Switzerland on an Irish Licence — The Side Switch & a CHF 40 Vignette

An Irish licence is all the paperwork Switzerland asks for. The requirements that matter are on the road: the other side, the vignette and a speeding scale that reads very differently from Ireland’s.

Can you drive there from Ireland?

Yes, but not in one go. Ireland has no land border, so the trip means a ferry crossing and a long drive through other countries. Most Irish visitors fly in and pick up a hire car, which makes the rental rules below more relevant than the border ones.

Licence, papers and the triangle

Swiss rules accept a valid foreign licence without an IDP when its categories are in Latin script. Keep the licence with your passport and the vehicle documents. A warning triangle is required in the car, whereas Ireland only recommends one. A hire car should include it, but check.

Ireland left, Switzerland right

The first hour is the risky one. You pull out of the hire lot, enter a roundabout that turns anticlockwise, and look the wrong way at a junction. On a Swiss roundabout you give way to traffic coming from the left. Take the first leg on quiet roads before you meet city traffic, and say each turn aloud until it comes naturally.

The vignette instead of tolls

Swiss motorways have no toll booths. You need a CHF 40 vignette, either as a windscreen sticker or as an e-vignette registered to the number plate. It runs from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the following year, so a vignette bought in autumn covers you well into the next year. Buy before the first motorway slip road. Driving a motorway without one is a CHF 200 fixed fine. A car hired in Switzerland should already be covered, while one collected across the border may not be. The Switzerland vignette guide shows where to buy.

Limits and fines against Irish ones

The Swiss rural limit of 80 will feel slower than an Irish national road. Fines are fixed by band:

• 1-5 km/h over: CHF 40 in town, CHF 40 rural, CHF 20 on a motorway
• 6-10 km/h over: CHF 120 in town, CHF 100 rural, CHF 60 on a motorway
• 11-15 km/h over: CHF 250 in town, CHF 160 rural, CHF 120 on a motorway
• 16-20 km/h over: no fixed ticket in town, CHF 240 rural, CHF 180 on a motorway

Beyond these bands the case goes to court and the fine becomes income-based. Ireland’s equivalent is a EUR 160 fixed charge with 3 penalty points for 10 over, so a Swiss fine is not always bigger, but it is faster to climb into criminal territory. Test your own speed in the speeding fine calculator.

Switzerland also has the Raser rule: going more than 40 over where the limit is 30, 50 over where it is 50, 60 over where it is 80, or 80 over above that can mean 1 to 4 years in prison, and the car can be confiscated.

Other fines and alcohol

Red light CHF 250, phone CHF 100, no seatbelt CHF 60. The general alcohol limit is 0.05%, same as Ireland. Ireland’s lower 0.02% for learner and novice drivers has a Swiss counterpart of 0.01% for probationary licence holders.

Collecting a hire car in Switzerland

Before you leave the depot, look at the windscreen for the vignette sticker or ask for confirmation that an e-vignette is registered to the plate. Photograph the car all round, confirm the triangle is in the boot, and set your sat-nav to avoid unfamiliar city centres on the first day. Keep your Irish licence in the car beside your passport, because the fixed fines above are often settled on the spot with the police.

Emergencies

112 works, as at home, and Switzerland also has direct lines: police 117, fire 118, ambulance 144. See the Switzerland driving guide for regional detail.

Sources

• Swiss federal ordinance on vehicle and driver admission (VZV, SR 741.51), Article 42, on foreign licences: fedlex.admin.ch
• Swiss fixed-penalty ordinance (OBV, SR 314.11): speeding tariff and the CHF 200 fine for a missing vignette: fedlex.admin.ch
• BAZG, the Swiss customs authority, on the e-vignette and the adhesive vignette (CHF 40 price and validity period): bazg.admin.ch
• WHO road safety report 2023, Switzerland profile, for limits of 50, 80 and 120 km/h and alcohol limits: who.int
• WHO road safety report 2023, Ireland profile, for the 0.05 and 0.02 limits: who.int
• Global Affairs Canada travel advice for Switzerland, for the emergency numbers 112, 117 and 144: travel.gc.ca