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Easy to reach, hard to park. The old town is the whole conversation here.
Solothurn is one of the easiest towns in Switzerland to get a lorry to and one of the harder ones to get it close to a front door. It sits on good motorway between Bern and Basel, and its centre is an intact baroque old town of arcaded lanes.
The arcaded lane is the defining feature of the centre and it is also the thing that decides how a move is done. The covered walkways narrow the usable street, the buildings behind them are protected, and the lanes were laid out at a width that made sense for people on foot. The approach is genuinely simple. Solothurn sits on the Aare in the flat middle of the country with motorway access from every direction and no pass, no altitude and no weather risk worth planning around. A vehicle gets here without incident.
Then it stops. The old town is one of the best preserved baroque centres in the country, laid out around the cathedral in narrow arcaded streets that are restricted, in places pedestrian, and lined with buildings whose ground floors run back under covered walkways.
That combination, easy to reach and hard to approach, is unusual and it catches out quotes written from a postcode. If your address is inside the old town the job is a shuttle from a permitted standing point, and it should be priced that way from the start.
Solothurn also appears as Soleure and Soletta. 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 town and the canton share the name, and both are German speaking, so Solothurn is what your lease, your commune and your utility bills will say. Soleure is the French form and Soletta the Italian, and you will meet them mainly on paperwork prepared elsewhere in the country.
That is worth watching on a delivery note. Solothurn also sits close enough to the language border that a carrier based in French speaking Switzerland may write the address the French way without thinking about it.
Give the mover the address exactly as your Swiss lease has it. It is a small thing that saves a phone call at the far end.
Three of these come up more than the rest on a Solothurn move. Start with them.
Furniture through an arcade and up an old stairwell.
Why a shuttle and a long carry change the number.
Packing, when the carry is long and the stairs are old.
The Aare divides the town, and the crossings between the two sides are limited in the centre. Which bank your address is on can change the approach and, if a bridge is closed or restricted, the route entirely.
Outside the historic core the town is ordinary and unremarkable to deliver to: post war and later housing, sensible streets, and lifts that mostly take a wardrobe. The contrast between that and the centre is sharp, which is why the street name matters more than the town name in a quote.
Olten, the national rail junction, sits in the same canton and is served on the same runs.
These are the neighbours, each with its own road leg and access.
Bern · Biel/Bienne · Aarau · Olten · Basel · Lucerne · all Swiss towns
The arcaded lane is the defining feature of the centre and it is also the thing that decides how a move is done. The covered walkways narrow the usable street, the buildings behind them are protected, and the lanes were laid out at a width that made sense for people on foot.
A full sized vehicle is not going in. What happens instead is a permitted standing point as close as the commune will allow, and a shuttle for the last stretch, often with a good deal of carrying on top. That is time, and time is what you are paying for.
The reserved bay has to be applied for through the commune with notice. Ask the mover who is arranging it and by when, because a crew arriving to find nowhere to stand is a crew doing a very long carry through an arcade.
Easy to reach, harder to approach. It sits on flat ground in the middle of the country with good motorway from Bern and Basel and no pass or altitude to plan around. The complication is entirely the old town, which is intact baroque, arcaded and largely closed to vehicles.
The vehicle stands at the closest point the commune permits and the last stretch is shuttled, usually with a good deal of carrying through the arcades. It is routine work here but it takes time, and time is what you pay for, so it needs quoting from the start rather than discovered on the day.
In the centre, yes, and with notice. A reserved bay is applied for through the commune and the lead time varies. Ask the mover who is arranging it and by when. A crew that arrives with nowhere legal to stand ends up carrying a great deal further than anybody planned for.
It can. The Aare divides the town and the crossings in the centre are limited, so the bank your address is on changes the approach and, if a bridge is restricted, the route. Send the full street address rather than the town, because that is the detail that settles it.
Yes. Soleure is the French name and Soletta the Italian. The town and the canton share the name and both are German speaking, so Solothurn is what your lease and your commune will use. You will meet the other forms mainly on paperwork prepared elsewhere in Switzerland.
No. Outside the historic core Solothurn is ordinary to deliver to, with post war and later housing, sensible street widths and lifts that will mostly take a wardrobe. The contrast with the centre is sharp, which is why the street name matters more here than the town name.
Yes. Olten is in the same canton, sits on the national rail junction, and is served on the same runs. It is a straightforward delivery by comparison with the Solothurn old town, and it has its own detail.
Collection address, the Solothurn 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.