Touring Switzerland. ALERT!!!

chris crofter

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If you are going in to Switzerland and might intentionally or accidentally (as we did) use their motorways.
Make sure you get a €40 windscreen sticker. We crossed the alp in from Italy this morning (Sunday) and Google took us straight on to the motorway. Pulled by a traffic cop for not having a screen sticker and charged €40 for a sticker and a €200 fine for not having one! ....As if we could have bought one on a Sunday morning, even if we had know we needed one! BD19915F-6843-4C6D-960D-86AE988962A9.jpg

We also got taken to a weighbridge and thankfully recorded a whisker over 3.5 tons in spite of having almost full fuel and water tanks, thus avoiding even more trouble!! (Apparently they allow a small margin of error ��
 
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Not wanting to seem pedantic, but sure it was a €40 ticket and a €200 fine? Wondering why the Swiss would charge in Euros and not Francs?

(If it were Swiss Francs it would cost you less as well :) )
 
To be fair to the Swiss they have had the motorway toll system for many years and the system has not changed. Sorry to hear you got fined €200.
 
And the fee does not just cover motorways but a lot of the A roads too. It really is impossible to drive in Switzerland anywhere without one. For this reason we often avoid Switzerland as it is easier and cheaper to go round than pay for the vignette for only a couple of days. Switzerland is missing out a lot of tourism and foreign money I am sure because of this.
 
The Swiss vignettes are pretty good value whether you are over or under 3.5t. Trying to go round is much more expensive and much more hassle through Austria if over 3.5t; and if going via Monacco you will pay £40 for the Italian toll motorway or else lose days avoiding them. We recently spent over £100 to buy a 2 month pass (over 3.5t) which is a bit steep but we still had our cheapest ski trip ever! I'd say most people are aware of the fact that you need to buy one, 20 seconds advance planning on google would've paid off but sorry you got hit.

One thing to bear in mind if planning to transit Switzerland is that the main roads along the valleys are not necessarily particularly scenic and it would be well worthwhile taking a detour or side trip up a few alpine valleys or passes.
 

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Over 3.5t

WildThingsKev said:
The Swiss vignettes are pretty good value whether you are over or under 3.5t. Trying to go round is much more expensive and much more hassle through Austria if over 3.5t; and if going via Monacco you will pay £40 for the Italian toll motorway or else lose days avoiding them. We recently spent over £100 to buy a 2 month pass (over 3.5t) which is a bit steep but we still had our cheapest ski trip ever! I'd say most people are aware of the fact that you need to buy one, 20 seconds advance planning on google would've paid off but sorry you got hit.

One thing to bear in mind if planning to transit Switzerland is that the main roads along the valleys are not necessarily particularly scenic and it would be well worthwhile taking a detour or side trip up a few alpine valleys or passes.
Click to expand...

Hi WildThing
I've unsuccessfully tried to find info on the daily rates or how they operate.
I will be there this coming winter for January, February and hopefully a bit longer.
Do you have to buy for a specific period and does it allow for extension?
We will be going into Italy and France for short trips too. Will the rate allow for that?
Thanks
Pete

PS Did you have any trouble finding parking and facilities?
 
Peteabix said:
Hi WildThing
I've unsuccessfully tried to find info on the daily rates or how they operate.
I will be there this coming winter for January, February and hopefully a bit longer.
Do you have to buy for a specific period and does it allow for extension?
We will be going into Italy and France for short trips too. Will the rate allow for that?
Thanks
Pete

PS Did you have any trouble finding parking and facilities?
Click to expand...

It's an annual rate, no short term rates. Although the way it works, the vignette is valid for 14 months.
Plenty of sites to pre buy. I haven't checked if they all charge the same, but heres a few links.

Motorway sticker 2017: How much does it cost, where can I buy one? - www.ch.ch

Vignette Switzerland
 
mark61 said:
It's an annual rate, no short term rates. Although the way it works, the vignette is valid for 14 months.
Plenty of sites to pre buy. I haven't checked if they all charge the same, but heres a few links.

Motorway sticker 2017: How much does it cost, where can I buy one? - www.ch.ch

Vignette Switzerland
Click to expand...

Hi Mark61
That mainly applies to vehicles up to 3.5t which i had found before but mine is 4t.

There was a note however linking to a new page:

13. Do I need a vignette for my motor home?
Yes, motor homes up to a total weight of 3.5 t require a vignette. Where the total weight is greater than 3.5 t, the vehicle is subject to a lump-sum heavy vehicle fee, amounting to CHF 3.25 a day (minimum fee: CHF 25.00) and payable for using any of the public roads at any time of stay in Switzerland. For further information, visit


Pauschale Schwerverkehrsabgabe (PSVA) fur auslandische Fahrzeuge

delivery periods
You have the following options to pay PSVA:

for 1 to 30 consecutive days
for 10 freely selectable days within 1 year *
for 1 to 11 consecutive months
for 1 year
* For proof of payment for 10 single days, you must independently validate the corresponding day before entering the country and every subsequent day of your stay in Switzerland.

Thanks for the links as it has been very helpful.
Pete
 
In the past (for our 3.7t van) I've always bought the 10 days in 365 option for about CHF35 as that allows either a short stay or a couple of days passing through and back. This last trip I bought 2 x 1 month tickets at about CHF60 each as we were going to be there continuously. Just stop at the border post and all the options are on the same form, best to pay in CHF rather than euros and the same goes for everything in Switzerland. Note that the 10 day ticket has to have each day in country entered at the start of the day whether you are driving or not.

Are you skiing, presumably so in Jan and Feb. Have a read here: https://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forum.../68807-switzerland.html?highlight=#post919062 Are you getting a MagicPass? If so I can give you a load more info.

Kev
 
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Magicpass

WildThingsKev said:
In the past (for our 3.7t van) I've always bought the 10 days in 365 option for about CHF35 as that allows either a short stay or a couple of days passing through and back. This last trip I bought 2 x 1 month tickets at about CHF60 each as we were going to be there continuously. Just stop at the border post and all the options are on the same form, best to pay in CHF rather than euros and the same goes for everything in Switzerland. Note that the 10 day ticket has to have each day in country entered at the start of the day whether you are driving or not.

Are you skiing, presumably so in Jan and Feb. Have a read here: https://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forum.../68807-switzerland.html?highlight=#post919062 Are you getting a MagicPass? If so I can give you a load more info.

Kev
Click to expand...

Hi Kev
Yes, bought 2 Magic Passes in March and plan to drive down just after Christmas.
Would like to go earlier but a bit difficult this year.
The 30 consecutive day option looks best even though we will be driving out to meet friends in Italy for a few days.
I'm working on skiing for a month for the same cost or lower than my friend at Club Med spends for a week!

Should we start a new thread for this?
Pete
 
The charge has been there for a long time.You can buy at border.I bought our last one from a post office.You need to check before you drive into a foreign country what the rules are.
 
Hi Pete

I think you might be the Pete in this thread on Snowheads? Swiss MagicPass 2018/19: Latest, snowHeads ski forum ..... I'm "BoardieK" on there.

... in which case you already have the extra info

I'm still debating about whether to buy one for next year as my wife always likes to go somewhere different, as a result I've missed the best price but it is still ridiculously cheap.
 
WildThingsKev said:
Hi Pete

I think you might be the Pete in this thread on Snowheads? Swiss MagicPass 2018/19: Latest, snowHeads ski forum ..... I'm "BoardieK" on there.

... in which case you already have the extra info

I'm still debating about whether to buy one for next year as my wife always likes to go somewhere different, as a result I've missed the best price but it is still ridiculously cheap.
Click to expand...


I did wonder if you are BoardieK on Snowheads as i recognised the picture but hadn't looked it up yet.
I am both really excited about skiing a season and apprehensive about the practicalities, particularly insulation of waste pipe and similar.
Perhaps we will meet up over there
 
Vignette

Clunegapyears said:
And the fee does not just cover motorways but a lot of the A roads too. It really is impossible to drive in Switzerland anywhere without one. For this reason we often avoid Switzerland as it is easier and cheaper to go round than pay for the vignette for only a couple of days. Switzerland is missing out a lot of tourism and foreign money I am sure because of this.
Click to expand...

Any idea which ‘other’ roads are affected? We’ve driven through Switzerland several times and only once needed a vignette to use the motorway for a quick trip to Italy, all the other times have set the satnav to no tolls and no stickers and pootled at our usual leisurely pace along ordinary roads without problems... albeit with all the speed limits progress is not very fast.
 
Been to Switzerland a few times, the first time we had to visit the kiosk on the border to buy one. Last year we drove in and they were more interested in selling the disc than checking our passports.

When you see the road qualities and then all the tunnels etc than you see what good value it really is.
 
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