Flims () is a municipality in the district of Imboden in the Swiss canton of Graubünden. The town of Flims is dominated by the Flimserstein which you can see from almost anywhere in the area.

History

Flims is first mentioned in 765 as Fleme.

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).

The municipality is located in the Trin sub-district, of the Imboden district. Flims is located on a terrace north of the Rhine valley. The country-side has numerous streams and lakes, including the large Caumasee. As a result of prehistoric Flims Rockslide, the landscape is very rough. It consists of the village of Flims and the hamlets of Fidaz and Scheia as well as the tourist village of Flims-Waldhaus.

Into the 1990s, Flims dairymen delivered their milk to a dairy store in town from which villagers collected their raw milk daily. The practice was forever changed with the introduction of milk trucks that now carry the local product out of town to be pasteurized.

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.

Demographics

Flims has a population (as of ) of . , 19.0% of the population was made up of foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years the population has grown at a rate of 8%.

, the gender distribution of the population was 50.1% male and 49.9% female. The age distribution, , in Flims is; 219 people or 8.6% of the population are between 0 to 9 years old. 138 people or 5.4% are 10 to 14, and 184 people or 7.2% are 15 to 19. Of the adult population, 371 people or 14.6% of the population are between 20 to 29 years old. 443 people or 17.4% are 30 to 39, 354 people or 13.9% are 40 to 49, and 338 people or 13.3% are 50 to 59. The senior population distribution is 245 people or 9.6% of the population are between 60 to 69 years old, 147 people or 5.8% are 70 to 79, there are 90 people or 3.5% who are 80 to 89, and there are 20 people or 0.8% who are 90 to 99.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 33.4% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (32.8%), the SPS (20.2%) and the CVP (12.3%).

The entire Swiss population is generally well educated. In Flims about 71.3% of the population (between age 25-64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule).

Flims has an unemployment rate of 2.25%. , there were 73 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 27 businesses involved in this sector. 205 people are employed in the secondary sector and there are 33 businesses in this sector. 1,156 people are employed in the tertiary sector, with 179 businesses in this sector.

From the , 932 or 36.6% are Roman Catholic, while 1,239 or 48.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there are 63 individuals (or about 2.47% of the population) who belong to the Orthodox Church, and there are 7 individuals (or about 0.27% of the population) who belong to another Christian church. There are 35 (or about 1.37% of the population) who are Islamic. There are 9 individuals (or about 0.35% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), 148 (or about 5.81% of the population) belong to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 116 individuals (or about 4.55% of the population) did not answer the question.

The historical population is given in the following table:

year	population
1850	906
1900	789
1950	1,148
1960	1,444
1970	1,936
1980	2,136
1990	2,258
2000	2,549

Languages

Most of the population () speaks German (80.0%), with Romansh being second most common ( 6.7%) and Portuguese being third ( 5.2%).

Languages in Flims
Languages	Census 1980		Census 1990		Census 2000
	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
German	1439	67.0 %	1802	80.0 %	2038	80.0 %
Romanish	432	20.0 %	200	9.0 %	171	7.0 %
Italian	91	4.0 %	62	3.0 %	60	3.0 %
Population	2136	100 %	2258	100 %	2549	100 %

Weather

Flims has an average of 138.8 days of rain per year and on average receives of precipitation. The wettest month is August during which time Flims receives an average of of precipitation. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 12.8 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is June, with an average of 13.5, but with only of precipitation. The driest month of the year is October with an average of of precipitation over 12.8 days.

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.

Today Flims is a year round resort popular not only with winter sports of snowboarding, cross country skiing, downhill skiing and sledding, but also summer sports including hiking, rock climbing, paragliding, mountain biking and swimming in Caumasee, a spring-fed, iridescent-blue-water lake. The area of Conn is a good point of view over the Ruinaulta (Rhine gorge). There are annual figure skating camps run by Viktor Kudriavtsev and Marina Kudriatseva. Skaters who have been regulars at the camps include Swiss national team members Jamal Othman, Sarah Meier, and Stephane Lambiel, as well as international skaters Evan Lysacek, Gregor Urbas, Karel Zelenka, Kiira Korpi, and Ari-Pekka Nurmenkari.

Heritage sites of national significance

The Schlössli in Flims is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

References

External links

• Official website
• Tourism

category:Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland category:Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Graubünden

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