Crossing Switzerland without a vignette
Discussion
Just planning the next euro trip in (hopefully) a couple weeks time and loose plan of attack will be down to strasbourg, through the black forest and then down to the furka pass in Switzerland.
I usually try and ride off the main roads and was hoping to do the same all the way through switzerland, just wondering if anyone has ever done it before? was it worth it or was it a bit too much of a pain in the arse getting places? I'm expecting the back roads to be very slow going but equally amazing on a bike, I'm not too interested in covering big miles on the motorway so I figure the vignette would be surplus to requirements.
Any thoughts?
I usually try and ride off the main roads and was hoping to do the same all the way through switzerland, just wondering if anyone has ever done it before? was it worth it or was it a bit too much of a pain in the arse getting places? I'm expecting the back roads to be very slow going but equally amazing on a bike, I'm not too interested in covering big miles on the motorway so I figure the vignette would be surplus to requirements.
Any thoughts?
We were too tight and had to spend an extra couple of hours doing the main roads to a friends house. With hindsight I would have rather bought the vignette as it was a monster day and we didn't arrive until 22:00. The main roads we were on went through a lot of towns which was tiresome and slow going. Would use the motorways to get where you want to be. Also saw the police checking vignettes on the ramp of the motorway and this was in May.
Yes it's possible but I would really try and avoid driving thru city centres. Switzerland can be busy and you'll end up thru towns without a vignette. If you decide to do it and want to cover any significant distances, then I would advise to leave early in the morning to avoid traffic.
I did once left Lauterbrunnen at 6am and made such good progress I pushed on all day and was at home in Berkshire by 6pm :-)
Helluva day on motorways once outside of Switzerland....
As mentioned already - do not speed thru towns - you will regret it with the speed enforcement.
"DO" spend several days based from Andermatt and do all the passes around there. Furka to the west of Andermatt is great, but so all the other amazing passes in every other direction out of the town
I did once left Lauterbrunnen at 6am and made such good progress I pushed on all day and was at home in Berkshire by 6pm :-)
Helluva day on motorways once outside of Switzerland....
As mentioned already - do not speed thru towns - you will regret it with the speed enforcement.
"DO" spend several days based from Andermatt and do all the passes around there. Furka to the west of Andermatt is great, but so all the other amazing passes in every other direction out of the town
Edited by FullyReclined on Tuesday 11th August 17:22
I quite often drive in Switzerland without one! They only seem to check at the border and then they seem to prefer checking the left hand lane. If you bear right with the commercial vehicles they never seem to check.
I've often wondered what would happen if I had an accident though :-). I like the rebellion of not having one and I only drive there three or four times a year generally.
I've often wondered what would happen if I had an accident though :-). I like the rebellion of not having one and I only drive there three or four times a year generally.
I always get one too, saved me a couple of hours in torrential rain a couple of years back.
Be careful with the B500 as well if you’re planning on using that, I believe some of it is closed at the moment at Ruhestein... buggered up my usual route south from Baden-Baden.
Going to head on the 462 instead.
Be careful with the B500 as well if you’re planning on using that, I believe some of it is closed at the moment at Ruhestein... buggered up my usual route south from Baden-Baden.
Going to head on the 462 instead.
jjones said:
With hindsight I would have rather bought the vignette as it was a monster day and we didn't arrive until 22:00. The main roads we were on went through a lot of towns which was tiresome and slow going. Would use the motorways to get where you want to be.
Had the same experience and to add to the fun it was 35deg. Now I do my best to avoid Switzerland all together as they've never made me feel welcome at the best of times.Andy XRV said:
Had the same experience and to add to the fun it was 35deg. Now I do my best to avoid Switzerland all together as they've never made me feel welcome at the best of times.
^^ This,sorry, but I just don't get the appeal of Switzerland.
Miserable place to ride with the draconian policing and frankly, what's the fascination with a staircase of switchbacks heaving with tourist buses and myopic octogenarian Helmut's und Gunther's wobbling around.
It's the complete antithesis of what riding for fun should be.
Personally, I'd swing the compass around and head to the SW of France or to the Catalan/Andorra region and have some fun without the Toblerone...
My Motorcycling group inadvertently found ourselves on a Swiss motorway, which to my mind are just elaborate by-passes & hard to avoid, without vignettes.
I realised we were approaching a long stretch with Mont Blanc tunnel getting ever closer, the toll for passing through plus vignettes + fine that would have made a huge dent in our beer fund.
So with a flash of inspiration we diverted through Geneva airport, past departures then to arrivals & left via the exit to France.
It felt like the Great Escape, but other way round.
It is now a rule that we never ever go through Switzerland
I realised we were approaching a long stretch with Mont Blanc tunnel getting ever closer, the toll for passing through plus vignettes + fine that would have made a huge dent in our beer fund.
So with a flash of inspiration we diverted through Geneva airport, past departures then to arrivals & left via the exit to France.
It felt like the Great Escape, but other way round.
It is now a rule that we never ever go through Switzerland
N111BJG said:
My Motorcycling group inadvertently found ourselves on a Swiss motorway, which to my mind are just elaborate by-passes & hard to avoid, without vignettes.
I realised we were approaching a long stretch with Mont Blanc tunnel getting ever closer, the toll for passing through plus vignettes + fine that would have made a huge dent in our beer fund.
So with a flash of inspiration we diverted through Geneva airport, past departures then to arrivals & left via the exit to France.
It felt like the Great Escape, but other way round.
It is now a rule that we never ever go through Switzerland
They very rarely (I've never know it) check on the way out of the country. They only check on the way in. I realised we were approaching a long stretch with Mont Blanc tunnel getting ever closer, the toll for passing through plus vignettes + fine that would have made a huge dent in our beer fund.
So with a flash of inspiration we diverted through Geneva airport, past departures then to arrivals & left via the exit to France.
It felt like the Great Escape, but other way round.
It is now a rule that we never ever go through Switzerland
Steve Bass said:
Andy XRV said:
Had the same experience and to add to the fun it was 35deg. Now I do my best to avoid Switzerland all together as they've never made me feel welcome at the best of times.
^^ This,sorry, but I just don't get the appeal of Switzerland.
Miserable place to ride with the draconian policing and frankly, what's the fascination with a staircase of switchbacks heaving with tourist buses and myopic octogenarian Helmut's und Gunther's wobbling around.
It's the complete antithesis of what riding for fun should be.
Personally, I'd swing the compass around and head to the SW of France or to the Catalan/Andorra region and have some fun without the Toblerone...
If you do get stopped on a Swiss motorway without the vignette the fine is heavy - around at least 200 Euros - so 5 times as much as the vignette itself.
Likelihood of being stopped is low but it's up to you whether you take the chance.
If you stay off the motorways then it's clearly not an issue.
Likelihood of being stopped is low but it's up to you whether you take the chance.
If you stay off the motorways then it's clearly not an issue.
N111BJG said:
We didn’t go through check in, we were on motorcycles.
Nor through any check outs either, it wasn’t a shopping trip.
I meant at the douane? Customs checks on way in and out of the country. Nor through any check outs either, it wasn’t a shopping trip.
A poster below though has pointed out s decent fine if you get caught without though. Which I didn't realise.
NorthDave said:
N111BJG said:
We didn’t go through check in, we were on motorcycles.
Nor through any check outs either, it wasn’t a shopping trip.
I meant at the douane? Customs checks on way in and out of the country. Nor through any check outs either, it wasn’t a shopping trip.
A poster below though has pointed out s decent fine if you get caught without though. Which I didn't realise.
As an aside I think that £33 cost of the vignette is well worth it for the bragging rights of showing the neighbours that you’ve taken your car to personally check the balance in your private bank account.
There’s a snazzy picture of a road plus the date you did it too as evidence (well the year anyway)
Triaguar said:
Steve Bass said:
Andy XRV said:
Had the same experience and to add to the fun it was 35deg. Now I do my best to avoid Switzerland all together as they've never made me feel welcome at the best of times.
^^ This,sorry, but I just don't get the appeal of Switzerland.
Miserable place to ride with the draconian policing and frankly, what's the fascination with a staircase of switchbacks heaving with tourist buses and myopic octogenarian Helmut's und Gunther's wobbling around.
It's the complete antithesis of what riding for fun should be.
Personally, I'd swing the compass around and head to the SW of France or to the Catalan/Andorra region and have some fun without the Toblerone...
We tried riding west to east across Switzerland, avoiding the motorway, and it was a real pain. lots of straight roads with very low speed limits and what seemed like a roundabout every 100m.
If you are keen to do some of the big name passes I'd suggest planning a trip where you ride around the outside of Switzerland, doing there and back runs on the passes as you come to them. That way, your time in Switzerland is limited and only for the Swiss side of the pass.
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