Iceland for Swiss Drivers — IDP Advised, and the Highlands Are 4WD-Only
Switzerland
Iceland
Iceland keeps to the right like Switzerland, but its alcohol limit is 0.02, not 0.05. An IDP is advised beside your Swiss licence, and the F-roads are 4WD-only.
For Swiss drivers, two of the usual abroad worries don’t apply in Iceland. You stay on the right, exactly as at home, but the alcohol limit is 0.02 BAC, well below the Swiss 0.05, so the side of the road needs no relearning while the drink rule does. Sort one piece of paper before you fly: an International Driving Permit is recommended to carry next to your Swiss licence, since some rental desks ask for it and it costs little at home.
What does change is the terrain, and it changes hard. Iceland has no motorways. Your fastest legal speed is 90 km/h on paved rural roads (80 on gravel) and 50 km/h in towns — modest numbers, but the surface is the point. Long stretches off the ring road are gravel, often washboarded and narrowing to single-lane bridges at blind crests. This is closer to a high Alpine pass in feel than a Swiss autoroute, so carry speed like you would on a gravel mountain track, not a sealed one.
The hard line is the F-roads. Every route into the interior — Landmannalaugar, Askja, Kjölur — is signed F and is legally 4WD-only. Putting a 2WD rental on one voids your insurance instantly, and the unbridged river fords on those roads are excluded from every standard policy regardless of vehicle. If the highlands are your reason for coming, book a genuine 4x4 and check opening dates on road.is; many F-roads stay shut into late June.
Weather is the other variable. Conditions swing from sun to driving sleet and door-ripping crosswinds within an hour, faster than anything in the Swiss valleys. Read vedur.is and safetravel.is each morning and drop a day’s plan without hesitation if a route turns.
Speed cameras are common; a 10 km/h overrun is around ISK 10,000 (≈ €65). Fuel runs near $2.15/litre — fill at N1 or Orkan, not remote pumps — and 112 is the single emergency number, with signal vanishing in the interior. Check the full rules on our Iceland driving guide, confirm your paperwork with the Driving Permit Checker, and price any penalty with the Speeding Fine Calculator.
Speed limits, fines, equipment & license requirements
Your home country driving rules for reference
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Winter tyres in Iceland — 2026–27 season
Winter tyres are required in Iceland whenever conditions are wintry — No dated winter-tyre mandate; 1 Nov - 14 Apr: 3.0 mm tread on all tyres, studs permitted; snow/ice: chains or winter-pattern tyres.
- Legal winter tread minimum: 3 mm — not the 1.6 mm figure most guides quote, which is the year-round minimum.
- Accepted marking: No marking requirement — the law sets a tread-depth minimum, not a tyre type
- Studded tyres: allowed
In Icelandic the rule is vetrardekk, and snow chains are snjókeðjur — that is the wording on signs, in hire-car paperwork and on any penalty notice.
Checked against national legislation, 19 Jun 2026 · Full Iceland tyre law · Compare all countries
Frequently Asked Questions
An IDP is recommended alongside your Swiss licence. It is not always demanded, but some rental desks and police prefer to see one, and it costs little to arrange at home.
No. The highland F-roads are legally restricted to 4WD vehicles, and taking a 2WD car onto them voids most rental insurance. River crossings on those routes are never covered by standard policies.
It is 0.02 BAC, stricter than the Swiss 0.05. Enforcement is strict with fines and possible licence confiscation, so keep it at zero before driving.