HI there everyone,

I currently live in London and have recently accepted a IT job in Basel middle income of about 130k CHF per year + 16K bonus, I will be moving over in next couple of months. I have a wife who is pregnant with our first child.

We are looking to rent somewhere (within a hours drive) where we are in nature and could get a house (maybe 3 beds) with a garden.

Info I am looking for

1) Any areas in nature\village\small town around German\France border?
2) Any Areas In nature\village\small town in-between Basel and Lucerne?
3) How much I can expect to Pay for rental of house?
4) Is 130k CHF per year enough for a young family of 3 to live comfortably?

Any Info would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Cheers

Do a search. your questions have been answered many times.

Tip scoll down the page and look at similar postings

Welcome to the Forum and soon to Switzerland! As for the rest...

1- Welcome to EF and CH.
2- There's function called "Search".

HI Anthony, Taskalem

I have been through quite a few threads on the forum. But some of them or over 5 years old. Also alot of them talk about living in Basel itself. Which is not usefull for me.

Thanks for the replies though.

This topic has been discussed and ranted ad nauseam.

Basel hasn't changed a lot in 5 years, most of the information still applies.

How will you be travelling to work? If by train, look along the main train lines out of Basel and see what small villages are up above the main train stops. We live above Liestal in the hills; Liestal being 10 mins by fast train from Basel on the Basel/Olten/Luzern line giving access to small villages such as Ramlinsberg, Reigoldswil, Lupsingen and Seltisberg. Or look along the line direction Rheinfelden - from where you can connect to smaller villages such as Maisprach or Magden. Or along the Delemont line - where you will find villages such as Grellingen, Seewen etc.

Basically look on some maps, pick some villages, then search on the web. Nearly every village will have a website (eg. www.seltisberg.ch where I live) and then use SBB site to check journey times. Then use homegate.ch to see what sort of property is available in the area.

As for the salary .. fine. Just fine. Beyond that, don't go there.

Whats the point in replying if you think my post is a waste rather not reply,
So as far as salay goes there has been no Inflation in 5 years and as far as travel goes there has been no infastructure changes....

Rather dont reply than say it has been discussed. I have seen other posts I wanted to know if someone could get in touch and help me at this specific time, guess answer is no then...

thanks ecb for your reply.

I can either drive or I can get the train. But I will look at some of your mentioned places and do some research.

Thanks Again!

as for Salary yes it seems to be a can of worms here

Traffic is bad going in and out of Basel at peak times. I would always favour public transport, but that is just me.

I am currently doing the M25 every day, so anything would be an improvement...

Entertainment. Like pointing out that you put "Basil" as your location in your profile. Smells nice, very Italian, but not many IT companies.

Hi

welcome to the forum and to Switzerland.

I recently went through the same process as yourself, so would speak from my experience.

Your salary is quite decent, and should afford you a good quality of life in Basel area.

For living, Basel and BaselLand are very good, and there is tram connection to small villages around Basel city, places such as Riehen are quite nice. The housing would be a bit expensive specially if you are to rent a house.

Germany, almost everyone told me, is not so attractive for living since tax is pretty high (I do not have exact number though).

Living in France is another option, they one I went for, and there are very nice places around Basel (15-20 minutes drive). You could look at Village-Neuf, Rosenau, and other villages such as Leymen, and surroundings of Hesingue. Just be careful not to be in the aeroplane path.

I personally used http://www.apimmo-location.fr/ for finding my house.

Feel free to PM me if you need further information.

p.s. I also know someone on forum he wants to rent our his house in France area, let me know and I could get you in touch with the person

Hello !

I don't know much about that, but we considered living at the french border in Alsace for a short while (but the commute to Zurich for my husband would have too difficult...). So I can tell what we found out.

If you live in France, with your salary, you could have a very good life. Be careful by commuting in car. It can be really busy. There is a train that goes from Mulhouse to Bale, which would spare you the hassle of traffic jam.

Here is the link for the train : http://www.ter-sncf.com/Regions/alsa...rte_Flash.aspx. It is the ligne Mulhouse Bale.

If you are willing to reach a train station by car, then you can find very nice villages to live in. Of course, the more you are far from the border, the less you are going to pay. I went in Alsace for tourism a couple of years ago, but I don't know the area well enough to give you advice of where to live... I have seen a thread about Alsace not a long time ago, it could help you find some nice villages.

A warning though, in France, strikes are a national sport, especially for the SNCF, so be aware that sometimes, you will have to commute by car

The only thing I can tell you about the villages at the border, is that Hegenheim, wentzwiller and buschwiller can have plane noises. In those village, a house with 2 or 3 rooms were around 1000€/month. You can check on seloger.com (in french only...) if you want to learn more about the houses market.

I hope you will enjoy your life in CH ! If you have any question about France, feel free to ask (i am french), if I can help you, I will !

I only see you wanting the forum members to do your homework.

As appointed, this topic has been discussed before several times. If you work on IT, it would be a shame that you couldn't Google for "inflation Switzerland" to find out the rates. There are also salary comparison sites all over the Web.

As for new infrastructure, no, no new airports or train lines have been opened recently. The public transportation network has been increased with some new bus lines not worth mentioning.

What's with the hostility people? Preparing for the holidays??

Guy just needs a little help in answering some questions. Like all of you were perfectly knowledgeable about everything before you arrived.....sheesh. If you can't be helpful in a kinder way, you know you can just skip the thread but no, you have to show your ugliness and turn people off of even seeking help on EF.

As for the OP's questions, your salary will be just fine and even doable living in Basel. I know more about the French side. Kembs is really nice - flanked by the Rhine and a huge forest. Sierentz is on the other side of the forest and attractive because the train to Basel goes right through it.

Good luck and nevermind the fools on the forum. I promise most of us are actually quite helpful and nice but often the fools like to grab the first opportunity to show their impressive wit and sarcasm. Good luck with the move and your little family!

Adrian, off to the naughty corner please. You spoilt my fun. I wanted to point out the 'Basil' bit.

Back to the questions; The OP may not have received the information he wanted in the first hour or so after he posted, but four 'vague' questions in succession, the tax one in the wrong area, often irritate members who are otherwise more than willing to help. Too much information about the housing required irritates the Mods who consider it a sneaky Ad.

Re information about possible commuter villages - most of the folk on here live in the Zürich area. Most of them haven't moved many times within Switzerland and only really know the town/village they live in now. When you check out the Homepage of villages and towns, see which ones have a lot of 'Vereine' (clubs) and which ones have some of the stuff translated into English (more English speakers might mean less lonely).

The Public Transport Sticky will give you much information if you want to check up on travelling by bus/train to Basel.

Welcome to the Forum and good luck in your search.

Thanks for all the responses, It has been very usefull and have recieved some great tips in private messages as well.

I will use the info recieved to try and refine my search.

Thanks again

Lots of nice villages near Basel, you can take your pick. Don't know how much a house would cost but 130 is fine for a family.

Luzern is not in commuting distance though.

hello there,

I also moved from outside of CH to Basel, in an IT environment, with my wife who was pregnant.

Salary: you'll be fine, although don't expect to be going out as often, and if you do go out, do not be surprised if you have bought a round of drinks and in UK equivalent, you spent 30 quid.
motto: earn swiss, think swiss.

Healthcare is expensive and not fantastic in my opinion.
Shopping mainly done in Germany, but Basel has food which is edible, but of course, is more expensive.

Restaurants - hhmm...not quite the grab a beer and curry environment,and not being one for fondue...my tastebuds are not sizzling on a weekly basis.
With a kid on the way, I doubt you'll be going out soooo often anyway.

Areas: we thought about France and Germany, and to be honest, Germany is still on our minds because of the healthcare/social welfare and it is family-friendly from what my counterparts at work have told me. The taxes were off putting, but I am no whizz when it comes to exceptional savings in tax and favour convenience.
France - cannot speak French, and being British...something just stops me going across to that side...perhaps the Rugby.
Therefore, look at Baselland. It will only take 20 mins in to town i.e. Allschwil, Binningen,Oberwil to name a few. As far as cantons go, it's more tax-friendly to families.

Hope some of the above helps.
CB

Ah ah ! You surely are our best ennemies