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.

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?