As of: 12 September 2026

Wild camping at Sogn Martin

Sogn Martin is the alp basin above Laax where the gondolas from the village meet the lifts to the Vorab, 2'213 metres of open pasture with flat benches and no federal protection layer on it. What stops a tent is one communal sentence: Laax bans camping on the whole commune unless the Gemeindevorstand permits it, and the same act tells you how to ask.

Leon Helg
Leon Helg · Legal situation checked in September 2026 · Published 12 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.

Which Sogn Martin this is

Wild camping at Sogn Martin means, for anyone who has been up the Laax lifts, the wide alp basin between the Sogn Martin gondola base at 1'977 metres and the Vorab stations, the ground the Sogn Martin Trail crosses on its way down from the Camona Vorab. The national gazetteer draws it as one named area of 3.1 square kilometres, and it lies entirely in the commune of Laax: the neighbouring commune of Falera only touches its south-western outline, 982 metres from the point this article is about.1

The name is common in the Surselva, so one line each for the rest: a locality called Sogn Martin in Flims at 1'101 m, a chapel of that name at 1'277 m in Breil/Brigels, field names at 783 m in Ilanz/Glion, 1'307 m in Breil and 1'422 m in Lumnezia, and Begl Sogn Martin near Disentis. None of them is an alp anyone would bivouac on. The Laax basin is the only alpine candidate, and it is the one this article answers for.1

Two things about the place before the law. It is the middle of the Laax lift arena: the Sogn Martin-La Siala gondola passes 730 metres from the pin, the Fuorcla-Vorab cable 1.2 kilometres, and in summer the slopes carry cattle and bike trails. And it is genuinely open ground: 2'213 metres, a 12-degree pasture slope at the pin, no forest within 1.8 kilometres, the nearest building a small hut 290 metres west. Somebody would sleep here, and that is why the communal rule matters.4

The ban is commune-wide and carries its own exception

The act that decides it is the Laax police act, the Gesetz über die öffentliche Ruhe und Ordnung sowie die Ladenöffnungszeiten, revised by the Gemeindeversammlung on 14 September 2022 and in force from that day. Its art. 16 is headed "Campingverbot" and needs one sentence.

"Auf dem Gebiet der Gemeinde Laax sind das Campieren, d. h. das Aufstellen von Zelten, Wohnwagen und Wohnmobilen, ohne Bewilligung des Gemeindevorstandes untersagt."Gesetz über die öffentliche Ruhe und Ordnung sowie die Ladenöffnungszeiten in der Gemeinde Laax (Polizeigesetz), art. 16 para. 1: on the territory of the commune of Laax, camping, that is putting up tents, caravans and motorhomes, is prohibited without a permit from the Gemeindevorstand.

Read it twice, because both halves matter. The scope is the whole commune, not only public ground, so it does not matter whose pasture the alp is. And the prohibition is conditional in its own wording: "ohne Bewilligung" means the same council that bans the tent can permit it. That is what makes the verdict "it depends" rather than "illegal". The pattern is the one we found on the Lauchernalp, a police act that bans camping and names the communal permit as the way out.2

What it costs. Art. 27 sets the ordinary range at CHF 20 to 5'000, and art. 28 lets the persons charged with police duties collect fixed penalties on the spot from a catalogue the Gemeindevorstand publishes. That catalogue, in force since 14 January 2019, carries the tent as item 4: "Campieren ohne Bewilligung des Gemeindevorstandes (Art. 16) Fr. 100.-". Not paid within 30 days, it goes to the Gemeindevorstand in ordinary proceedings, which is where the CHF 5'000 ceiling lives. The number to plan around is CHF 100, and it is not the federal CHF 150: no game reserve and no wildlife rest zone touches this pin.2

The verb, for people with a bivvy bag. Art. 16 defines camping as "das Aufstellen von Zelten, Wohnwagen und Wohnmobilen". A night in a sleeping bag with no tent is, on the letter of that definition, not caught. We say so because it is what the text says, and we hedge it because nobody has tested it: the destination's own line is "Wildcampen verboten", the commune's permit power is the intended route, and a bivvy bag on somebody's alp is still on somebody's alp. Treat the tentless reading as an argument you might have to make, not as permission.25

Every other Laax act was read and cleared. All 61 documents in the commune's collection were downloaded and searched with controls. The Gastwirtschaftsgesetz of 1999, the act that carries the Flims ban next door, has no camping clause at all in Laax. The Baugesetz carries the standard building-law sentence in art. 56 para. 2, "Das Wohnen in Zelten, Campingwagen und dgl. ist im ganzen Gemeindegebiet verboten", whose verb is living, not a night, as this series has read it at Breil/Brigels. The Waldordnung bans camping in forest, art. 25, and the nearest forest is 1.8 kilometres away. The Tourismusgesetz taxes tents, it does not ban them. Art. 16 of the police act is the norm, and it is the only one.23

The canton backs the mechanism in so many words. Graubünden's planning office writes in its camping leaflet that the commune "ist befugt, dies zu verbieten oder mit einer entsprechenden Bewilligung zu erlauben". Laax did both in one sentence.3

How to ask, and what the destination says

The permit route is art. 32 of the same act. The Gemeindevorstand is the permitting authority; the application "ist in der Regel 20 Tage vor der Ausübung der geplanten Tätigkeit schriftlich einzureichen"; a fee may be charged and conditions attached. In practice: write to the Gemeindeverwaltung Laax, Via Principala, 7031 Laax, or ring +41 81 921 51 51 and ask how they want it, about three weeks before the night, with the date, the number of tents and the exact spot. We found no published case of a single tent being permitted or refused, so the answer is genuinely open, and the honest expectation is that you will be the first person in a while to ask.2

What the destination says, and what it does not. Flims Laax publishes one camping page for the whole destination: "In der Destination Flims Laax ist das Wildcampen verboten. Lediglich auf dem Gemeindegebiet Flims darfst du im Rahmen einer Mehrtages-Hochtour biwakieren." Read the second sentence carefully. The bivouac tolerance for multi-day high tours is Flims ground only, and Sogn Martin is Laax ground. There is no Laax equivalent. The lift company's terms and conditions carry no tent clause either way, and its Sogn Martin restaurant is a lift restaurant, not an alp tenant with a word to give.5

Three other lines of the police act you will meet the same evening. Art. 18 para. 2: "Grillieren und Feuern ist nur auf den offiziellen Feuerstellen/Grillplätzen zulässig", CHF 50 on the spot. Art. 7: night rest from 22:00 to 07:00. Art. 21: from 1 May to 1 October, entering cultivated land and open private plots is prohibited, but para. 3 reserves the temporary use of other people's ground under civil law, which is the free access to pasture of ZGB art. 699, so walking the alp stays lawful. None of these adds a camping rule; they shape the night around it.2

Whose alp it is we could not establish from a primary source. The two plausible owners of alp pasture at this height are the political commune and the Bürgergemeinde Laax, whose board manages the corporation's landholdings. An owner's yes settles the civil-law side only; art. 16 binds the whole commune regardless of ownership, so the permit is needed either way. No standing arrangement, fee or named tenant surfaced for Sogn Martin, and we are not going to invent one.26

Where the ground is, and where the winter line runs

The pin is the gazetteer's label point for the area, LV95 2'734'422 / 1'191'482, at 2'213 metres on a 12-degree pasture slope: not on water, not on a piste, 96 metres from the Sogn Martin bike trail, 288 metres from the Camona Vorab hut, 1.4 kilometres from the gondola base. On a 25-metre grid over the whole area, with water, pistes, service roads, lifts and buildings masked, the ground to use is the bench 48 metres north-west of the pin, 2'734'400 / 1'191'525, 2'211 metres, 1.5 degrees, 271 metres from the nearest piste corridor and 127 metres from the trail. A flatter bench lies 229 metres further north-west at 2'243 metres, but 32 metres off the bike trail. Both are Landwirtschaftszone with a Wintersportzone overlay in the cadastre, and nothing else.14

The flattest ground of the whole basin is not a pitch. The one-to-three-degree cells around the Sogn Martin station at 2'000 metres are the lift forecourt: 30 to 50 metres from the Via Nagens track, 40 to 70 metres from the Nagens piste, in the restaurant's service ground. Do not go there.4

The winter line. The wildlife rest zone Fuorcla, no. 213.0, begins 562 metres south of the pin and 600 metres from the bench, on the band above the Fuorcla and Crap Masegn stations. It is legally binding, regime "Zutrittsverbot (zu Fuss und Wintersportarten)", closed from 20 December to 30 April, and Laax's own Reglement über die Wildruhezonen of 1 March 2026 prices entry off the marked routes at CHF 150. It has no summer content: a tent on the alp in July is untouched by it, and a January bivouac 600 metres north of it is outside it. The neighbouring zones Alp Nagiens, Alp Plaun and Valledras are all more than 2.8 kilometres away.12

Everything federal is empty at the pin, with both controls passing in every run: no game reserve (Kärpf is 8 kilometres north-west), no BLN, no mire, no floodplain, no forest reserve, no park, no World Heritage. The cadastre for parcel 3443, 406 hectares, was audited polygon by polygon: no nature or landscape protection zone anywhere on it. The Falera line, 982 metres south-west, matters only if you wander: Falera's road reglement carries its own "Campingverbot" at CHF 300 on the spot, on Falera ground.146

  • On the bench at Sogn Martin, with the Gemeindevorstand's permit in your pocket. Apply in writing about three weeks ahead, +41 81 921 51 51. Outside 20 December to 30 April as far as the Fuorcla zone is concerned, which the bench is anyway.2
  • Beds up here in summer: the TCS pop-up glamping tents the lift company pitches at Alp Nagens, 2'000 metres, from late June to mid-September, 2.9 kilometres east along the Via Nagens, and the Segneshütte at 2'100 metres on the Flims side, open all year. The Berghaus Nagens and the Galaaxy hostel at Crap Sogn Gion are winter-only. Down in the village, the hotels of Laax and Falera.5
  • Campsite: Camping Flims Waldhaus in Flims, the one official site of the destination, with Laax planning its own seasonal camping zone under art. 31a of its Baugesetz.35
  • Not without the permit, anywhere in Laax; not in the Fuorcla zone from 20 December to 30 April; not on the lift forecourt at any time.

General rules for wild camping

This applies wherever you are genuinely allowed to sleep outside, which here means the bench with the commune's permit. It is not legal text, it is decency and common sense, and in the middle of a working alp and a summer bike arena it matters more than usual.

  • 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.

The permit practice of the Laax Gemeindevorstand under art. 16 and art. 32 of its police act is undocumented; a request may be refused, and the fixed penalty stands until a permit is granted. The Fuorcla wildlife rest zone's dates come from the federal portal and the communal Baugesetz (20 December) and the communal reglement of 2026 (21 December); this article uses the earlier date. Before every tour, check the current sources yourself, check the fire warning, 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 at Sogn Martin above Laax?
Only with a permit from the commune. Art. 16 para. 1 of the Laax Polizeigesetz prohibits camping, defined as putting up tents, caravans and motorhomes, on the whole commune without a permit from the Gemeindevorstand. The fixed penalty is CHF 100 on the spot under item 4 of the communal fines catalogue, with CHF 20 to 5'000 in ordinary proceedings. The ground itself carries no federal or cantonal protection, so the permit is the whole question.
How do I get a camping permit in Laax?
In writing, about three weeks ahead. Art. 32 of the police act makes the Gemeindevorstand the permitting authority and asks for the application as a rule 20 days before the planned activity, in writing; a fee may be charged and conditions attached. Gemeindeverwaltung Laax, +41 81 921 51 51. No published case of a single-tent permit exists, so the answer is open.
Does the Flims Laax bivouac rule for multi-day tours apply at Sogn Martin?
No. The destination's page says wild camping is prohibited in Flims Laax and that only on the territory of the commune of Flims may you bivouac as part of a multi-day high-altitude tour. Sogn Martin is in Laax, a different commune with its own act and no such tolerance.
Is Sogn Martin in a wildlife rest zone?
No, but one starts 562 metres south. The wildlife rest zone Fuorcla, no. 213.0, is legally binding and closed to all entry from 20 December to 30 April; Laax's reglement of 2026 prices entry off the marked routes at CHF 150. The pin and the bench lie outside it, and it has no summer content.
Where is the flat ground at Sogn Martin?
48 metres north-west of the pin. At 2'734'400 / 1'191'525, 2'211 metres, the bench slopes 1.5 degrees and is 271 metres from the nearest piste corridor, 127 metres from the bike trail and 600 metres from the wildlife rest zone. The flattest cells of the basin, by the Sogn Martin station, are the lift forecourt and not a pitch.
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. Official federal geodata and the national gazetteer, queried 12 September 2026. swissNAMES3D area "Sogn Martin", feature 426146, 3.10 km2, label point LV95 2'734'422 / 1'191'482, WGS84 46.86088 / 9.20161, swissALTI3D 2'213 m; commune Laax by point-in-polygon on swissBOUNDARIES3D filtered to the current year, the area 100 per cent in Laax, the Falera boundary 982 m from the pin on bearing 215. Identify at the pin and at the two benches with tolerance 0: no hit on the federal game reserves (Kärpf 8.0 km), BLN (Ruinaulta 6.9 km), floodplains, lowland and raised mires, moor landscapes, amphibian sites, dry meadows, Ramsar, Emerald, forest reserves (Plaun Larisch 1.9 km), World Heritage (Sardona 2.5 km), parks or the military Sachplan. Wildlife rest zone portal, 15 km sweep of 134 features: nearest "Fuorcla (Nr. 213.0)", canton GR, rechtsverbindlich, R20 "Zutrittsverbot (zu Fuss und Wintersportarten)", Schutzzeit 20.12. bis 30.04., basis Gemeinde- und Regierungsbeschluss 2012, 562 m from the pin and 600 m from the bench; then Alp Nagiens 2.9 km, Valledras 3.1 km, Alp Plaun 3.2 km. Controls in every run: the invalid layer id ch.bafu.this-layer-does-not-exist surfaced as HTTP 400 and the positive control at 2'626'000 / 1'154'500 returned game reserve Kiental. map.geo.admin.ch. ↩
  2. Gemeinde Laax, Gesetz über die öffentliche Ruhe und Ordnung sowie die Ladenöffnungszeiten in der Gemeinde Laax (Polizeigesetz), adopted by the Gemeindeversammlung on 14 September 2022, art. 36 para. 2 in force 14 September 2022, read in full from the commune's PDF. Art. 16 para. 1 quoted above. Art. 27 para. 1: "Wer Vorschriften dieses Gesetzes oder darauf gestützte Verfügungen verletzt, wird mit einer Busse von Fr. 20.- bis Fr. 5'000.- bestraft"; art. 28 para. 4: the Gemeindevorstand issues a catalogue of offences fined on the spot, CHF 20 to 500; art. 29: unpaid fines go to ordinary proceedings; art. 32 paras. 1 to 3: the Gemeindevorstand is the permitting authority, "Das Gesuch für eine Bewilligung ist in der Regel 20 Tage vor der Ausübung der geplanten Tätigkeit schriftlich einzureichen", a fee possible, conditions possible; art. 18 para. 2 on fires, art. 7 on night rest, art. 21 paras. 1 and 3 on cultivated land and the civil-law reservation. Ordnungsbussenkatalog der Gemeinde Laax, in force by Gemeindevorstand decision of 14 January 2019, item 4: "Campieren ohne Bewilligung des Gemeindevorstandes (Art. 16) Fr. 100.-", item 5 fires CHF 50, item 6 Flurordnung CHF 50. Reglement über die Wildruhezonen, Gemeindevorstand 10 February 2026, in force 1 March 2026, art. 3 (Fuorcla among the zones closed 21 December to 30 April) and art. 6 (CHF 150). Gemeindeverwaltung phone from the commune's own site. Polizeigesetz Laax, laax-gr.ch · Ordnungsbussenkatalog. ↩
  3. The other Laax acts: all 61 PDFs of the commune's Formulare & Gesetze collection downloaded on 12 September 2026 and searched after de-hyphenation for campier, camping, zelt, biwak, lager, übernacht, nächtig, wohnwagen and their Romansh equivalents, with per-file control counts; no file is a scan. Gastwirtschaftsgesetz of 8 October 1999: no camping, tent or overnight term. Baugesetz Laax (Gemeindeversammlung 4 November 2011, approved RB 438 of 8 May 2012, last change RB 858 of 7 November 2023, the act the cadastre names at the pin), art. 56 para. 2: "Das Wohnen in Zelten, Campingwagen und dgl. ist im ganzen Gemeindegebiet verboten. Die Baubehörde kann temporäre Anlagen bewilligen", a housing-hygiene clause with the verb Wohnen, sanction via KRG art. 95; art. 30 Wildruhezone (entry and driving ban generally 20 December to 30 April, dogs on lead, sanction under JSG art. 18 lit. e); art. 31 Wintersportzone (a general right of access for winter sport); art. 31a zone for temporary camping facilities, added 2022. Waldordnung (1998, approved RB 2100 of 29 November 1999), art. 25: "Es ist verboten, im Walde zu campen", art. 28 fines CHF 100 to 5'000. Tourismusgesetz: tents appear as a tax base only. Amt für Raumentwicklung Graubünden, Merkblatt "Camping und Raumplanung", October 2022: "«Wildes Zelten»: ... Die Gemeinde ist befugt, dies zu verbieten oder mit einer entsprechenden Bewilligung zu erlauben." Formulare & Gesetze, laax-gr.ch · Merkblatt ARE GR. ↩
  4. Terrain and cadastre, 12 September 2026. swissALTI3D on a 25 m grid over the whole named area, 16'206 cells, water masked with the OpenStreetMap outlines (14 ponds, nearest 751 m from the pin), pistes with a 20 m buffer, service roads, lifts and buildings tested. Pin 2'212.7 m, 12.4 degrees, 261 m from the nearest piste line, 96 m from the Sogn Martin bike trail, 288 m from the Camona Vorab hut, 1'382 m from the Sogn Martin station, 1'844 m from the nearest forest polygon; a second 25 m grid centred on the pin reads the same benches at 2 to 4 degrees depending on cell alignment. Benches: 2'734'400 / 1'191'525 (46.86127 / 9.20133), 2'210.9 m, 1.5 degrees, 48 m from the pin, 271 m from the piste corridor, 127 m from the trail, 600 m from the federal Fuorcla polygon and 521 m from the communal one; 2'734'300 / 1'191'675, 2'242.9 m, 1.2 degrees, 229 m from the pin, 32 m from the trail. The flattest cells of the area, 1.0 to 2.9 degrees at 1'996 to 2'012 m, lie 300 to 580 m east-north-east of the Sogn Martin station, 27 to 48 m from the Via Nagens track and 43 to 72 m from the Nagens piste. ÖREB cadastre Graubünden, extract for parcel 3443 Laax (EGRID CH107004564756, 405.8 ha) with geometry, 157 restrictions, geometry audit 50 Surface, 106 Line, 1 Point, 0 unparsed: at the pin and both benches Landwirtschaftszone and Wintersportzone, in force, Lärm-Empfindlichkeitsstufe III, hazard zones not yet surveyed; no Naturschutzzone, no Landschaftsschutzzone, no Gewässerraumzone at any of the points; the parcel's one Wildruhezone surface (68.5 ha, the communal Fuorcla polygon) 480 m from the pin; Gewässerraumzone 1.4 km, forest polygons 1.9 km, Zone für touristische Einrichtungen 2.8 km. oereb.geo.gr.ch. ↩
  5. Flims Laax, destination organisation, camping page, German version read 12 September 2026, and the LAAX "Sleep" page of the same date, which lists on the mountain the Segneshütte (2'100 m, all year), the TCS pop-up glamping at Alp Nagens ("Von Ende Juni bis Mitte September werden die gemütlich und komfortabel eingerichteten Baumwollzelte auf der 2'000 Meter über Meer gelegenen Alp Nagens aufgeschlagen"), and the GALAAXY mountainhostel and the Berghaus Nagens as "Nur im Winter". Camping page: "In der Destination Flims Laax ist das Wildcampen verboten. Lediglich auf dem Gemeindegebiet Flims darfst du im Rahmen einer Mehrtages-Hochtour biwakieren. Strikte Sperrzonen sind dabei Naturschutzgebiete, Naturpärke, Jagdbanngebiete, Wildruhezonen sowie Auen- und Moorlandschaften." Its Schutzzonen page asks visitors to respect the signed wildlife rest zones and carries no rule of its own. Weisse Arena / LAAX general terms and conditions: no tent, camping, bivouac or overnight clause; the restaurant Alp Sogn Martin (nagens@laax.com, +41 81 927 75 27) is a lift-company restaurant. Colour, not norms. flimslaax.com, Camping. ↩
  6. Ownership and the neighbour. The Graubünden cadastre extract carries no owner and no primary page names the owner of parcel 3443; the Bürgergemeinde Laax's board is responsible, per the commune's site, for the corporation's landholdings (president Vitus Dermont, +41 81 921 43 51); an owner's consent does not replace the art. 16 permit. Gemeinde Falera, Reglement für die Benützung der Gemeindestrassen und -wege of 26 March 2021, art. 9 "Campingverbot": "Das Wohnen in Zelten, Campingwagen und dgl. ist im ganzen Gemeindegebiet verboten. Verstösse gegen das Campingverbot können auf der Stelle mit einer Ordnungsbusse von Fr. 300.- geahndet werden", Falera ground only, 982 m and more from every point in this article; Falera's Uorden forestal art. 23 bans camping in forest. Bürgergemeinde Laax · Gesetze, falera.net. ↩