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Switzerland is another brilliant country for bikers. The roads are absolutely magnificent - well surfaced and brilliantly engineered, particularly in the high Alp passes. The Swiss more than anyone else obey the traffic laws and lane discipline is the best I have ever come across. However the Swiss police miss nothing. Filtering is illegal - the last time I was there we filtered through a 5ml traffic jam passing dozens of Swiss and German bikers and none followed us, they just sat there, (mind you - we didn’t know it was illegal at the time). The speed cameras in the towns are hidden in concrete boxes that look like litter bins and apparently, according to an English guy we met while we were there, who has lived in Switzerland for 14yrs, if you do get flashed by a camera the police keep it on file and the next time you enter Switzerland they could well check and stick you with all the speeding fines from your previous visit. On the plus side we met dozens of bikers and they were all friendly, we were welcomed wherever we went.

If you go to Switzerland take some time to ride as many of the high Alp passes as you can - the scenery is absolutely stunning. Some of the passés could still be snowbound right up until the end of May but most of them will have signs stating whether they are open or not. We were there in mid June and the weather was blistering, between 28 and 32 degrees, (but dropping off to around 5 degrees on some of the very high passes -( see photo right). There are many lakes each with some beautiful towns and villages that are well worth stopping at. Hotels can be very expensive but we were lucky and met an English guy who was part-time manager for a hotel in the small town of Weggis on the shores of Lake Lucerne, (see link for Budget Hotel Weggis), which by comparison was very cheap, (approx. £16/night per person B & B). Weggis is extremely well placed to reach several of the more popular high Alp passes and the Gotthard Pass/Tunnel which is one of the main routes over the Alps and into Italy is only about an hour away.

One useful fact to note is that although the currency is the Swiss Franc (SF), virtually everywhere will accept Euros so it is only really necessary to have a small amount of SF for emergencies etc. Much to our surprise we found that the price of fuel in Switzerland to be far less than expected. Considering that Switzerland in general is reputed to be one of the most expensive of the European countries fuel turned out to be cheap. We paid between 60 and 65p/litre which is a lot cheaper than home. One point to note, to save any unpleasant surprises, is when entering Switzerland by the normal entry/exit points you will need to purchase a “Road Tax Vignette” which allows you to use the roads for 12 months. You may think that this is a bit unfair as we don’t charge foreign nationals to use the roads in Britain, but when you see some of the roads in Switzerland and the engineering that went into them you soon realize that it is well worth it. It is possible to avoid this cost if you enter by some of the less well used border crossings but we have been informed that you may well be stopped later on and be denied the right to travel further until you have paid.

Click on link below for Photos and info on Switzerland 2006

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