Hello,

I will be moving to the Lausanne area for a short period 4-5 months with my family...which there is a a 5 year old and a newborn. My wife will not be working, so I would like to know which part of Lausanne would be the best place for a young family to live (quiet, nice, etc). I guess she would need to be a short distance from parks, shopping and pools for the young ones as they will be on their own for the most part of each day for 4-5 months.


Thank you!
kdog31

Hi and Welcome to EF from a Canadian.
Where are you living now?
Quiet, close and nice? Well you may be hard pressed to find all that, since the close requires city living, but that ruins the quiet.
There are some people who live in Lausanne so I am sure some of those can help you.
Good luck with your move.

Hi kdog31,

There are multiple areas in Lausanne and surroundings that can suit your needs. In our particular case, we live in the northern part of Lausanne, Epalinges, which is quiet but at the same time relatively close to the center and with easy access to the highway. We also have two kids (4 and 1) and they love living here, lot of children to play with

When we first came in February this year we moved temporarily to the center of town, near the Tribunal Federal. There are also a bunch of parks there and is close to the train station, but not so quiet and quite difficult to park (even if you have an assigned spot like us, since people tend to take your space sometimes!)



Hope this helps, Yopo

PCDesigns - Thanks for the welcome...I now live just north of Toronto in a town called Maple. Good to hear from other canucks!

Yopo - Thank you - My dilemma is really the following, I hope some of you can put in your two cents worth. I will be working in Chavornay on a daily basis and am deciding whether I should look for living in Yverdon-les-Bains or in the Lausanne. Yverdon is closer, but I am worried my wife will have less "things" to keep her and the kids busy. I assume Lausanne will have more stuff to keep her occupied, but it will result in a longer commute for me (not that I am really opposed to it too much).

So the question becomes is it worth paying the extra costs and commute time to live in Lausanne area or will Yverdon-les-Bains allow my family to not be bored????

PS. I am the only French speaker in the family if that is a consideration.


I would appreciate everyone's input. Thanks! kdog31

Living in Lausanne will definately be better for your social life and your family. Yverdon is very small and old feeling. Not many young English speakers that I know of. Lausanne has a huge English speaking community and many more things around to do, but the traffic around Lausanne is a killer if you keep 8-5 working hours. (maybe the train would be the best commute option for you and to keep your family happy).
Will your kids be going to school? Local or international?

Hi

Welcome, well not yet but soon ;-)

My husband didn't speak of word of French when we moved to Lausanne 6 years ago. It took him about 6 months to find a job so he did quite a bit of getting around and exploring for that time. He really wasn't hampered by the lack of French - obviously there were a few frustrating moments but no disasters.

Both Lutry and Pully are very nice areas, just outside Lausanne but close to the lake and on the bus routes.

Not sure how you are planning on commuting but from Lausanne there 3 direct trains to Yverdon each hour (eg. 6.45 - 6.55 - 7.06). There are a few extras which require a change – but again not complicated. The ride is less than 30 minutes.

I hope this helps

Cheers
Nats

If i understand you correctly you will be living in Lausanne only for 4-5 months. I guess you will be targeting the furnished apartment market for such a short stay. Most of the furnished apartments are in Pully, Lutry and center of Lausanne. I would prefer Pully or Lutry due to the proximity from the lake and you have good bus connections.

Hi,
I also prefer the Pully/Lutry region,good train/bus connections,easy to get onto motorway and into town. Great views, beach/pool/,park areas.
Jo

Kdog31,

I think I would rather go for Lausanne instead of Yverdon. It's bigger and there are more chances to find english speaking people. Provided you will have a car, from Lausanne (i.e.Crissier) to Chavornay is probably less than ten minutes on the highway (perhaps double from Pully or the town center), so communtting from my perspective is not a key consideration.
I do agree with the other guys that Pully is a good area to consider for the proximity to the lake.

Cheers, yopo

I think that everyone has a good point and it looks like Lausanne is the better choice. I think for my wife being able to function a little easier in English will make Lausanne a better place for us than Yverdon although it is closer.

I will most likely have a car to travel so from what I am reading it is about a 20 minute drive from Pully to Chavornay...it looks like I go on the A9/A1 to get there.

Will there be a lot of traffic on that route at about 9am-10am?

As far as furnished apartments, there seems to be a huge difference in the cost between furnished and unfurnished when I check immostreet or homegate..so I am not sure which will work better, because it is only 4-5 months, I don't really need wall to wall furniture.

Cheers

I don't think you have a choice here. Unfurnished are out of question for 4-5 months considering the fact that notice or termination period is twice in one year with 3 months in advance written warning.
Here you have to cough up some cash...

Greenhill: You are right...I have been looking around some more and I think it will have to be furnished...prices are very high for furnished, but it looks like I will have no choice.

Due to that, I may have to expand the area in which I am looking in. I will be in Lausanne in a few weeks for quick trip, so I plan on taking some time to look at a few options.

Thanks!

We used to live in Pully and I work near Charvornay. it took me 25-30 mins a door to door. It was nice drive by Ouchy then out the motorway for a clean drive, no tunnels, not a lot of trucks etc.
Pully is great as its quiet, near the lake, parks, some schools too etc. Rent is a bit on the high side specially on the main roads which apparently have some "premium" to it as its supposed to be a prominent avenue. CF Ramuz was the name...

Thanks jetandmae....I am going to focus on Pully area right now and see if I can come up with a flat that is reasonable in price.

Also, since i will be there with my family for 5 months, does anyone know if there is an ENGLISH "Day Camp" or something similar for a 5 year old in the area?

Thanks!
kdog31

Hi,
there is a bilingual school at Pully.
http://www.montessori-mickischool.ch/

you might want to check it out
Jo