I'm seeking information about Glattbrugg. I've been offered an apartment in this area and I'd like to hear your opinion about it. The apartment is 66 m2, second floor (no lift), living room and bedroom. Total rent 1303 CHF. I like the apartment, since the bathroom and kitchen are small, the living room and bed room are quite big, it feels really spacious. The shed on the basement is also quite big. Also I was looking for something outside the city.
But I have two concerns:
1. Even though I prefer living outside the city I'm a bit concern about the money I'll have to spend in transport. what travel card do I need to go from this place to my office in city center ?
2. It's quite close to the airport and It might be noise. But I couldn't experience this when I visited the apartment. I don't know how well insulated it is against noises. And also, are there flights during the night ?
Anyway, any thought about this apartment and the area ? I just came to Switzerland two weeks ago so I don't know Zurich.
I lived in Glattbrugg for 6 months when I first came to Zürich. I was right under the flight path, and the noise was a shock to the system. But I got used to it after 1 month.
There was nothing in the area that interested me socially, but if you live near the Glattbrugg or Opfikon S-bahns its only about 15 mins to HB.
On Sunday it is dead, but you have the airport as an option for shops.
there is a night ban from about 11.15pm until 0600am. at 0600, there will be lost of planes waiting to land. Also during the night there are quite often engine tests but they are in the silencer area but some noise does reach kloten+glattbrugg.
I'm moving to that area and the noise is limited to certain slots of the day. If the house is a new build, then it will be well insulated against noise - they learned that the hard way. You will need Zone 21 and 10, depending on where you live the tram 10 will take you straight into town, although getting the train will be quicker. The price difference between being IN town and just outside is about 40 francs per month, less if you take an annual pass.
The food shops at the airport are open until 23.00, later than any other non-petrol-station place I have seen. I feel a little bad for the staff but hope that they will be using students for those late shifts rather than parents. The post office is also open until 9 pm. So being close to the airport has its definite advantages, if you can tune out the noise from the planes. I actually like planes and don't mind the noise but I know of others who really had problems with it.
How about the taxes I'll have to pay ?, I read in this forum that living outside Zurich is cheaper in terms of paying taxes. I went to comparis.ch and it says that I'll pay 700 CHF less a year in Glattbrugg, but I don't know if can benefit from this or it's only for swiss people and if it's automatically once you change your address. Could anyone explain to me how this work exactly ?
Glattbrugg is one of the best places in the immediate Zürich area to live taxwise. I don't think it should matter whether you are Swiss or not but consult with your HR department if in doubt.
IMHO Glattbrugg is fine to live. The downside is that you're a bit far from downtown Zürich and AFAIK there isn't too much in the way of fun activities going on in Glattbrugg, but if you don't want that anyway you should be fine. Population-wise it's fairly international and on the whole relatively calm and peaceful.
The rent you quote sounds fine. Not a bargain by any stretch but quite acceptable.
As other posters have mentioned, aircraft noise might be an issue, but that also depends on your precise location so it's worth hanging around a while to see whether or not you can handle it.
You see what I meant about a change of title? On englishforum many people browse through the forums or skip down the titles of the New Threads/Threads which have recently been replied to and only open the stuff which catches their eye.
'Found an appartment' the original title, sounds as if you are now relieved or simply happy to have been successful in your search. Nice to know but not very interesting to folk not looking for a flat.
It might help to keep this in mind if you have questions or tips for others in the future.
The way I understand it, there is no advantage to choosing a low-tax commune if you are a foreigner, because you are taxed at the source (Quellensteuer) and this is based on some sort of cantonal average.
Depending on your company, your HR department should sort out all the taxes. Unless you're on a high enough wage, you'll be paying tax at source (quellensteuer) and so your company will calculate the correct tax amount based on where you live.
If you do not pay at source then you'll have to calculate your own taxes on an annual basis anyway, so this is something you will have to keep track of. Either way, it won't happen automatically.
That said, I don't know whether Glattbrugg is that much cheaper than the centre - if I were you I would check with the local gemeinde as I have no faith in comparis.ch myself (they're an unregulated website that makes a profit from the commissions generated by promoting companies to consumers - not exactly the impartial and generous service that most people assume it to be)
I lived in Glattbrugg for 3 years. It depends where exactly your apartment is, but we were woken up at exactly 06h15 every morning 7 days a week with horrendous noise from landing planes. Without joking we could literally see the pilot from our kitchen window.
The only positive factors about Glattbrugg are the cheap taxes and transportation options to town.
In the 3 years that we were living there, a lot of things deteriorated in Glattbrugg. There is also more crime now.
Depends what you are looking for and how long you plan on staying.
Well, it's the first apartment I was offered. I read a lot about how hard to find an apartment is so when I was offered this one I just snapped it up, and also because I'm paying 2300 CHF for the "business apartment" where I'm staying in right now.
I suppose I'll have to live in there for a while to find out if the noise is bearable or not. I was told by the tenants that the windows are quite well insulated, but I guess I'll find out ;-). In terms of going out activities, I'm quite fine if there is no much to do in there, because my weekends consist of taking the train and going somewhere else.
The overhead planes mean it is definitely noisy if you are out and about in Glattbrugg in the day time.
A plus point when you can't be bothered to cook - there's a pretty good Chinese restaurant/ take away called Peking Garden which is open everyday til 11pm (and is open on Sundays too).
I've just asked HR and I've been told there won't make any difference because I'm taxed at source which is based to an average tax-% of the whole canton Zürich.
unless you are working at the airport and/or are a pilot/flight attendant or travel like 75% of the time by plane and want to save money than yes Glattbrugg is for you. It offers nothing else and taxes are low because of it (aircraft noise and air pollution)... but that's just my opinion
Noise ? yes, the approaching airplanes, particularily in the early morning, ARE noisy
Public transport ? two S-Bahn lines, two tram-lines, several buses, mean that you are well connected with Zürich-downtown and with the airport
shopping ? there is the usual variety of Coop, Migros, Spar (in Kloten), Lidl (Oerlikon), Aldi (on Thurgauerstrasse) and some Turkish and Persian independents
sunshine ? If you have the balcony towards the West, you have sunshine until fairly late, far more so than on the western shore of the Zürichsee