Hi there!

I will be working in Baden soon, and I was wondering which city was more comfortable to stay in for 6 months. I'm a very active person and like to be in the centre of the city to go out, but in the same time I have an offer for accomodation in Neuenhof (near Baden) and then I don't have to go house hunting... What do you think is the best, Baden or Zurich?

Zürich ( or even Dietikon, about half way not forgetting Winterthur ).

Hi, myself and my husband, who works in Baden live in Neuenhof. It is a five minute train journey to Baden and depending on which train you get about 25 mins to Zurich. We've not been here long enough for me to comment on the range of activities but I can tell you it's no effort whatsoever getting the train into Baden for dinner or drinks (trust me, I have no job yet so am an expert at this journey) plus house hunting is a pain in the ass so if you can, avoid it at all costs.

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

Your question was already discussed in the past, you can use the search function of the forum to see the old threads

Anyway in a nutshell, Zurich is definitely more active, more opportunities for the free time, but very difficult to find an accomodation and then you have to take into account the commuting time to Baden.

On the other hand Baden is less "boring" than one can imagine, there are bars, a few clubs and you can be in the center of Zürich in 15 minutes with the train, and it's easier to find an accomodation.

Neuenhof is very close to Baden, I guess your temporary accomodation is in Webermühle, that is closer to Baden than to Neuenhof.

I doubt you will find temp, furnished accommodation in Zürich for 6 months that is as cheap as Neuenhof, which is not nearly as expensive as Baden. Had they not voted against the merger with Baden, prices may have gone up.

So the money you save on housing can go towards entertainment. Just study the train and bus schedule very carefully so you don't miss the last train or bus. Friday and Saturday nights they run later than mid week.

It is not as though you cannot have a social life in Baden, you will meet people at work and many may live in the Baden area.

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Hey! Thanks for the answers! The offer is actually in Webermühle as you said, in the big housing complex, so not exactly Neunohf. To be more precise, last year I was living in Brighton (UK) and was living on a campus in the surroundings, and did not like to depend on the transportation too much... But living in Baden is not really the countryside so I have a big hesitation here..

Fridays and Saturday night you have transports.

The other days you do not but you have until midnight. Depends on how late it is for you.

I see locals, germans going to bed at 11 pm. Since i am latin i go 1 and i wake up at 7.

To me getting out 1 or 2 am from a bar at week can happen a lot.

going to bed at 11 pm is more than depressing.

Hi, I work right near where you will be working.

Anyway, downtown Baden is a 5 minute bike ride away, and from there, there are two fast trains (15-16 minutes) to Zürich HB, every hour, in addition to other slower trains to Zürich. So, transportation-wise, living in downtown Baden could be 'closer' to Zürich HB than some places are much closer in distance.

Just my two cents. It depends on your personal situation and what you want to experience.

Regards,
Dan

Thanks for the answers,

I'm still hesitating. So, I have this offer in Webermuhle housing complex for around 800 CHF but I also found some flat in baden here: http://glandon-apartments.ch/de/baden/zumschiff.html

with individual room, kitchen etc. Do any of you know of it?

Just walked past here this morning!
Looks expensive to me, though the costs do include electricity, heating, TV etc.
You would be handy for the centre of Baden, just a few minutes walk from everything and very handy for the casino!
I think the flat is attached to a clinic, this part of Baden is near the spas, rehab centres etc. Anyone else know?

It's 1250 a month for a single room so that's not too expensive for what it is I think.

We had the exact same issue when we first came to switzerland (job in baden, didn't know where to live). My ex made the decision to live in downtown zurich to be "in the city", closer to things to do, etc etc. It was nice and really cool to be able to walk everywhere. However, the apartment was ridiculously tiny and expensive.

Now many years later I live in a suburb of Zurich and I have to say that I enjoy having a larger apartment for the same price, being in the "woods" and yet I can still be downtown in about twenty minutes in transport.

For six months, I would say Zurich, if you could find something temporary close to town, which is a big if. But if you wind up living in Baden, don't fret- the transport links are fine if your social life is in Zurich.

I work in Baden and live in Altstetten. I find this the best of both worlds I live near the station. 15mins to Baden (fast train) and 6mins to Zurich HB. Plus I can take advantage of late night transport in Zuri. The only down side is going round to friends from work the other side of Baden. It usually means leaving theirs around 11pm ish in the week And the rent is expensive (even in Altstetten). If you lived in Brighton anything less than Zuri will seem very slow, although as small towns go Baden is pretty good.