Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Sunshine and traffic jams: What to expect in Switzerland over Pentecost weekend

Another long weekend is ahead, which means heavier-than-usual traffic on Swiss roads and in the air, although the wether forecast is positive. Here’s what you should know.

Published: 26 May 2023 10:13 CEST
Sunshine and traffic jams: What to expect in Switzerland over Pentecost weekend
Road traffic will be heavy this weekend. Photo: Pixabay

As is the case before every public holiday, traffic jams are to be expected on roads leading to the mountains or to other popular tourist destinations, both in Switzerland and abroad.   

The government has issued a list of places where bottlenecks and other disruptions are most likely to happen.

Generally, slow traffic / bottlenecks are most likely on these roads:

Highways

A1, Harkingen – Wangen a.A.
A1, Aarau-East – Birrfeld
A1/A6, Bern region
A1, Geneva (Bardonnex border post)
A9, Lausanne region
A2/A3, Basel
A2, Diegten – Harkingen
A2/A14, Lucerne region (from Stans-Nord / in the direction of return)
A2, Erstfeld – Biasca (Gothard road tunnel)
A2, Lugano-Mendrisio
A2, Chiasso (border post towards Italy)
A3, Walenstadt-Reichenburg
A6, Bern – Thun
A8, Brienz – Interlaken – Spiez
A9, Vevey-Martigny
A12 Châtel-St-Denis – La Veyre / Vevey interchange
A13, Sarganserland – Thusis-South
A13, Andeer-Mesocco
A13, Bellinzona-Nord – Reichenau
A15, North Uster – East Uster; between Hinwil and the Reichenburg interchange over several sections

Main roads

Spiez – Kandersteg (in the direction of departures)
Gampel – Goppenstein (in the direction of the returns)
Raron – Brig
Various main roads in the Bernese Oberland, Graubünden and Valais side valleys, and other border crossings
H338, Hirzel – Sihbrugg
H340, Hinwil – Aathal

In the direction of departures, waiting times are to be expected between 8am and 4pm at the transhipment stations Furka in Realp, Lötschberg in Kandersteg and Vereina in Klosters-Selfranga.

In the return direction, waiting times will be possible between 11am and 6pm in Oberwald (Furka), Goppenstein (Lötschberg) and Lavin-Saglians (Vereina).

Authorities are also asking motorists, as they do prior to any public holiday travel period, not to stray off motorways but to stay the course even in traffic jams. That’s because making such detours “overloads the secondary road network to the point of paralysis of traffic, and greatly increases the risk of accidents for all road users.”

What about the airports?

All three of Switzerland’s international airports — Zurich, Geneva, and Basel — typically experience an onslaught on passengers at this time of the year..

Therefore, expect longer-than-usual wait times, arriving early enough to make it through check-in and security lines.

A bit of good news…

The weather forecast for the holiday weekend is great.

It will be mostly sunny, with temperatures in all regions reaching mid-20C.

MeteoSwiss weather service

Which cantons are not off on Monday?

Pentecost (also known as Whit Monday) is a public holiday in most Swiss cantons.

The only ones that don’t celebrate it (and where Monday is a regular work day) are Neuchâtel, Solothurn, Valais, and Zug.

READ ALSO: When are the Swiss public holidays in your canton in 2023?

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

What will Europe’s EES passport checks mean for dual nationals?

The EU's Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport checks will usher in big changes for travellers - here we answer readers' questions on the position for dual nationals.

Published: 22 April 2024 17:10 CEST
What will Europe's EES passport checks mean for dual nationals?

The EU is preparing, after many delays, to introduce the EES system for travel in and out of Europe.

You can find a full explanation of how it works HERE, but in essence it is an enhanced passport check – registering biometric details such as fingerprints and facial scans and introducing an automatic calculation of how long you have stayed within the EU/Schengen zone in order to detect ‘over-stayers’.

And it’s already causing stress for travellers. We asked readers of The Local to share their questions here – and one of the biggest worries was how the system will work for dual nationals ie people who have a passport for both an EU country and a non-EU country.

EES: Your questions answered

EU passports 

One of the main purposes of EES is to detect ‘over-stayers’ – people who have either stayed in the EU longer than their visa allows or non-EU nationals who have over-stayed their allowance of 90 days in every 180.

As this does not apply to EU nationals, people travelling on an EU passport are not required to do EES pre-registration and will continue to travel in the same way once EES is introduced – going to the ‘EU passports queue’ at airports, ports and stations and having their passports scanned as normal.

Non-EU 

Non-EU travellers will, once EES is up and running, be required to complete EES pre-registration.

This means that the first time they cross an EU/Schengen zone external border they will have to go to a special zone of the airport/port/terminal and supply extra passport information including fingerprints and a facial scan.

This only needs to be done once and then lasts for three years.

Non-EU residents of the EU/Schengen zone

This does not apply to non-EU citizens who are permanent residents of an EU country or who have a long-stay visa for an EU/Schengen zone country – click HERE for full details.

Schengen zone passports/Irish passports 

EES applies within the Schengen zone, so people with Swiss, Norwegian and Icelandic passports are treated in the same way as citizens of EU countries.

Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but not the Schengen zone – these countries will not be using the EES system at their borders, but their citizens are still EU citizens so can continue to use EU passport gates at airports and will be treated the same as all other EU citizens (ie they don’t have to do EES pre-registration).

OK, so what if you have both an EU and a non-EU passport?

They key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any of the rules on immigration – it’s just a way of better enforcing the rules that are already in place. 

Therefore the rules for dual nationals remain as they are – for most people which passport to travel on is a matter of personal choice, although Americans should be aware that if you have a US passport and you are entering the USA, you must use your American passport. 

But it’s also important to remember that the passports of dual nationals are not ‘linked’ – therefore if you present an American passport at the Italian border, you will be treated exactly the same as every other American, there is no way for the border guard to know that you are also Italian.

Likewise if you are a UK-Germany dual national and you travel back to the UK on your German passport, you can expect to be treated the same as every other German at the border, and might be asked for proof of where you are staying in UK, how long you intend to stay etc – the system has no way of knowing that you are also British. 

Therefore whether you have to complete EES pre-registration or not is entirely a matter of which passport you are travelling on – if you use your EU passport you won’t have to do it, if you use your non-EU passport you will.

It’s also possible to use two passports for the same trip – so let’s say you’re travelling from Spain to Canada – you enter Canada on your Canadian passport, and show your Canadian passport again when you leave. However, once you re-enter Spain you show your Spanish passport in order to benefit from the unlimited length of stay.

If you’re travelling between France and the UK via the Eurostar, Channel Tunnel or cross-Channel ferry, you need to remember that the Le Touquet agreement means that French passport checks take place in the UK and vice versa. You can still use both passports, but you just need to keep your wits about you and remember to hand the French one to the French border guards and the British one to British guards.

In terms of avoiding immigration formalities using two passports is the most efficient way for dual nationals to travel, but some people prefer to stick to one passport for simplicity, or don’t want to keep both passports together in case of theft.

Basically it’s a personal choice, but you just need to remember that you will be treated according to the passport that you show – which includes completing EES pre-registration if you’re showing a non-EU passport.

It’s also worth remembering that if the changes do cause border delays (and there are fears that they might especially at the UK-France border), then these will affect all travellers – regardless of their passport. 

SHOW COMMENTS