Removals to Lausanne from the UK
Rated 4.9 on Trustpilot from 185 reviews
Transport and customs documentation for a one-bedroom part load from the UK to Lausanne cost £2,534 – £3,401, and for a three-bedroom house £5,492 – £7,516. Packing, transit cover and stairs or parking at either end are priced on top, from your own answers. Transit is 4–8 days door to door via Eurotunnel then E17/E25 through France.
Lausanne is built on a hillside. Within the city boundary the ground rises about 495 metres, from the Ouchy quay to the Chalet-à-Gobet, and the cathedral stands some 80 metres above the CFF station. The centre, Ouchy and the streets around that station are signed pedestrian zones, and the commune boundary is never far: many addresses people call Lausanne answer to a council of their own.
- Transit
- 4–8 days
- Departures
- Fortnightly
- From Calais
- about 480 miles
- Free survey, then a fixed price
- Customs paperwork handled
- Transit cover priced on the value you declare
- Secure your date online with a 25% deposit
From quote to keys
How your quote and booking work
The price you see online is an estimate worked out from your own list. A free survey turns it into a fixed price, and a deposit holds your date. How the price is worked out
Start my Lausanne quoteGet your estimate — about three minutes
Pick your home size or list what is moving item by item, and watch the vehicle fill as you go. Choose a shared load or a vehicle of your own, tell us about stairs and parking at both ends, and your price appears with every line shown. We ask for your name, email and phone number before we show it, and email you a copy.
Have a free survey, and the price is fixed
Pick a weekday slot online for a video call and walk us round your rooms, or send photos on WhatsApp; near our depots we can visit instead. It costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Once we have surveyed, we do not revise the price upward on moving day.
Secure your date with a 25% deposit
Before the survey or after it, whichever suits you — online, by card. The deposit holds the vehicle and the date. If the survey changes the price and you would rather not go ahead, you get the full deposit back. Otherwise our terms and conditions set out what we charge if you postpone or cancel.
Sort the paperwork in your own portal
You get a private page for your move: the customs checklist for Switzerland and somewhere to upload each document. If you listed your items one by one, that list is already there — add a rough value to each line and it becomes the valued inventory customs ask for.
Collection in the UK, delivery in Lausanne
On a shared load you choose the collection day and we give you a delivery window, confirming the day itself once the vehicle has cleared customs. With a vehicle of your own, both dates are yours. The balance is due on the day we collect.
Part-load prices from the UK to Lausanne
Lausanne is priced in Zone 4 — southern France, Bavaria, Switzerland, northern Italy. These are indicative part-load bands for the transport and the £320 customs documentation fee. Collection beyond 30 miles of our depots adds a mileage contribution, and packing, access and cover are priced from your own answers — each shows as its own line on your quote.
| Property size | Volume | UK to Lausanne, part load | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | 8 m³283 ft³ | £1,601 – £2,102 | Price mine — studio to Lausanne → |
| 1 bedroom | 16 m³565 ft³ | £2,534 – £3,401 | Price mine — 1 bedroom to Lausanne → |
| 2 bedrooms | 28 m³989 ft³ | £3,799 – £5,161 | Price mine — 2 bedrooms to Lausanne → |
| 3 bedrooms | 45 m³1,589 ft³ | £5,492 – £7,516 | Price mine — 3 bedrooms to Lausanne → |
| 4 bedrooms | 62 m³2,190 ft³ | £7,126 – £9,789 | Price mine — 4 bedrooms to Lausanne → |
| 5+ bedrooms | 85 m³3,002 ft³ | £9,305 – £12,820 | Price mine — 5+ bedrooms to Lausanne → |
Bands are estimates worked out by our pricing engine from the rate card in force today. They are not a quotation. Your price is fixed after a free survey. How the price is worked out
Lausanne
Getting a removal vehicle to your door in Lausanne
The bay is the mobility service's to grant, not the police's
The removal-parking request sits on a police page, but it is granted by the Service de la mobilité et de l'aménagement des espaces publics, whose inspection unit both puts the signage out and takes it away again. Seven working days is the minimum notice the City accepts, and its counter is on the rue Sera-Biasini rather than at a police station.
No marked bay, no reservation
Before anything can be requested, the City requires that parking places are already marked on the ground, on the public domain, at the spot. Much of the old town and many of the steep residential streets have none, and there this route is simply closed. If cars sit in the reserved bays on the day, the City asks you to note the plates and telephone the police control room.
A monte-charge is a second permit, on a longer clock
A furniture lift standing in the street is an installation on the public highway in its own right, and the City permits those separately: a permis d'utilisation temporaire du domaine public, which it wants ten working days ahead and will not let you start on until it has been issued. The City's word for the machine is monte-charge; the trade calls it a monte-meubles.
Pedestrian zones, walking pace, and the bollard at Bourg
In the pedestrian zones motor traffic is generally forbidden. A delivery vehicle admitted under a complementary plate may go no faster than walking pace, and people on foot keep priority. The rues de Bourg and Enning are held by a retractable bollard which drops by itself during the posted delivery hours; outside them it opens only to badge holders and the emergency services.
A city of flats, and the carry is uphill
The City counts some 82,500 dwellings in about 9,000 buildings, and only around a quarter of those buildings are houses. Put that on a hillside and the walk from the nearest legal bay is often a climb as well as a distance.
How this shows up in your quote. The quote asks about each end of the move. Tick “parking suspension or permit required” or “narrow street” for the Lausanne end and each is priced as its own line, along with the floor and whether there is a lift. A furniture hoist is not part of the online price: show us the stairs and windows at your survey and, where one is needed, it is priced then.
Where we deliver in and around Lausanne
La Cité
The old town round the cathedral, inside the pedestrian zone and some eighty metres above the station. Full-size vehicles rarely reach the door.
Ouchy
The lakeside quarter at the foot of the hill, also a pedestrian zone. A Sunday food market takes the quays from April into October.
Le Mont-sur-Lausanne
A commune of its own north of the city. The International School of Lausanne sits on the chemin de la Grangette, approached by the route de la Clochatte.
Ecublens and Saint-Sulpice
The EPFL and UNIL belt, out on the flat lakeside plain — level ground, which is rare on this side of the lake.
Renens, Prilly and Crissier
Three of the eight Ouest lausannois communes, whose shared counter for street reservations is run from the Hôtel de Police in Prilly.
Epalinges
Up on the plateau at around 800 metres, roughly 425 metres above the Ouchy shore, and the climb to it is continuous.
La Sallaz
The shelf halfway up the climb, near 600 metres, already well above both the cathedral and the railway station.
The road from the UK to Lausanne
Route: Calais by Eurotunnel, then the A26 and A5 past Troyes, the A31 and A39 towards Dole, and over the Jura to the border at Vallorbe — about 480 miles from Calais.
The last French motorway gives way to the climb over the Jura, and the frontier at Vallorbe is where the load leaves the EU. The Swiss motorway then drops down the hillside, so the final approach to a Lausanne address is a descent and often a narrow one.
We collect anywhere in the UK. Collection is free within 30 miles of our Coulsdon depot; beyond that a mileage contribution applies and is shown in your quote.
When to move
Vaud's three customary lease dates
The cantonal Règles et usages locatifs make 1 April, 1 July and 1 October the customary lease dates, each of them at midday. The outgoing tenant hands the flat back at noon and the état des lieux is walked and signed there and then, so on those three mornings one street can carry several removals at once.
A cantonal holiday a British diary does not show
Vaud keeps the Lundi du Jeûne, in late September, as a cantonal holiday of its own. The contrôle des habitants and the permit office both close on it, which matters when a request already needs working days' notice. The cantonal school summer break runs from late June to mid-August.
Two events that take the streets you want
The Festival de la Cité turns the vieille ville into an open-air venue for six days at the start of July, stages standing in the lanes themselves. The Lausanne Marathon closes the quais d'Ouchy and de Belgique and the Lutry–Cully–Vevey road for a Sunday in late October, with parking bans posted from the previous night.
Paperwork once you arrive in Lausanne
The online form is written for somebody else
The City's online arrival service is meant for a move from another Vaud commune, which is not what an arrival from Britain is making. You announce yourself instead at the Service du contrôle des habitants on the rue du Port-Franc, in a slot booked beforehand, and the file is opened at the counter.
What the counter asks you to bring
The arrival report for third-country nationals, your identity document with any visa, a passport-format photograph, the lease in your own name, a civil-status document such as a birth or marriage certificate, and whatever explains the stay: an employment contract, or a definitive school or university enrolment.
What Swiss customs takes as proof
Not necessarily a residence permit. Producing one is not an absolute condition: what has to be shown is that the domicile itself has moved, and the departure notice from Britain taken with the employment contract and the lease can show it. Anything you have owned less than six months is listed separately at the end of the inventory.
Customs when moving to Switzerland
Switzerland is not in the EU. You need Swiss customs Form 18.44 (Effets de déménagement), a signed valued inventory in duplicate, a residence permit or confirmation of application, and a rental contract. Clearance is handled by our Swiss agent at Basel or Geneva.
Check every document you’ll need for Switzerland →Official pages worth bookmarking
- Ville de Lausanne — request a reserved parking bay for a removal ↗
- Ville de Lausanne — temporary permit to occupy the public domain, needed for a furniture lift ↗
- Police de l'Ouest lausannois — reserving bays in the eight western communes ↗
- Ville de Lausanne — announcing your arrival to the contrôle des habitants ↗
- Ville de Lausanne — avis de perturbations, the live list of events closing streets ↗
Local rules change. We checked these in September 2026 and confirm the current position for your street when we plan your delivery.
Moving from Lausanne back to the UK
Tell the contrôle des habitants as soon as you know. It issues an attestation d'annonce de départ up to a month before the date and the definitive attestation de départ from the day you go. A neighbouring commune keeps a register of its own, so ask where your street answers before you write to anyone.
In the quote box, switch to “to the UK” and Lausanne moves to the collection end.
Moving to Lausanne — your questions
How much does a removal from the UK to Lausanne cost?
Transport and customs documentation for a one-bedroom part load from the UK to Lausanne cost £2,534 – £3,401, and for a three-bedroom house £5,492 – £7,516. Packing, transit cover and stairs or parking at either end are priced on top, from your own answers. Transit is 4–8 days door to door via Eurotunnel then E17/E25 through France. Small consignments travel as part loads from around £1,221 for roughly 5 m³. Your own price depends on volume, the packing and cover you choose, access at both ends and how flexible your dates are — the online quote works it out in about three minutes.
How long does a removal to Lausanne take?
Transit to Lausanne is typically 4–8 days door to door. We run fortnightly, both directions. A part load waits for its scheduled run and is given a delivery window; a dedicated vehicle travels direct on the date you choose.
Who reserves the space outside my building?
Whichever commune the street belongs to, and west of the city eight of them have pooled the job. Bussigny, Chavannes-près-Renens, Crissier, Ecublens, Prilly, Renens, Saint-Sulpice and Villars-Sainte-Croix share one form run from the Hôtel de Police in Prilly, and it wants bays already marked on the ground, exactly as the City does. Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Epalinges, Pully and Lutry each keep a counter of their own again.
Can you deliver into the old town around the cathedral?
Yes, though rarely with a big vehicle at the door. La Cité lies inside the pedestrian zone, an admitted vehicle may only creep along at walking pace, and there is frequently no marked bay to reserve. On Wednesday and Saturday mornings the Marché Central fills the rue Centrale, the place de la Palud and the place Saint-François until early afternoon. The last stretch is carried from the nearest street that has bays.
Can we keep loading into the evening?
Plan on an earlier finish than at home. Since 2021 the city has held about sixty kilometres of its streets to thirty kilometres an hour between ten at night and six in the morning, main access roads such as the route de Romanel and the avenue de Rhodanie excepted. The City also asks that a reserved bay be taken up close to the time booked for it.
Can our customs file be checked before we cross?
Not on this crossing. The federal administration will pre-examine a removal dossier by email, but only at three offices on the Italian border — Chiasso-Strada, Mendrisiotto and Vedeggio — and sending it there obliges you to cross the frontier at that same office. A load coming over the Jura has no such option, so the declaration and the valued inventory are finished before the vehicle leaves Britain.
How do I book my move to Lausanne?
Get your estimate online in about three minutes. You can secure your date straight away with a 25% deposit — refunded in full if the survey changes the price and you would rather not go ahead — or have the free survey first. Either way the survey fixes the price, and the balance is due on the day we collect. Your customs documents, inventory and dates are then handled in your own online portal.
Other cities we deliver to in Switzerland
Other European destinations
Price your move to Lausanne
- About three minutes
- No card needed for a price
- Fixed after a free survey
Lausanne, Switzerland · page reviewed September 2026