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Measured, wrapped, taken apart where it has to be, and rebuilt in the right room.
The drive across Europe is the easy part. What decides whether your delivery takes two hours or seven is a much smaller question: does the wardrobe fit in the lift, and if it does not, how else is it reaching the fourth floor.
This catches people who buy for the new place before they leave. Relief on transfer of domicile covers belongings you have owned and used, so a sofa you have sat on travels differently from the identical sofa still in its wrapping. The long drive to Switzerland is the easy part. What decides whether your delivery day is two hours or seven is a much smaller question: will the wardrobe fit in the lift, and if not, how else is it getting to the fourth floor.
Furniture is the difficult half of any household move. Boxes stack and behave. A three seater sofa, an oak wardrobe and a marble topped table do not. They have to be measured, protected, sometimes taken apart, carried through doorways that were built before anybody owned a three seater sofa, and put back together in a flat you have not seen yet.
Swiss buildings add their own character to that. Compact lifts in older apartment blocks. Stairwells that turn tightly. Polished parquet and stone entrance halls that the building management expects back unmarked. Streets in the old quarters of Bern, Solothurn and Carouge where a large vehicle simply cannot stop outside the door.
Protection is layered, and the order matters more than the amount. Polished and veneered surfaces get a breathable cover first, usually a moving blanket or paper, because plastic laid straight onto a finish traps moisture against it over several days in a lorry. The outer layer of stretch wrap then goes over that to hold everything in place and keep dirt off.
Movers know corners take the damage, so corners get extra. Glass and mirrors travel flat between boards rather than upright. Upholstery gets a full cover, not a partial one, because the dust on a long road journey finds every gap. Leather wants to breathe.
Anything with a stone or glass top comes apart and the top travels separately, on edge and padded. A marble top laid flat on a lorry bed will crack over a few hundred miles of motorway expansion joints even if nothing hits it.
If it will not leave the room in one piece, it comes apart, and the same crew principle applies at the other end. Bed frames, large wardrobes, dining tables, modular sofas and shelving are the routine ones.
Fittings go into a labelled bag fixed to the piece itself, not into a communal box. That one habit is the difference between a rebuild taking twenty minutes and taking an afternoon with a trip to a Swiss hardware shop in the middle.
Do not dismantle things yourself in advance unless the movers have asked you to. If they take it apart, they know how it goes back together and it is their responsibility.
Quickest by a distance, when it works. The catch is that lifts in older Swiss apartment blocks are often sized for two people and a shopping bag rather than a wardrobe. Measure the door opening as well as the car, because the opening is usually the narrower of the two and it is what stops long items going in diagonally.
Always possible, rarely pleasant. The limit is not the width of the flight but the turn at each half landing, where a long item has to pivot. Older Swiss stairwells often have a stone or tiled finish and a decorative handrail that the building management will notice a mark on. Expect the crew to board and pad the route.
An external ladder hoist stands on the street and lifts large pieces straight to a window or balcony. Common across German speaking Switzerland and completely normal to the neighbours. It needs advance booking and usually permission to occupy the parking space outside, which is why it has to be decided at quote stage and not on the day.
Some things should never be one line among fifty on an inventory, because each of them changes the crew size, the equipment or the time.
Shipping is priced on the space something occupies, not on what it is worth. That leads to an uncomfortable but useful conclusion: a large cheap wardrobe can cost more to move than to replace, while a small valuable chest costs almost nothing to bring.
So it is worth going round the house with that in mind before you send an inventory. The usual answers are that good solid pieces, anything with history, and anything you would be upset to lose all travel. Bulky flat pack that has already been assembled once often does not survive a second dismantle anyway.
One customs point that bites on furniture specifically. Every piece has to appear on the itemised list that accompanies form 18.44, the declaration for household effects issued by the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security, and goods must have been used by you for at least six months. A newly bought sofa is the piece most likely to be questioned at the frontier, so keep the receipt. Checked 5 August 2026.
If you can, get the room dimensions of the Swiss property first. Swiss flats are generally well built and well insulated, but they are not always generous on floor area, and a sofa that suited a British sitting room does not always suit the new one.
Anything that has to be dismantled to leave the room gets dismantled, and the crew reassembles it at the far end. Bed frames, large wardrobes, table legs and modular sofas are the usual candidates. Fittings go in a labelled bag attached to the piece, which is why nothing should be taken apart before the crew arrives unless they have asked you to.
Because it decides how the day goes. Many Swiss apartment blocks, particularly older ones, have compact lifts sized for people rather than furniture. If a wardrobe will not go in, everything above the second floor is carried up the stairs or lifted in through a window, and both take considerably longer. Measure the lift car and the door, and send those figures.
A ladder hoist that stands on the street and lifts large pieces straight to a window or balcony, so they go in at the right floor instead of up the stairwell. They are a normal sight in Swiss and German speaking cities. It usually needs booking in advance and often a permit to occupy the parking space, so it cannot be decided on the morning.
Yes, but flag it at enquiry rather than on the inventory as one line among fifty. An upright and a grand are different jobs, a grand comes apart, and both usually want specialist handling at one or both ends. Altitude and the temperature change in transit also matter, so plan on having it tuned after it settles.
Blankets and stretch wrap are the baseline, and for genuinely valuable pieces a made to measure timber crate is built around the item. Wrapping polished wood directly in plastic traps moisture against the finish, so it should be covered in a breathable layer first. Photograph anything valuable before it is wrapped.
Worth doing the sums honestly. Shipping is priced by the space something takes up, not what it is worth, so a bulky wardrobe of no particular value can cost more to move than to replace. Measure the new rooms first if you can. Sentimental and genuinely good pieces travel. Flat pack that has already been built once often should not.
Yes. Furniture travels empty. Full drawers add weight in the wrong places, strain joints on a long road journey, and make an accurate inventory impossible. Soft items can sometimes stay in a divan drawer if the crew agrees, but assume everything comes out unless you are told otherwise.
Room by room, with your three biggest pieces measured and the lift dimensions at the Swiss end. One vetted moving company from our network works out what needs dismantling, what needs crating and how it is getting through the door. Planning the other direction? See taking furniture back to the UK.
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Operated by DATACONTEXT (UK) LTD, company number 07425576, ICO registration ZB022743, registered at Norman House, Saint Saviours Estate, Abbey Street, London SE1 3DH. Running since 2010. We work with vetted moving companies in the AGM Group network.
Page reviewed and Swiss information checked on 5 August 2026 against the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security. General information, not advice on your own position.
Written by Darren Benjamin, founder of International Removals Companies, who has run the business since 2010. Last checked 5 August 2026.