These cities have the worst car traffic in Switzerland
Michael Derrer Fuchs / Shutterstock.com
By
Simone Jacobs
Clara Bousfield
The latest data from the TomTom Traffic Index for 2025 has revealed that Geneva is the city in Switzerland with the most traffic jams. Zurich and Basel follow in second and third place, respectively.
TomTom Traffic Index 2025
Every year, TomTom analyses car traffic in 500 cities across 62 countries globally. For each city, researchers calculated the average travel time over 10 kilometres, how much traffic congestion is reported and the average amount of time that drivers lose in traffic jams each year.
In 2025, the study found that Barranquilla, Colombia, remained the world’s city with the longest average travel time, taking 3 minutes 40 seconds to travel just 1 kilometre. Mexico City had the worst congestion with a level of 75,9 percent, losing drivers a total of 184 hours while sitting in traffic every year.
The congestion level represents the increase in travel time due to excess traffic, which means that on average, journey times in Mexico City were 75,9 percent greater than when traffic was free-flowing.
London took the number one spot for the worst travel time in Europe at around 3 minutes and 38 seconds to travel 1 kilometre in the city centre. Dublin was the European city with the worst congestion at 72,9 percent and drivers losing a total of 191 hours stuck in traffic jams.
Geneva named traffic capital of Switzerland
The TomTom Traffic Index 2025 has ranked Geneva as the Swiss city with the worst traffic. The average congestion level is 53,3 percent, with drivers losing 141 hours a year to traffic jams. Within a 15-minute window, the average distance driven was just 4,8 kilometres.
Zurich ranks second with an average congestion level of 48,9 percent and 116 hours lost to traffic. Drivers could travel 5,6 kilometres within 15 minutes, on average. Basel took the third spot with 44,9 percent congestion and 83 hours lost to rush hour per year.
Most congested Swiss cities in 2025
In all, these were the Swiss cities with the highest congestion levels last year (percent):
For more information and to see the full ranking, visit the TomTom website.
This article was originally published on IamExpat in the Netherlands.
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Editor for the Netherlands at IamExpat Media. Simone studied Genetics and Zoology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa before moving to the Netherlands, where she has been working as a writer and editor since 2022. One thing she loves more than creating content is consuming it, mainly by reading books by the dozen. Other than being a book dragon, she is also a nature lover and enjoys hiking and animal training. Read more
Clara Bousfield
Editor at IamExpat Media