Car rental between Switzerland, France, Italy

Hi Baldric. Your info about trouble with a rental car leaving Switzerland is not correct. I have rented several times in Switzerland and driven to many other countries, no problem. Rent the car on the Swiss side of Geneva airport. Your car will almost certainly come with a Swiss sticker. But if for some reason it doesn't, worst case is you simply buy one for about $40. Enjoy your trip!

In determining what size of car to rent, take into account luggage as well as people. From other posts on this forum, I gather that luggage space in European rental cars is often very limited. It's critical that you be able to fit all of your bags into the trunk, because parking a car with anything visible inside it is an open invitation to thieves.

I don't think taking trains would be complicated; folks here can help you with that. The cost would depend on how many miles you intend to cover in each country and--if some your group are children--the ages of your group. Are you aware that there are places in Switzerland you simply cannot get to be car? Sometimes you need to take something like a mountain railway. And parking can be very expensive.

if we rent on the French side of the airport, we are not guaranteed to get a vehicle with a badge to travel on the Swiss highways.

I've rented a few times on the French side. There was no Swiss vignette (which I didn't need), and I assume there will rarely, if ever, be one. But you can buy one when you cross the Swiss border. I believe that renting on the French side is usually cheaper, even when you factor in the cost of the vignette. Whichever side you rent from, make sure to return the car on the same side.

Switzerland joined the Schengen visa zone a few years ago, so there are no border checkpoints.

That's fantastic, thanks everyone for the replies. What a relief to know that renting a car won't be a problem! This is my first time on the Rick Steves forum and I'm grateful to receive such helpful replies so quickly.

FYI, we're flying into Geneva and staying the first 5 nights near Gruyeres. Then after that, the plan is to spend a week in Tuscany, then back to Geneva for 2 nights before flying home. I'm aware that some towns in Switzerland can't be reached by car. We or may not take a cable car up to Gimmelwald or the tops of the peaks from Lauterbrunnen - haven't decided yet. It looks like there is so much to do with or without a car in the Alps. We haven't planned the Italy segment of the trip yet - if anyone has any tips, I'm all ears. :-)

Thanks again!

Switzerland joined the Schengen visa zone a few years ago, so there are no border checkpoints.

Sort of. Switzerland is in the Schengen Area, so there are no passport checks, but Switzerland is not in the EU, so there is still customs. On a main road this just involves slowing down, and the customs official waves you through without stopping (unless (s)he thinks you are suspicious). Minor roads do not have customs posts, if you have anything needing declaring you are supposed to stop and fill in a self-declaration form.

The autoroute/Autobahn Vignette only costs CHF 40, so it is not a significant problem. If you cross the border on an autoroute/Autobahn there are often two lanes, one for people who already have a Vignette, and one for those who don't, where there is somebody who can sell you one. See this photo: https://static.panoramio.com.storage.googleapis.com/photos/large/66787892.jpg

French autoroutes and Italian autostrada mostly have conventional tolls where you pay per Km.

The issue about Swiss rental cars being used in the EU only applied to EU residents, and has since been sorted out.