I'm currently living in Zurich but just got a job offer in Monthey - Valais. The job is great so I want to take it but I am sceptical about living in Valais.
I was thinking of living in Lausanne and commute by car everyday. Has anybody any experience doing this? Is is feasible (traffic jams...)? I though it would take 30 to 40 min one way. Is that realistic?
Appart from that, could anybody advise on living in Valais (area of Monthey, Saint Maurice, Martigny)?
In a car you are going against the flow of usual trafic, people from Valais come to work in Lausanne.
Look at the train, far easier if you can work it out at Monthey with a bus. The CFF season tickets work on the busses too and it would be far cheaper than a car.
Commuting from Lausanne to Monthey is easy by car - it's all autoroute and 30-40 minutes would be about right under normal conditions. Commuting by train isn't quite as convenient because strangely enough, Monthey isn't on the mainline. It has a CFF line but that runs between St_Gingolphe and Martigny. So, although there's a half hourly service between Lausanne and Aigle which takes 30 minutes, you then have to get a local Transport Public Chablais tram from Aigle to Monthey. This service is very well coordinated with the mainline but it will add another 30 minutes to your journey. There are bus connections between Monthey to Bex and Aigle but I don't know how convenient or integrated they are.
The Aigle/Monthey/Bex/Ollon area is called the Chablais, which is where I live. I like it because it's quieter, the countryside is nice, the mountains are on your doorstep and there are great walks/bicycle rides along the Rhône river. However if you're into the nightlife, I would be careful because life is quieter here. Even the bigger towns - Monthey and Aigle - are small and provincial. In terms of services - supermarkets, good doctors, hospitals, dentists, nice restaurants etc you won't want for anything. But building a social scene could be challenging because we don't have the number of expats you get on the lake shore. Syngenta in Monthey attracts some international staff and some Nestlé international staff are starting to move to Aigle because of housing pressure in Vevey/Montreux so I do hear English being spoken more frequently when I'm out and about. But these foreigners are more like pioneers and tend to be families rather than sigletons. Certainly and having some French is more important here than say Geneva or Lausanne.
I wouldn't worry about Monthey being in the Valais - it's the lower Valais so it's not remote. In the Chablais, Valais is on the left bank of the Rhône and Vaud is on the right bank. The area is only 10 minutes from the lake and 15-20mins minutes from Montreux/Vevey. And Valais has advantages - taxes and health insurance premiums are generally lower in the Valais than Vaud.
I would think very carefully before going to St-Maurice or Martigny. The former is tiny - a village really and fairly cliquey. The mainline train only stops there hourly, not half hourly. Martigny really is in another world. For me personally, that would be too far into the styx and there really isn't much there that you can't get in Aigle or Monthey.
If you want to be closer to work but aren't tempted by the Chablais you could also consider living in Vevey or Montreux. However accommodation there will be more difficult to find and more expensive than the Chablais.
Good luck. I know the area really well so fell free to ask if you want more info.
We live very close to this area and are there regularly. The people are very friendly and kind in Wallis, generally speaking. Not quite the frenetic pace of life in a big city, but there are compensations. If you are a very outgoing person, perhaps better to live in Lausanne where there is a vibrant social life, but if you are looking for some peace and quiet, Monthey would be the place.
Zurich to Monthey ? ummm not so sure that's a good idea for a city girl.
Lausanne commute to Valais ? yeah, but the trip gets very tiring quite quickly.
Sorry wish I had better news, but I've pretty much been in both situations (commuting and moving from a large cosmopolite city to a small town) and this one is a tough one.
I did it the other way round... commuted between Lausanne and Monthey for about a year, then moved to Zürich
Lausanne is a nice place to live but if you're working in Monthey you will need a car. There is a train connection but it takes about an hour + one needs additional time to go to/from the stations which easily makes it 1,5 hours. I think is impossible to keep up with that on a daily basis. You're right about the 40 min. drive, and it is feasible but it does get tiring after a while, esp. if you have to do overtime or start early. What annoyed me most, was that there was no real alternative: every day I had to take the car. Nowadays I have the freedom to choose between going by car, public transport or even by bike.
Also, if I remember correctly: the tax level in Lausanne is higher than in Zurich so you have to keep that in mind when comparing job offers and choosing a place to live. If it's only for the job you have to move, buy a car, increase your commuting time, pay more taxes, and re-integrate in a culturally different part of the country, you have to decide for yourself whether it is worth leaving Zurich. Good luck and don't forget to let us know what you will do
Thanks to all for the good advice. I signed my contract last week :-)
As I'm a native speaker of French, I am sure I will at least be able to survive there lol!
I decided not to live in Lausanne as I think I will get bored with that long commuting time very quickly. So it will be either the area of Monthey or near Montreux but not further away.
Nev - I might become one of the pioneers ;-) And it would be nice for me to be with locals more often as I guess I will settle in Switzerland...
I envy you as you are far enough in the boondocks to have "decent" priced housing compared to what we have between Montreux and Geneva. Plus, as much as I like living in cities, I really like the country.
Since you speak French you could actually consider living in France. Of course then you would have to deal with the French bureaucracy as well as the Swiss.
But it is a real option.
I know of people who live in France that commute through Evian to Lausanne and work there.
We live near Monthey, and I go to Lausanne 3 days a week for work) easy drive to the EPFL it is 40 min.
We moved here from Lausanne as we like the quality of life better (I grew up in NYC) so I was used to big cities but we like the outdoors much more then the movies. Also It is close enough to go into the Lausanne even for dinner.