A waterfall falling from a cliff into the green Lauterbrunnen valley in the Bernese Oberland
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Switzerland by campervan

There is no national rule on sleeping in a campervan in Switzerland. Twenty six cantons and around two thousand communes decide it between them, and the sign at the car park is the answer. Everything else you need before you cross: the vignette, the weight that changes your tax, the passes that shut, and why your phone bill is about to jump.

Published 18 September 2026Last checked 18 September 2026

Basics

Basics

Switzerland has four national languages and none of them is called Swiss. German, French, Italian and Romansh are all national languages under the Federal Constitution, and which one you need depends on the valley you are in. German runs across the centre and the east, French across the west, Italian in Ticino. English is widely spoken in tourist places and almost never on a road sign.

A wooden chalet with green shutters and flowered balconies below a cliff with a high waterfall
Tap water is drinking water here, and the valleys are full of it

The roaming trap, and what to do about it

  • An EU SIM does not roam at home rates in Switzerland. Roam-like-at-home covers travel inside the EU and the EEA. Switzerland is in neither.
  • BAKOM, the federal communications office, says retail roaming prices could only be regulated under an international agreement on wholesale prices, and that no such agreement is in place.

Power, water and the Sunday

  • 230V, type J sockets. The Swiss pattern. A two-pin europlug fits. A German or French Schuko plug normally does not.
  • Tap water is drinking water across the country, and so are most village and mountain fountains. One that is not carries a sign.

Switzerland is in Schengen but not in the EU, which means there is no passport control at the border and there is still a customs border. What you carry in has value and quantity limits, and they are low enough to matter when you are stocking a van.

Common questions about Switzerland by campervan

Can you sleep in a campervan in Switzerland?

There is no national rule either way. No federal statute bans sleeping inside a parked vehicle and none permits it, so the answer comes from the canton, the commune and the sign at the car park. One night in a legal parking space with nothing set up outside is widely tolerated. Obwalden is the one canton whose law says so directly: its Camping Act bans camping outside an authorised site but allows a single overnight stay without a permit if no public or private interests are harmed.

Is wild camping legal in Switzerland?

No, not as camping. Free camping and bivouacking are banned outright in the federal hunting ban districts under the federal hunting districts ordinance, and cantons add their own bans in protected areas, such as Bern's wildlife protection areas. Uri applies a fixed penalty of 150 francs for camping in a protected zone. Sleeping inside a legally parked vehicle with nothing deployed outside is a different thing and is treated differently.

How much is the Swiss motorway vignette in 2026?

Forty Swiss francs. The amount is set in the National Roads Charge Act and covers national roads of the first and second class for a calendar year. It is valid from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the following year, so one sticker covers fourteen months. You can buy it as a windscreen sticker or as an e-vignette registered against your number plate. Driving a national road without it carries a 200 franc fine, and a trailer needs its own vignette.

Does a motorhome over 3.5 tonnes need a Swiss vignette?

No. Vehicles subject to the heavy vehicle charge do not pay the vignette at all. A motorhome over 3,500 kg pays the flat rate heavy vehicle charge instead, and unlike the vignette that charge applies to the whole road network, not just motorways. A foreign vehicle owes it for every day it is in Switzerland even when it is only parked, for example on a campsite. It is bought by the day up to 30 days, by the month or by the year, with a minimum payment of 25 francs, and travelling without proof costs 100 francs plus the charge.