I am about to move to Zurich with my wife and kid 6 months and we are enjoying the house hunting. As we are new here we do not have references about the places.
I will be working in Alstetten, so I am checking all around this place: Höngg, Albisrieden... and I have seen also Schlieren.
I have not found any post about Schlieren but there are nice houses there. I have the impression that it is a place in transformation from industries to living area, but not sure about it. What I am not sure is about the quality of living for kids.
We do not need night-life, so we do not mind if it is a quite area in evening and night.
I wouldn't agree about the swimming pool, it's far from the best one in the area.
Schlieren itself isn't the most pretty of towns, though it has good facilities, good transport links and is well located. You have to consider too that it is the town with the highest foreign population in the whole of Switzerland (many of my Swiss friends and colleagues remark that the "wrong" type of foreigner live there) and if you're in the local Lidl you'll hear almost every language under the sun apart from German . For this reason, there isn't a great sense of community in Schlieren but I guess the same can be said for most areas of Zürich.
There's a hell of a lot of building going on in Schlieren at the moment, however the location of the new flats isn't the best (directly next to the railway line). There are nice areas though, mainly around the hospital and towards Urdorf. Here you could find something that is good for families.
As you'll be working in Altstetten, you may want to consider Urdorf, Uitikon, Bonstetten, Wettswil or Birminsdorf. All are well connected to Altstetten and Zürich and offer more greenery. Perhaps they'd be better suited for a family.
This is a very honest post and I have to agree with it. Schlieren offers relatively "cheap" apartments close to Zurich and hence many families needing cheap apartments moved there. I agree that it is not a town any of my Swiss friends would consider moving to with a family. That might be harsh but it is the truth. I would advise you to look elsewhere.
You want to spend as little time in Schleiren as possible, not live there.[/QUOTE]
Well - I don't think it's that bad at all. And Schlieren is all about location - almost perfect in every sense (shopping, public transport, etc.)
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It's good for the larger shops etc. but the town offers little in terms of charm and atmosphere.[/QUOTE]
It's slowly changing. City development is well on it's way and in a couple of years Schlieren will compare quite favourably to it's neighbouring towns/villages. Bye the way - Schlieren is very multi cultural indeed, but crime and unpleasant happenings are very rare though (in my oppinion). It's quite refreshing to see all the children from many many countries and cultures enjoying getting together and speaking in various languages to each other. (I live close to a public school). I quite like living here.
I love living in Schlieren. I take long walks with my dog at the Limmat surroundings and at the forest. There are many young families living here, and the people are very friendly. There is a lot of prejudice about Schlieren, but things have changed a lot in the last years here, and for that reason I think they are unfounded now. The city grows at a very fast pace, there are many new shops and supermarkets. The new buildings are modern and practical, and much cheaper than in Zürich. The train to HB leaves every 15 min and takes only 9 min. You will be in Alstetten in literary 2 minutes.
I'm bringing this topic up to see if there's anyone has new comments on Schlieren. We're looking into buying an apartment in a complex that is being built for next year.
From what I read, there does seem to be some negative comments about Schlieren being too "working class", but I also know this kind of reputation can be hard to scratch off and the area could not be like this anymore.
Our main concern is regarding sense of community (we like that it feels like one rather than a place that empties in the day), and good schools. Regarding that last point, does anyone have young kids going to school in Schlieren ? We heard sometimes the program can be behind when the level is not too low. We just want to make sure that's no the case.
Let me be blunt, in addition to all the "be aware ..." comments above.
Right now the population of Schlieren typically comprises of the kind of foreigner the Swiss really dislike. And really it is not a about working class - it is about the kind of people.
The good news is that the area West of Zurich is the next Big Thing so expect gentrification to kick in in a few years time. That will take care of "those" foreigners in due course (10 years?). It will not make Schlieren itself any better than it is today.
Having said that, as everywhere, there is the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is all about location location location. And a handful of those are nice in Schlieren. And before you ask: Dietikon (next door) is worse in my opinion
Never been to Schlieren, I've no idea what he's talking about. But Wikipedia says 19% (of households) other-than-German-speaking, 44% (of people) foreign nationals.
So either it's a mix of Swiss singles and large families of foreigners, or it's... ZE GERMANS.
I worked for 15 years in Schlieren, many of the Swiss working for the company had lived there for many years & liked it. Those same Swiss generally spoke fluent English & were less Swiss than many One Swiss in his late 20 's could not see himself ever leaving Schlieren. It's just out of Zurich city boundary & that's what the snobby Swiss don't like. Ślightly lower taxes as well.
Where abouts would this new build be? As mentioned already, most of the new builds in Schlieren are really not in nice places - Former industrial land, close proximity to busy roads or the railway line etc. etc.
If a sense community is something that you're after then I'm afraid Schlieren isn't the place for you (unless you're Italian, Turkish or from the former Yugoslavia. You do see these groups doing a lot together). That said, the new builds are more likely to be filled with more wealthy professionals, however I doubt this will do anything to increase a sense of community.
Finally, with regard to schooling, you have to consider how good can the level of schooling be when up to 95% of the pupils will have German as their second language? The average classroom in Schlieren is a melting pot of many different cultures and races, which makes effective teaching somewhat of a challenge.
Schlieren is still majority Swiss and majority German-speaking (see stats in my post above) so I'd be quite surprised if that were the case. Personal experience, or can you point me to some stats that support this?
Still in the majority, but barely. The issue is most Swiss still living in Schlieren are older and their kids have already left school. Young working immigrant families which tend to have more children have taken their place. I've heard a number of stories of Swiss even leaving Schlieren due to the high number of foreigners in the schools there.
Better half taught in Schlieren for 2 years so I'm not making it up.
I'd like to know if the situation is improved in the last years, especially for school point of view (my oldest son has to start primary school this year).
Many thanks to the ones with family and young kids that want to share their experience