Switzerland and Austria by motorhome: vignettes, limits and overnight rules

Switzerland and Austria sit side by side, but they treat motorhomes quite differently. Switzerland sells one national motorway vignette and puts heavier vehicles on a separate flat-rate fee; Austria sells time-limited vignettes, charges extra on some mountain sections and leaves camping rules to its nine federal states. Crossing from one to the other means switching systems at the border.

This article separates what could be checked on official or club pages in October 2026 from what you should confirm before departure. Where a statement is marked that way, treat it as a pointer, not a promise. Passes, tunnels and the Austrian winter-tyre rule are covered in our article on Alpine passes in a motorhome, so they appear here only briefly.

Switzerland: vignette and heavy-vehicle fee

For a motorhome up to 3.5 t the Swiss motorway vignette costs CHF 40 (€44.50 at ADAC). There are no short-term vignettes: the vignette is not limited to the calendar year: according to ch.ch, ÖAMTC and ADAC it is valid for 14 months, from 1 December of the previous year to 31 January of the following year. The e-vignette is bought through the official Via portal; ADAC warns that unofficial sites charge considerably more. A trailer up to 3.5 t needs its own vignette, even behind a heavier vehicle. Driving without one costs a CHF 200 fine according to ch.ch, and you must still buy the vignette; check the amount with the BAZG before you go.

Above 3.5 t the vignette no longer applies. According to the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security, heavy motorhomes and caravans pay the flat-rate heavy-vehicle fee (PSVA) instead. ADAC lists CHF 650 for one year, CHF 58.50 per month for one to eleven months and CHF 3.25 per day for one to thirty days, with a minimum of CHF 25 per payment. The fee applies on the whole road network, even while you are parked on a campsite, and is paid online via Via before entering; at a staffed border the proof is a customs-stamped form. The amounts come from ADAC, not from the customs office, so compare them with the official tariff pages before paying.

Swiss dimensions, weight and speed

TCS gives the Swiss maximums as 4.00 m height including load, 2.55 m width and 12.00 m length for motor vehicles. Up to 3.5 t a category B licence is enough; between 3.5 t and 7.5 t the page names category C1 or D1, and the limit refers to total weight, so check your licence before renting or buying a heavier vehicle. Speed limits are 50 km/h in towns, 80 km/h outside, 100 km/h on expressways and, on motorways, 120 km/h up to 3.5 t and 100 km/h above. What is confirmed is only that the Federal Council decided on 19 August 2026 to treat electric commercial vehicles up to 4.25 t total weight like delivery vans from 1 October 2026, according to electrive with up to 120 km/h; we could not confirm whether heavy electric motorhomes fall under it, so check before you go. Above 3.5 t you must also carry a wheel chock and a fire extinguisher.

Austria: vignette and tolls

In Austria a motorhome up to 3.5 t needs a vignette on motorways and expressways, as a sticker or a digital vignette tied to the number plate. According to oesterreich.gv.at, these prices have applied to cars and motorhomes up to 3.5 t since 1 December 2025: €106.80 for a year (valid 1 December 2025 to 31 January 2027), €32.00 for two months, €12.80 for 10 days and €9.60 for one day (digital only); ADAC gives the same amounts. A digital annual or two-month vignette bought online becomes valid at the earliest 18 days after purchase (withdrawal period); short-term vignettes can start immediately online, and at a sales point you can choose immediate validity. According to ADAC only the digital vignette will exist from 2027. Without a valid vignette you face a replacement toll and, if unpaid, proceedings with fines of €300 to €3,000. According to ADAC three sections are exempt: the A 1 from Walserberg to Salzburg-Nord, the A 12 from Kiefersfelden to Kufstein-Süd and the A 14 from Hörbranz to Hohenems; after Altach, navigation may route you onto vignette roads. Buy only from ASFINAG or its official sales points.

Some routes charge a separate toll that the vignette does not cover; according to ADAC in 2026 the Brenner (Innsbruck–Brenner) costs about €12.50 and the full Tauern route €15 per trip, the Arlberg tunnel €13. Check the operators’ current tariffs and the Alpine passes article. What decides GO-Maut is the technically permissible maximum mass (tzGm, registration certificate part I, field F.1): above 3.5 t the distance-based GO-Maut with a GO-Box replaces the vignette, according to ADAC by axles, emission class and CO₂ class. According to ADAC, motorhomes first registered before 1 December 2023, with a tzGm above 3.5 t and a permissible laden weight of at most 3.5 t (field F.2) are exempt until 31 January 2029 and keep paying the vignette; if first registered after that date or downrated, you may need a GO-Box. Have this checked with ASFINAG for your case. According to Austria’s tourist board, Austrian speed limits are 130 km/h on motorways, 100 km/h outside towns and 50 km/h in towns for cars and motorhomes up to 3.5 t unless a sign says otherwise; vehicles above 3.5 t have their own values, which we could not confirm, so check them beforehand.

Sleeping: parking is not camping

Switzerland has no single rule. TCS says there is no national rule for sleeping in motorhomes at rest areas and car parks, and that authority ultimately lies with the municipalities. Camping behaviour, meaning table, chairs or awning, is generally not allowed on car parks, rest stops or public roads, while a night in the vehicle is treated differently and sometimes tolerated. TCS’s cantonal overview, itself given without guarantee, lists Ticino as not allowing overnight parking, Nidwalden as allowing it only with the owner’s consent, Aargau as allowing one night in a public car park unless a sign forbids it, and Valais as requiring a building permit for camping outside approved sites, with supervisors issuing fines in some protected areas. Camping is prohibited in the Swiss National Park, in nature reserves, federal game reserves and wildlife rest zones. On private land you need the owner’s permission.

Austria regulates camping outside campsites in state law, so rules differ between Tyrol, Salzburg, Carinthia, Styria and the other states, and national parks such as Hohe Tauern have their own restrictions. We did not open the state laws and make no claim about specific rules or fines. The sensible approach is the same as in Switzerland: treat even a single night at a public car park as something to check with the municipality or tourist office, put out no awning or chairs, and use a campsite or a Stellplatz when in doubt.

Waste, gas and autumn

Empty grey water and the cassette toilet only at campsites, Stellplätze or dump stations, never at the roadside or in a stream. TCS points to wohnmobilland-schweiz.ch for Stellplätze and pincamp.ch for campsites. Many campsites close for winter in October or November, so check opening dates before you drive. We could not confirm gas rules for either country, such as exchange bottles and adapters, so check them before relying on a refill.

In autumn the equipment question matters. For Austria, Austria’s tourist board names a winter-tyre obligation from 1 November to 15 April (M+S tyres with more than 4 mm tread on all four wheels, or snow chains on at least two drive wheels); our article on Alpine passes has more. The TCS page does not cover winter equipment for Switzerland and we could not confirm a general rule, so check tyre and chain requirements with TCS or the cantonal police, especially if you plan to cross a pass. Many high passes close with the first snow, and the dates change every year.

Final checks

Before the border, buy the right vignette or register the heavy-vehicle fee, measure the vehicle as it travels with bikes and roof box, and compare it with 4.00 m, 2.55 m and 12.00 m. Decide where you will sleep, with a campsite booked for the first night after a long day. Look up pass and tunnel status, fill the tank and settle the winter-equipment question. If a rule is unclear, the municipality, the tourist office or the road operator will tell you faster than a forum.

Sources

• Swiss motorway vignette 2026 (ADAC)
• Schwerverkehrsabgabe LSVA/PSVA (Bundesamt für Zoll und Grenzsicherheit BAZG)
• Mit dem Wohnmobil unterwegs durch die Schweiz (TCS)
• Wild campen in der Schweiz (TCS)
• Vignette für Fahrzeuge bis 3,5 t (oesterreich.gv.at)
• Vignette und Maut in Österreich (ADAC)
• Mehr Wohnmobile brauchen die GO-Box (ADAC)
• Anreise mit Auto und Motorrad: Tempolimits, Winterreifen (Österreich Werbung)
• Autobahnvignette (ch.ch)
• Schweizer Autobahnvignette: Kosten und Gültigkeit (ÖAMTC)
• Bundesrat stärkt Attraktivität von E-Lieferwagen (ASTRA)
• Schweiz erleichtert Nutzung von E-Transportern mit 4,25 Tonnen (electrive)