Thinking of moving from London to Zurich...some questions

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9. What is the deal with online shopping from Switzerland? On an almost weekly basis, I purchase items from UK sellers on Ebay/Amazon. Will this become more expensive due to Swiss import duties and taxes? Do I have to just forget about online shopping and accept that I will be paying Swiss prices for goods from now on?

Amazon will not send to Switzerland in alot of cases. Sometimes they will send to the border town of Germany ( Konstanz ) using packet service of Hermes. Import duties etc can be alot sometimes. Especially buying from UK.

1. Is my wife's 100k CHF offer enough to cover the high cost of living, considering it'll basically be making up for my low salary as well?

Its more than enough if you put your earnings in there. Zürich is NOT exorbitant costly. Things are expensive like Health Insurance and public transport and accommodation but with your wages you are earning far more than alot of others.400 CHF for insurance will not cover dental. Thats extra and for an adult is very very expensive ( and unless you have perfect teeth they will not give insurance for this)

You might be lucky to find a job here without German. Do you have qualifications? Learning German for you and your wife should be number 1 priority.

13. Flights from Zurich appear to be significantly more expensive than flights from London. Is this an accurate impression? Or is it just the time of year that I happen to be looking at?

Use easy jet or air berlin or any other in Europe

Zug a beautiful town. I would not say that. Very very boring.

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Can you provide a bit more info/insight please?

When you say Amazon will not send to Switzerland, I assume this means that it will tell me before the payment is made, that the item cannot be sent to Switz. Right? Or are you saying that I may buy the item and then get a little "surprise" when it never arrives.

So what happens when an item is delivered to Konstanz? What happens next?

Another poster told me that I may even benefit because UK VAT is removed from items if goods are delivered to outside of the UK. Swiss VAT is 8% (at most I think?!) so that means the item cost will be cheaper, right?

Is there a customs handling charge levied for every single parcel? What is this charge? Is it value dependant?

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Yes Amazon will say if it cannot send to Switzerland. Under delivery address in Amazon you give the address of the Hermes packet shop in Konstanz.They simply send it there if possible.You get an Email from Amazon that it has arrived in the packet shop and you pick it up. Thats all.I am talking about Amazon Germany in this post.

Amazon uses German DHL paket service also but unless you are German you cannot use it.

Things bought from Amazon UK or Ebay UK seem to be sent via Germany and not direct to Switzerland. So you get hit by the costs of taking it over the border from Germany to Switzerland. Crazy!

Unless customs and handling fees are included in the price then yes you pay these fees.

http://www.ezv.admin.ch/zollinfo_pri...x.html?lang=en

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To help you evaluate whether your Swiss income will be adequate, below is a list of median taxable incomes:

Married Couples, Median Taxable Income, Zurich, by Nationality:

1. French: CHF 119'100

2. British: CHF 104'400

3. German: CHF 100'000

4. Swiss: CHF 80'000

5. Austrian: CHF 80'000

6. American: CHF 80'000

7. Spanish: CHF 70'500

8. Indian: CHF 65'200

9. Portuguese: CHF 61'400

10. Italian: CHF 60'100

http://blog.tagesanzeiger.ch/datenbl...-der-schweizer

Many Swiss residents have post boxes along the border in Germany. This Beobachter article discusses the whys and hows:

http://www.beobachter.ch/konsum/kauf...schen-adresse/

- If your German skills aren't up to scratch, copy and paste the url (or article text) in Google Translate.

Buying on-line from German companies and having the products delivered to a post box on the border may at times be more about availability than price. There are simply more products available in Germany than in Switzerland, and many of these companies won't ship outside of Germany or the EU.

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What's boring about Zug? Zürich is just 22 minutes away.

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What a minefield!

I've got friends in Germany (and in the UK obviously). Will just get goods sent to them and either collect in person or get them to post multiple items together to us in Zurich.

Someone else said its like an hour's commute from Zurich. Is 22 mins a fast expensive train?

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Hi CustomX,

It all depends where in Zurich you and your wife choose to live. Generally being centrally located or nearby the lake can be substantially more than other parts or just outside the city.

A good tool to use to give you an estimate of what the cost of living in Zurich can add up to is; http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...m&city2=London

I moved from London nearly four years ago, and don't miss it at all.

Bruno

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good for you with friends in germany. Zürich-Zug 21 Minutes normal price. 17 CHF return fare.( with a half price card)

http://www.sbb.ch/en/home.html

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Great feedback, thanks Bruno!

So my wife would be working near Wipkingen in centre of Zurich. If we want to limit commute time to no more than 30 minutes, does that mean we are talking about living "centrally"?

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central in Zürich is really different to central in London.In 10 minutes with the tram from Wipkingen you are into farmland.

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OK cool. We would prefer not to live in farmland. More urban with amenities is better. So any suggestions for areas that are a quick 10-15 minute commute from Wipkingen, but where we benefit from cheaper rents due to being outside of the centre?

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That was a bit of an exaggeration. In Zürich there is no place that one could call not central.Wipkingen is very central itself and has some reasonable rents if you are lucky enough to find something. Other areas-Affolltern,Höngg.Oerlikon/Michbuch, Unterenstringen

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Something to think about :

The inconvenience factor in your commute is not necessarily time or distance, but rather the number of connections you have to make.

To my mind, a 45 minute-plus ride on one direct train is a far easier commute than 15-20 minutes involving train/tram/bus changes.

Obviously, YMMV.

But do check out any commute in real life (and 'real' weather ) before making decisions.

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Well if you are living in central Zürich then it would be maximum tram/bus change but not train. Try standing in a train in the heat of summer for 45 minutes! Standing becuase in rush hour you are lucky to get a seat.And do you think the train stops in your office?

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I think meloncollie's point is a good one. Changes are a bitch.

omstat's point is also fair. As a Londoner I know only too well the joy of living with one's face in someone's armpit for 40 minutes on an unairconditioned tube stopped for a signal failure!

Basically - I'd want my wife to have a simple commute with a maximum of one change, but preferably a direct journey.

I hear mixed chatter about Oerlikon. People seem to think it is not a nice place to live. Is it a ghetto? Or what?

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And living outside of Zürich will at a minimum double your travel costs. well its certainly not a ghetto. There are some nice areas in Oerlikon. You have to be choosy thats all.

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Ok I'm curious to see some number if you are willing to provide some detail, omtatsat?

What would approx weekly travel costs from Oerlikon to Wipkingen be?

What would approx weekly travel costs from [NOT CENTRAL AREA] to Wipkingen be?

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Well if you are living here and use the public transport on a regular basis then one buys a half fare card for all Switzerland. For a year it costs 165 CHF.

That means wherever you travel in Switzerland the cost of a ticket is approximately half what it is normally. Zürich has travel Zones. Oerlikon is classified as Zone 10 and Wipkingen also. If you use the public transport every day or very often then one buys a monthly card for Zürich Zone 10.

You can only get this monthly card if you have the half fare card for the whole of Switzerland. The monthly card for Zone 10 is 84 CHF a month. But that is only Zone 10.Without the monthly card it costs 6CHF for a day in zone 10. Go out of zone 10 then its no longer valid. Then for each additional zone outside zone 10 you would pay something like 6 CHF for a day card for the additional zone. Its complicated. So the costs for a week with the monthly card is 84 divided by 4. Approx 21 CHF a week. And from a zone outside Zürich ( 1 Zone ) minimum double cost

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Or depending on where you are commuting from and how much travelling you will be doing by public transport, you get a GA card which covers you for the whole of Switzerland on every single mode of public transport (with a very few exceptions) for CHF330pm or CHF3,655pa. If you get one for both you and your wife as well then the combined is at a discounted rate (CHF235pm or CHF2,560pa for the second card)

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Sorry, I've not read all through the thread, but I'd say to the OP that you seem a bit fixated on the financial cost of everything.

YMMV, but as an ex-London resident, you have to factor in the change in environment. For me at least, Switzerland is a sort of paradise compared with London. The air and water are pure. Public transport is never cancelled or late. The scenery is unbelievably uplifting. If you are outdoorsy people, it's a fab country. Endless hiking, biking, running opportunities.

Many will tell you that the country is a bit of a hassle and indeed it can be but for me personally the compensations of being away from the claustrophobia of London is worth the move twice over.

Regarding money, yes most things are more expensive but of course salaries are higher. With food, the quality is high, especially fresh produce and dairy. You can shop quite cheaply at Aldi, Lidl and Denner. There are farm shops everywhere. If you like wine, it's cheaper in the supermarkets than in the UK (lower taxes). Electronic goods are also usually cheaper. Eating out is fairly expensive, especially wine. But again, while paying double seems painful, if you're earning double too... this is much more a problem for your visitors with their pounds and dollars, not so much for residents with their CHFs.

Don't restrict yourself to living in Zurich, even though it's a pleasant city. All along the lake, both sides, you have lovely towns easily accessible to Zurich by train. Plenty of English speakers, native and local.

If you like raucous nightlife you may get bored.

Best thing by far is to come and visit. Hire a car and drive round as much as possible all the places you're hearing about. At least twice a day, park up somewhere and follow one of the thousands of yellow Wanderweg signs by the side of the road. Get lost in the woods for half an hour and enjoy the solitude and beauty of the countryside.

I dare you to prefer London. (And I love much about London.)

Ultimately, there are only so many questions to ask and boxes to check. After that, it will still be a risk. You have to make a decision. If I were you, I would jump at it. But I'm not you.