Switzerland on an Aussie Licence — The CHF 40 Vignette & the Side Switch

Switzerland surprises Australians twice before they’ve even left the car park. The first surprise is a sticker, the second is the side of the road — and getting either wrong costs real money.

Start with the sticker, because it catches people on day one. Switzerland charges a single annual motorway vignette of CHF 40 to use its motorways — there are no per-trip tolls, so the vignette is the toll. Buy it at the border, a post office, or online as an e-vignette before you join the first motorway. Drive a motorway without one and you’re looking at a CHF 200 penalty plus the price of the vignette anyway. Our Switzerland vignette guide walks through where to buy and how the e-vignette ties to your numberplate.

The second adjustment is the one that needs your full attention: Australia drives on the left, Switzerland on the right. The danger window is your first hour — pulling out of the rental lot, joining a roundabout that now flows clockwise the other way, the reflex glance to the wrong side at a junction. Take that first stretch on quiet roads, not into Zürich traffic, and be deliberate at every turn until right-hand driving stops feeling backwards. Bring your International Driving Permit with the licence and passport; rental desks expect it.

Once you’re moving, the numbers are tighter than home. Towns are 50 km/h, open roads 80, motorways 120, and Switzerland enforces with one of Europe’s densest camera networks plus serious mountain-pass patrols. A 10 km/h overshoot runs about CHF 120, and the penalty scale climbs steeply above that — the speeding fine calculator shows how fast. The drink-drive limit is 0.05, stricter than several Australian states’ enforcement culture, so keep it to one drink or none.

For the mountain passes, drop a gear rather than ride the brakes downhill, and check whether your route needs winter tyres in the cold months. Petrol is about $1.92/litre, and 112 reaches all services. The full local ruleset sits on our Switzerland driving guide.