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The steepest major city in Switzerland. The height decides everything here.
Lausanne climbs. From the lake at Ouchy to the cathedral on the hill is a few hundred metres of vertical, and the city fills every metre of it. No other large Swiss city puts as much distance between its lowest address and its highest.
The city is built across ridges falling to the lake and the gradient is steep enough that a metro exists to deal with it. The city is built across a series of ridges falling to the lake, and the streets follow that shape rather than fighting it. Roads climb steeply, turn sharply at the top of each rise and change level often enough that the city runs a metro to deal with it.
For a delivery the consequence is direct. A vehicle that parks easily at Ouchy on the shore may struggle on a street two kilometres away and two hundred metres up, and the two addresses are quoted differently even though the postcode looks similar.
The old town on the cathedral hill is the hardest part: steep, narrow, protected and partly restricted. Below and around it the modern city is workable, and the districts spreading north and west are ordinary.
Lausanne also appears as Ouchy and Losanna. Whichever version you searched for, this is the same city and the same page. Give the mover the address exactly as it appears on your Swiss lease.
The city is French speaking, as is the whole canton, and the name is the same in French, German and English. Losanna is the Italian form and turns up occasionally on paperwork from Ticino.
What does need care is the district. Ouchy, Renens and Pully all have their own names in daily use and appear in addresses, and a property described as being in Lausanne may sit in one of them. Renens and Pully are separate communes with their own administration.
Send the full street address rather than the city. On a city this steep and this subdivided, the street is the only thing that settles the job.
Ouchy sits on the shore and behaves like any lakeside town: flat, accessible, with the usual constraint being where a vehicle may legally stand. It is the simplest part of the city to deliver into.
The centre above it is a mix, with streets that work and streets that do not, and the difference is often a single block. The old town on the cathedral hill is the extreme: steep cobbled approaches, narrow lanes, protected buildings and vehicle restrictions on top.
Because the three levels are so different, a quote given from a postcode alone is unreliable here in a way it is not in a flat city. Send the street and the floor, and say whether the approach to the building climbs.
Lausanne houses the Olympic movement and a large university and federal technical school, which between them draw an international population that skews young, mobile and on fixed terms.
That produces a great many smaller moves: a room, a studio, a one bedroom flat, frequently on an academic or contract calendar. Those are exactly the loads that suit sharing lorry space, and this shore fills shared vehicles readily because Morges, Vevey and Montreux are on the same run.
The other stream is longer term relocation into the wider urban area, where the loads are full households and a dedicated vehicle is the sensible answer.
Three of these come up more than the rest on a Lausanne move. Start with them. Movers covering the area deal with these three regularly.
Sharing a lorry, which suits a smaller Lausanne move.
Furniture up a steep street or an old town stairwell.
Why the gradient changes the number.
Because the city climbs a few hundred metres from the lake to the cathedral hill and fills every metre of it. A vehicle that parks easily at Ouchy on the shore may struggle two kilometres away and two hundred metres up, and the two are quoted differently even though the postcodes look similar.
Ouchy, on the lake shore. It is flat and behaves like any lakeside town, with the usual constraint being where a vehicle may legally stand. The centre above it is mixed, and the old town on the cathedral hill is the hardest, being steep, narrow, protected and partly restricted.
With planning. The approaches are steep and cobbled, the lanes are narrow, the buildings are protected and there are vehicle restrictions. Deliveries there are worked out address by address with a reserved standing point arranged through the commune, and the last stretch is usually carried.
Usually a part load. Lausanne draws a lot of younger arrivals through the university and technical school and the sports bodies, and those moves are typically a room or a small flat. This shore fills shared vehicles readily, because Morges, Vevey and Montreux are on the same run.
Ouchy is a district of the city. Renens and Pully are separate communes with their own administration, even though everything about daily life runs into Lausanne. That matters for registration and for the parking application, so use the name your lease uses.
French, throughout the canton of Vaud. The commune, your lease, the utilities and any parking permission will all be in French. The city name is the same in French, German and English, so the address itself is straightforward. Losanna is the Italian form.
It affects timing more than anything. A long carry up a steep street takes considerably longer than the same carry on the flat, and a crew that has to shuttle between a standing point and the door will build that into the day. It is time rather than difficulty, and it should be in the quote.
Collection address, the Lausanne delivery address, a room by room list and the window you can work with. One vetted moving company from our network checks the route and the access, then comes back to you.
Send your move detailsOperated 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.
Written by Darren Benjamin, founder of International Removals Companies, who has run the business since 2010. Last checked 5 August 2026.