I live close to langenthal and I'm thinking of moving to either Olten or Zofingen. I've heard not so great things about Olten e.g. it's dull or unsafe. Ideally I'd like have an easy/short commute to Basel. Please let me know if you are an english speaker living in either of these areas and what are your thoughts about living there. Safety, things to do, like or dislike. I'd really appreciate it. Otherwise I guess I would just have to stay where I am ;-/ Oh and I've thought about Basel but the buying a place in Basel seems to be for millionaires.
Hi guys,
Hi, we live in Melchnau, and I used to work in Zofingen, which is a lovely place. Much nicer than Olten in my opinion, although the commute to Basel will of course be a little easier from Olten, no switching trains. There are parts of Olten that are nice as well. Zofingen is smaller, very pretty, there are a few lovely Restaurants and Bars in the old town, yet it is still very green and you are in the country for bike rides and walks much faster. I think both places are very safe, Olten has some areas which are a little creepy at night in my opinion, Zofingen doesn't have that. But then in Olten you could just avoid those areas Zofingen's public swimming pool is lovely.
Thank you for your thoughts. I think I am also interested in the amount of English speakers that live in both places and if it is easy to make friendships in either places. What are the services like in both places, things to do, cinemas, parks for kids, activities throughout the year? I read today that Olten ranked higher than Solothurn in quality of life. I was surprised since almost every Swiss person I've spoken to seems to think that the crime rate in Olten is high. I'd like to know if that's based on facts or just the fact that there is a high rate of immigrants.
Hi Sabrescia,
I'm an English-speaking expat living in Olten : )
The things I like here:
- Great public transport ("If you don't like Olten, you can always escape it very quickly"). I have friends in ZRH, BSL, Bern and LU and it's the only place that makes it easy to visit them frequently. Also, it's a great hub for hiking in Berner Oberland & Wallis, or going to Geneva or Milano.
- Outdoor activities- Olten is surrounded by mountains what makes it easy to go even for an afterwork hike
- hidden gems- local bars where you meet Swiss people and a rooftop bar Sisieme, my favourite. And a local beer, Drei Tannen!
- cinema Lichtspiele, local restaurants, regional market on a church square
- Gemeinde- very efficient and friendly staff
- Migrosschule at Sälipark, have a good experience with their German lessons
What I dislike:
- tax rate, relatively high
Look for flats east from Sälipark, it's a very nice area to live, very peaceful and green but close to the train station and city centre.
I've heard this bad opinion about Olten many times, and when you ask people how long they lived here, they've actually never been here, the've just heard it from a cousin of friend's fiancee who've heard it from a mother of teacher's dog ;-) I'm going through this clichee every month: someone visits me here, and afterwards says "Everyone says Olten is the worst, but I actually like it here"
And please , don't spread this opinion... what makes Olten great is that people think it's shitty and if they find out that it's actually nice here, they will start migrating here in masses and flats won't be so affordable anymore ;-)
Zofingen is a nice option too, old town is lovely, local restaurants serve tasty food and you can meet a good local crowd in pubs there. Aarau is also very nice, and you get direct trains to Basel (35 min). Flats are affordable there, old town is even prettier than in Zofingen and weekends are a blast : )
Olten isn't unsafe and there is no crime rate to speak of. It's Switzerland - nowhere is unsafe. There is no "immigrant issue" (quoting your own statement) here as in other countries. Also, just so that we're clear, you'll be an immigrant too
But it is a quite dull and - in my view - not really pretty. The location is good though, as it takes you less than an hour to get to either of the larger cities as well as plenty of nice areas that are good for outdoor activities, if you're into that.
Zofingen is nice, but even smaller. Of course if you like that, why not. It will probably be significantly more difficult to make friends there than it is elsewhere. It's difficult to begin with (as can be read in every other thread here and I'm inclined to agree with most, though I'm Swiss) - so moving to a very small town that isn't near many big, international companies and by extension a big, international crowd probably won't help...
Not sure though why you want to move to that area at all if you work in Basel? There are plenty of very nice places in the Basel area, there's no reason to move to the not-so-pretty Mittelland...
Buying property in Switzerland is insanely expensive no matter where you live. Sure there's differences, but it's never cheap. Never. Unless maybe in the deepest Jura. If you don't want to buy in Basel (which I can very well understand), you could look into the nearby Aargau (Rheinfelden, Kaiseraugst, Möhlin). Yes not the most happening either, but 15-20mins to Basel only and cheaper.
Olten may seemed like a rough spot in the past, it used to have that connotation because of prostitution and drug related "hot spots" but nowadays, just like Zurich, it is no different than any other Swiss town. What brings you to the region?
Thanks guys for taking the time to reply to this post. I just wanted first hand experience of the place, not the "friend's fiancee who've heard it from a mother of teacher's dog" as messageinabottle put it.
@ Samaire13. I would move to Basel but the price of a decent house is 1.5m CH + . My husband works in Reinach (near basel), I work in Berne so Olten was middle ground. I visited Zofingen and thought it was very quaint. I'll check out Aargau in terms of commuting to Reinach and Bern.
@ messageinabottle. Thanks for your input, i see that you've mentioned the cinema and I would love to go to the movies more often but the movies are not in English ;-( And regarding taxes, I bet they're not higher than here in Kanton Bern where I live now.
Anyway, thank you so much and if I find the right place in Olten I will be sure to give you guys a holla.
Not sure what "decent" means, but in Aargau you can probably get away with 1-1.2m. But as said, it will not be cheap anywhere unless in some sh*hole.
However, that side of Aargau is too far to commute to Bern, by train for sure, maybe possible by care, but then again the Härkinger Kreuz is always congested. I wouldn't recommend it. How about Aarau though? It's slightly better than Olten (imo anyway, of course it's a matter of taste), but easier to commute - by public transportation - to both Bern and Basel. It won't be particularly international either though
In the cities they are, mostly anyway
Would you be commuting by car or public transport? That can make a significant difference in choosing the right place to live.
You are right. Commuting by train is preferred but if using the car is quicker then that's what will be used. Thanks for your reply. Do you also live in Olten Downerbuzz?