I live in Biel since 4 years now, just behind the main station and the lake, on the river side, giving the location a proximity to city center, train station and the "peacefulness" of the nature on the other side.
I have been traveling a little in the past and spent altogether 4-5 years abroad. I understand that for most of you Biel looks more like a village than a real city :-) and I perfectly understand it.
What i find exciting about Biel is it's bilingualism and the open-mindness of people here. You pretty much talk french everywhere, if people don't speak a correct french they'll answer in german without any tension. I remember my days in Zürich for example where it was more appreciated to talk english than french... It does work the other way round too.
BTW you'll find plenty of english speakers here too, watch making business gets talent from all over the world, and Swiss people usually end up talking in english if they don't speak each other language.
I love the old town, it's small shops and saturday market, I love the lake side too, i love the quality of some small restaurants down here but sometimes missing the diversity you can find in bigger villages ;-)
We are planning to move to the countryside at some point but i'll be missing Biel for sure.
If you want good addresses feel free to ask, enjoy your stay here.
I am happy to have read all your comments on it...so I'll just ad my 2cents of stuff i think weren't mentioned in the previous posts....it has many benefits such as much cheaper flats,bicycle friendly town, tip top public transport locally but also to the big cities, loads and loads of natural places to refuel your energies ( the lake, Chasseral, Bözingenberg, Pres d Orvin with a small skiing arena only about 15 minutes away by car etc etc ) restaurants for all palates, fuel for car is also one of the cheapest in the canton here, a wide variety of shops from luxury to second hand and obviously the certain je ne sais quoi of the billingualism...also did you know that majority of the city council members are gay...and no one here even blinked an eye about this fact..whereas the ZH based media made a terrible ''scandal'' of it.....which i think goes to show how lovely the Bieler are we let the people live the way they feel most happy about!
To say it with the Slogan of our National League A Icehockey Team:
ICI C'EST BIENNE!
But there are lots of alternative lifestyles, cultural diversity, and happenings in public places...
Plus cheap calzone and chinese food, a relative rarity (the cheap part) in Switzerland.
Bienvenue a Bienne
EE
I think Biel is a cool place. The fact that it has a lot of immigrants gives it some spice, and we know variety is the spice of life. I'm an irishman but I've connect with some of the Africans, very friendly and welcoming people!!! Especially the Cameroonians!!ü
Biel is also Switzerland's biggest Bilingual city which gives it something special. The mix of Swiss French and German's is an interesting dynamic and it's a great place to learn both languages.
The Jura is a big wall of mountainous forest that surrounds Biel, a great spot to get into nature, go cylcing, wander into the Jura, and also to go to Macolin which is where the Swiss institute of sport is based.
But yeah it's a bit boring but looking at other Swiss cities, I wouldnt say it's half as pretentious as most. It's got something edgy about it (whether that's good or bad is down to perspective).
However there is also a lot of crime and a huge junkie/druggie scene, like , you will hear of a stabbing here and there every now and then or some street fights at night .
Reminds me, I was there at night once with my girlfriend when I was 14 , a Pimp who was roaming the streets during the night was looking for a fight (to which it never came luckily, he had lots of silver teeth so i would have probably lost), and his hooker tried to help me. So I guess the city has nice hookers as well...
Biel as such was NOT booming in the past ---- visited Biel from time to time since the 1970ies and the place only got uo after 1995 and still is
The town had a run-down, working-class, seen-better-days feel, but I liked that, it was gritty and honest, unpretentious. That was during the decline of the Swiss watch industry, suffering from the 'quartz revolution', which probably had an influence on the economic climate there and that may now be very different.
The residents were friendly and switched automatically to German when addressed in it, even when their first words may have been French.
The major downside is the winter fog, it's why many locals have properties on the northern slope above the town to escape above the low-lying blanket that spreads over the Seeland area. After moving to Bern my daily driving commute was sometimes quite hazadous because of it.
Yeah, what are some of your favorite restaurants?