Hi there!

We are looking around close to Pfäffikon SZ as my husband works there. So I wounder if anyone lives in Jona? Is it a good place to live, good schools and a nice area?

Take care,
Anna

But crossing that bridge in peak hour in the car is a nightmare... it is faster to walk sometimes. And peak hour sometimes happens on a Sunday afternoon...

Why not stay on the same side of the lake?

I know, with car But we are a very mouch train using family 13 min from Jona - Pfäffikon is good

We are looking at that side of the lake aswell....

But if you lived in Rappi and worked in Pfaffikon, why would you even take the car to work?!!! Bike, run or train....thats what I did for 3 years!

Seriously, I agree, I would stay Pfaffikon side of the lake. Jona seems to be full of old people. And this side of the lake is lower tax.

As I said, we are looking both sides. But we need a big place as we have 4 kids and we just found a big apartment in Jona that would be good for us. So I just want some input about Jona

It's not so bad. Tax is a higher in St. Gallen, but rents are lower - get a tax calculator to check how this affects you. On the plus side, Rapperswil has a good range of amenities, good transport links, and more sun, what with being the southern end of the Gold Coast.

Yeah, the sun is a big big plus

And when it comes to taxes, with 4 kids we already pay a very small amount of tax even in kt ZH.
I just wonder if the area is nice. With kids and all Playgrounds, familys with kids, nice schools and so on

We live up the road a little from Jona/Rapperswil and I go to Jona for the gym and shop a lot in Rapperswil when I can. I really like both for convenience and Rapperswil has a nice feel to it and all. I have spotted several nice playgrounds, and there is the Knies Kinderzoo that is a great place to visit with the kids when it is open - and not too expensive, IMO.

I didn't really like "that other side of the lake" as much - really hard to say why - but here is a go - I felt that it was very congested, and at least in Horgen, people really live right on top of one another. I prefer the mountains to the lake... (to be fair, I was only living over there for 2 months while waiting for our house to be ready to move into)

Well, sure, it's a nice area. Has everything you need, and is very convenient. And of course, Rappi is really nice(but you can always visit it if you live the other side of the lake). But, we found the people in Jona a bit odd. Seem to be a lot of sour-faced middle aged Swiss who looked down on foreigners. And I know of 2 other families who found the same and moved elsewhere, like we did. But there again, I know of another family who are in Rappi and love it. Maybe we just lived in an odd street!

I really like Jona, and absolutely love Rapperswil. My OH lives in Rappi, and it is awesome. Stores, beautiful lakefront, nice local events, and the Rappi brewery!!!

The minuses for me are:

1) I am really not into doing a daily 1-hour commute door to door, especially given that my work hours are very irregular. If I am in the office or running around to meet clients for 12-14 hours, the last thing I want is to take 1 hour to get home afterwards. Same goes for those "fun" 5am conference calls with Asia. Something to consider if you work irregular hours in Zurich, and you are not immediately close to train stations.

EDIT: I just re-read your post and saw that your husband works in Pfaffikon - if I worked in Pfaffikon, I would have already moved down there without a blink by now!

2) It does seem a bit of a "closed club" filled with odd people if you are an outsider (it certainly did to me), however it is only an initial impression IMO. Try to get involved with the life of the town, go to local events, try to speak even a tiny bit of German (I do, and it's awful, but people seem to like it).

P.S. Perhaps my opinion of the place has favorably improved once I "befriended" my OH's grumpy, busybody, neighborly old lady, who used to give me these weird stares and then it turns out she is just old and lonely, and appreciates a friendly chat here and there

So you mean its mostly Swiss people living in this area?

I already speak german, so the language is no problem. First lived in Z and then moved to Uster and now looking for something closer. As we are having some problems with school where we live right now (our school is in a "problem area") the school quality is really important for us.

Thank you all for the answers, it really helps a lot!

I am not sure about the specific stats, but all the people I met there and a few coworkers who live down that way are Swiss - also 99% of my OH's friends who live there are Swiss, so my perception might be biased.

You're welcome!