Hello everyone,

My family and I have the possibilty of moving to Zurich. I wanted to find out a bit about day to day life, the Zurich crowd and what life is like for those of you with kids. I know it's different for everyone and my requests are pretty general...but if you could pigeon hole that would be great!!
I am ignoring the comments about the Swiss being a conservative and dull crowd, I'm hoping to get some different perspectives on here. We've been in Austria for 4 years now and its time to get out of Vienna, it's not where we want to raise our son and the city lacks the dynamism and creative scene I need in my job.
It's a lot to ask and I'm not expecting essays, but any little gems of advice regarding life in Zurich, good areas to live for families etc would be fantastic. My German is ok but I've heard that even Austrians and Germans have trouble understanding the Swiss??

In Vienna we have to pay 3 months deposit and 3 months provision for appartments, is it the same with you guys? god, I hope not.

LG for now guys, thanks.

Ive been here for 7 months after moving from Amsterdam. I love the place , but cant say Zurich is a dynamic place, though. It does have a nice feel to it though, People are freindly , and the people ive met both from the Ef and outside of the EF have all been great.
The city is easy to get round on Public transport, theres lots of places to choose to live in and around Zurich, take a look at www.homegate.ch
prices vary according to location, the city tends to be more expensive than the suberbs. We live in Kloten nr the airport, but were still only 15 minutes by train from the city, and have the advantage of being close to the countryside, and all amenities..
Good luck ..

what is your job? vienna has 1.5(?) million citizens, central zurich 330.000.
from that perspective the scene MUST be smaller in zurich and in fact does not hold so much variety like vienna does. the cultural things vienna offers are bigger than those happening in zurich.
i speak about theatre, opera/classic music and museums. its a smaller choice here. in terms of international artists living/performing in zurich... i find vienna more exclusive and vibrant. you have good designers (clothes, industrial design etc.) here and nice architecture. but compared to vienna...much, much smaller...

My area is advertising and design, the job is not the issue now as thats looking good and an awesome opportunity. I was keen to find out about daily life and the vibe of the city. Thanks for the reply though guys. Vienna does have all the culutre but for us as a young family its just not where we want to be. Zurich is not 100% yet, I've got an offer in Frankfurt too...whatever we do I think it will be a good decision, its not like choosing between Mogadishu and Baghdad so I think we're quids in either way!
Cheers lads

I would not consider Zurich to be an original or especially creative place. Everybody goes by rules. Everybody copies each other, trends take a long time to catch on here and then only when they become the new rule!. I would say it is a stifling place from that point of view. Draining even.

You certainly do need to put down three months deposit, three months notice to leave, many flats are only available to changeover theoretically three or four times a year. And most leases are for one year minimum.

Perhaps look through the threads on the relevant areas to orientate your family a bit.

I love Vienna

I think many people underestimate Zurich. It appears dull on the surface, but once you scratch there is so much going on.

As I come from Australia, I never fail to be astounded about how many cool things there are to do so close.

The hiking, the skiing, popping to Germany for lunch, swimming in the lake...

It is also incredibly clean, which is great for raising the kids, and compared to Vienna it is somewhat more of a town.

Nothing like a nice silly sweeping generalisation for a Thursday lunchtime, is there?

[quote=vienna75;465401]My its not like choosing between Mogadishu and Baghdad


Dont you think its worth making a trip to see it first hand? It is not so far as if you are going to Mogadishu or baghdad

Okay, NBP, not everybody, just in general, the majority shall we just say. Yes it is just a generalisation but true, for me, in general.
Comparing with other places... in my humble opinion of course!

and you're thinking about Zurich?!? Hahahahahahahahaha. That's laughable!

Try Copenhagen, Stockholm or Berlin if you want to stay somewhere that speaks German.

Err, nope. Still a load of crap, I'm afraid.
I think you need to get out more & probably think a bit more before you type, tbh.

NBP, why so rude? That's just mabern's take on Zurich which I happen to share as well. Not necessarily, groan-worthy. I guess it just depends on one's expectations and experiences and good for you if you find Zurich to be an inspiring and dynamic city.

It may be useful if you expand on the things that are driving you out of Vienna (other than the job offer). Are you looking for a smaller village?

I think Zurich is a very family friendly place, but can also be problematic if you are dual income family as there are lot of constraints to finding affordable childcare and the local school system can make dual careerism more difficult than other places. But I am no expert in this area, only heard this from Swiss colleagues with children and perhaps Vienna is similar.

Sorry, It's a public internet forum - if you are going to drop in with lazy, sterotypical generalisations then I'm allowed to pull you up on it IMO. (& Ill be the judge of what I consider groan worthy, thanks.)

Not rude - frank. That's my take on it

Anyway....

Copenhagen and Stockholm for speaking German? You wouldn't get far in either place....

In Switzerland and Zürich German is at least an official language.

Those are opinions NBP and I will be my own judge on those at least! Groan away, pressing that button takes a lot of thought and energy.

Lazy has absolutely nothing to do with it.

I well may have been out and about long before you were born and/or may well have seen more dynamic places than you have?

I don't rant as a rule but the poster was specific about needs and wanted some general idea.

Wow. vienna75 would be loving his first impressions of Switzerland.

Bickering ex-pats. God work guys.

Zueri is smaller scale of Vienna but gruezier than servused Vienna

You are right Natasha, but this is only Virtualenglishspeakingexpatland, the only real impression of Switzerland would be got from coming and seeing it!
Sorry for scaring you off vienna75. We are all ok really!

Gruss got ()

Ahhh its ok guys...I'm on a similar forum here in Vienna and its the same, different city but pretty much the same tit for tat comments..not that I partake of course...perish the thought! ( virtualvienna.net)
We've got the :
expats that can see no wrong in Vienna' crowd, They wont have a word said against it and will defend it to the DEATH
and the ' this is crap, why can't I buy everything from Texas at the Billa supermarket' complainers...
not to mention the ' I know EVERYTHING about Vienna...I am the oracle and speak better German than the Austrians, I am the GOD of expats and have lived here for 5 years more than you have....snore..snore....
but my favourite bunch...the ' lets chuck meat in the ocean and wait for sharks to come and feed'. Its so easy though, especially with a certain sex and nationality..but lets like not 'go there'.........

Well, turns out my Swiss flirtation was brief, just spoke with the agency and we are off to Berlin, heard good things about the city. I picked up the Lonely Planet Cities book, a list of the top 200 cities in the world as voted by readers and authors...would have thought Zurich would have made it, but no. Basel did though, looks very nice.

Wish you guys all the best though and thanks for your advice..didn't mean to cause a storm!!