Driving in Switzerland or Switzerland by Train in 2025 (Car Rental Rules, BEST tips)

One of the most asked questions from our Switzerland trip has been “Is it better to drive in Switzerland” or “Is it better to tour Switzerland by train?

In my first post about Switzerland, I talk about the differences between the two, why we ended up driving in Switzerland, the pros and cons of each type of transportation as well as some general tips about driving through Switzerland.

Switzerland was a dream destination of mine and I have been planning this trip to Switzerland for as long as I remember. It definitely was a dream to drive in Switzerland and would love to go back one day to experience the different seasons here.

Driving in Switzerland or Switzerland by train?

Before we get to the pros and cons of either, I would love to explain why we decided to opt for driving on Swiss roads. By we, I mean me and my husband. Some of the reasons we ended up driving in Swiss Alps:

• We love road tripping and have been on numerous road trips around the world. In the past few years, we have been mostly doing road trips in India and that has been our preferred way of travelling when we travel together.
• It was my husband’s first time in Europe and I wanted to show him why I love this continent so much: mainly about the small towns and villages.
• We were not keen on using public transportation this time.
• We love doing spontaneous trips and a car gave us better flexibility and convenience when it came to travelling in Europe.
• My husband loves driving in the mountains and the country roads of Switzerland were a perfect birthday gift for him. We celebrated his birthday this time in Switzerland.

Pros of taking trains in Switzerland

First let us start with the pros of taking a train in Switzerland.

• Switzerland has one of the most accessible railway networks around the world. A lot of small towns and big cities are connected by trains.
• Switzerland is also extremely beautiful and one of the best ways to explore the country is by train.
• Switzerland train networks are often clubbed with other public transportation models like buses, boats or cableways.
• It is very convenient to catch a train almost everywhere in Switzerland.
• There are many car free villages like Zermatt or Murren which can only be reached by trains.
• Panoramic trains like the Glacier express are world famous for their hospitality, luxury and experience.
• We went to Switzerland in summer during our first trip. But if we were planning a trip to Switzerland in winter, then our first choice would have been travelling by Switzerland trains.
• It is a childhood nostalgic memory for many Indians like us who have grown up watching movies like DDLJ where train travel in Switzerland was a main theme.
• Having a Swiss travel pass gives you unlimited travel time using any public transportation model like train, bus or boat.
• Depending on the number of people on the trip, a train trip through Switzerland will definitely be a cheaper option.
• When I went solo this winter, I ended up taking the train and it was so convenient. Since it would have been too expensive to drive solo in Switzerland.
• Wouldn’t have had to figure out the parking spot availability every single time we had to park. Also how to pay for parking and in cities especially, we had to pay extra for parking at our hotels which was not a small amount.

Pros of driving in Switzerland for tourists

Now let us list some reasons why touring Switzerland by car was a great idea for us.

• When we travel together, both of us do not like to stick to a schedule. Having our own car rental in Switzerland ensured that we could do all the activities that we wanted to do at our own pace. We did not have to run to catch the train all the time.
• We managed to stay at some of the most gorgeous and offbeat places during our road trip to Switzerland.
• We could stop anywhere we wanted. Switzerland is so gorgeous and is filled with unlimited scenic drives. We could stop whenever we found a photography spot.
• If you are traveling with aged parents, then a car would be a more suitable option for them. During our travels in Switzerland, we met an Indian couple travelling with her mother in one of the properties we stayed at. Even though the accommodation was only 400 mtrs from the railway station, they had to climb up the hill with her aged mom and the luggage.
• Coming to the luggage, we had a lot of luggage. Since our last stop was Paris and we knew we wanted to shop a lot there, we ended up carrying two big suitcases as well as 2 backpacks and a mini suitcase. Lugging around all this luggage would have been really difficult if we decided to take the trains instead of the car.
• Similarly my hotel in Chur was only 800 meters from the train station. But I had to drag my two suitcases through all the snow in peak winter at nighttime. I reached post 9 pm and there were no cabs available.
• One thing you need to understand about the Swiss travel pass is that even if you have it, you will have to pay extra to book seats on panoramic trains and pay at least 50% for mountain excursions. So if there are 3-4 of you, then it will be cheaper to hire a car than the railway in Switzerland.
• We didn’t have to wake up super early to go to even the most crowded places like Jungfrau. With a car, we ensured that we got there before the crowds came.
• Since it was summer, we also ended up driving till 9:30 pm on some days which meant that we could cover more ground than train travel in Switzerland.
• Trains also take longer than road trips in Switzerland. Even though trains are more frequent between major cities, some of the remote towns could only be reached by taking 2-3 trains.
• In summer, Switzerland is filled with tourists and most of the famous train routes need to be booked way in advance. Since they can get sold out months or weeks before.
• We also ended up doing quite a number of hikes when we were in Switzerland and without a car, some of them would have been hard to get to.

For us, we couldn’t have imagined Switzerland without a car in Summer and hence that is why we preferred driving on Swiss roads.

Rules and Regulations to keep in mind while driving in Switzerland

Please note that these are some of the driving rules in Switzerland and regulations you need to keep in mind if you are planning to drive in Switzerland:

• You must be 18+ in age if you want to drive here. The minimum age to hire a car is 20.
• You need to have a driving license issued in the country of your residence. This license needs to be in English, German, Swiss or French to be accepted for Switzerland roads.
• International license is a must in case your original license is not in one of the above languages.
• Switzerland driving side is on the right side like most countries. Which means that the steering wheel is on the left side of the car.
• You need to wear a seat belt at all times.
• You need to keep your headlights switched on at all times of the day.
• The vehicle coming from right has the priority at intersections.
• You need to have a vignette sticker on your car while driving in Switzerland. This costs around 40 CHF and can be purchased at supermarkets, gas stations or border crossing. We bought ours when we were crossing from France to Switzerland.
• There are no tolls in addition to the vignette sticker unlike other neighbouring countries.
• You overtake a car from the left and the slowest cars need to stick to the right of the lane.
• There are 1000’s of tunnels in Switzerland and you need to be adept at driving in them. One of the things that kept happening to us was that we used to always miss the exits inside the tunnels. We only got a hang of this after couple of days.
• Driving under the influence of alcohol is prohibited in Switzerland and you will be fined if you are caught over the limit (0.05%).
• You will be fined if you are found to be speeding above limits. The speed limit is 50 km/hour in in built-up areas, 50-100 kms/ hour in outside built-up areas and 120 kms / hours in motorways.
• If you have a child below the age of 12 or under 150 cms, they must be restrained using rules specified under European driving rules.
• You will also be driving a lot in mountainous areas like the Swiss Alps for example. Most of these roads are quite narrow and in this case, ascending vehicle has right of way.
• Using mobile phones while driving are strictly prohibited.
• You should dial 112 in the case of an emergency.
• All rental cars should be insured for you to drive in Switzerland.
• Cyclists usually have right of way in most cases.
• You need to have a warning triangle in the boot of your car at all times.

Everything to know about trains in Switzerland

As someone who had a chance to take Swiss trains in Winter, all I can tell you is that there is no other rail system like Switzerland train system.

It is convenient and the train connectivity is excellent all across Switzerland. Trains in Switzerland are also known to be on time always.

Some things to be kept in mind when taking the trains in Switzerland:

• Like we mentioned before, it is better if you have a Swiss Travel Pass or an Eurail pass if you are planning to use the Swiss Rail a lot. Will explain the difference between the two and the Swiss half fare card in the FAQ.
• Most railway stations in Switzerland are disabled friendly. This was an added relief when I was travelling by train in Switzerland solo and it was an advantage to carry my luggage around on my own.
• Even though all trains are free with a Swiss travel pass, you will need to buy a reservation on many of the panoramic trains.
• They are very particular about the Grand train tour of Switzerland and you will find many packages that includes great accommodation with these train packages.
• Switzerland is one of those few countries where you need to present your passport when the conductor comes to ask for your ticket and you are showing your Eurail Pass or Swiss travel pass.
• Some parts of the Switzerland railway system are UNESCO world heritage sites and are definitely a must visit during your trip to Switzerland.
• Some of my favorite train routes in Switzerland are Bernina Express (Chur to Tirano), Gornegrat railway (Zermatt to Matterhorn) and Train Du chocolat.

Everything to know about parking in Switzerland:

One of the things that I looked for while booking my hotels in Switzerland was if they had a parking space available.

Most hotels in smaller towns will have a dedicated parking space in front of their hotels and it will mostly be free parking. Always enquire at the reception since some may require you to keep a parking disc inside your car while you are parked there.

Some hotels charge around 5 CHF for parking per night if a parking disc is kept and only the first hour is usually free.

However, most cities are a completely different matter. Look for hotels near shopping centers if your hotel does not have free parking included. Depending on the city, it can vary from city to city. We ended up paying up to 35 CHF per night (Zurich, I am looking at you.)

How to pay for parking in Switzerland?

Like I mentioned before, don’t forget to keep a parking disc in your car if you are parking in a zone that requires it.

Most of the famous attractions will have a parking fee. We did find that most of them allowed us to pay by credit card when we were exiting the parking lot.

In case, this option is not there, then the best thing would be to pay at the parking meter. Unfortunately, most parking meters accepts only coins and CHF. So keep change with you at all times.

The best alternative to this is to install the app ‘EasyPark’. This lets you to do all your parking related transactions online and saves the cumbersome option of looking for change when you don’t have it.

This definitely was one of the most unique experiences we had in Switzerland after driving in over 25+ countries.

We have taken our cars on ferries multiple times but it was our first time in Switzerland when we took our car on a train.

So what exactly is a car train or a tunnel train? It is exactly what it sounds like. You load your car onto a train and then the train takes you from point A to point B instead of you driving that route.

So why car trains, you may ask? Switzerland is full of mountainous roads. Now in some parts, the road around the mountain was too long. So to cut the travel time, the only way we could go around these mountains was to go through them. And so tunnels were built but mainly for the trains.

Also, in winter, the pass roads may be closed and the only way you can get to some places in your car will be through these car trains.

There are currently 5 car tunnel routes in Switzerland and we ended up taking 2 of them during our trip in Switzerland.

We were driving from Grindelwald to Zermatt when our Google maps started showing a weird symbol and we were not able to able to understand what it meant. Googling did help answer our dilemma.

When we got to Kandersteg for the Lotschberg tunnel, we first had to pay for the ticket (around 25 CHF) and then wait our turn to load our car on the train. We paid with our credit card.

The trains run every 1- 1.5 hours depending on the route and if you get there too early, you may have to wait for a bit.

They give you a flyer with the instructions. Like switching off the car or not put our hands out during the tunnel ride. Lights are also not allowed.

Once the car is loaded on the train, you can either sit inside your car or sit in the passenger car. But we only had an option of sitting in the car.

The ride to Goppenstein took around 30 mins and since we had nothing else to do, both of us ended up falling asleep.

For people who are claustrophobic, it may be a problem since the entire trip is in pitch black.

For us, it was still a fun experience and it also allowed us to relax during our trip to Zermatt.

We also ended up taking the Simplon car train on our way from Zermatt to Lake Como in Italy.

In most cases, prior reservations are not possible and you may end up waiting for a while during summer season due to high volume. Reservations are a must if your vehicle weighs more than 3.5 tonnes.

Point to note is that most car trains don’t operate during night hours. Also there will be reduced service during the winter months.

Everything to know about fuel prices in Switzerland

This will definitely be an expensive item if you intend to travel in Switzerland by car. The prices in Switzerland are among the highest in Europe.

The current starting price for diesel is around CHF 1.82 or approximately USD 2. Petrol can cost you slightly more.

Most fuel stations on motorways are manned. So you just select the value you want to fill, fill your tank and then pay at the counter.

But in small villages and towns, most fuel stations are not manned by people. In such cases, you need to pay by credit card before you fill the tank. So in this case, it will be select the amount of fuel you want to fill, pay and then fill your tank.

Most fuel pumps in Switzerland are open from 9 AM to 6 Pm. Some fuel stations are open 24 hours on motorways.

Obviously, it takes more fuel to drive on mountainous roads.

We did rent a hybrid car for our trip in Western Europe. However, even though we did charge for a full night during some of our hotel stays (some had charging stations), it hardly lasted for 1-2 hours on the road. Many fuel stations and parking lots especially the bigger ones do have charging stations.

We spent approximately Rs 25,000 (300 USD $) on our fuel charges for the entire trip.

How much does it cost to drive to Switzerland?

We spent approximately 1500-1700$ USD for our entire 20 day road trip in Western Europe including 12 days in Switzerland.

This includes rental charges, insurance charges, parking fees, fuel prices, vignette charges and other miscellaneous charges.

The rental charges will vary from car to car. We ended up choosing the 2nd highest car model when it came to price. Starting charges for car rentals in Switzerland start from as low as 30 USD for small electric cars.

I usually use small cars when I am driving solo. But my husband loves big cars and this is one of the reasons we ended up picking a MG hector during our road trip in Switzerland.

Do I buy a Swiss travel pass or an Eurail Pass or Swiss Half fare card?

I know this is one of the most confusing things to decide when you are planning to take the rail in Switzerland. But I am going to try and make it a little simpler for you. Just ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you planning to visit multiple countries during your visit to Europe? – Then the best bet for you is a Eurail card. Interrail card if you are an EU resident.
• Are you travelling majorly in Switzerland? – If that is the case, then you need to choose between the Swiss Travel Pass and Swiss half fare card.
• Which one to choose among the two? If you are planning to take mostly public transportation in Switzerland (long distance) and are planning to visit many attractions, then you definitely need to go with the Swiss Travel Pass.
• Why, you may ask? With the Swiss rail pass, you can travel for free on all forms of public transportation like trains, buses and boats. Additionally, you have free access to 500+ museums and many of the mountain excursions are from 25 – 50% off. You still need to pay for reservations in some panoramic trains even if you have a Swiss travel pass.
• If you are like us who chose to drive mostly but want to use a few trains and get half price on them and other attractions, then your best bet is the Swiss half fare card.
• If you are planning to travel only in the Berner Oberland region (Interlaken and surrounding), then a regional Oberland pass is also available.
• Swiss Travel Pass is very similar to Eurail and you can either buy continuous or flexible 3,4,5,7,10 and 15 days cards for a single month.
• A Swiss half fare card is valid for 30 days.
• Regional Oberland Pass is exclusively for travel in that region.
• GA travel card can be a little tricky to understand. However, even though it is the cheapest, you need to buy it for a minimum of 6 months. Unless you are planning to stay in Switzerland for that long, GA travel card does not apply to tourists.

What is the Grand Train tour of Switzerland?

Grand train tour of Switzerland is a concept developed by the Switzerland tourism board. The train routes in Switzerland are mapped in a circular format covering almost 1290 kms around Switzerland and including major touristic spots.

There are multiple packages available from 3 nights to 12 nights. And if you purchase one of these packages, then all your train/bus travel and accommodation (mostly 3*) within Switzerland are covered with that package. Reservations in 2nd class for panoramic trains are also included in the price.

I haven’t used it myself since I love planning by myself. But if you are someone who hates to do the planning, this is a great way to travel Switzerland by train. You can customise it according to your wishes with the type of tour you want.

I have seen this to be extremely popular with the older US crowd and have seen multiple groups doing one of these tours.

The classic one covers all major cities and is usually for 8 days.

You can also pay extra for them to transfer your luggage between your different accommodations and help with hotel transfers.

It is definitely a little more expensive but you have the advantage of someone who knows what they are doing do all the planning for you.