Ladir¹ is a village of about 100 inhabitants in canton Graubünden² in Switzerland.

Pronunciation guide

1. Ladir: say 'ladeer'
2. Graubünden: 'Grau' as 'grow' in 'growl'
3. Vorderrhein: say 'forderyne'
4. Lumnezia: say 'lumnetsia'
5. Piz: say 'pits'
6. Mundaun: say 'mundown'
7. Ruschein: say 'rushyne'
8. Ilanz: say 'illants'

The centre of the village is at an altitude of 1'276 m/4'186 ft above sea level on a sunny, south-facing terrace looking out over the valley of the Vorderrhein³, the 'Upper' or 'Anterior' Rhine.

Map based on Strassenübersichtskarte © 2007 swisstopo

The mountain range behind us, the Vorab, rises to a height of 3'028 m/9'934 ft.

Facing us immediately across the valley are the mountains of the Signina group. Towards the south we look up the Lumnezia⁴ valley.

The Signina group in winter (l-r): Piz⁵ Reien 2752 m/9'029 ft, Piz Fess 2880 m/9'449 ft (the notched summit), Signina 2848 m/9'344 ft (extreme right).

The Lumnezia valley in summer. On the right the lower slopes of the Piz Mundaun⁶.

View of Ladir from across the Vorderrhein valley.

Going down from Ladir into the valley the road passes through the village of Ruschein⁷ (pop. 357, alt. 1'150 m /3'772 ft), before arriving at our nearest town, Ilanz⁸ (pop. 2'514, alt. 702 m/2'303 ft), a bridging point on the Vorderrhein.

Ilanz 'the first town on the Rhine' as seen from Ladir.

Most of the residents of Ladir are native Romontsch speakers (in the regional dialect 'Surselvan'), all of whom however also speak German.

Most of the residents are Catholic: the picturesque church of St. Zeno of Verona is a listed building perched on an outcrop overlooking the valley.

St. Zeno, Ladir

The churchyard

Although the number of people actively engaged in agriculture has declined over the last hundred years, farming, along with forestry, is still an important element of life in Ladir.

The village has an 'official' website ladir.ch. This website is written entirely in German but contains several webcams and a photo album.