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In terms of area, Vals with its 153 km2 is one of the largest communities in the canton of Grisons. It is located in one of the side valleys of the Surselva district and borders to the south on the canton of Ticino. Slightly less than half of the area consists of grazing land and summer pastures, mountain forests cover 8% of the valley, and the rest is comprised of rock and ice.

The economic backbone of the community is tourism. 2/3 of the local income is derived either directly or indirectly from this sector. Visitors are attracted to Vals by its mountains, the climate, the Dachberg ski area (3,000 m above sea level), which always has abundant snowfall, and the Therme Vals.

Vals is a Walser-German-speaking enclave in the Romansh dominated Val Lumnezia (Valley of Light). The Walsers migrated from Upper Valais some 700 years ago and settled in the highest alpine valleys of Grisons.

The village center is called “Vals-Platz” and lies at an altitude of 1,252 m above sea level.

Throughout the community of Vals you can still find many typical Walser farms, which in former times were inhabited in all year round. Today they are usually only used as spring and fall pastures. Besides Vals-Platz the only places that are still inhabited all year round are Camp, Leis, and Valé. As required by law for half a century, houses and barns are still roofed with stone tiles. And although a lot of new buildings have gone up in the past few years, there are parts of the village that still seem intact and undisturbed.

According to the statistics, Vals had a population of 885 in 2000. This count is low, however, because it doesn’t include the seasonal workers: Vals actually has more like 1,000 inhabitants. Of the gainfully employed section of the population, 23% work in agriculture and forestry, 29% in trade and industry, and 48% in the service sector. This breakdown is slightly skewed, however, because sideline farmers were counted as being fully employed in the agricultural sector.