Customs Between Euro Counties?
 

I'm US citizen and flying into Switzerland. In the middle of my trip, I am going to fly to Italy and back. Will I have to go through customs going into Rome and then again coming back in Geneva? When flying from Switz to Italy, do I have to arrive at the airport a certain amount of time in advance?

Thanks for your input!

By customs I assume you mean passport control/immigration. Switzerland and Italy are part of the common border area known as the Schengen zone & there are no passport controls traveling between the 2 countries. You should arrive at the airport at whatever time the airline recommends. For intra-Europe flights like these 1hr is usually ok, but definitely check with your airline. Some have a strict check-in cut off time.

You will not have formal immigration and customs proceedures on flights between Switzerland and Italy since both are Schengen zone countries. Check with the airline what the recommended check in time is. Remember both of Rome's airports are far from the city centre. So when returning to Geneva, take into consideration travel time from the city centre (assuming you are staying here) to the airport.

Thank you - both responses were very helpful!

This information is not completely accurate. The Schengen agreement governs immigration, it does not govern customs controls. There are countries (Switzerland and Norway, notably) that are members of the Schengen agreement, but fall outside of the customs zone. Conversely, both the UK and Ireland fall outside of the Schengen agreement, but are within the customs zone.

In other words, if you fly London to Rome, you have your passports checked, but don't need to go through customs. If you fly Oslo to Paris, you don't have your passports checked, but you do need to go through customs.

For this particular trip, you will not have you passport checked when traveling between the countries, but you will pass through customs. This is probably a non-issue going into Italy, as they will likely be very lax and you won't be stopped, but Switzerland routinely pulls people aside for random customs screening.

Here is some quick info on the Swiss customs regulations:

http://www.ezv.admin.ch/zollinfo_pri...x.html?lang=en