Chur is the capital and largest town of the Swiss canton of the Grisons and lies in the Grisonian Rhine Valley, where the Rhine turns towards the north, in the northern part of the canton. The city, on the right bank of the Rhine, is reputedly the oldest town in Switzerland. The official language of Chur is German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of Alemannic, known as Grisonian German.