We'll be driving from Germany into Switzerland around Christmas time this year. Is it true that we'll need to purchase some type of driving permit to display on our car? If so, where can we buy this?

If you want to drive on the motorways in Switzerland, you need to buy a "vignette" for about chf40, which you place on the windscreen of your car. This is a motorway tax disc, and is valid for a year. You can buy them at the customs stations on entry, or filling stations near the border (and maybe other filling stations too around the country. We dutifully bought ours, and no one ever checked - we never saw a policeman in two weeks! But you feel happier with one, and they aren't that expensive!

On the other hand, you do not have to use the superhighways. The problem is that signage for alternate routes is not very good, and if using the autobahn going into Switzerland you might be connecting directly with the Swiss superhighways.

Hi srice - not sure but maybe you taking about the International Drivers Permit (IDP) that is basically a translation of the information on your driver's license. I think I was advised to get one for driving in Switzerland last year. I'll find a post about it from awhile back and top it for you just in case.

cod above is giving you the correct advice, except that cars ARE checked for the carnet as they enter the country. Folks at the border direct cars displaying the sticker on the windscreen to a drive-through lane: all others have to go via other more crowded lanes. This has NOTHING to do with an International Drivers Permit which (a) is only a translation of your current driving licence, and (b) does not provide you with anything to attach to your windscreen.