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Roughly equidistant from Basel, Zurich and Bern. Everything passes through.
Olten exists because of where it is. It sits at the point where the routes between Basel, Zurich and Bern converge, and it has been the country’s central junction since the railways arrived. That position is the whole story of a delivery here.
There is no Swiss town better placed for a removal vehicle. Olten sits close to the middle of the country at the crossing point of the main routes, which means whatever direction a lorry is travelling in, it is not far away.
For shared loads that is worth real money. A consignment here can be added to a run heading almost anywhere in the north of the country, so it waits less than one for a town at the end of a spur.
The town itself is flat, sits on the Aare, and is a working place rather than a preserved one. The old quarter beside the covered wooden bridge is small, and outside it the streets are entirely ordinary.
Olten also appears as Solothurn canton and Mittelland. 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.
Olten grew because the railways met here, and the shape of the town still reflects it. The lines and the yards take a significant share of the ground, and the residential districts sit around rather than through them.
For a delivery that occasionally matters. Crossings over the tracks are limited in places, so an address on one side is not always reachable by the route a map suggests from the other. It is a minor thing, but it is worth giving the full street rather than the postcode.
Otherwise this is a straightforward working town. The housing is largely twentieth century, the streets take a vehicle, and the constraints that dominate Bern or Solothurn simply do not arise here.
Olten is in the canton of Solothurn, but it is not near the cantonal capital in character or in feel. Solothurn town is a preserved baroque centre with arcaded lanes. Olten is a junction and a working town.
That is worth knowing because a quote for one tells you little about the other. If your paperwork names only the canton, check which town it means.
Everything here is German speaking. Olten is the same in every language and gives no trouble on an address.
Almost every northern Swiss run passes within reach of Olten, which changes the economics of sharing a lorry. Elsewhere a shared load waits until enough households are going the same way. Here almost any northern run is going the right way.
In practice that shows up as a shorter collection window and less waiting than a town at the end of a spur would get. If your dates have any flexibility, this is a town where sharing genuinely pays.
A dedicated vehicle is of course available and makes sense for a large household or a fixed date, but here the gap between the two is often narrower than usual.
Worth reading before you send an enquiry about Olten, in this order. Movers working here see these three more than the rest.
Sharing a lorry, which works unusually well here.
Why position changes the number.
The UK route and the frontier.
Because it sits close to the middle of the country where the routes between Basel, Zurich and Bern converge. Whatever direction a lorry is travelling in, it is not far away, so a consignment here can be added to almost any northern run rather than waiting for one going specifically its way.
It makes it quicker, which usually amounts to the same thing. Elsewhere a shared load waits until enough households are heading the same way. Here almost any northern run is going the right way, so the collection window tends to be shorter and there is less waiting than for a town at the end of a spur.
No. It is flat, sits on the Aare, and is a working town rather than a preserved one. The housing is largely twentieth century, the streets take a vehicle, and the old quarter beside the covered bridge is small. The constraints that dominate Bern or Solothurn do not arise here.
Occasionally. The town grew around the junction and the lines and yards take a fair share of the ground, so crossings are limited in places and an address on one side is not always reachable by the route a map suggests. Give the full street rather than just the postcode.
No, though they share a canton. Solothurn is the cantonal capital, a preserved baroque centre with arcaded lanes and real access constraints. Olten is a junction and a working town, and considerably easier to deliver into.
German. The canton of Solothurn is German speaking and so is Olten, so the commune, your lease and the utilities will all work in German. The town name is the same in every language, so the address itself gives no trouble.
Short by Swiss standards. Olten sits near the middle of the country on the main axis from the Basel crossing, so once a vehicle is through the Swiss frontier it has an ordinary run on good road with no pass and no altitude involved.
Collection address, the Olten 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.