Guide to SWITZERLAND/LIECHTENSTEIN

[IJP1]

I'm sure there are people on here who've mentioned Switz. and may know it better than me.

Population: 6m
Sticker: CH
Drives: Right, litres, km
Obligatory: For each calendar year you drive in Switzerland, you need a vignette to drive on motorways (and most border routes are motorways), no matter how long you plan to stay in the country. Cost about equivalent to ?20-25, available at border crossings and fuel stations within about 100km in neighbouring countries. If entering through Liechtenstein, you buy the vignette before entering Liechtenstein, as there is no customs point between Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
[b]System[b]
Switzerland has a big motorway network, but many of these motorways are actually undivided single-lane. There are also national routes and canton routes, letters vary depending on local language(s).
[b]Urban areas[b]
Signed variously, often white-on-blue.
[b]Traffic lights[b]
Red-green-amber-red. Often on gantries even on single-lane roads.
[b]Road lighting[b]
Fairly good. Urban areas are well covered. But no cat's eyes.
[b]Network Numbering[b]
No real system. Switzerland is such a varied and decentralized country that agreeing a 'centre-point' or even a grid would have proved difficult.
[b]Motorway junctions[b]
Similar to Germany, junction name given 1000m-1500m in advance, followed by signs to the side for smaller junctions and overhead gantries for larger ones.
[b]Signage[b]
Similar to Germany again, but coloured differently. Motorways have *green-backed* signs and the numbers on *red* rectangles(there is even a warning about this point if you enter from France), other main routes are blue-backed. Not strict about giving four destinations maximum on distance signs, I've seen up to six, and sometimes even distances to the same place given twice on the same sign depending on which route number you choose... which would be helpful if you had time to read it at 120kmh...
[b]Quirk[b]
Single-lane motorways are everywhere and slightly off-putting at first (especially as they're signed in green, not blue), but you get used to them.
[b]Final thought[b]
Two things - try not to drive in Switzerland over the New Year (you'll need two vignettes!) and don't plan to drive through without any currency (you'll need it to get into the toilets at service stations!)

[Marcel]

The motorway vignette is actually valid from the 1st of December of the previous year until the 31st of January of the next year. Therefore you need only one if you travel over the New Year.
Marcel

[IJP1]

Thanks Marcel - I had wondered!

[6637]

I'm sure there are people on here who've mentioned Switz. and may know it better than me.
Obligatory: For each calendar year you drive in Switzerland, you need a vignette to drive on motorways (and most border routes are motorways), no matter how long you plan to stay in the country. Cost about equivalent to ?20-25, available at border crossings and fuel stations within about 100km in neighbouring countries. If entering through Liechtenstein, you buy the vignette before entering Liechtenstein, as there is no customs point between Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

This is surprisingly not very well publicised. I went to Switzerland last summer when driving round with a friend in his van, on a whim (we'd been going to Stuttgart but had a few days spare so decided to try to get to as many countries as possible– going to Italy via Switzerland and returning to Germany via Liechtenstein and Austria), so hadn't really taken a lot of time to research... I was quite surprised to discover that Google Maps kept directing us off the Swiss motorways, before discovering that disabling the "avoid tolls" option let us use them. Needless to say I was expecting to come across a toll booth and was surprised to find there weren't any...!

Switzerland is now in Schengen of course so no border checks for you to be informed of the existence of the vignettes. No multilingual signs when entering the country to inform you either. I'm not quite sure how they expect tourists to discover the necessity of vignettes! I believe I only discovered the rule when we'd almost left Switzerland, so it was a bit late to do anything by that point. At least I now know for next time!

Beautiful country though, you constantly get amazing views just from the road when driving along. I'll definitely go back someday.

As for Liechtenstein, it was nice though the most distinctive thing was probably the car numberplate style there! That definitely stands out.

[KeithW]

Switzerland is now in Schengen of course so no border checks for you to be informed of the existence of the vignettes. No multilingual signs when entering the country to inform you either. I'm not quite sure how they expect tourists to discover the necessity of vignettes! I believe I only discovered the rule when we'd almost left Switzerland, so it was a bit late to do anything by that point. At least I now know for next time!

Beautiful country though, you constantly get amazing views just from the road when driving along. I'll definitely go back someday.

As for Liechtenstein, it was nice though the most distinctive thing was probably the car numberplate style there! That definitely stands out.

You can buy the vignette on line. Have fun - I did but be aware most things are rather expensive there, the highlight in more ways than one was the Junfraujoch.
https://www.vignetteshop.co.uk/vignette ... nette-2023
https://www.jungfrau.ch/en-gb/jungfrauj ... of-europe/

[Vierwielen]

I passed through Switzerland twice in 2002 in different cars so I needed an vignette for each. I bought them at the border, but things might have changed in the last 20 years. If I remember correctly, they were CFr 40 each.

[Chris Bertram]

CHF not CFr, I think (sorry, pedant on the loose here).

[Owain]

The vignette is significantly cheaper if you pay in Swiss Francs than in Euros, that's for sure!