Flims () is a municipality in the Imboden Region in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. The town of Flims is dominated by the Flimserstein which one can see from almost anywhere in the area.
Flims consists of the village of Flims (called Flims Dorf) and the hamlets of Fidaz and Scheia as well as Flims-Waldhaus, the initial birthplace of tourism in Flims, where most of the hotels were built before and after around 1900.
Geography
Flims has an area of . Of this area, 33.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 28.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 3.6% is settled (buildings or roads) and the remainder (33.9%) is non-productive (rivers, glaciers or mountains).
Before 2017, the municipality was located in the Trin sub-district, of the Imboden district, after 2017 it was part of the Imboden Region. Flims is located on a terrace north of the Rhine valley, forming the Ruinaulta gorge here. The country-side has numerous streams and lakes north of the village, from which the name derives; "fluminae" in Latin means "many streams". The main river is called Flem while Caumasee and Crestasee to the south of the town do not have tributaries for lying in the debris area of prehistoric Flims Rockslide, where the landscape is very rough and completely forested as there was no agriculture possible ever.
The lowest point of the municipality is at the Rhine river in the Ruinaulta at 630 meters, while Piz Segnas reaches 3099 m. Both Piz Segnas and neighbouring Piz Dolf show the line of the Glarus thrust in its upper part, now a UNESCO world heritage. The easiest access to the area is an aerial cableway to Fil de Cassons from Flims or any of various hikes to this ridge lying southeast of Piz Dolf. One route uses the ascent via Val Bargis, a wild valley running around Flimserstein.
History
Flims is first mentioned in 765 as Fleme.
Into the 1990s, Flims dairymen delivered their milk to a dairy store in town from which villagers collected their raw or pasteurized milk daily. The location of the store is now being used as tourist information centre and the milk is being treated elsewhere. The small, quiet village was traditionally a winter home for dairymen whose animals grazed on the lush green slopes of summer. Cabins reminiscent of Heidi still dot the hillsides and ski slopes of Weisse Arena. The dairymen's winter homes are easily identified by their structure which includes stalls on ground level, home on upper level. The style allowed for rising heat from the animals to help heat the home during bitter winter months.
In 1877, in the Belle Époque, the first hotel for recreation opened, the Park Hotel. The hotel also took over the lake Caumasee and built swimming baths. In 1940 the first purpose built holiday homes were built, nowadays more than half of all flats and homes are being used for recreation purposes.
Ancient Flims was populated since the Bronze Age, the remains of a medieval castle (Burg Belmont) can be reached by foot from the end of the public road at Fidaz within 40 minutes.
Languages
Most of the population () speaks German (80.0%), with Romansh being second most common ( 6.7%).
Weather
The Swiss climate is generally temperate, with a peak of precipitation in summer. The wettest month is August during which time Flims receives an average of of precipitation falling for an average of 12.8 days. The driest month of the year is October with an average of of precipitation over 12.8 days. From October to March a lot of Switzerland suffers from fog, which does not reach Flims normally. During this period weather can remain stable for weeks and temperatures are often inverted, which means that modestly higher areas such as Flims are actually warmer than lower lying areas.
Sports
Originally growing as a summer spa town in a distinctly wind sheltered and wide open area, especially since the building of big Hotels from 1877 on, it is nowadays also famous for winter sports (mainly skiing and snowboarding) and is now part of the Weisse Arena resort which combines the formerly separate resorts of Flims, Laax and Falera. It is regular host to international competitions such as the FIS World Championship in skiing and the Burton European Open in snowboarding. In 2004 the resort was featured in the popular Xbox snowboarding video game, Amped 2, and then in 2005 in the sequel Amped 3 on the Xbox 360. Due to the easy access the Weisse Arena cable-cars provide to the mountains, the town has become a popular winter and summer tourist locale.