Going on a cycling tour next week, and will be riding through Italy and Switzerland.

Just heard that Switzerland use a different plug standard to the rest of Europe.

Will a standard EU plug work, or we I have to find an adapter from somewhere?

It will fit, it just won’t have a ground pin.

It depends 🙂 They use a three pronged thing that two pronged, non earthed EU plugs can play with. If you want to be sure then I’d get an adapter. I have a Skross adapter that does everything which is handy anyway…

EDIT : Larger EU plugs (like the ones on laptop or higher current plugs) won’t fit, phone charger type plugs will.

You might like to know that Italy also has different standards, and some “EU” plugs don’t fit well in some Italian sockets. Even within the same hotel room, we’ve found both standards, so it seems to be a bit of a lottery.

+1 for the SKROSS adaptor, handy bit of kit if you travel in Europe a lot,

pin size is different, even thought the spacing is the same, between most of Europe and Switzerland but you do find sockets that accept the normal pin size but you also find sockets that don’t.

Aye, as above – the pins are a lot thinner than EU plugs. F’ing pain the arse.

However, on the plus side, Swiss plugs will fit happily in all European sockets.

Every cloud…

Some Swiss sockets have a weird diamond inset that can make it hard to wedge an adaptor in.

I’m in a hotel in Zürich right now. Most modern Swiss buildings use the freaky diamond shape 2pin plugs. Some occasionally have the round Euro style one.

The SKRoss travel plug thing is very good.

Smart idea I heard the other day is to get a single adaptor for wherever you’re going and carry a compact extension lead. Avoids the ‘overloaded plug falling out of the wall thning as well.