I am currently browsing a list of open apartments in Lausanne and doing my best to get a feel for the city by looking at Google maps.
I am basically looking for something close to the metro, but not very close to the railroad station. I would also prefer an area that is close to a nice grocery store and maybe some restaurants/parks and not too far from EPFL.
I have tons to choose from but really don't know what neighborhoods in particular would be the best.
Any suggestions?
Does anyone know any neighborhoods or places more receptive to foreigners that don't know French yet?
may I suggest that someone who lives in Lausanne, gives us a short list of suburbs and a description. this will really help a lot, since each one will have his own requirement.
Apologies to Barry if this seems like hijacking the question. Whoever answers should please give priority to answering Barry's specific question first.
J.a and Syxed : Lausanne is quite foreigner-friendly, and foreigners are spread all over. No one is more specific about it till you keep paying your rent and follow the rules However, one place that you should try to avoid is Rue de la Borde.
River10: Lausanne is well connected with public transport, if you are looking for good public schools, Blécherette (bus 21,1),Bellevaux (bus 3, 8), Pontaise(bus 1,3) and Grey (bus 21,2) is good in my knowledge. All these places have post-offices, supermarkets, swimming pools etc. at a walking distance. Hope that helps
Public transportation is fairly good so even a bit further out, you have good access to the center of town. When we were looking at apartments, the relocation service we were using informed us not to look in the Flon/Chauderon area (they considered it a bit sketchy) but we have some friends that live near Chauderon and they don't seem to mind.
If nothing else, when you see the rent for places of similar size, the higher the rent, probably the nicer the area (or a nicer view of the lake).
And I think you'll find that it could vary from building to building (not even neighborhood to neighborhood) as to how receptive people are to foreigners but we've had no problems even with speaking almost no French...then again, we don't really know our neighbors super well as a result since none of them speak English.
We live in the Bergieres area and like being within walking distance of a 2M Migros and a Co-op and a Post office - but I think to get to the EPFL from where we live is 40+ minutes. Your most frequent transportation options will go towards Flon/Bel-Air first and then out from there.
Hope this helps - realistically, I don't know if there are any "bad" areas - the high demand for apartments here keep people fairly scattered demographically.
I am coming to Switzerland!!!
My visa has been authorized and will be coming to Lausanne in the last week of July to pursue PhD in EPFL & UNIL.
Can you fellas help me giving few tips, and ideally in which location I should be looking for accomodation? I will be working in
Please help.
Cheers,
M
Ecublens is at the west of EPFL (the EPFL campus used to be included in Ecublens commune some time ago, although it is now included in Lausanne). Houses at the top of the hill have great view on the lake and they are correspondingly expensive. There are, however, smaller flats around Centre Commercial d'Ecublens, where you find large Coop, Migros, and Toys'R'Us stores among other things. Ecublens is a large commune in terms of surface area, and so the accessibility of metro depends on your exact location.
Chavannes-près-Renens is situated to the north of EPFL, and this district offers the highest chance of finding housing with decent price-to-quality ratio. M2 metro is easy to reach, and depending on the location, the Renens train station may also be close. The problem is that this commune is one of the poorer communes in the west Lausanne area, and suffers from high numbers of crimes and arson, mostly brought about by the adolescents who hang around at nights. The population is only about 50% of Ecublens, but the number of fires per year are almost equal. It seems that some buildings are especially inviting targets for the crimes, and so when visiting a flat, ask about burglary and arson. There are, however, still some nice neighborhoods if you look around.
Renens is to the north and east of Chavannes, and here you can also find cheaper flats, although many buildings would be very old. Renens is also a rather large commune, and so the quality of the neighborhood varies a lot depending on the location. What I've heard is that the old neighborhood (Renens-Village) is quite nice, while the neighborhood around the train station is not so great.
Prilly is sandwiched between Renens and Lausanne, and here the housing prices are also reasonable. When looking for housing, check that it's not right next to roads with a lot of traffic. There are two roads, namely Av de Florissant + Rte de Flumeaux, that look like normal small town roads but get jammed with traffic at the busy hours. There is also a regional train line (LEB) going through the commune. Prilly is situated on a hill side, and so biking is not really an option unless you enjoy torturing yourself.
One general comment about the west Lausanne area is that, if you have a car, you would tend to shop in Bussigny and Crissier, where you find huge Migros and Coop centers, Athleticum, MediaMarkt, and etc. Many shops are open until 19h30 on weekdays and until 18h on Saturdays.
It's 1100 CHF/Month plus bills.
PM if interested.
It's expansive, quite slow, and so far, not working much!
Tonight was 15 min late.
No signs on the LEB train station (not working) so it's unclear where you have to wait...
Also after 6pm it's populated with junk group of stupid teenagers/adults neds!
etc...
I'm new, and I heard much better of Swiss public transports!
train Lausanne geneve is wonderful, LEB is bad!
I had much better commuting train in Scotland... and I always heard people saying its better in swiss blablabla... Well not completely right!
But of course the rest is better here
By the way im not debating much, and the point regarding the topic is:
Try to avoid a neighborood where you need to use LEB (cost+problems).
For example, if you live in Prilly and work at EPFL, you have to switch between buses and the m1 metro to get to work, and the commute is likely to take around 30 minutes. But if you have a car, you can get to work in less than 10 minutes.
My recommendation is to get a car if you live in the west Lausanne area. Life becomes so much easier. Plus, unlike the central Lausanne, private parking spaces can be arranged at reasonable costs (~100 CHF/month).
Especially if it involves LEB, always late!!!
Car's much more flexible here.
(I don't have one, will live without)
In lausanne, you don't choose the neighborhood, it's the neighborhood that chooses you!
(ie: there's so little flats available that you wont have such choice)
here's article in french:
After some time on a bike you probably would become acclimated to the hills of west Lausanne, and also find good ways to get around streets to not make some of them more steep climbs.
I bet you could rent a good quality bike for a while and give it a serious go and see for your good self. Surprise yourself!
- very quiet
-10 minute "down the hill walk" to lake
- migros and coop close by
- 5 minutes walk to train station
- 12 minute uphill walk to center of town (you need to practice taking the "petit chêne" street - the steepest I have come across)
The building are mainly old and there wasn't a lift in mine, but it was close to everything and even though I had a car i would do all my errands on foot on the weekend. Parc du Milan is close by as well