Driving in Switzerland

The licence plates you will see on the road in Switzerland, how to read them, and what a car from abroad needs.

Speed limits

Default limits for cars, unless signs say otherwise, as on the signs at border crossings.

In towns: 50 km/h
Outside towns: 80 km/h
Expressways: 100 km/h
Motorways: 120 km/h

Before you drive

Vignette and tolls: Motorways and expressways need a vignette, sold only for a whole year (CHF 40). It comes as a windscreen sticker, also sold at petrol stations in neighbouring countries, or since August 2023 as an e-vignette registered to the plate number, from via.admin.ch.

Rules and prices change. Check the official site before you travel.

Country code

Cars registered here show the country code CH. Abroad, the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic asks for it at the rear of the car: on a white oval sticker, or as part of the plate. A car from abroad shows its own country code at the rear in the same way.

Reading the plates

Plates carry an area code that shows where the car was registered: 26 codes across 26 cantons. For example:

AG 123456

Area codes on the map All area codes

Plates you will see

ZH 123456
Standard · Current

Special plates

CD GE 12 345
Diplomatic · Current

Older plates still on the road

A 12345
Government · Until 2003

Plate formats and history of Switzerland