https://www.zkb.ch/de/pr/pk/finanzie...nenrating.html
As a result of the high prices, there are relatively few (very few) young families who live there resp. can afford to live there. We lived for 3 years in a commune next to Herrliberg and didn't like it: it was boring, with mostly/only wealthy old people (pensioners) living there and with a total lack of dynamic / facilities for young families. Landscape/views were beautiful though. We also didn't like the fact that the commune we lived in, like Herrliberg, is on a hill - makes biking strenuous/big effort and basically very few things you can do without getting in a car (grocery shopping, going to a bakery) etc. Having facilities within walking distance (or biking distance) and great public transport is something I value every day.
Here is another statistic page, showing the average declared annual incomes of the inhabitants of the various communes around Zurich:
http://blog.tagesanzeiger.ch/datenbl...rdiener-wohnen . Dark blue are the communes where people with highest declared income lives.
Just my personal views, others may/will disagree likely.
Pros
- extremely close to Zurich city (15 mins) but far enough away to feel like you escape Zurich itself which I feel is a little dour/serious.
- Although a little stand-offish, overall we found the locals to be quite friendly and the level of English was high including at the Gemeinde. The staff at the Gemeinde we also found to be helpful.
- There were other expat families in the area.
- a nice little local village with regular fests
- Easy access to the lake in Summer
- Easy access to walking trails and greenery which is great for running/kids.
- Good access to local playgrounds for kids
- Very clean and well maintained village.
- Low Tax
Cons
- Cost. Rent is high but we felt we had more value for money in Herrliberg than what we had in London and our landlord was great (compared to previous landlords in London)
- Local Co-op small so we tended to go elsewhere to shop (e.g. Meilen or Erlenbach or further afield)
- Whist the train service is good we still found we needed to have a car - see above point.
- Only a handful of restaurants in the area so to speak but eating out in Zurich is expensive anyway so we just tended to eat more at home.
Maybe we were at a different stage of our lives to the other posters. We had previously spent 10 years in London, just got married and had a newborn so were probably looking for a change of pace and perhaps that is why Herrliberg suited us. Yes, we were probably on the lower income side of earners for the Herrliberg population but we did not feel that that impacted us in terms of quality of life.
So I am one vote for Herrliberg.
In terms of kindergarten - we tried two with our son:
1. Dayschool Meilen which was tri-lingual including english. He loved it but unfortunately we lost his spot because we thought we were leaving earlier so had to move him. https://dayschool.ch/en/meilen/
2. Kiana krippen in Herrliberg iteself. He never settled in here and was happy to leave. This one was very Swiss and not as international as Dayschool Meilen.
We have heard that the krippe attached to the local school was quite good though.
If you are looking for a private kindergarten there are many in the local area, for example:
https://www.lakesideschool.ch/en/
These three are all bi-lingual. I am sure there are many others to choose from and there may well be other private ones in Herrliberg itself.
... but Interesting to read this thread and see what people say ... boredom hardly seems fair (but if you've come from a real Metropolis, then even inner city Zurich or Seefeld will feel sleepy). Most people I know (after some initial shock on arrival and adjustment period) find Switzerland glorious, especially once you figure out that to make the most of it, you *have* to go out and about to enjoy this place (not just going for walks in your local Tobel and by the Lake, and go swimming, but also in Winter get above the clouds on weekend to see the much needed sun / snow in those glorious mountains)
The lifestyle along the 'Gold Coast' as its called ( the sunset effect visible from the colder, shady but also nice "Silver Coast" on the opposite lake shore) is pretty good all the way down, and the little village communities are more and more international. Case in Point is Erlenbach which has a good mix of locals "expats" and regular immigrants at the local school.
While it was once de rigeur to put your kids in bilingual or an English speaking "International School" , expat packages these days aren't what they were 15 or even 10 years ago, and it also keeps you n the epat "bubble" - thus isolated from the locals and the intercultural experience of going local... Putting young children in local school can work very well, especially if they've had the benefit of language exposure at Krippe and Kindergarten.
while homegate.ch (ect) might not look like there is a lot of rental accomodation available, there are actually floods of unrented (often new) apartments all along the affluent parts of the gold coast due to over development in recent years (when you cant sell it, you rent it, but you cant be too eager to promote it, or seem desperate to offload it, or the glut will be more visible... and bsides with 10 year fixed interest mortgages at 1.76%, a 1,000,000 chf mortgage is cheap to service, but that's another story), so if you put feelers out to some real estate agents, you should find plenty of choice
Another language is a lifelong gift, especially as its usually the case that you stay far longer than your expect.... and young kids really are sponges.