Samnaun Shopping Samnaun Shopping

Duty-free shopping in Switzerland

Shopping in Samnaun – is it worth it?

If you visit the holiday resort Ischgl, you get to look forward to plenty of highlights that make your time there an unforgettable one. Perfectly groomed slopes in winter. Spectacular events where you get to turn night into day. An après-ski experience that you’ll remember for a long time to come. A hiking and biking paradise during the warmer months, … 

And alongside the myriad of activities, pure shopping pleasure awaits. Because if you spend your ski holiday at the lifestyle metropolis of the Alps, you’re also only a few kilometres away from the border to Switzerland. 

The Swiss town of Samnaun can be reached directly via the cross-border ski resort and entices bargain hunters with a true shopping paradise: duty-free, of course! It’s the only duty-free zone in the country and popular with holiday guests of all ages. 

Since 1982, the Swiss municipality of Samnaun has been free of duty and ever since attracts plenty of shopping fans. But why is it duty-free? Because more than 100 years ago, there was no direct access-road to Samnaun via Switzerland. The town had to rely on supplies from Austria. And because the costs for a customs office would have been higher than the revenue from customs duties, the Swiss town was turned into a duty-free zone. This decree is still valid to this day. 

VAT-exempt, exempt amounts, total value, … So you don’t loose track and experience an unpleasant surprise later on, you can find all the important information about duty-free shopping here: customs regulations for the EU

By the way: If you don’t want to leave the country in order to experience pure shopping pleasure, you can find plenty of stores, shops and sports rentals at the town centre of Ischgl, too. You’ll certainly find the right souvenir there! That’s how diverse shopping is in Ischgl…