I will be moving with my family to Switzerland.
Our jobs will require commuting to both Zurich and to PSI/Villigen.
What towns/villages would you recommend to live in?
I prefer to use public transport for commuting. My child will attend elementary school.

Thank you for your suggestions

Depends on what you're after... City? Country?


What hobbies do you and your family have? I would look for places near what you enjoy doing.


Also - I'm assuming you're going to rent to start, don't underestimate the complexities of finding accommodation in Switzerland (some of us managed without living here, by coming on a plane 4-5 times to see flats/houses, but it's a challenge - especially from the US).


Finally, look into bank accounts - they can cause challenges for those with ties to the USA thanks to the IRS ...

Hello, welcome to the forum.

Well, the limit here is PSI, there's no train station at walkable distance, maybe a bike or an scooter can help. If not, the only way to get there in public transport is with a bus that departs from Brugg also in canton Aargau. From Brugg there's a train that makes less than 30 min to Zurich main station.

Another city near to PSI is Baden, but a train + bus ride is needed. Check google maps and the Swiss train schedule https://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html From there you can start to filter the rental ads far away from public transport.

There are furnished short-term rentals, so you don't have to worry too much about not having a place to live. You can leave a short term rental at the end of each month, usually 1 month notice period. Only downside, the rental prices is 50-100% more expensive than a long term rental. Renting a flat/house is more complicate because you need to visit them and contracts are at least 1 year long.

Finally, a lot of people working in PSI live in other towns around Brugg and Baden. Maybe carpooling is an option.

Hi Liz and welcome the the forum.

For me the key criterion would be your child's education. It's normal for children to go home from school over the lunch break, so having a home close to whichever school is in the town/village would be best. Also think about the ability for you or your partner to get back home in a hurry, if there's an accident at school - while a taxi can be used in an emergency, it's extremely expensive and not always a lot faster than a good public transport connection.
Choose a place where one parent can get back home fast if needed, and ensure that this parent is the one better able to get out of work at short notice if there is an emergency.

Thank you all for your help.
I do not have a preference for city vs country.
My priorities are good elementary school and easy commute with public transport. It seems the only options are Baden and Brugg? Or would you recommend other places as well?

Thank you again

Hiya I live in Frick - next stop after Brugg coming from the Zurich direction. So relatively local.

If you can cycle or drive to PSI then I'd live in Baden over Brugg all day long. For quite a small town Brugg doesn't have the nicest feel to it - there's more to do in Baden and its a nicer place. Makes the commute for the Zurich person easier too. When you said "I prefer public transport" - is that the Zurich person or the PSI person?

If you rely on public transport to get to PSI then Baden would be a bit more of a pain (bus and train but both short) - perfectly do-able.

There are no bad elementary schools. At least that's what the colleagues with kids says.

Education is a thing that varies from canton to canton. In Aargau students are divided in 3 different secondary schools depending on their performance on the last year of elementary education. A summary of the education system in AG here https://www.ag.ch/media/kanton_aarga...b_englisch.pdf

Thanks. As a clarification, for my own job I will have to commute a few days a week to Zurich and a few days a week to PSI, and I do not drive :-)

Most people won't admit to this, but among immigrants, Aargau is known to be less tolerant of foreigners. The more white you are, the less of an issue. If you plan to make this a permanent move, the citizenship laws in Zurich are less backwards than Aargau where you might be rejected for wearing the wrong sweatpants or being a vegan.

Aargau has more relaxed education laws wrt homeschooling in case another pandemic sweeps through and your family is high risk. In Europe, people can't keep kids at home even if they're high risk without legal gymnastics.