Relocating to Zurich

[LadySweet]

Hello everyone

I am relocating to Zurich next month with my husband and 7 month old baby boy and wondered if anyone could recommend a nice area to rent in? Husband will be working in the Opfikon district, is it really easy to get around Zurich by public transport or should we be thinking of a move to near his workplace?

Seefeld looks nice and we have placed our interest on a couple of apartments there, just waiting to hear back from the agent. We saw a couple of nice apartments for rent in the industrial district which said on the advert "partially red light" does someone know how red light this is? Will it be full of dodgy types or am I being paranoid?

If I can also ask here about shared washing machines? A large precentage of the properties we have been looking at online have shared washing machine, is this normal? How does this work? Is it in a basement of the building?

I have joined the expat families in zurich yahoo group but my pc has a problem with that website, I think its my internal firewall :|

Zurich looks great, very much looking forward to relocating there.

Your dh would need to do it - CH is dreadfully old fashioned in this respect and as he is the income earner you probably won't be able to. He could call the main branch of one of the Swiss banks (we used UBS in Bahnhofstrasse tel 044 234 11 11 or look up others on local.ch ) and they will have English speaking staff who are used to doing this sort of transaction to advise. He may need to wait to set this up in person as they will require id etc but at least you will be prepared. dh's company actually handled the deposit etc for us but as a contractor his may not be so helpful.

Thanks Liz, I'll get him to phone the bank tomorrow morning. Funny to hear that I won't be able to set it up, I usually take care of all the paperwork etc as I am much more organised

He has decided to drive over so we will have our car there for seeing a bit of Europe on long weekends, holidays etc and that way we can take a lot of our wee boys things too so that means he will be there at least a day or two before we move in to go to the bank etc. I'll fly over with baby on move-in day and won't be too laden down with stuff ;)

His company are really doing very little precisely because he is a contractor, they have provided us with a contact who will look over our rental contract as it is all going to be in German so thats good, beyond that though we are pretty much on our own. All seems to be coming together though so hopefully things will continue to progress smoothly.

Congrats on the flat, sounds like things are moving forward... Have forgotten (or got used to eek!) the whole sexist thing here. You mainly see it in the bureaucratic or paperwork side of stuff. Not so much in everyday life in the cities. I remember when we got our residence permits through and mine was sent (in a separate envelope) to dh. Bloomin outrage! He quite enjoyed it though.... Most of the bills to be paid come via letter and with orange slips for payment. You can pay them over the counter at the bank or post office, or online with UBS e-banking. Hardly anything can be set up as direct debit, which is a bit of a pain. The Swiss don't ever seem in a real hurry to be paid for things though, we've ordered things, had them delivered and eventually a few weeks later received the bill. Bit different to the UK where you pay on ordering...

Also you'll find that the majority of mums of small children here don't work, and so there are lots of activities during the day, lots of mums around and TBH most of the shop / doctor / opening times for things are in the day rather than into evenings or 24 hour like at home, and deliveries are almost always in the day too - good thing is they come when they say they're going to - find memories of welcoming the Swisscom man at 7.05am...

The other thing you'll need to do is register with the Gemeinde (the local community) within I think 12 days of moving into the flat. You all need to go to the town hall type of place with ID, permit etc. to become an official resident.

Hmmm will pick brains for other things. If you let me know when you're here and a bit settled happy to meet for coffee and I can give you some pointers. I work near Bahnhof Enge, which is quite near to where you'll be.

Depending on how your conatrct works out bear in mind that you can only drive on your UK licence for a year before it has to be swapped a Swiss one (straight forward paperwork but requires an eye test) and simiarly a car would have to be reregistered locally after a similar period and pass the local test like an mot.

Do you get a garage place with the apartment ? If not the Gemeinde may charge a monthly fee for parking on the road and you woudl also need to get a blue permit(our insurance company gave us one but think you can get at Gemindehaus) to enable you to park in marked zones around Zurich for fixed periods - it has a clock face which you set to your arrival time.

Is the apartment furnished ? You'll need to take out local insurance to against damage, especially with a toddler, and health insurance which you need to evidence when you register.

Ahh didn't know about the registering thing, I'll make sure we do that asap. We don't have a permit yet as husbands contact at UBS said they can't organise one for us until we have an address so as soon as the subcontract is signed with the landlord hopefully that can move forward.

We are going to have to order quite a few bits for the baby once we arrive, we are taking a travel cot for the first few days and will buy a new one when there, likewise one of those bouncy little chairs so glad to hear I won't have to wait in for up to 5 days like at home .

We get a covered parking space with the apartment and think husband will get the tram to work so I'm thinking at the moment the car won't really move much around town but will get husband to look into the practicalities of parking etc once he arrives. Am quite enjoying delegating all the paperwork things to him actually

The apartment is furnished, husband has some kind of liability insurance atm, again though I shall get him to check the ins and outs of it and we can take more insurance if required. Apartment also has a washing machine (cheer).

Again, thanks so much for all the pointers and help you have been great.

Would be great to meet for a coffee Newb, will arrange a day/time to suit you once I've arrived

Registering with the Gemeinde is very important. Without that and an address it can be hard to get things like mobile phones. Make sure you understand any restrictions in the lease for use of wm and running water, recycling and rubbish disposal (we had to buy special black bags), use of communal space etc and don't forget to pay the Billag tv/radio licence (we didn't for months as noone mentioned it until someone turned up on our door step to check). Basically if you make a mistake with even seemingly mundane tasks you can get fined, ignorance is no excuse and often makes things worse !

Not only are you near Sihl City but also a large Migros supermarket (the Tesco of CH) which has a useful furniture (including baby stuff), craft and diy section. Not open on Sundays, holidays or very late evenings. Outside regular hours head for a train station for the likes of fresh milk or English papers.

Have mentioned to husband that he will have to ask for a morning/afternoon off work in our first week there to do the things at the town hall; I'm sure his work will be amenable to this as they must have had to do the same for other relocating employees. The landlord has asked us if we want to keep the monthly tv rental and that is being added to our rent, but will check about the licence.

Am getting a bit nervous about all the restrictions and everything, we live fairly quietly as we don't want to wake the baby when he's asleep so we tiptoe around at home and have the tv on v.v. quietly but I hope the neighbours won't complain about the baby. He is going through a very shouty phase at the moment, which of course I find endearing but perhaps the neighbours wont Surely people make allowances for baby noises though The landlord did say 'children welcome' in his advert and he knows we have an 8month old.

Big supermarket sounds good, will make a beeline for there when we arrive. I think I'll probably overstock things like milk etc when we first arrive so we don't run out, am so used to everything being open all the time it's going to be a bit of a shock at first I'm sure

When I say "big" that is by Swiss standards not UK btw ! Don't imagine you'll find a Tesco superstore on the doorstep, lol!! Offices such as Gemindehaus tend to open early(to us at least) 8-8.30am, close over lunchtime (11.30/12-1.30 ish) and around 5.30 for the day so it shouldn't intrude too much into a normal working day.

I should add that all the paperwork and bureaucreatic stuff is a pain at first, we were a bit bewildered at the volume of letters in German and random bills that turned up, but people at work always happy to translate.

And the payoff for the (dare I say petty...) rules is what seems like a totally organised society. Think polite teenagers, children or 6 or 7 walking themselves to school wearing little orange tabards, everything spotlessly clean, careful drivers, all transport running to time, no-one (well except me) crossing the road without the green man.....

Noise restrictions are quite well enforced but they definitely shouldn't mind babies, it's more to stop late night parties and the like. We always (ssshhh) used our washing machine on a Sunday which is in theory illegal, but if other people aren't disturbed by it then no problem. If you do anything "wrong" someone will politely tell you about it straight away so it's not an issue, at home via. a lovely little note on your door "madam you have missed the designated date when your Christmas tree will be collected by the council, and no, chucking it into the woods at the side of your property is not a good alternative" or in person "madam you appear to be riding your bicycle on the pedestrian lane rather that the designated cycle lane about 2 feet to your left".

Vollmilch is full fat milk and milk "drink" is semi-skimmed btw. Swiss have the equivalent of most English products but harder to get stuff you can often find at Jelmoli foodhall - big department store on Bahnhofstrasse. Or when desparate there is an English food shop in Zug, for Cadburys and Robinsons.

Right, off to supermarket in advance of said shop bank holiday closing. Going to get chocolate rabbits for Easter and possible lakeside apero with DH....

Coffee will be nice. DH also works for UBS btw, the more UBS Brits we get over here the better I reckon, mostly Swiss in his team.....

Oh was imagining a big Tesco size store actually lol, good thing you said otherwise I'd be thinking hmmm it cant be this one and wandering around looking confused

I do like the sound of how organised and civilised Switzerland sounds, when my husband first went for the job he was saying Switzerland is totally my kind of place. The little notes sound funny though, hopefully I wont incur too many of those in my first few weeks

Good to hear they have similar equivalents to products, am mainly thinking about Pampers and other associated baby products. Think I will be eating a lot of toblerone when I arrive though, although if I feel homesick I shall head to Zug and stock up on things

I am so excited about moving (have I mentioned that already ), this weekend will be my last in Edinburgh it all seems to have come around so quickly!

Easy to get Pampers and Huggies and we found Penaten similar to Johnsons. Nivea Baby does a very good range too. Lots of "natural" based products like Weleda and plenty of organic meat and fruit and veg available seasonally. Take teabags, Marmite and a supply of any other particular favourites, make sure visitors from UK top it up as you go. Otherwise you can buy some familiar UK brands in Zug or at the Jelmoli and Globus food halls in Zurich but at ££££ prices.

Last day in Bonnie Scotland today! Husband has been in Zurich a couple of days now and said the sun is shining, by contrast it is like a November day here.

Newb, I'll post a message here with my email address when I get settled so we can arrange to meet for a coffee.

Yodelediho

Hope you have a good last evening and flight out here. If you're going with Swissair you will get to experience their ubiquitous cheese roll with a gherkin in, and the absolute assurance of your flight getting in early if not on time.... I have a theory that they let their own flights in ahead of others.

And welcome to Switzerland!

PS It's just started raining this afternoon, but not supposed to last. Bring on another sunny weekend!

good luck LadySweet , let us know how you get on !

Hi, just back from our Zug adventure and am delighted to say it was a success with us finding a house in Hunenberg which is a village just outside Zug. All fairly traumatic but worked out well in end, plans are now all going ahead for our move in July. So glad you found a flat LadySweet - how exciting. Hope the move went well - do keep posting lots of advice and helpful hints please!! Let us know how you get on!

Hello again all

Well, we have arrived! Loving Zurich, such a beautiful City. Our apartment is fab, really nice 2 balconies so get sun in the morning and afternoon. Location is good too, only 10 mins walk to mall, 10 mins by tram into town and 30 mins train for husband to get to Opfikon.

Havent had any notes pinned onto door by the neighbours so dont think we have made any blunders yet

Everything being closed on a Sunday is really strange at first isnt it. So peaceful though.

Glad you have found somewhere Giddybiddy, your relocation date will be here before you know it. Dont really have many tips as yet, main thing I have learned is that if you have a pram/pushchair you have to get in the last door on the carriage of the train/tram I didnt one trip and was told quite firmly what people with prams were meant to do Will post more tips as I find them though

People have all been great though, very friendly.

If youre still up for meeting for a drink/coffee sometime Newb my email is lady.sweet at live.co.uk I'll be the lost looking one with the baby with Iggle Piggle In the Night Garden doesnt seem to have travelled over here I notice, quite a few people have asked us what the strange toy our baby has is hehe.

hi Ladysweet. Glad you're settling in well, you've arrived at a great time of year. I've been offline for a few weeks but nice to see your update.

Hi Lizs, it is a great time of year indeed. First weekend we were here we found a childrens festival in town, they had all sorts of activities, horse rides, face painting a small petting farm etc was really nice then on the Sunday there was the childrens parade down Bahnhofstrasse which we happened upon quite by accident. Saw the Booog too didnt go to the Booog burning though as people we spoke to said it would probably be too busy to take the buggy there, so will do that next year hopefully.

Weather has mainly been great since we arrived so have taken some nice walks along the river and generally just walked around. We have a big outdoor pool with flumes and slides near our apartment which opens mid-may for the summer season so looking forward to taking the wee boy there.

Hi

Glad your move has gone well and you're enjoying it. Defnitely good for coffee. Will email you now, let me know if you don't receive it.

I have an apartment for rent in Zurich, contact me for more information.

Candy.

Hello,

I have an apartment for rent in Zurich, contact me for more information.

Candy.

My email is as follows [email protected]

9ice, you are just a year too late.