Riding in Switzerland: vignette, speed and the passes

Switzerland isn't in the EU, but EU and UK licences are valid for visitors, and UK photocard holders don't need an International Driving Permit. UK-registered bikes need no green card: Switzerland is in the Green Card free circulation area, as the Motor Insurers’ Bureau confirms. Carry your registration document and insurance certificate. There are customs checks at the border, so know your allowances if you are carrying anything beyond personal kit.

Every motor vehicle and trailer up to 3.5 tonnes needs a vignette to use Swiss motorways and expressways, and that includes motorcycles. There is only one kind: an annual vignette, valid from 1 December of the year before the one shown to 31 January of the year after. There's no short-term option, so even a single day's transit needs the full one.

• The e-vignette is linked to your number plate and valid as soon as you buy it. Buy it on the federal Via portal run by the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security (BAZG); you need the vehicle category, country and plate.
• The sticker is linked to the vehicle it is stuck on, so it can't move with you to another bike.

Each bike in a group needs its own vignette. You don't need one on the passes or main roads, only on the motorways and expressways, but those are usually how you reach the passes from the border.

Road	Default limit
Built-up areas	50 km/h
Outside built-up areas	80 km/h
Expressways	100 km/h
Motorways	120 km/h

Swiss speeding penalties are among the toughest in Europe and rise steeply with the speed. Some pass roads have lower posted limits and regular checkpoints after crashes, so read the signs, especially on the way up the popular passes on a summer Sunday.

Filtering is not allowed. Swiss traffic law requires motorcyclists to keep their place in a queue when traffic comes to a stop, and weaving through a jam or overtaking in it is an offence. Police do fine riders on the spot for it.

Motorcycles also may not ride side by side in the same lane, so ride staggered or in single file. Overtaking in tunnels and across solid lines is treated severely.

The high passes close in winter. The Furka, Grimsel and Nufenen usually reopen in late May or June, and the Susten and the Great St Bernard often later. They close again with the first heavy snow, which can be early October or as late as mid-November. Some can close at night or for a day after a snowfall in summer. Check the current status with the TCS (Touring Club Switzerland) pass report or the canton's road service on the morning you ride.

Noise from bikes is a political issue on the popular passes. Ride with the standard silencer and keep revs sensible through villages, so the roads stay open to us.

Fuel is easy to find in the valleys and scarcer high up, so fill up before a pass day. Out of hours, many pumps are card-only; carry a card that works abroad. The season for the high passes is short: plan the big days for late June to mid-September and keep the lower roads around the lakes for spring and late autumn.

The classic Swiss day is a loop of three or four passes, and the Furka, Grimsel and Susten form the best-known one, around the Aare and Reuss valleys. Ride it clockwise or anticlockwise, but set off early: by late morning on a fine summer weekend the passes fill with cars, camper vans, coaches and cyclists, and the hairpins become a queue. Midweek in late June or early September, the same loop is a different ride.

Expect the temperature to fall fast with height. A warm valley at 600 m can mean near-freezing air on a pass at well over 2,000 m, and the tunnels and galleries on the approach roads are cold and dark even in August. Carry a warm layer and clear or light-tinted visor for the tunnels.

The yellow postbuses run on many pass roads and take the full width of the hairpins. Hold back on the approach to a blind bend, and when you hear the three-tone horn, stop and let it through. Cyclists are everywhere on the passes in summer; give them room on the climbs, where they weave, and expect them to be fast on the descents.

Speeds on the passes are modest in any case: the bends set the pace, and the Swiss rules don't reward pushing. Plan on far fewer kilometres a day than on open roads elsewhere, and leave time to stop at the tops.

From Calais, the usual line is down through France via Reims and Basel, about two days. Bring a Crit'Air sticker if you plan to ride through French low-emission zones on the way; most motorway routes skip them.

• Biker hotels in the Swiss Alps: bases for the Furka, Grimsel and Susten triangle.
• Route des Grandes Alpes: starts on the French shore of Lake Geneva, a short ride from the Swiss border.
• Stelvio and the Dolomites: reached from the Swiss side over the Umbrail or the Ofen pass.
• Tyrol: over the eastern border for the Arlberg and Silvretta roads.