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Switzerland
Tourist guide

Driving in Switzerland

Complete guide for tourists and expats. Learn the road rules, speed limits, and essential information before you drive in Switzerland.

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120km/hMax highway speed
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Briefing

Switzerland charges CHF 40 for the right to use any of its motorways or expressways. The Autobahnvignette has held that price since 1995; a 2026 vignette is valid from 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027, and since 1 August 2023 you can buy it as an e-Vignette through the federal customs office (BAZG/FOCBS) Via portal, linked to your number plate instead of stuck to the windscreen.

The same vignette covers both classes of national road — the Autobahn (motorway, blue signs, 120 km/h) and the Autostrasse (expressway, green signs, 100 km/h) — and rolling onto either without one is a CHF 200 fine plus the cost of the vignette itself. Inside town, the default is 50 km/h, but Lausanne already caps the entire city at 30, Zurich is rolling 30 km/h out across nearly all streets, and Bern, Basel, Geneva, Lucerne, Fribourg and St. Gallen are converging on the same target — assume 30 in any residential street unless signed otherwise.

Where Switzerland diverges sharply from its neighbours is in how it punishes serious offences. Minor speeding sits in the fixed Ordnungsbussen tariff — CHF 40 for 1–5 km/h over in town, CHF 250 at 11–15 km/h over — but the moment the magistrate reaches for the day-fine system (Tagessatz, StGB Art. 34), one bad afternoon can cost a month's salary.

The Raserartikel under Art. 90 para. 4 SVG cuts in at +50 km/h in a 50 zone, +60 in an 80 zone, and +80 on a motorway: that's a mandatory one-to-four-year custodial sentence, two-year minimum licence withdrawal, and — in January 2026 — a German visitor was handed Switzerland's highest-ever speeding fine after a Tagessatz multiplication. The 0.5‰ BAC limit is unremarkable; the 0.1‰ rule for novice drivers in their three-year Probezeit and for professional drivers (Art. 31(2bis) SVG) is effectively zero tolerance.

A few practical realities: Pentecost weekend now beats summer for Gotthard tailbacks (20 km, three-hour wait on 23 May 2026); the San Bernardino is roughly 45 minutes longer but rarely jammed. Daytime running lights have been mandatory since 1 January 2014 under Via Sicura, fined CHF 40 if off.

Winter tyres are not legally required, but if you crash on summer rubber in snow your insurer and the cantonal police will treat that as your fault. Cantonal enforcement varies — Vaud and Ticino run the country's most active radar networks.

Can you drive in Switzerland?

Accepted licenses from

EUEEAUKUSACanadaAustraliaJapan
Validity period

Foreign licences valid for 12 months from the date you register residence in a Swiss canton. Tourist stays: foreign licence accepted for the duration of the visit if issued in German, French, Italian or English (or accompanied by an IDP / certified translation).

Important note

After establishing residency you must exchange for a Swiss licence within 12 months. EU/EEA holders exchange without testing; non-EU/EEA holders from non-reciprocity states must take a practical test (and sometimes the theory) — list of recognised states is published by ASTRA. An IDP does not extend the 12-month grace period; it is only a translation of your home licence.

What to carry in your car

Mandatory items

  • Valid driving licence
  • Vehicle registration (Fahrzeugausweis / permis de circulation)
  • Proof of motor insurance (insurance is mandatory; physical green card not required for vehicles registered in EU/EEA/CH)
  • Warning triangle (Pannendreieck) — the only piece of safety equipment legally required for private cars
  • Vignette (physical sticker on the windscreen, or e-Vignette linked to the number plate) if you intend to use any motorway or expressway

Recommended items

  • Reflective high-visibility vest (Warnweste) — not legally required for cars but recommended by TCS and required in several neighbouring countries
  • First-aid kit — not legally required for private cars in Switzerland (recommended by TCS)
  • Winter tyres (3PMSF Alpine symbol) — no general legal mandate, but driving on unsuitable tyres in snow/ice makes you liable for resulting accidents and can attract a CHF 100 fine for "unsafe vehicle condition" under SVG Art. 29
  • Snow chains — required on signed mountain roads (round blue sign with tyre and chain) when the sign is displayed
  • Spare bulbs and a torch — useful in alpine tunnels

Speed limits

Urban areas

km/h

Rural roads

km/h

Highways/motorways

km/h
Test your knowledge of Switzerland traffic rulesFree practice questions based on official test material.Start practicing

Toll roads

Payment methods

  • Annual e-Vignette via the BAZG/FOCBS Via portal (e-vignette.ch) — CHF 40, linked to the number plate
  • Physical Autobahnvignette sticker — CHF 40, sold at border posts, petrol stations, post offices and TCS counters
  • Cash or card at the Munt-la-Schera tunnel (Livigno) and Great St. Bernard tunnel — separate tolls, not covered by the vignette
Average cost

CHF 40 per calendar year (single flat fee covering all Swiss motorways and expressways). The price has not changed since 1995. Separate fees: Great St. Bernard tunnel ~CHF 32 single, ~CHF 51 return for cars; Munt-la-Schera ~CHF 17 single, ~CHF 27 return.

A vignette (sticker or e-Vignette) is required on every Autobahn (motorway, 120 km/h, blue signs) AND on every Autostrasse (expressway, 100 km/h, green signs). The e-Vignette went live on 1 August 2023 as an alternative to the sticker — same price, instant validity, linked to the plate rather than the windscreen, sold only via the official BAZG portal e-vignette.ch (beware of look-alike resellers that mark it up). Validity runs from 1 December of the previous year through 31 January of the following year, so the 2026 vignette covers 1 Dec 2025 to 31 Jan 2027. Driving on a vignette-required road without one is a CHF 200 fine plus the price of the vignette itself; ignoring or tearing off a sticker to reuse it is forgery and is prosecuted as a criminal offence.

Parking

Line colors

White zone

Paid parking — ticket machine, Parkingpay or TWINT app; rates and time limits posted on the sign

Blue zone

Free but time-limited; cardboard parking disc (Parkscheibe) set to arrival time required. Max 1 hour weekdays 08:00–11:30 and 13:30–18:00; outside those hours, longer free stay is usually permitted

Red zone (rare, mostly Basel-Stadt)

Free, longer time limit (up to 15 hours) — parking disc required, same rules as blue

Yellow lines / yellow cross

No parking, reserved (residents, taxi, loading, etc.) — read the sign carefully

Parking tips

  • Carry a Parkscheibe (CHF 5 at any petrol station or TCS shop) — without one, blue-zone parking is an automatic CHF 40 fine
  • Set the disc to the next half-hour after arrival, not the actual minute
  • Parkingpay and TWINT are the two dominant pay-by-phone apps; EasyPark works in some cantons but coverage is patchy
  • In Geneva, Lausanne and Zurich centres look for Park+Rail/Park+Ride at the edge of town — typically CHF 5–10/day plus a public transport ticket
  • Yellow markings always mean stop reading and check the sign — they cover everything from taxi ranks to fire-brigade access
Average cost

CHF 1.00–2.50 per hour in mid-sized city white zones; CHF 3.00–5.00 per hour in central Zurich, Geneva, Bern and Basel. Multi-storey Parkhaus typically CHF 3.00–4.50/hour with a daily cap of CHF 30–55 in central districts.

Common mistakes tourists make

  1. Driving onto an Autobahn or Autostrasse without a vignette — automatic CHF 200 fine plus you must buy the vignette on the spot; many tourists assume the expressways (green signs) are toll-free, but they are not
  2. Buying the e-Vignette from a look-alike reseller for CHF 80–100 instead of the official BAZG portal (e-vignette.ch) for CHF 40 — the resold vignette is genuine, but you overpaid by 100%
  3. Driving with headlights off during the day — mandatory since 1 January 2014 under SVG Art. 41, CHF 40 fine
  4. Treating the 0.5‰ BAC limit as universal — novice drivers (three-year Probezeit) and professional drivers are 0.1‰, effectively zero
  5. Underestimating the Tagessatz day-fine system — a 25 km/h over-limit in town can balloon from a CHF 250 ticket into a five-figure judgement once income is factored in
  6. Hitting the Raser threshold by accident on an empty motorway — at +80 km/h over 120 (i.e. 200+ km/h) it is a mandatory custodial sentence and two-year licence loss under SVG Art. 90(4), regardless of nationality
  7. Ignoring the postal bus (PostAuto) horn signal on narrow alpine roads — they have absolute priority and the horn (do-do-mi triad) means pull over now
  8. Driving on summer tyres into a winter alpine pass — no legal "tyre date", but you carry the liability if you crash and the police log the tyre type at the scene

Traffic fines

Speeding
Fixed Ordnungsbusse for minor excess: in town CHF 40 (1–5 km/h over), CHF 120 (6–10), CHF 250 (11–15). Outside town CHF 40 / CHF 100 / CHF 160 / CHF 240. Motorway CHF 20 / CHF 60 / CHF 120 / CHF 180 / CHF 260. From +16 km/h in town (or +21/+26 outside/motorway) the case leaves the fixed tariff and goes to the magistrate, where the fine is set as Tagessätze (day-fines) calibrated to your net daily income (max CHF 3,000 per day-unit, StGB Art. 34). Raserartikel cuts in at +50 in a 50 zone, +60 in an 80 zone, +80 on a motorway: mandatory one-to-four-year custodial sentence and two-year minimum licence loss.
No seatbelt
CHF 60 per unrestrained occupant (driver responsible for passengers under 12).
Phone use
CHF 100 fixed fine for holding a phone while driving, including at red lights; if the use is judged to have endangered others, the case is escalated and tried under SVG Art. 31 (Inattentiveness) with criminal penalties.
Red light
CHF 250 fixed fine for running a red light when no danger was created; escalates to a criminal case with day-fines and at least a one-month licence suspension if the violation endangered others or was beyond the first second of red.
Illegal parking
CHF 40 simple violation (expired ticket, missing parking disc, blue-zone overstay). CHF 60–120 wrong-side parking, parking on the pavement or in a yellow-cross zone. CHF 250–300 for blocking a fire-brigade access, bus stop or disabled bay.

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Emergency contacts

Police117(or 112 pan-European)
Ambulance144
Fire118
Roadside assistanceTCS Patrouille: 0800 140 140 (free from Swiss networks, members and non-members; non-members pay at cost). ACS: 022 417 27 27. From a foreign mobile abroad: +41 58 827 27 27.

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Sources

Every numeric and regulatory claim on this page is checked against the official Switzerland source listed below. Fines and fees in particular drift year to year — if a figure has changed since our last verification date, the linked source will reflect the current value.

Speed limitsStrassenverkehrsgesetz (SVG) Art. 32, Verkehrsregelnverordnung (VRV) Art. 4a — FedlexAlcohol limitSVG Art. 31 + Verordnung über die Promillegrenzen (VPB) — admin.chFinesOrdnungsbussenverordnung (OBV, SR 314.11) — FedlexTollsBAZG/FOCBS — Nationalstrassenabgabe (Vignette) and e-Vignette via PortalE VignetteBAZG/FOCBS — E-Vignette purchase portal (live since 1 August 2023)In-car equipmentTCS — Pflicht- und empfohlene Ausrüstung im Fahrzeug (Schweiz)Foreign licencech.ch (Federal Chancellery) — Driving licences from abroad in SwitzerlandEmergency contactsch.ch — Emergency numbers (112 / 117 / 118 / 144)FuelComparis — Benzin- und Dieselpreise Schweiz (live)ParkingASTRA/parking.ch — Blue, white and red parking zonesRaserartikelSVG Art. 90 para. 3–4 (Raserartikel, Via Sicura since 2013) — FedlexDaytime LightsSVG Art. 41 — Daytime running lights compulsory since 1 January 2014 (Via Sicura)Winter Tyresch.ch — Winter tyres: no calendar rule, but liability for accidents on unsuitable tyresGotthardTCS Verkehrsinfo — Gotthard tunnel live traffic & seasonal Stau data

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