 Ask if you must; for the summit it would not help, because a permit does not create flat ground.

No bed on the mountain. Alp Sanaspans, 2'030 m, is a day Beizli, in 2026 run by Alexandra Jörger and Andreas Weisenhorn, +41 78 676 09 35, open 4 July to 13 September, 11:00 to 17:00, dry weather only, cash only; the alp belongs to the commune, so the tenants cannot waive the ban. Bergrestaurant Scharmoin at the Rothorn mid-station is a day restaurant too. The beds are in Lantsch/Lenz village (Hotel La Tgoma, Hotel Albula & Julier) and across the plateau in Lenzerheide; the legal tents are the two licensed campsites of Lantsch/Lenz, St. Cassian and Sozas.121

Plan the mountain as a day: up from Alp Sanaspans in the morning, about 3 h 40 for the round trip from the alp per the destination's own route sheet, or from Lenzerheide in four to five hours, and back down to a bed. Water: the Aua da Sanaspans and the basin tarns below the north cirque; nothing on the ridge or the summit.1112

What the maps say: Parc Ela is a label, the winter zones are the real closure

At the summit the federal layers return one hit, the Parc Ela regional nature park, which is a park label and not a rule: the park's own conduct page says free camping on communal territory is banned and cites no act, and the bans above are the communes', not the park's.13 Everything that could fine a camper at the point is empty: no federal game reserve within 3 km, no BLN landscape, no wildlife rest zone at the summit, no mire, floodplain or amphibian object, no forest reserve, no military perimeter, with the query's controls passing. The cadastre adds a spring-protection overlay on the Lantsch side (a water and building clause, no access rule) and, on the Albula side, the 997-hectare "Ruhezone" of the Brienz/Brinzauls building law, which bans lifts, motor traffic and winter sports in wildlife areas and says nothing about tents.87

The winter picture matters more. The summit route itself touches no wildlife rest zone, but the approaches do: the Lantsch/Lenz act on its Wildruhezonen puts an absolute ban on entering Foil Cotschen-Sanaspans, the basin north of the alp hut, from 20 December to 20 May, and Bovas-Vasternos above the village from 20 December to 20 April, fined through the federal tariff at CHF 150; the Lenzerheide approach crosses the Vaz/Obervaz zone Foil Cotschen, where the marked path stays open until 30 April.98 The mountain is a summer objective in any case.

Canton Graubünden has no camping norm of general application; it leaves camping to its communes, which is why a summit on a boundary gets two answers, and why neither shows up on gr-lex or in the cadastre.4

  • Lantsch/Lenz village, 1'328 m, at the foot of the south-west ridge: Hotel La Tgoma, Hotel Albula & Julier, and the two licensed campsites St. Cassian and Sozas, the only lawful tents in the commune1.
  • Lenzerheide, the hotel plateau on the other side of the Rothorn cable car, four to five hours below the summit on foot.
  • A group permit from the Gemeindevorstand of Lantsch/Lenz or Albula/Alvra, written for scout and holiday camps, two weeks' notice, fee at the Vorstand's discretion. Not a route to the summit.
  • Not Alp Sanaspans, not the Sanaspans tarns, not the summit. All inside the Lantsch/Lenz ban, and the basin closes outright from 20 December to 20 May.

General rules for wild camping

This applies wherever you are genuinely allowed to sleep outside. On the Lenzerhorn that is nowhere, so it applies to the campsite in Lantsch/Lenz and to the day you spend on the ridge. It is not legal text, but decency and common sense, and on a T5 ridge with a chain it is also what gets you down again.

  • 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 September 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.

Communal regulations, access rules and enforcement practice change. Lantsch/Lenz adopted a new building law on 27 August 2024 and Albula/Alvra on 18 July 2025; both await the cantonal government's approval and both keep the camping ban. Whether the Lantsch/Lenz on-the-spot tariff reaches commune-owned alp ground at the summit has not been decided anywhere; the ban itself does not depend on it. Before every tour, check the current sources yourself, check the wildlife rest zone dates and the fire-ban status, 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

Is wild camping allowed on the Lenzerhorn?
No. The summit is on the boundary of Lantsch/Lenz and Albula/Alvra. Lantsch/Lenz bans camping outside camping zones across the whole commune (building law Art. 36 para. 5) and fines unauthorised camping on public ground (police law Art. 17 para. 2 lit. f); Albula/Alvra allows tents only on designated places (police law Art. 20 para. 1). And the summit is a rock crest with no ground flatter than 24 degrees within 100 m.
What is the fine?
CHF 100 on the spot on either side. Lantsch/Lenz's fine ordinance tariffs unauthorised camping on public ground at CHF 100 (item 20.f.1), with up to CHF 10'000 in ordinary proceedings under Art. 28 of its police law. Albula/Alvra's fine list has the same CHF 100 (item 2.17), with up to CHF 5'000 under Art. 35 of its police law. The Lantsch/Lenz building law itself carries no fine; it lets the commune order the tent removed.
Can I bivouac on the summit without a tent?
The texts do not name it, the mountain rules it out. Neither commune writes the word bivouac; Lantsch/Lenz names tents and caravans, Albula/Alvra camping and tents. That gap is untested. On the Lenzerhorn it does not matter: the north face is near-vertical, the south flank 26-degree scree, and the flattest spot near the top is the path.
Does the Parc Ela ban camping?
The park is a label, the communes are the rule. The Lenzerhorn lies inside the Parc Ela regional nature park, which fines nobody and whose own conduct page cites no act. The bans that apply are the two communal laws above. No federal game reserve, BLN object or wildlife rest zone touches the summit.
Where do I sleep, and when is the mountain closed?
In the valley, in summer. There is no hut or bed on the mountain; Alp Sanaspans is a day Beizli (4 July to 13 September 2026). Beds in Lantsch/Lenz and Lenzerheide, tents at the licensed campsites St. Cassian and Sozas. From 20 December the Sanaspans basin north of the alp hut is a wildlife rest zone with an absolute entry ban until 20 May, and the village approach via Vasternos closes until 20 April.
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.

Swiss Guide Wildcamping Checker Color Grading

Sources

  1. Baugesetz of the commune of Lantsch/Lenz (no. 790), adopted by the Gemeindeversammlung on 25 August 2009, approved by the cantonal government on 4 May 2010, last amendment adopted 25 September 2023 and approved 15 January 2024, the act the cadastre cites for summit parcel 1401: Art. 36 para. 5 ("Das Campieren ausserhalb von Campingzonen ist auf dem gesamten Gebiet der Gemeinde Lantsch/Lenz grundsätzlich verboten. Zeitlich befristete Zeltlager können vom Gemeindevorstand ausserhalb der Campingzone bewilligt werden."), Art. 36 para. 4 (Campingplatz Sozas), Art. 29 (Zone übriges Gemeindegebiet), Art. 39 (Quellschutzzone). No penalty article in the 116-page consolidation. The new building law adopted on 27 August 2024 (Art. 84: camping outside licensed campsites prohibited, tent camps up to two weeks by permit) awaits cantonal approval. lantsch-lenz.ch. ↩
  2. Polizeigesetz of the commune of Lantsch/Lenz (no. 110), Gemeindeversammlung 3 December 2008, partial revisions in force 3 August 2022 and 1 March 2023: Art. 17 para. 1 (use of public ground beyond common use needs a communal permit), para. 2 lit. f ("das Campieren (in Zelten, Wohnwagen und dergleichen) ausserhalb der von den Behörden bezeichneten Stellen"), para. 3 (fee up to CHF 200 per day), para. 5 (removal measures, penalty reserved); Art. 28 para. 1 (fine up to CHF 10'000 in ordinary proceedings) and para. 2 (on-the-spot fines up to CHF 300 per the Vorstand's list); Art. 30 para. 1 (applications as a rule at least two weeks ahead). lantsch-lenz.ch. ↩
  3. Ordnungsbussenverordnung of the commune of Lantsch/Lenz (no. 110.1), Gemeindevorstand 10 September 2025, partial revision 11 August 2026, based on Art. 28 para. 2 of the police law: item 20.f.1 "Unzulässiges Campieren auf öffentlichem Grund (Art. 17 Abs. 2 PolG) CHF 100.00"; item 20.m.1 use of public ground beyond common use without permit CHF 100.00. lantsch-lenz.ch. ↩
  4. Raumplanungsgesetz für den Kanton Graubünden (KRG), BR 801.100, version in force since 1 January 2025: Art. 93 para. 1 (responsible persons: "Bauherrschaften, Eigentümerinnen und Eigentümer, sonstige Berechtigte sowie die mit der Projektierung und Ausführung von Bauvorhaben beauftragten Personen"), Art. 94 para. 3 (duty to restore lawful conditions also on whoever caused the unlawful state), Art. 95 para. 1 (fine CHF 200 to CHF 40'000 for breaches of the act and of communal enactments based on it) and para. 2 (punishable only the persons responsible under Art. 93). The canton itself has no camping provision in its police, hunting, forest or planning acts. gr-lex.gr.ch. ↩
  5. Polizeigesetz of the commune of Albula/Alvra (PG), Gemeindeversammlung 21 April 2017, in force 1 July 2017, applying to the whole communal territory (Art. 1): Art. 20 para. 1 ("Das Campieren sowie das Aufstellen von Zelten und bewohnten Wohnwagen ist nur auf bezeichneten Plätzen zulässig."), para. 2 (tent sites for scout and holiday camps by permit), Art. 21 (wildlife rest zones: marked paths only during the closure), Art. 35 (fine up to CHF 5'000, warning possible in light cases), Art. 37 (on-the-spot fines up to CHF 500 per the Vorstand's list), Art. 38 (restoration at the offender's cost). albula-alvra.ch. ↩
  6. Ordnungsbussenreglement of the commune of Albula/Alvra (ObR), Gemeindevorstand 10 January 2017, in force 1 July 2017: Art. 3 item 2.17 "Campieren auf öffentlichem Grund ausserhalb der von den Behörden bezeichneten Stellen beziehungsweise ohne Bewilligung (Art. 20 Abs. 1 PG) 100.00"; item 2.18 breach of a wildlife rest zone closure (Art. 21 PG) 50.00. albula-alvra.ch. ↩
  7. Baugesetz Brienz/Brinzauls (Gemeindeversammlung 11 July 2014, cantonal approval RB 871 of 13 October 2015), the act in force on the former Brienz territory of Albula/Alvra and cited by the cadastre for parcel 2314: Art. 28 (Ruhezone: lifts and motor traffic banned, no marked ski routes, winter activities banned in wildlife areas; no camping clause), Art. 60 (Campieren: the Gemeindevorstand may allow time-limited exceptions for tent sites; caravans on private ground for residential use and on public ground banned), annex reproducing KRG Art. 93 to 95. The commune-wide building law adopted on 18 July 2025 (Art. 63: camping outside zones with permitted camping use prohibited, with exceptions for tent camps, designated pitches, hotel grounds and farms) awaits cantonal approval. oereblex.gr.ch. ↩
  8. Official federal and cantonal geodata, queried 14 September 2026 at LV95 2'764'881 / 1'175'356 (Lenzer Horn, 2'905.5 m) with tolerance 0 and a passing invalid-layer control: Parc Ela hits on the parks layer; the game-reserve, wildlife rest zone, BLN, floodplain, mire, amphibian, forest-reserve and military layers return an empty result set, and a 3 km envelope holds no game reserve and no BLN object. Commune layer (current year): Lantsch/Lenz at the pin, Albula/Alvra 1.5 m to the south-east. swissTLM3D: the white-blue-white alpine trail from above Alp Sanaspans ends at the summit. Cadastre (ÖREB Graubünden, extracts with geometry): parcel 1401 Lantsch/Lenz (847 ha) at the pin in the Zone übriges Gemeindegebiet with a Quellschutzzone overlay; parcel 2314 Albula/Alvra (1'025 ha) on the south-east side in the Zone Übriges Gemeindegebiet with the Ruhezone overlay; no nature-protection zone at either. Terrain from swissALTI3D via the profile service: 25 m grid of 529 cells, minimum slope within 100 m of the pin 23.8 degrees, the 12-degree cell 182 m west lying 3 m from a trail vertex. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
  9. Gesetz über die Wildruhezonen in der Gemeinde Lantsch/Lenz (no. 811), Gemeindeversammlung 23 October 2014, partial revision adopted 12 December 2022, in force 1 December 2023, based on JSG Art. 7 para. 4 and the cantonal hunting act: Art. 3 ("Jegliches betreten und jegliche Wintersportaktivität ist in dieser Zeit in der ganzen Wildruhezone verboten": Foil Cotschen-Sanaspans 20 December to 20 May, Bovas-Vasternos zone 1 20 December to 20 April, zone 2 20 December to 20 May), Art. 3a (absolute entry ban in those two zones during the closure), Art. 7 (fined per the communal fine list or the federal fixed-penalty ordinance, Annex 2 item 12003, CHF 150). The federal wildlife rest zone portal carries the same zones as no. 109.0, 246.0 and 247.0 and the Vaz/Obervaz zone Foil Cotschen no. 262.0 (20 December to 30 April, marked path allowed). lantsch-lenz.ch. ↩
  10. Flur-, Weide- und Alpgesetz of the commune of Lantsch/Lenz (no. 800), Gemeindeversammlung 14 December 2020, revised 2022: Art. 23 ("Als Alpen und Weiden gelten sämtliche Sömmerungsgebiete und deren Gebäude, welche im Eigentum der Gemeinde Lantsch/Lenz sind"), Art. 8 (alp masters for the communal alps, Sanaspans among them); agreement of 31 May 1981 between the Bürgergemeinde and the political commune (annex to act no. 011): the commune's alps, forests and pastures are registered in the land register in the political commune's name. Ownership of summit parcel 1401 is inferred from these acts, not read from the land register. lantsch-lenz.ch. ↩
  11. Swiss Alpine Club SAC, Tourenportal, Lenzer Horn 2906 m, "Von der Lenzerheide über den Nordwestgrat (Normalroute)": T5, 1'470 m of climbing, 4 to 5 h up and 3 h down from Lenzerheide, white-blue-white trail along the ridge, exposed scree and slate slabs, into the south flank just below the summit, refreshment at Alp Sanaspans. Route description, not a rule. sac-cas.ch. ↩
  12. Arosa Lenzerheide, Alp Sanaspans: day Beizli at about 2'030 m, 2026 tenants Alexandra Jörger and Andreas Weisenhorn, +41 78 676 09 35, open 4 July to 13 September 2026, 11:00 to 17:00, dry weather only, cash only; route sheet "Alp Sanaspans - Lenzerhorn", 6.1 km round trip, 879 m up, 3 h 40, graded difficult, chains near the top, sure-footedness and a head for heights required. No overnight offer, no camping line on either page. arosalenzerheide.swiss. ↩
  13. Parc Ela, "Verhaltenstipps im Sommer": free camping is expressly banned or impossible in federal game reserves, nature reserves and wildlife rest zones during their closures; "Das freie Campieren auf Gemeindegebiet ist verboten. Bei Privatgrundstücken muss der Eigentümer um Erlaubnis gefragt werden. Der Verein Parc Ela unterstützt freies Campieren und Biwakieren in der Natur nicht." A park association's guidance citing no act; the bans on the Lenzerhorn are the communes'. parc-ela.ch. ↩
  14. Waldgesetz of the commune of Lantsch/Lenz (no. 810), Gemeindeversammlung 11 January 1998, in force 17 February 1998, revised 2022: Art. 29 ("Das Campieren im Wald ist mit Ausnahme auf den eigens dafür bezeichneten Plätzen verboten."), Art. 33 (fines CHF 100 to CHF 5'000 plus full compensation). Reaches the wooded approach below Alp Sanaspans, not the summit. lantsch-lenz.ch. ↩