With its stunning mountains, lakes and rivers, it’s no surprise that many tourists base their holidays around driving in Switzerland. Now, the latest Road Trip Index by travel company KAYAK has named Switzerland as the 10th best country in Europe for a road trip.

Road Trip Index 2022

With airports expected to be busy during the autumn school holidays, many families and individuals may choose to hit the road to see some of Switzerland’s top natural and historical sites, instead of travelling abroad. If you fancy a road trip outside of Switzerland, KAYAK has put together the Road Trip Index to find the best places for road trips in Europe, so you can pick the best places to explore.

The Road Trip Index for 2022 ranked 33 European countries according to 24 factors under five categories:

• Weather
• Camping
• Comfort & Infrastructure
• Pricing
• Traffic & Sustainability
• Car Hire
• Nature & Landmarks

This year, with prices at the pump on the rise, the study made fuel prices one of its priorities. The Camping category is a new addition to this year’s ranking, having been added to reflect its recent rise in popularity.

Index compared five different types of road trip

The study also considered five different types of road trips:

• Sustainability
• Camping & Outdoors
• Nature & Landmarks
• Budget & Safety
• Comfort

Each road trip type gave different weight to different factors depending on the aim of the trip. For example, a Nature & Landmarks road trip would assign more weight to the number of heritage sites per 100 square kilometres, while factors such as campervan hire price would have more weight for a Camping & Outdoors road trip.

Switzerland the 10th best place for a road trip in Europe

In the index for 2022, Switzerland was ranked as the 10th best place in Europe for a road trip. The country was also found to be the best road trip for “Comfort & Infrastructure” due to its well-maintained roads and motorways, and a relative lack of road accidents.

The alpine nation also scored well because of its good weather, the number of historical sites, air quality and the “attractiveness of natural assets.” The alpine nation's score is perhaps unsurprising, given that one of the most popular holidays in the country is a road trip: The Grand Tour of Switzerland.

However, the country's score did struggle because of the cost of rental cars, hotels, fuel and parking. In addition, while Switzerland did score well for natural and historical sites, its rating was low in comparison to those at the top of the list.

The ranking found that Germany was the best country for a road trip in Europe in 2022. The federal republic performed well in a variety of factors, like having the second highest number of heritage sites per 100 square kilometres, only coming behind Italy. It also had the second-highest number of EV stations and some of the cheapest prices for campervans.

Best places for a road trip in Europe in 2022

In all, these were found to be the 10 best nations in Europe for a road trip in 2022.

1. Germany
2. Spain
3. Lithuania
4. Cyprus
5. France
6. Sweden
7. Portugal
8. Estonia
9. Italy
10. Switzerland

For the full list, and a rundown of the study’s methodology, you can visit KAYAK’s website.