The Vals Valley (german: Valser Tal) is located in the canton of Graubünden in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Geography

The Vals Valley is a roughly 16 kilometers long valley. At Uors, it branches off to the south from the

Lumnezia Lumnezia is a valley region and a municipality in the Surselva Region in the Swiss of canton of Graubünden. The former municipalities of Cumbel, Degen, Lumbrein, Morissen, Suraua, Vignogn, Vella, and Vrin merged on 1 January 2013 into the ...

. The valley is drained by the

Valser Rhine The Valser Rhine (german: Valser Rhein) is a source of the river Rhine in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. The river originates from the Länta Glacier and the Grauhorn Glacier at the northern foot of the Rheinwaldhorn and initially flows thr ...

. There are two municipalities in the valley:

Vals Vals is the word for waltz in many European languages. Vals or VALS may also refer to: * Peruvian waltz * Venezuelan waltz * Vals (dance), a dance related to Argentine tango * VALS, "Values And Lifestyles," a psychographic segmentation tool Place ...

and St. Martin. The population is spread out across several hamlets and the village of , which has an altitude of 1250 m. They form a

Walser The Walser people are the speakers of the Walser German dialects, a variety of Highest Alemannic. They inhabit the region of the Alps of Switzerland and Liechtenstein, as well as the fringes of Italy and Austria. The Walser people are named af ...

enclave, since the people in the adjacent Lumnezia speak Romansh.

History

Isolated finds show that the Vals Valley was used as a link between the

Mesolcina The ''Valle Mesolcina'', also known as the ''Val Mesolcina'' or ''Misox'' (German), is an alpine valley of the Grisons, Switzerland, stretching from the San Bernardino Pass to Grono where it joins the Calanca Valley. It is the valley formed ...

and the

Alpine Rhine Valley The Alpine Rhine Valley (german: Alpenrheintal) is a glacial alpine valley, formed by the part of the Alpine Rhine (german: Alpenrhein ) between the confluence of the Anterior Rhine and Posterior Rhine at Reichenau and the Alpine Rhine's mouth at ...

as early as the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

. The lower part of the valley was settled in the 12th Century, if not earlier.

Low justice High, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judicial power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents. Low just ...

was provided by the court in

Sagogn Sagogn (; german: Sagens) is a municipality in the Surselva Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. History Sagogn is first mentioned in 765 as ''Secanio''. Geography Sagogn has an area, , of . Of this area, 23.2% is used for ag ...

; high justice by the barons of Belmont. In the 14th century, the upper part of the valley was settled by the

migration.

Tourism

Therme Vals 7132 Thermal Baths (formerly Therme Vals) is a hotel/spa complex in Vals, built over the only thermal springs in the Graubünden canton in Switzerland. Completed in 1996, the spa was designed by Peter Zumthor (Pritzker 2009). History In the ...

, the only

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

in Graubünden where hot water springs straight from the ground, is located in the valley. Peiden-Bad, in the Lumnezia, is a former

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

Gallery

Image: oberes_Valsertal.jpg , Upper Vals Valley Image: Valsertal.jpg , Vals Valley Image: Vals_GR.jpg , The village Vals Valleys of the Alps Valleys of Graubünden {{Graubünden-geo-stub