Does the Ukraine war affect trips to Switzerland?

Last updated: September 11, 2022

Hello travelers,

Unfortunately Russia invaded Ukraine. You may wonder if this affects your trip to Switzerland in any way.

Unless you live in Belarus, Russia or Ukraine, there is little or no direct impact on trips to Switzerland.

Some notes:

• If you fly to Switzerland, your flight might take longer if you'd normally fly over the territory of those countries or with an airline from those countries. That's because there are travel bans for Russian airlines and airspace over conflict zones is closed.
• Conflicts like these do have economic effects. Energy prices rise (which already started in 2021), so products and services may get more expensive. This could influence accommodation prices too. If you secure your accommodation early, any price increase after that won't affect your booking: https://www.myswissalps.com/accommodation. Regular train ticket and rail pass prices are fixed for Switzerland and change only once a year by January 1. This is shortly after mid-December when the next year's timetable is introduced. Please see www.myswissalps.com/train/ticketspasses and https://www.myswissalps.com/timetable for details.
• Europe is preparing for possible energy shortages. So is Switzerland. Currently there are no reasons to assume that problems will actually occur in Switzerland; it's more of a "worst-case scenario" preparation. Possible measures could differ from canton to canton. They could include lower temperatures in public buildings, limitation of window shop illumination and other illumination during night time, the closing of (heated) pools, et cetera.
• Shutting down public transport would probably be one of the last things Switzerland would fall back on, as lots of travelers in Switzerland depend on this. Of course we can't predict how it will all turn out. But if there would be any cutback in public transport, those might consist of limitations in ski lift opening hours. Or there could be a reduction of the amount of services on a particular train/bus line. With Switzerland's dense public transport network and the many services available daily, that wouldn't have to cause a significant impact on your itinerary.

The shortest distance between Switzerland and Ukraine is 1000 km. Switzerland is surrounded by NATO and EU countries and not directly involved in this war.

Our thoughts are with the Ukrainians. Hopefully this conflict will be resolved soon.

I am agree wit you.