We always dreamt about a road trip through Switzerland. Our previous visits to Switzerland were always focused on the Saas valley (still one of our favorite places in Switzerland by the way). But we knew the country had much more to offer. So after a canceled flight to Tenerife, we impulsively drove our little camper to Switzerland. We had a week for driving (a part of) the Grand Tour of Switzerland. It felt like someone hand-picked all the best mountain passes, lakes, and picture-perfect villages and stitched them into one epic journey!
Because we left quite unprepared, we learned a lot of things on the road. In this post, we’ll be sharing the practical tips and advice we wish we knew before starting the Grand Tour. Whether you’re traveling by camper or car, we promise these tips will help you make the most of your Switzerland road trip.
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Table of Contents
What is the Grand Tour of Switzerland?
Before we dive into our tips, let us give you some more information about the Grand Tour of Switzerland. The Grand Tour is a fully mapped, officially curated road trip that connects the country’s most beautiful regions. We saw it as Switzerland’s greatest hits album, but instead of songs, we got lakes, mountain passes, cute villages and delicious chocolate stops. All the information about the Grand Tour of Switzerland can be found on their official website, but let us share the basics with you:
- The total distance of the Grand Tour of Switzerland is around 1.600 kms. But distances can vary based on the detours you take or the season you are traveling in.
- There are 8 official stages and each stage covers a specific region.
- We recommend taking your time to drive the route. We feel that you need at least 10 to 14 days but honestly, you could spend three weeks and still feel like you missed things.
- Highlights along the way are the 5 Alpine passes, 22 lakes, 12 UNESCO World Heritage sites, and the many viewpoints marked with red photo-spot signs.
- The Grand Tour of Switzerland also has a very user-friendly app with a navigation tool, information about the different stages and viewpoints and the highlights and activities along the route. Although there are many signs along the route, the app is an additional and recommended help to navigate the road.
Flying into Switzerland? Then we suggest to rent a car through Discovercars.com, with free cancellation and insurance included. Discovercars is a world leader in comparing prices and guarantees the best rates. It is our go-to rental search engine when traveling and we never had any bad experiences!
Read more: The best things to see and do in Basel
Info about the stages of the Grand Tour (and why they don’t equal days)
We had one week to explore the Grand Tour. When we first looked at the map, we saw the stages and assumed that one stage per day would be perfect doable. But we quickly realized that one stage does not equal one day. The first days we were trying to force it and ended up rushing through some of the best parts of the country. So we do recommend to take your time! The beauty of this road trip is that you can make it as relaxed or as adventurous as you want.
In fact, each stage of the Grand Tour is a regional section of the route, and they vary a lot. Some stages have long, easy lake drives, whereas others have hairpin turns and high-altitude passes that demand slow speeds and take time. Some stages of the Grand Tour are packed with activities like cable cars, hikes and viewpoints. Other stages are more about scenic driving.
So based on our experience, we recommend to keep the following things in mind:
- Plan your days by time, not by distance. A navigation app can give you a good estimation of the time you will need to get from A to B. You’ll quickly realize that a 70 km mountain stretch can take as long as a 150 km valley drive.
- If you want to do activities along the way, keep in mind that these add hours. Cable cars, hikes, city visit, museums, … take longer than you think.
- Weather can change plans. Fog, rain, or snow at higher altitudes may slow you down or force you to take detours.
- Realize you don’t have to follow the official stage boundaries. Break them up however fits your interests and travel pace.
Once we let go of the idea of “finishing a stage”, our trip instantly became more enjoyable. We realized we would never be able to drive the entire Grand Route in one week, but we just decided we would come back to drive the second part another time.
Tip 1 – Do not underestimate the driving times
So our first tip is to not underestimate the driving times and the times you need to visit highlights along the route.
Our other practical tips for the Grand Tour of Switzerland
Tip 2 – Be flexible in your journey
The above already explains why you need to be flexible. Along the way, you’ll encounter plenty of viewpoints, nice villages you weren’t planning to visit (but they look so cute so you have to stop anyway), sudden weather changes or roadworks. So your planned itinerary may be rewritten almost daily. When you leave space in your schedule, you get to enjoy every moment, without panicking you won’t get to that place in time. Also keep in mind that depending on the season, some mountain passes might not be open (yet) so you might have to adapt your route sometimes.
Tip 3 – Buy the Grand Tour snack box
If there’s one thing we didn’t expect to love as much as we did on the Grand Tour of Switzerland, it’s was the red Grand Tour snack box. Filling up this box became one of our favorite parts of the day and is was an easy way to keep our trip a bit budget friendly whilst still be able to taste local specialties.
The snack box is a small red lunchbox that you can pick up at many partner locations along the Grand Tour route. You pay once for the box (CHF 25) and then you can refill it with local specialties at shops, bakeries or farms. The exact locations can be found in the Grand Tour app. Every fill-up costs CHF 20 and your box is then filled with regional treats like cheese, dried sausage, chocolate, nuts, or small pastries.
We thought it was real fun to fill up our box. It was always a surprise which delicacies were in the box. This way we could taste some of the most famous cheeses of Switzerland, like Gruyère, Emmental and Appenzeller (definitely our favorite!). A picnic with our snack box was budget friendly and we did support local producers. So, if you love simple food, scenic lunches, and discovering local flavors, make sure to add the snack box to your Grand Tour experience.
Tip 4 – Buy a Swiss highway vignette upfront
Even though the route of the Grand Tour of Switzerland is designed to take you along the most beautiful roads in the country, you’ll sometimes will have to use the highway at some point. But keep in mind that as soon if your wheels touch a Swiss highway, you must have a vignette.
This vignette is basically a version of a highway toll. The cost for a vignette is CHF 40 and it is valid for one calendar year. You can get a physical vignette at gas stations, post offices, borders, … It is a small sticker you put on your windshield. We bought an online vignette, that was linked to our license plate. You can buy your online sticker on this website and the process is pretty straightforward.
Tip 5 – Consider the Swiss Travel Pass
This might sound a little bit strange for a road trip guide, but the Swiss Travel Pass can be a game-changer on the Grand Tour of Switzerland. Especially if you are planning to mix driving with cable cars, boat rides, scenic trains, and museum visits.
We noticed that individual tickets quickly add up. The cable cars in Switzerland aren’t really cheap and on the Grand Tour, you’ll be tempted by all of them: the Jungfrau Region, the Stoos Ridge Hike, Gornergrat… They are all cable cars with stunning views. And that is when the Swiss Travel Pass becomes interesting. The Pass includes unlimited travel on trains, buses, and boats, free travel on many mountain railways and discounts on others, free entry to more than 500 museums.
We didn’t knew about the existence of this Pass, until we met other road trippers who said the Swiss Travel Pass saved them hundreds of Swiss francs. Especially for families or anyone planning multiple excursions, the Swiss Travel Pass is worth its money.
Our tip is to list the activities you want to do beforehand and calculate the ticket prices. If you’re planning at least 3 to 4 major mountain excursions, we think the Pass becomes very attractive.
Tip 6. Learn the meaning of the colors of the parking zones
One thing we learned very quickly on the Grand Tour of Switzerland is the colors of the different parking zones. We didn’t want to accidentally end up with a fine that costed more than our whole snack box budget!
Blue zones
Blue zones confused us at first, but they are actually pretty simple:
- You need a parking disc (“Parkscheibe”), which you set to your arrival time. You can buy these discs for example at a gas station. Most rental cars do have a disc inside.
- Most of the time, the general rules are that you can park from Monday to Saturday between 8:00 and 19:00 for free. During these hours you can park only for a specific amount of time. In the nighttime you often can stay longer.
These blue zones are super useful for quick stops in villages or towns.
White Zones
White lines are the easiest to understand:
- Free or paid public parking
- Time limits vary, there is always a sign indicating how much time you can stay here.
- Sometimes you need a ticket from a machine
We always checked the signs closely. Sometimes it’s free at lunch, paid in the afternoon, or free overnight. It all depends on the place you are parking.
Yellow Zones
Yellow means no-go. These spots are private, reserved for locals, businesses, or official vehicles. Parking here almost always leads to a fine.
So bottom line, if you learn the colors, check the signs, and don’t take chances with yellow zones, you’ll be totally fine (-free).
Tip 7 – Research mountain pass openings
If there’s one thing that will make or break parts of your Grand Tour of Switzerland, it’s whether the mountain passes are actually open. Switzerland has some of the most beautiful drives in Europe, but many of the iconic passes, like the Furka, Grimsel, or Gotthard are closed parts of the year. We traveled in November, and although most passes were closed, we did find some passes, like the Bernina pass, open
You can finds more information about the passes on the official website, but also the The Grand Tour of Switzerland app also gives alerts and info.
Tip 8 – Don’t worry about toilets, there are plenty of clean, free toilets in Switzerland
A huge thing we appreciate about Switzerland is that it has a lot of clean, free public toilets. It sounds like a small detail, but when you’re on a road trip (especially vanlife style), it can make a huge difference.
Most of them are free and extremely clean. We even started joking that Switzerland might be the “public toilet capital of Europe,” simply because the convenience was that good. For a country that is famous for being efficient and organized, the toilet situation is yet another example!
Tip 9 – Bring a reusable water bottle
If there’s one thing Switzerland absolutely nails (besides mountain views, chocolate and public toilets), it is the drinking water. We’re honest when we say it might be the best tap water we’ve ever tasted.
Switzerland is full of public fountains, especially in villages and towns, and most of them are completely safe to drink from. The water is cold, fresh, and often coming straight from mountain sources. So you will use that reusable water bottle plenty of times.
Most fountains with running water are safe to drink unless there’s a “Kein Trinkwasser / Eau non potable / Non potabile” sign. If there’s no sign, you’re good to go.
To conclude…
After a week on the road, one thing became very clear to us: the Grand Tour of Switzerland was one of the best road trips we’ve ever done in Europe. With a little bit of preparation (and a snack box), this road trip is surprisingly doable and affordable, even if Switzerland has a reputation for being expensive. Small choices like filling up snacks, carrying a reusable water bottle, understanding parking rules, and planning flexible days can make a big difference, especially if you’re looking for a more budget-friendly road trip.
If there’s one thing we hope you take away from this guide, it’s this: don’t rush Switzerland! Leave room for detours, extra photo stops and longer lunches by the lake. Those things will make the best memories.
The Grand Tour gives you the framework for an unforgettable holiday. What you do with it, is up to you. And trust us, however you choose to drive it, it’s going to be unforgettable!
If you’re planning your own Switzerland road trip and have questions, feel free to reach out or share your experience. We’d love to hear how you make the Grand Tour your own.
Happy travels, Matthias & Mieke
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