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Switzerland

Night ban every day between 22:00 and 05:00, plus a ban on Sundays and public holidays, from 3.5 t. It is the lowest weight threshold in western Europe.

Applies to: Goods vehicles over 3.5 t ·Updated on 23 October 2026

When you cannot drive

  • Night ban

    Every day, 22:00 → 05:00

    It applies across the whole network, not only on designated roads.

  • Sundays and public holidays

    All day

    The list of holidays with a ban is closed and federal (art. 91 ff. of the Traffic Rules Ordinance): New Year, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Ascension, Whit Monday, 1 August, Christmas and 26 December. Cantonal law may only remove days from that list, never add to it.

Most common exemptions

  • Special permits for urgent and perishable loads, on prior application
  • Emergency, rescue and public service vehicles

Exemptions vary from country to country and almost always depend on paperwork on board proving what the load is.

Planning notes

Switzerland is the case where the weight threshold changes everything: the night and Sunday bans apply from 3.5 tonnes, which catches vehicles that would run unrestricted in France or Germany.

Add the 40-tonne gross weight limit and the LSVA, charged by the kilometre, and the crossing stops being just a question of timing: it becomes a cost decision. Many operators prefer to go around through Austria or France even with more kilometres.

As a non-EU country, customs formalities are compulsory — including in simple transit. Counting only road time and forgetting border time is the classic mistake of a first Swiss crossing.

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