Switzerland. Motorway Toll Charge! What?

Vignette. Does it say anything to you? Well, Vignette is a name for toll stickers in many non-English speaking countries and Switzerland is one of those. All the cars and motorcycles driving on Swiss Motorways are required to have a Vignette. It costs 40 CHF (Swiss Francs) which was something around £23. Vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes or less must buy 1 Vignette, but if you are with trailer or caravan you will need 2 separate stickers. The validity is printed on the motorway vignette. The sticker must be attached to the windscreen where it can be easily seen from outside. Unattached stickers are not valid. The design of a sticker is very smart so it can't be removed without destroying it. We had got a purple sticker with 4 numbers - 09 and below 10. It had many circles cut into it so it definitely can't be removed as a whole piece. And if you are not sure of where to stick it, it has an example on the sticker.

The vignette can be purchased at the customs-stop and at every petrol station. Be prepared to pay cash for it at the custom-stop as they do not accept cards! And if you pay for the Vignette with Euros you will get Swiss Francs in change. If they caught you without one on the motorway you will be asked to pay a fine of 100 CHF plus 40 CHF for your Vignette! So it means if you are lucky you may save 140 CHF. :) A friend of mine lives in Zurich for a year now and she has never been asked or stopped for one. So as I said if you are lucky but better think twice!

I never really traveled by car further than 300 miles away from home and planning a trip this year I decided that it may be quite interesting to use a car instead of plain with Europe trip! Just imagine, 2 weeks in a car through the central Europe - intriguing? Well, I thought - yes and thousand more times yes! So I shared my idea with my partner and 4 months later we are entering the Swiss border BY CAR.

When we have been passing by the custom-stop, we have seen two men chatting to each other. They looked at us but never asked to stop. I have been thinking that maybe they will ask to do so because we didn't have Vignette on the windscreen, and it was clear that we came from Britain. However, no, no one informed us about the motorway pass there. I have seen a sigh far on the right side saying something about buying Vignette at the custom-stop as we been passing by. I can't remember if it was in German or English... I can't even explain why we didn't ask them ourselves!

Anyway we have been now in Switzerland thinking about buying one at the first petrol station. I would like to warn you that if you are making your way from Germany to Bern and using A2 then it will take you a while to get to the Petrol station. There are some places to rest with toilet facilities and cafes, but they do not sell Vignette! We spent about half an hour stressing until we finally got to the first petrol station and bought one. Likely, no one stopped us on the motorway :).

The view that nature opens for you while you are driving on the motorway is gorgeous! The coniferous forests present its grace and imperturbability. Probably, that is why other countries compare their forests with Swiss, and it has such a great value. If you will see fields it makes you to think of Britain. Britain rears sheep when Switzerland breeds cows. Cows are everywhere! And tunnels! There are so many! We have been probably to 4 or 5 just on our way to Bern. Incredible! And then as closer you are to Bern as more you can enjoy the view of Alps.

So think of Vignette when traveling to Switzerland by vehicle!