I have seen numerous references to the high cost of living in Switzerland. Urban legend has always held that this is the case. In reality what are the factors that mainly contribute to this "high cost"?

Sorry but I don't like this poll as it presupposes that Switzerland is more expensive than what ?

I agree; in real terms, it's not bad.

Last week in London I paid £6.75 for 1.25Dl glass of not very memorable white wine. That's CHF16.40! I only had one glass.

Most of the items in the poll are actually cheaper in Switzerland than in the UK. Cars, houses, taxes, hotels, wine and fuel (UK petrol is CHF2.35/litre). Others are the about the same...

Items involving labour cost more, as the Swiss are paid more...

My point exactly and I am glad to see people disagree with the notion that Switzerland is "expensive" in comparison to other developed countries. If you scroll through the posts you will frequently see reference to the expense of Switzerland. If you interviewed people who have visited Switzerland in the past (pre Euro), they would probably support that viewpoint.

I am interested in why the perception of expensive still holds sway. I recently attended a meeting in Geneva and attendees were from the UK, France, Belgium, Germany and Austria. All were impressed at the low cost of hotels, eating out and local transport in comparison to their respective countries. Only the German felt that eating out was cheaper.

It's a bit difficult to compare accurately (understatement), but I think rents are more expensive here than in the UK. Well, mine is, metre for metre.

Any nonlocal fruit is more expensive (I cannot believe that I have paid 10CHF for a melon!). However, locally grown vegetables are cheaper in CH than in the UK.

Meat in the supermarket is more expensive in CH than in the UK.

TV costs are more here (both licensing fee and the fact that the majority of people also pay for cable/satellite, whereas in the UK most people stay with the standard channels and/or freeview).

Some things are a bargain in CH. I bought my aubergine plant for CHF2.50.

Overall, I would say there is not much difference, but because taxes are less, you can end up with more in your pocket.

kfc.

After 2 days in Switzerland, I had the impression that the prices in Switzerland are not significantly any higher than prices at markets in Istanbul-Turkey.

However, you have alternative in Turkey in terms of quality, meaning you can find a low-quality shoe if you cannot afford a good one, whereas in Switzerland everything has a at least a two-year guarantee and thus being poor is no good.

health insurance strikes me as is the one thing that's a lot more expensive in CH compared to other countries.

surprisingly you did not include it in the poll. Is it paid by your employer ?

again compared to what/where ?

compared against my BUPA in the UK, it is more than affordable.

Also the UK National Insurance contributions - some of which is supposed to go the the National Health is not a fixed amount, as are Swiss health fund contributions, but a percentage. The more you earn the more you pay...

Maybe it's because I live in a rural area but I find nearly everything in CH cheaper than the UK (some things even half the price). The cheapest supermarket meat is more expensive than the cheapest supermarket meat in the UK but when you go up the quality scale to free range/organic/natura meet the prices are a little lower. Even eating out, I have compared a few good restaurants in Zurich to similar in London and they are cheaper or comparable, and a few local Berghauses here are quite a bit cheaper than comparable UK pub grub - 44 francs for a meal for 3 including a litre of good local wine was my last one - and it was a pretty decent meal.

From talking to people in the uk who all say Switzerland is expensive, I have found this urban myth comes from friends who have visited and say things like "I was in a pub in Geneva and had to pay £7 for a pint of beer!"

It's a common measure for most English people when visiting a foriegn country.

Before I came to Switzerland I was in London for 10 days and I felt like I was hemmoraging money. I was quite nervous about coming to Switzerland as everyone said it was really expensive.

Prices of things have been a really pleasant surprise, my day to day life is comprable to Australia, and really the only thing I really notice as being much more expensive is eating out - but I was a bit spoilt in that respect in Aus.

I must also point out here I have no car, and live in house organised by my employer so I am not sure of the costs involved here.

Yeah, I also keep wondering where this myth of "expensive Switzerland" comes from. I've been living for a couple of years in the UK now, and I actually find the cost of living comparable or even slightly more expensive... Then again, I don't own a car and therefore I cannot drive around to get to the cheaper supermarkets; cheap stuff in the UK is definitely cheaper than in Switzerland.

In any case, I believe that Switzerland has an protectionist agricultural policy and this would explain the high(er) cost of food. An interesting comparison between the cost of living in different countries can be found at:
http://www.swissemigration.ch/themen...x.html?lang=de
http://www.swissemigration.ch/themen...x.html?lang=de
Sorry but I'm afraid that there is no English version of the pages. You can get the French version if you click on the appropriate link in the upper right corner.

Although I voted for a few things that I think are more expensive here, I did so because I thought in terms of a straight conversion from CHF to UKP.

Before I moved to Zürich I lived in London for quite some time. Zürich prices are comparable to London prices for most things if you do a straight currency conversion.

But it's more complicated if you think about how much something costs here as a fraction of your disposable income compared with elsewhere. By that measure I pay the same in rent, but I have a bigger pad. I pay much less in public transport fees. A beer in a bar here is comparable to a beer in a pub in the West End of London.

but it depends where in the UK people are comparing with Switzerland. If you mean London then yes, Switzerland might come out as cheaper. I spent more on my weekly shop in Zurich than anywhere else I've ever lived (various bits of the uk other than London, and Germany) and that was just getting fairly basic stuff. I'd agree with Bonjon that there isn't necessarily much in the way of cheaper alternatives. If you don't earn very much then Switzerland does seem expensive. Except for the public transport which is very good value.

Coming from the NW of the US, I live exactly the same life that I lived there. Same amount of going out, same amount of shopping, comparable living arrangements etc etc. I spend more money/month than I did previously. However, my fellowship takes into account the higher cost of living in Switzerland (compared to the US) so when all is said and done at the end of the month I'm able to save just as much as I could before.

Living in Switzerland and making the required "purchases" (just include everything in that) is more expensive if you don't live here, say if you're visiting. But the "higher cost" of living for a Swiss resident is balanced out by the higher salaries that are paid here.

That being said: Going out to a "nice dinner" in Zurich is way more expensive than getting a comparable quality meal in many other major cities across the world.

Very seldom is anything here a bargain.

I don't like paying over CHF 20 for "take-away" food.

Beer in the supermarket is cheap!

Meat is expensive.

Thats about it.

Compared to what's sold in lil' ol' Malaysia, fruit juice, cherries, wine and chocolates are cheaper here. That's about it. And it's not bad, considering the high pay and standard of living here in der Schweiz.

Our major outgoings are food and train travels at the wekends and both are hitting us fairly hard compared to home. The lack of choice also doesn't help much.
I've heard the 'you get what you pay for' mentioned a lot, but I've not really found it to be the case in a lot of instances. Supermarket own-brand stuff here isn't quite as good a standard as, say Sainsbury's or Tesco's, and the brand goods are exactly the same quality as home.
The quality and price of the meat isn't all that great. We bought 600g of beef for a stir fry and got nearly half a mug of water out of it after three minutes frying time as well as it costing nearly sFr. 17. A normal coffee mug holds about 250 ml, so nearly 1/6th of the 'meat' disappeared in the first few minutes.
But at the same time, we're not suffering from malnutrition or anything...

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I used to think Switzerland was very expensive. After years of stocking up on brand names in England (mostly cosmetics) i realised that the 17 and a half % of VAT actually made some stuff more expensive. I did a little test comparing Body Shop Items, not only in the North of England but where ever i was in England. Guess what, it actually turned out it was wiser for me to buy in Switzerland.

Health care sounds really scary in Switzerland, if you work out what any decent earning persons earnings are in England and what one automatically pays in NHI I'd beg to differ if they didn't pay more than here. Only difference is here you get a service, over in England you are still subjected to being a minion to the God in the white coat.

I've lived here long enough to recognize the fact that new people coming in think I've turned Turk or gone native. I don't mind. If you live in a community and take from the community then you give something back. So for all of you who run over the border to do your shopping, (those on low income excluded) who revel in the low taxes of this country, just remember when your being oh so clever, something will give sooner than later.

Just a touch melancholy tonight me thinks.