Switzerland runs the simplest and strictest vignette system in Europe: one product, one price, everyone pays. The Swiss motorway vignette is annual-only, there is no weekly or monthly option, and it is required on the national motorway and expressway network for every vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes, motorcycles and trailers included. Since August 2023 you can hold it as a plate-linked e-vignette instead of the classic windscreen sticker, which is the version you buy here. New to road-charging systems in general? Our plain-English explainer on what a vignette is covers the concept in two minutes.
What you get for it is generous by alpine standards: the Gotthard and San Bernardino tunnels are included, with no extra toll of the kind Austria charges on its mountain routes. What catches people out is the shape of the product itself.
There is no short-term Swiss vignette
A two-hour transit from Germany to Italy needs the same annual vignette as a resident commuting all year. Drivers searching for a Swiss weekly or monthly option are searching for something that does not exist, and the CHF 200 fine for gambling on it costs several times the vignette.
Do You Need a Vignette in Switzerland?
Yes, almost certainly. The rule covers every motor vehicle and every trailer up to 3.5 tonnes using the national motorway network, which is broader than most countries dare to make it.
Every motor vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes maximum permissible weight needs its own vignette, whatever the fuel, size or country of registration.
Not exempt. Riders pay the same annual vignette as cars, one per motorcycle.
The rule most drivers have never heard of: a trailer or caravan needs its own separate vignette, on top of the towing car's. A car towing a caravan onto the A2 needs two.
Up to 3.5 tonnes, a motorhome uses the normal vignette. Above 3.5 tonnes it leaves the vignette system entirely and pays the PSVA lump-sum heavy vehicle charge instead, bookable per period through the same official channels.
Vehicles over 3.5 tonnes never use vignettes: they fall under the distance- or period-based heavy vehicle charge from the first kilometre.
One Vignette Per Vehicle: The Trailer Rule
Switzerland charges by the unit, not by the combination. The car has its vignette, the trailer has its own, and enforcement checks both. For the e-vignette that means registering the trailer's plate as a second purchase; for the sticker era it meant a second sticker glued to the trailer body. Caravanners crossing from Germany, where nothing of the sort exists, are the classic catch: budget for two vignettes before the Basel border, not one.
Who Is Exempt from the Swiss Vignette?
Effectively nobody. Switzerland runs the narrowest liability rule in Europe: motorcycles pay, trailers pay, electric cars pay the same as petrol ones, and there is no disability scheme of the kind Bulgaria or Romania operate. The only vehicles outside the system are those over 3.5 tonnes, which pay the heavier PSVA charge instead, and drivers who genuinely never touch the national motorway network. If your journey uses a green-signed motorway for a single junction, the requirement applies in full.
Switzerland Vignette Prices and Validity
One product means one line of pricing. The rate below comes live from our catalogue, so what you see is what you pay.
Motorcycle
Vehicle < 3.5t
Trailer 0-3.5t
Prices shown are the total amount payable, including the road charge and the registration fee. The Swiss vignette is annual-only: no weekly or monthly product exists.
The 14-Month Year: How Validity Works
The Swiss vignette does not run twelve months from purchase. Every vignette covers a fixed season from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the following year, fourteen months in total. Buy in early December and you enjoy the longest coverage anyone can get; buy in January and the same vignette still runs through the whole coming year to the next 31 January. There is no start date to choose, which also means no timing mistake to make: the vignette is valid the moment it is issued.
The corollary matters for planners: a vignette bought for a summer holiday is still valid for a Christmas ski trip the same year, so a second trip costs nothing extra. That is the maths behind Switzerland's model, and it is why the annual price stings less than it first appears for anyone crossing twice.
E-Vignette or Sticker?
Since 1 August 2023 the vignette exists in two forms, and the choice is permanent for the season:
- The e-vignette is linked to your licence plate and country of registration. Nothing is posted, nothing goes on the glass, a cracked windscreen changes nothing, and you can buy it from your sofa the night before the trip. It stays with the plate, not the car body.
- The sticker still exists, sold at Swiss customs posts, petrol stations and post offices. It must be glued directly to the inside of the windscreen: attached to a film, taped on or laid on the dashboard, it counts as invalid and earns the same fine as having none.
Neither form transfers between vehicles. For anyone buying online before a trip, the e-vignette is the practical answer, and it is the format this page sells.
Which Roads Require the Vignette?
The obligation covers Switzerland's national roads, classes I and II, signposted in green: the motorways and expressways that carry effectively all through traffic, from the A1 Geneva to St. Margrethen spine to the A2 Basel to Chiasso transit artery. Cantonal and local roads are free, so a determined driver can cross Switzerland without a vignette, but the detour trades a fast transit for a full day of mountain passes and town centres, and one accidental motorway junction undoes the whole exercise.
Two useful specifics. The vignette also covers the motorway stretch through Liechtenstein, which has no vignette of its own. And speed rules run alongside: the Swiss motorway limit is 120 km/h, not the 130 of every neighbour, a habit worth resetting at the border; our guide to speed limits in Switzerland covers the details and the famously income-scaled fines.
Tunnels, Car Trains and Every Other Paid Crossing
This is where Switzerland is more generous than its neighbours, and where the exceptions bite hardest because drivers assume a pattern that does not exist. The full map of what costs extra is short enough to learn in two minutes, and knowing it is the difference between a smooth alpine crossing and an unplanned CHF 40 of fares.
Included: Gotthard and San Bernardino
The two great north-south tunnels on the A2 and A13 carry no extra toll: the vignette covers them entirely. When Gotthard queues stretch for hours in summer, the San Bernardino route is the same vignette and zero additional cost.
Separate: two tunnels, four car trains
Only two road tunnels in the whole country charge their own toll, both on the Italian frontier. The four alpine car trains are railways with their own fares, and in winter several of them are the only way through, because the passes above them close.
The Two Toll Tunnels
We do not sell these crossings; the operators charge at the portal or online, and the figures below are their 2026 car rates, worth checking against the operator before a trip.
| Crossing | Route | Car, one way | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great St Bernard tunnel | Martigny to Aosta (Italy), E27 | CHF 37 | Open year-round while the pass above closes in winter; the discounted return ticket stays valid for 30 days. |
| Munt la Schera tunnel | Zernez / Ova Spin to Livigno (Italy) | from CHF 15 to 35, typically around 21 | Single-lane with alternating traffic; the price moves with season and day of the week, and return tickets are reusable within their validity. Booths take francs, euros and cards. |
The Four Alpine Car Trains
The Autoverlad is Switzerland's habit of putting your car on a train through a mountain. It feels exotic once and routine the second time: drive on, stay seated, drive off 15 to 20 minutes later. The fares below are the operators' 2026 one-way car rates.
| Line | Route | Car, one way | Journey |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vereina (RhB) | Klosters-Selfranga to Sagliains (Engadin) | CHF 28 Mon to Thu, CHF 31 Fri to Sun (CHF 29 online) | ~18 min |
| Lötschberg (BLS) | Kandersteg to Goppenstein (Valais) | CHF 28 weekdays, CHF 31 weekends (CHF 29 online) | ~15 min |
| Simplon (BLS) | Brig to Iselle (Italy) | CHF 27 (CHF 25 online) | ~20 min |
| Furka (MGB) | Realp to Oberwald | CHF 36 summer, CHF 41 winter (CHF 39.50 online) | ~15 min |
The winter logic matters more than the price: when the Furka, Lötschberg and Flüela passes close under snow, the car train below each of them is not an alternative but the route. Vignette maths stays untouched either way, since the trains are railways and sit entirely outside the toll system.
Anything Else? Almost Nothing
The Lake Constance car ferry between Romanshorn and Friedrichshafen charges its own fare as a floating border crossing to Germany, and a handful of small private alpine access roads collect a few francs at a barrier. That is the complete list: Switzerland's public bridges and mountain passes are free, and no city charges a congestion fee. One vignette, two tunnels, four trains, one ferry, and you have priced the entire country.
Crossing into Switzerland
Switzerland is in Schengen but not the EU customs union, so borders keep staffed customs posts even without passport queues, and vignette checks concentrate exactly there. Every land neighbour hands you onto a vignette road within the first kilometres.
From Germany
Basel is the classic entry: the German A5 becomes the Swiss A2, and customs officers at Basel-Weil am Rhein have checked vignettes for decades. Germany itself has no vignette, so this border is where most northern Europeans meet the system for the first time; our guide to speed limits in Germany covers the other direction.
From France
Geneva and Basel-St-Louis carry most French traffic, feeding the A1 and A2. France runs pay-per-distance péage rather than a vignette, so nothing paid on the autoroute covers Switzerland.
From Italy
Chiasso connects the Italian A9 to the Swiss A2 towards the Gotthard. The alternative western crossing through the Great St Bernard tunnel combines the separate tunnel toll with the vignette requirement on the Swiss side; our guide to speed limits in Italy covers the autostrada leg.
From Austria
St. Margrethen and Diepoldsau link the Austrian A14 to the Swiss A13, with the Liechtenstein corridor in between covered by the Swiss vignette. Austria's own toll sticker stops at the border, and the two systems ignore each other; our guide to speed limits in Austria covers that side.
Fines and Enforcement
Enforcement is exactly where you would expect from Switzerland: methodical. Customs staff check at the borders, police check inland, and the e-vignette is verified against the plate database electronically.
The fine
CHF 200, plus the obligation to buy the vignette on the spot. An improperly mounted sticker, taped or resting on the dashboard, counts as no vignette at all.
The maths
The fine is five times the vignette, settled before you drive on. There is no version of skipping the Swiss vignette that ends cheaper than buying it.
Not being in the EU cuts no slack
EU cross-border fine enforcement does not apply to Switzerland, but that helps nobody: checks happen in person, fines are collected on the spot, and an unpaid case can resurface the next time the same plate enters the country.
Where Can You Buy the Swiss Vignette?
Every official channel issues the same vignette at the same state-set price, so the difference is format and convenience.
The e-vignette with an English checkout in under three minutes: plate registered, confirmation by email, valid before you reach the border. No sticker to collect, nothing to glue.
The same purchase from your phone, on iOS and Android. Buy it at the fuel stop before Basel or Chiasso and cross covered.
The federal customs authority sells the e-vignette and handles the PSVA for heavy vehicles on its own portal.
The sticker survives here: border crossings, Swiss petrol stations, post offices and foreign automobile clubs sell it over the counter. It works, but it queues like the border it is sold at, and gluing it correctly is on you.
A caution the Swiss SERP makes necessary: several commercial sites style themselves as "the official" vignette shop. The state sets one price and one register; judge any seller, us included, by whether it names the real system and adds honest value on top, not by the word official in a domain name.
How to Buy Your Switzerland Vignette Online
Select your vehicle type
Car, motorcycle, or trailer. Towing a caravan? That is two purchases, one per plate, and buying them together takes a minute longer, not a second trip.
Enter the licence plate and registration country
Exactly as printed, capital letters and digits, no spaces or hyphens. The country matters as much as the characters: the same plate text from a different country is a different vehicle.
Check the vignette year
The current season runs to 31 January. From early December the next season goes on sale, so late-year buyers should confirm which year the trip actually falls in.
Pay by credit card
Confirmation and a PDF receipt arrive by email within minutes, and the plate is registered. There is no start date to pick and nothing to activate.
Nothing goes on the windscreen and nothing is posted. Border officers and police read the plate against the register.
How to Check That Your Vignette Is Valid
E-vignette: query the official register
The Via portal can confirm whether a plate carries a valid e-vignette, with one Swiss twist: the lookup works only for vignettes marked "publicly viewable" at purchase. If you bought it yourself, your email confirmation is the primary proof either way.
Sticker: read the glass
The year is printed in large figures. Check it is the current season and actually glued to the windscreen: a sticker taped in place fails inspection.
Rental cars: Swiss yes, foreign maybe
Cars rented in Switzerland virtually always carry a valid annual vignette. Rentals picked up in Germany, France or Italy often do not, and the fine lands on the driver, so check before the border rather than at it.
Keep the confirmation to hand
The PDF settles any dispute at a customs check in seconds, especially for a vignette bought minutes earlier in the border queue.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a vignette for Switzerland?
If you will touch a motorway or expressway with any vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes, yes. That covers practically every route across the country, including the Basel to Chiasso transit and the approaches to the Gotthard.
Is there a weekly or monthly Swiss vignette?
No. Switzerland sells a single annual vignette and nothing shorter. Even a one-day transit needs it, which is precisely why the fine-versus-vignette gamble never pays.
How long is the Swiss vignette valid?
Fourteen months: from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the year after the printed year. Every vignette covers the same fixed season regardless of when you buy it.
Does my trailer or caravan need its own vignette?
Yes. Switzerland charges per unit, so the towing car and the trailer each need one. This is the rule that most often surprises drivers arriving from Germany.
Do motorcycles need a Swiss vignette?
Yes, one per motorcycle, at the same price as a car. Switzerland has no motorcycle exemption of the kind Bulgaria or Romania offer.
Does the vignette cover the Gotthard tunnel?
Yes, completely. The Gotthard and San Bernardino tunnels carry no extra toll. Only the Great St Bernard tunnel to Italy and the Munt la Schera tunnel charge separately, and the alpine car trains sell their own tickets.
Do I need a separate vignette for Liechtenstein?
No. The Swiss vignette covers the motorway through Liechtenstein, which has no system of its own.
Can I transfer my vignette to another car?
No. The e-vignette is bound to the plate and registration country; the sticker is bound to the windscreen it is glued to. A new car means a new vignette, with one exception: if a windscreen is replaced, the customs authority replaces the sticker.
Is a vignette included with my rental car?
Rentals registered in Switzerland almost always include the annual vignette. Rentals picked up in a neighbouring country usually do not, and crossing the border uncovered is the classic rental fine.
Are electric cars exempt in Switzerland?
No. There is no EV exemption or discount: every vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes pays the same, whatever powers it.
Can I cross Switzerland without a vignette?
Legally yes, by keeping to cantonal roads, but the detour turns a three-hour transit into a full-day drive through towns and passes, and a single motorway junction taken by habit costs CHF 200 plus the vignette. As a plan, it fails more often than it works.
Which website is the official Swiss vignette site?
The state sells through the federal Via portal (via.admin.ch), in the customs authority's name. Vignetim registers your plate in the same official system at the state-set rate, with an English checkout, email confirmation and support, and no site outside the federal administration is "the official" one, whatever its domain says.
