Hi All,

I am kind of lost having never been to Switzerland before but I need to do some advance house search before flying out next month. We're a family with two kids (9 and 5) and I'm looking for a place in a location ideally with the following characteristics:

- Nearby good International schools
- My work is in Zug so ideally close to public transportation links
- Nearby night life and commercial area

Any information or thoughts or other factors to consider will be highly appreciated.

Many thanks,
H

We have been in Switzerland for 3 years and we have 3 kids (14,12 and 5). The older two go the The International School of Zug and Luzern (ISZL). The lower school is situated at Walterswil in Baar and kids can go there until 8th grade (I think that is year 9 in England). The school is very good and both my kids like it. My youngest is in the Swiss Kindergarten and she loves that too. It is very different though to the International school. Good places to live close to Zug and the school are Baar, Cham, Steinhausen, Zug itself. There are also smaller towns/villages, it depends what you like. The International School also runs a bus service to most of the towns and villages for a considerable distance around it. We are moving to Baar in the summer after 3 years living in Hirzel (which is not a place I would recommend for foreigners). The train system is very good and you can get to Zurich or Luzern easily from most towns in Canton Zug. Good Luck with your move.

Based on this, would recommend Thalwil. 15min train to Zug and quite a few trains per hour. Very easy access to the international school, shuttle service available. Not that much night life, but better than most other villeages outside of the city. Shopping is relatively easy in town center. Thalwil is also quite nice for expats with its large existing expat community.

Many thanks for the elaborate response and advise. I'm a bit overwhelmed and it seems the best way to get a good idea is to go for a short visit and see for myself. Baar seems to be attractive given the relatively high number of foreigners.....I guess it'll be easier to blend-in in a more diversified community. Thanks again

A visit is the best idea, although the more you know before you get here the better! Finding accomodation is not that easy, especially in popular areas. Good websites are www.homegate.ch and www.comparis.ch . At least you can see what is available right now. Another piece of information about ISZL is that they finish for the summer holiday on 22nd June, and I'm guessing the other international schools are similar, so if you want to see the school with kids still there, plan a visit before they finish! Which country are you moving here from?
Good Luck!

Thanks Rachael. We're moving from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. We lived in Egypt and the US before but never in Europe and it's kind of black box :-)

Why would you not recommend it?

Thalwil would be a good choice. Most American families I know live there and love it.