Wild camping on the Muttner Alp
The Muttner Alp above Obermutten is a working dairy alp, and the flat ground near its buildings is the cattle yard and the cows' pasture. The buildings stand in Zillis-Reischen, where a tent on public ground is banned outside designated places. No consent route is published, so book a bed in Obermutten.
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.
Wild camping on the Muttner Alp: a dairy alp above Obermutten
Which place. The Muttner Alp is the alp pasture on the slope south of Obermutten in Graubünden, below the Muttner Hora (2'394 m). Swisstopo's name covers an area of about 1.5 by 2 km; the pin used here is the alp buildings, at 46.65981 N, 9.47898 E (LV95 2'756'148 / 1'169'650), 2'127 m. The alp inventory lists it as the cooperative alp of the Alpgenossenschaft Mutten, Alp Kataster no. 3503-1.6
A working dairy alp. Dairy cows spend the summer on the cow pasture, the alp has its own dairy (Sennerei), and fresh milk is served on the alp. The alp ordinance of the former commune of Mutten puts the drive up at about 20 June and the descent from 24 September.6
How you get there. A gravel farm track from the north-east ends at the barn, and a mountain path from Obermutten towards the Muttner Hora passes 27 to 38 m from the buildings.5
The flat ground is the cattle yard and the cows' pasture
Next to the buildings, flat means yard. On the 2 m elevation model the median slope within 30 m of the buildings is 7 degrees. The nearest flat windows are the barn forecourt, 17 m to the east, and the trampled grass in front of the house, 40 m to the south-south-west; the 10 cm aerial shows tracks, a round white pad and a small hut beside the second one. Both are the working yard.5
The two benches off the yard are poor. The better one is a hollow 68 m north-north-west of the buildings and 26 m lower, at 2'102 m, with 680 m2 under 5 degrees. It is the floor of a shallow closed bowl, so expect pooled water and cold air, and the aerial shows a darker, probably damp strip of grass; cow tracks cross it, and no trough is visible within 100 m. The other is a shelf 151 m west-north-west and 35 m lower, at 2'092 m, with 160 m2 under 8 degrees: the ground falls 23 m within 60 m to the west, towards forest and a cliff band, and the forest edge is 61 m away.54
Further out, the flat ground is cattle ground. Within 1.9 km of the buildings and above 2'000 m the remaining flat patches are a cattle camp where five trails meet, 659 m to the south-south-west; a peat-ringed tarn with a humpy mire, 1.0 km to the south-south-east; and a trampled drinking place with a network of rills, 1.2 km to the south-east. The one flat patch on the Thusis side is a clearing inside forest, 382 m north.5
Water and cows. No spring or tap is mapped within 1.8 km of the buildings, and the nearest streams are 300 to 380 m from the benches: treat every stream and the tarn as cattle water and carry yours. Dairy cows roam the whole cow pasture, so expect cattle at any tent. No sheep or guardian-dog deployment is published for this alp; the Älpler can say what is there this year.56
The buildings are in Zillis-Reischen, and both communes ban tents on public ground
The alp straddles a commune boundary. The alp inventory says so itself: "Die Alp liegt rittlings über der Grenze zur Gemeinde Zillis-Reischen, die Gebäude stehen auf Boden dieser Gemeinde!" The official boundary layer agrees. The buildings, the yard and every flat bench near them are in Zillis-Reischen, the Thusis boundary runs 92 m north-east of the buildings, and the steep eastern pasture is Thusis ground, the former commune of Mutten.612
Zillis-Reischen bans a tent on public ground outside designated places. Its police act says in art. 20:1
"Auf öffentlichem Grund ist das Campieren (in Zelten, Wohnwagen und dergleichen) nur an den von den Behörden bezeichneten Stellen erlaubt."Polizeigesetz der Gemeinde Zillis-Reischen, art. 20, approved by the Gemeindeversammlung on 19 April 2017, in force since 1 May 2017. In English: on public ground, camping (in tents, caravans and the like) is permitted only at the places the authorities designate.
No individual permit is named, only designated places. Art. 41 sets fines up to CHF 10'000, with a warning instead in light cases. Art. 42 lets the police organs fine up to CHF 500 themselves, and the list for fines on the spot is not in the commune's published collection. The commune's own page reads the article more broadly and speaks of a "Verbot für wildes Campieren" on the whole commune territory.1
Thusis has the same rule, with an application route. Mutten merged into Thusis on 1 January 2018, and its own law collection of 2014 lists no police or camping regulation, so the police act of Thusis is the camping rule on the former Mutten ground. Its art. 11 says:2
"Auf öffentlichem Grund ist das Campieren in Zelten, Wohnmobilen und dergleichen verboten. Ausgenommen von diesem Verbot sind die von der Gemeinde für das Campieren speziell bezeichneten Stellen. Auf Gesuch kann der Gemeinderat weitere Ausnahmen bewilligen."Polizeigesetz der Gemeinde Thusis, art. 11 paras 1 and 2, adopted by the Urnengemeinde on 26 November 2023, in force since 1 January 2024. In English: on public ground, camping in tents, motorhomes and the like is banned; the places the commune designates for camping are exempt, and on application the Gemeinderat can grant further exceptions.
Art. 31 sets fines from CHF 50 to CHF 5'000, with a warning in light cases, and the Gemeinderat's fine list of 17 August 2026 prices unauthorised camping in a tent or motorhome on public ground at CHF 50 on the spot. This side of the boundary is steep pasture.2
Neither text names a tentless bivouac, and both stop at public ground. Zillis-Reischen speaks of camping "in Zelten, Wohnwagen und dergleichen", Thusis of "in Zelten, Wohnmobilen und dergleichen", and both reach "öffentlichem Grund" only. No text settles whether alp ground that belongs to a cooperative, or that a commune leases to one, counts as public ground, and the owner of the ground at the buildings is not published. A tent here is exposed to the ban if a warden reads public ground widely; a night in a bivvy bag is not named.126
Other articles a camper touches. Zillis-Reischen bans camping in the forest (forest act, art. 18, fines CHF 100 to CHF 5'000), which matters for the shelf 61 m from the forest edge. Its police act also closes the "Fluren" to entry from 1 May to 1 October (art. 21), a word no act defines and a rule that says nothing about tents. Fires are banned in the forest and at its edge (art. 27).1
Graubünden adds nothing for hikers. The canton leaves camping to its communes: its police, nature-protection, planning, forest and hunting acts contain no camping rule for a hiker, and the one camping article in its hunting ordinance applies to hunters.3
The nature park, the landscape zone and the wildlife areas: what they change
The alp lies in the Beverin Nature Park, a label and not a rule. The regional nature park covers the buildings and both benches. The federal park ordinance restricts visitors only in the core zone of a national park; for a regional nature park it sets an area and objectives and no rule for visitors (art. 19 to 21 PäV).3
The landscape-protection zone covers both benches, not the yard. The cadastre puts 99 percent of the Zillis-Reischen parcel, 126 ha, into a landscape-protection zone, with the yard cut out. The cantonal rule behind it says that new buildings and installations are not permitted; it says nothing about sleeping. A zone of high hazard lies 147 m from the buildings and 28 m from the shelf, along the cliff band.4
No federal reserve and no wildlife rest zone is close. At the buildings and at both benches there is no federal game reserve, wildlife rest zone, BLN object or moor. The nearest cantonal wildlife rest zone, closed from 20 December to 30 April, is 2.5 km to the west; a hunting asylum lies 470 to 550 m to the north, and the federal game reserve Piz Beverin, where a camping ban applies, 5.9 km to the west.3
Whose ground it is, who to ask, and what is not published
The Alpgenossenschaft Mutten runs the alp, and who owns the ground is not published. The alp inventory's field "legal form / owner" reads "Genossenschaftsalp der Alpgenossenschaft Mutten". The alp ordinance of the former commune of Mutten, on the other hand, treats the alps and pastures as communal ground used by the cooperative's animals (art. 1), supervised by the commune (art. 2), with the lease set by the Gemeindeversammlung (art. 5). So the ground is either the cooperative's own or communal ground leased to it, and it stands on the territory of Zillis-Reischen. The land register is not open and the cadastre does not name the owner of parcel 660.64
No consent route, fee or designated corner is published. Nothing published offers a night on the alp or puts a price on it, and the cooperative has no published phone number or address. In season the Älpler are on site, so ask them first, and say where and for how many nights. The formal doors are the communes: Gemeinde Thusis, +41 81 650 09 30, info@thusis.ch, and Gemeinde Zillis-Reischen, +41 81 661 13 83, info@zillis-reischen.ch.612
What hikers report. The published route descriptions from Obermutten over the Muttner Alp to the Muttner Hora do not mention a night on the alp.8
Where to sleep: a bed in Obermutten, or ask first
The straightforward answer is a bed in Obermutten. The Gasthaus Post is 1.6 km north-north-east of the alp buildings and 268 m lower, and the Postauto reaches it.7
Gasthaus Post, Obermutten: 6 double rooms, a family room with 4 beds and a dormitory with 10 beds. The 2026 price list, breakfast included, per person: dormitory CHF 65, double room with shared bathroom CHF 90, with shower CHF 100; half board adds CHF 40 for adults. Reservations are compulsory: +41 81 936 02 02, info@gasthauspost.ch. From 1 October the restaurant has a rest day on Thursdays, and the house closes for holidays in November before the winter season opens in early December.7
To sleep out on the alp, the yes comes first. Ask the Älpler or the Alpgenossenschaft, and the commune as well: in Zillis-Reischen only designated places are allowed, and in Thusis the Gemeinderat can grant an exception on application. If you have the yes, the two flat places off the yard are the hollow at 46.66039 N, 9.47867 E (LV95 2'756'123 / 1'169'713), 68 m from the buildings, and the shelf at 46.66045 N, 9.47724 E (LV95 2'756'013 / 1'169'717), 151 m from them. Both are on the cows' pasture in Zillis-Reischen, and neither is a recommendation.512
General rules for wild camping
This applies wherever you are genuinely allowed to sleep outside, which on the Muttner Alp means a pitch that the Älpler and the commune have agreed to. Keep clear of the yard, the cows' tracks and any trough, carry your water and leave nothing behind.
- 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 October 2026, based on the official and public sources below. It does not replace legal advice and is not a binding statement by a public authority.
Communal regulations, consent practice and opening dates change. Zillis-Reischen and Thusis are both revising their planning laws, and a revision could add a camping rule. The ground near the alp was judged from official aerial imagery and the federal elevation model, not surveyed on site. The landowner's own conditions would add to this text, and so would a court prohibition. 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 night. Anyone who spends the night outside bears responsibility for their own conduct and its consequences. 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 Muttner Alp?
Which commune is the alp in?
Is this the Muttenalp near the Limmernsee?
Where can I sleep instead?
What is the fine?
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.
Sources
- Gemeinde Zillis-Reischen, read 1 October 2026. Polizeigesetz, approved by the Gemeindeversammlung on 19 April 2017, in force since 1 May 2017 (art. 49), published as a scan: art. 20 "Campieren": "Auf öffentlichem Grund ist das Campieren (in Zelten, Wohnwagen und dergleichen) nur an den von den Behörden bezeichneten Stellen erlaubt."; art. 21 para. 1 "Flurschonzeit": "Das Betreten und Befahren der Fluren ist in der Zeit vom 1. Mai bis 1. Oktober verboten."; art. 27 para. 1, no fire in the forest or at the forest edge; art. 41 para. 1: "Wer vorsätzlich oder fahrlässig die Bestimmungen dieses Gesetzes verletzt oder darauf gestützte Anordnungen missachtet, wird mit Busse bis zu Fr. 10'000.-- bestraft. In leichten Fällen kann anstelle einer Busse eine Verwarnung erteilt oder von einer Bestrafung abgesehen werden."; art. 42, fines up to CHF 500 and warnings by the police organs themselves; art. 43, fines on the spot only according to a list that the Gemeindevorstand publishes, which is not in the published collection. Waldgesetz, art. 18 "Das Campieren im Wald ist verboten.", art. 19 fines CHF 100 to CHF 5'000. The commune's page "Allgemeines Camping Verbot": "Gemäss Polizeigesetz besteht auf dem ganzen Gemeindegebiet Zillis-Reischen ein Verbot für wildes Campieren." Baugesetz (Gemeindeversammlung 14 December 2012, change of 19 April 2017): the only camping provision is art. 25, the camping zone, para. 5 of which lets the building authority permit temporary tent camps outside it; no access or bivouac rule. The published collection has 24 acts; none other has a camping norm. The commune was formed in 1865 by the merger of Zillis and Reischen. Gemeindekanzlei, Hauptstrasse 28, 7432 Zillis-Reischen, +41 81 661 13 83, info@zillis-reischen.ch. ↩
- Gemeinde Thusis, read 1 and 2 October 2026. Law collection. Polizeigesetz, adopted by the Urnengemeinde on 26 November 2023, in force since 1 January 2024: art. 11 "Campieren": "1 Auf öffentlichem Grund ist das Campieren in Zelten, Wohnmobilen und dergleichen verboten. 2 Ausgenommen von diesem Verbot sind die von der Gemeinde für das Campieren speziell bezeichneten Stellen. Auf Gesuch kann der Gemeinderat weitere Ausnahmen bewilligen."; art. 31 para. 1, fines from CHF 50.00 to CHF 5'000.00 and a warning in light cases; art. 33 para. 3, on-the-spot fines up to CHF 300 according to a list. Ordnungsbussenliste in force since the Gemeinderat's decision of 17 August 2026: item 5, "Unbewilligtes Campieren in Zelten oder Wohnmobilen auf öffentlichem Grund (ausserhalb von Campingplätzen) (Art. 11 PolG)", CHF 50.00. Waldordnung, art. 27, camping in the forest is banned. Mutten merged into Thusis on 1 January 2018; the collection of the former commune of Mutten (web archive, 26 October 2014) lists a constitution, laws on waste, building, development, restaurants, tourist tax and taxes, and ordinances on the alp and pastures, school, forest and water, and no police or camping regulation. Baugesetz Mutten (Gemeindeversammlung of 5 September 1974, change of 14 May 1999), art. 14 "Ruhezone": a permanent building ban in extensive mountain areas, art. 62 lit. p: opening campsites and setting up caravans needs a building permit; no tent or access rule. Gemeinde Thusis, Untere Gasse 1, 7430 Thusis, +41 81 650 09 30, info@thusis.ch. ↩
- Federal and cantonal protection, read 1 October 2026. Swisstopo and BAFU via api3.geo.admin.ch, identify at the exact point: at the alp buildings, LV95 2'756'148 / 1'169'650, and at the two benches there is no game reserve, wildlife rest zone, BLN object, floodplain, moor, moor landscape, amphibian site, dry meadow, Ramsar or Emerald site or forest reserve; the only hit is the Naturpark Beverin (category RN, status P). Verordnung über die Pärke von nationaler Bedeutung (Pärkeverordnung, PäV), SR 451.36, as consolidated on 1 April 2018: art. 17 lists what is excluded in the core zone of a national park; art. 19 to 21 set the area and the objectives of a regional nature park, with no rule for visitors and no provision on camping. Canton of Graubünden, wildlife layers of the geoportal: the nearest wildlife rest zone (37_0_GR Dagneda-Sumapunt-Scherenkopf, closed 20 December to 30 April) is 2'484 m west of the buildings; the hunting asylum Traversina begins 545 m north (472 m from the shelf); the federal game reserve Piz Beverin, where the ban of art. 5 para. 1 lit. e of the game-reserve ordinance (SR 922.31) applies, is 5'886 m west. Cantonal law, gr-lex.gr.ch, the acts that could carry a camping rule: police act BR 613.000, nature and landscape protection BR 496.000 and 496.100, hunting BR 740.000, 740.100 and 740.025, planning BR 801.100 and 801.110, forest BR 920.100 and 920.110, environmental protection BR 820.100, health BR 810.100, restaurants BR 932.100 and roads BR 803.100: no camping rule for a hiker; art. 13 of the hunting regulations (BR 740.025) restricts camping and bivouacking for the exercise of the hunt only. fedlex.admin.ch (PäV). ↩
- Cadastre and zones, read 1 October 2026. Cadastre of public-law restrictions of Canton Graubünden: the alp buildings and both benches lie on parcel 660 of Zillis-Reischen (EGRID CH930777561634, 1'259'876 m2, 25 restrictions, all of them surfaces): agricultural zone, no hazard zone at the points; the landscape-protection zone (cantonal, art. 34 para. 2 of the planning act, BR 801.100: "Neue Bauten und Anlagen sind nicht gestattet.") covers 99.2 percent of the parcel and both benches, with the yard cut out, its edge 36 m from the buildings; a zone of high hazard lies 147 m from the buildings and 28 m from the shelf; no nature-protection zone on the parcel. Communal acts named by the cadastre: Baugesetz Zillis-Reischen (3712.(1)) and, on the Thusis side (parcel GZ-Mutten-1, EGRID CH776077271386), Baugesetz Mutten (3503.(1)), whose Ruhezone begins 276 m east-north-east of the buildings. The extract does not name the owner of parcel 660. A total revision of the planning of Zillis-Reischen was in public consultation from 23 October to 24 November 2025, and the cadastre of 1 October 2026 still lists the Baugesetz of 2013 as amended in 2017. The Thusis building law, whose draft of February 2024 covers both parts of the commune, is also in revision. ↩
- Terrain and map data, read 1 October 2026. Swisstopo swissALTI3D (2 m, 2023 tiles) and the swissimage aerial image (10 cm): at the buildings, 2'127 m, the median slope within 30 m is 7.1 degrees and 24 percent of the cells are steeper than 30 degrees (karst outcrops to the west, a step to the north); the nearest 10 by 10 m window under 8 degrees is 4 m away, the yard. Flat windows at 5 degrees or less: 17 m east, 196 m2 (forecourt of the barn); 40 m south-south-west, 372 m2 (yard); hollow, centre LV95 2'756'123 / 1'169'713, WGS84 46.66039 / 9.47867, 2'101.5 m, 68 m from the buildings at bearing 338 degrees, 26 m lower, 680 m2, mean slope 1.6 degrees, the floor of a closed bowl whose rim is up to 9 m higher; shelf, centre LV95 2'756'013 / 1'169'717, WGS84 46.66045 / 9.47724, 2'091.7 m, 151 m at bearing 296 degrees, 35 m lower, 160 m2 at 8 degrees or less, with the ground 23 m lower within 60 m to the west; 659 m south-south-west, a basin where five cattle trails meet; 996 m south-south-east, a peat-ringed tarn with a mire; 1'232 m south-east, a trampled drinking place; 382 m north, a clearing of 260 m2 inside forest on the Thusis side. Aerial image: barn and house with white roofs, an orange-roofed hut 40 m south-west, a round white pad 45 m south, a red-roofed hut about 140 m south-south-west, no trough within 100 m of the hollow or the shelf, cow tracks across the hollow. OpenStreetMap (Overpass, 1 October 2026): a gravel track 26 to 27 m from the buildings, a mountain-hiking path 27 to 38 m away, no spring, tap or drinking-water node within 1.8 km, streams 296 to 383 m from the benches. Approach and distance figures are estimates from the elevation model, not measured on foot. ↩
- The alp and its operator, read 1 and 2 October 2026. Gemeinde Mutten, Alp- und Weideordnung of 12 December 2013 (published by Thusis, scan): art. 1, the alps are used in principle by animals of the Alpgenossenschaft Mutten; art. 2, the Gemeindevorstand has the supervision and the cooperative organises the alps under its own regulation; art. 3.1, the alp season: drive up at about 20 June, descent from 24 September to 15 October; art. 3.3, the dairy cows graze the whole cow pasture; art. 5, the Gemeindeversammlung sets the rent. Background, not an official source: the alp inventory Alporama (SAMI), entry "Muttner Alp", Alp Kataster no. 3503-1, record of 24 August 2011, still marked provisional: field "Rechtsform / Eigentümer": "Genossenschaftsalp der Alpgenossenschaft Mutten in Mutten"; 2126 m; "Die Alp liegt rittlings über der Grenze zur Gemeinde Zillis-Reischen, die Gebäude stehen auf Boden dieser Gemeinde!"; photos of a stable and a dairy (Sennerei); "Auf der Alp wird auch Frischmilch ausgeschenkt."; it names no operator, phone number or overnight offer. The swissBOUNDARIES3D layer of Swisstopo (current year) puts the buildings in Zillis-Reischen (BFS 3712), 92 m from the boundary with Thusis (BFS 3668). ↩
- Beds, read 2 October 2026. Gasthaus Post, Obermutten, own pages: "Das Berggasthaus Post verfügt über 6 Doppelzimmer, ein Familienzimmer mit 4 Betten, sowie über ein Mehrbettzimmer mit 10 Betten"; prices including breakfast: double room with shower and toilet CHF 100.00 a person, double and family rooms with bathroom on the floor CHF 90.00, dormitory CHF 65.00, half board for adults CHF 40.00; "bitte beachten sie die Reservationspflicht"; the house can be reached by Postauto; from 1 October a rest day on Thursdays, holidays in November, winter season from the beginning of December; +41 81 936 02 02, info@gasthauspost.ch. The building lies 1'556 m from the alp buildings at bearing 15 degrees and 268 m lower (OpenStreetMap, 2 m elevation model). ↩
- Background, not official sources, read 1 October 2026. The Gasthaus Post page on Mutten and its surroundings names the round trip Obermutten, Muttner Alp, Muttner Horn, Alp da Stierva, Obermutten; further route descriptions on komoot and hikr.org and a 2025 hiking blog describe the walk past the alp; none of them mentions a night on the alp. The former site of the commune of Mutten (web archive) announces the Alpgottesdienst walk to the Muttner Alp on an August Sunday in 2015, 2016 and 2018, hosted by the Alpgenossenschaft Mutten and the parish. ↩