Hi everyone! My husband and I are relocating to CH in February with our 16 month old toddler. This will be a temporary home for us, maybe 2 years or so. Even so, I would like to have a sense of community for the sake of our daughter. She’s very social and loves playing with other kids.
We thought Geneva would suit us best because our goal is to move to France eventually and would like to start studying the language. The expat community and activities to do on the weekends is also a huge attraction. However, after months of searching for a rental, we feel discouraged. As many of you are aware, it’s very difficult to find housing and what’s available is outdated and not practical for our family needs (elevator, parking, close to public transport). We are looking both at options in the city and the suburbs.
Lugano came into question because we looked at rental properties for comparison and were blown away by the difference. Updated with beautiful nature views. We currently live in a warm climate by the water and sunshine is important to us. So we are now debating if Lugano’s benefits (better weather, a nicer home, more disposable monthly income) outweighs the pros of Geneva (international community, French speaking, bigger city with things to do). I feel Geneva would be the smarter choice to integrate and make the most of our time there; however, my husband is really drawn to the beauty of Lugano and saving more money, of course.
My worry with Lugano is it’s too small and we’d get bored and on top of that, have no friends. It’s worrisome there’s no online presence of social groups in Lugano. I’m a stay at home mom taking care of my daughter so being able to provide outside enrichment for her is very important. I’m looking for parks, toddler activities, play dates, even just good people watching will suffice. If these things aren’t available, I’m wondering what we would do to fill our day and how I can provide enough stimulation for her. So I have a few questions but any insight or experience is really appreciated. And thank you so much for taking the time to read!
We do not speak Italian. Will we struggle every day or do most locals speak English?
In general, is it difficult to make friends or find things to do for fun?
Are there events on weekends, things to look forward to? We love walks outside with the stroller and will have a car to travel.
What are the best neighborhoods for views and easy access to public transport into the city?
Indeed, it’s a challenge to rent accommodation. If you’re interested in Geneva, I’d expand the search area to the lakeside communities on Canton Vaud. Coppet, Nyon and Gland are 10-20mins away by train from Geneva. These are nice places to live and hopefully you can find something.
Obviously it’s your private matter, but if you’re so flexible on the location and want to eventually move to France in a relatively short time, I wouldn’t bother settling in Switzerland. If you’re going to do any work in Switzerland, you can do so from France as cross border commuter. Even home-office is possible to some extent.
Yep, first question that needs to be answered is what nationality are you? If EU then moving here isn’t too difficult. If non-EU then you need a Swiss employer who’s managed to get a work permit for you and you normally have to live in the same canton as your work place is based.
No issues with choosing canton based on HQ. We just need to select the location asap to begin paperwork. My husband has EU citizenship but not relevant in this case; work permit already authorized and cross-border commute is not possible, residency must be in Swiss. So very valid points, but mostly I was trying to get a sense of life in those cities over the technical parts.
I should have clarified we are English speakers, so moving to a village in the French speaking canton is a bit intimidating as is being in Lugano if English isn’t common. Our goal to eventually move to France is moving to Nice specifically which has a large expat community and one can get by with English until learn the language. Swiss is a stepping stone to that dream which we must go through; and I don’t mean to make that sound like it’s a burden, we realize it’s a privilege. It’s just a very sudden and drastic change from our current tropical home in Florida so we want to choose well for our family
Yeah, doesn’t really make much sense to me to move to Lugano if you plan to move to France permanently later. Better to start learning French rather than Italian.
That in itself is strange - because as an EU citizen, you go to your local Gemeinde yourself, when you arrive, to do your permit paperwork. It’s is not done in advance by your company. The permit is issued once you are here, by the canton in which you are living and you need an address. How can the have already have been issued?
I see, agreed. I meant to say that I don’t see reason why they wouldn’t be able to settle in France and get G permit. Tbh I assume they can resign from the permits they arranged for already, settle abroad and ask for G permits, but anyway…
