Me and my wife are moving to Switzerland on the 31st of this month for work. We both have jobs but they are unfortunately on opposite sides of the country. I will be working in Geneva where she will be working in Basel. We have looked at a number of options on living. We are aware of the travel times(we travel a lot as of now daily due to living in NYC). Just wanting some advice. I speak Spanish and English (learning French). She speaks English and Chinese. I heard if we live in Biel it might be quite the language barrier. I liked Fribourg due to the proximity of both towns. Any information would be extremely helpful.
With English/spanish and English/chinese no matter where you live in Switzerland you'll have to deal with the local language french or german. So I'd focus on proximity & transport issues for the daily commute: Fribourg is your best option if you rent an appartment close to the train station (within 5-10min walk). My impression is that the english speaking community is increasing in size in Fribourg area and you'll be able to find people you can connect with.
There are good rail connections to both Basel and Geneva from Neuchatel. OH has several colleagues who commute from Basel to Neuchatel every day and a couple who do it from Geneva.
Biel is officially bilingual so French wouldn't be a problem if you lived there and the same applies to Fribourg.
We looked at Nuchatel I heard it is quite a bit smaller more village style. I might be wrong. Would just like to ensure everything we might need would be accessible. Please correct me if I am wrong
Neuchatel is certainly smaller than Bern but not smaller than either Biel or Fribourg. I'm not quite sure what you're getting out by village style.
Location wise it's ideal for what you're looking for.
It depends what you need really. There are basically the same shops in all of the towns you listed so for shopping you would have the same choices. Neuchatel has the lake for water sports and the Jura mountains for skiing, has reasonable access to the three main airports that serve Switzerland and is nearer to France if you wanted to shop there.
The taxes are higher in Neuchatel though which would be the main reason to choose one of the other places IMO. Of the other places you have listed personally I would choose either Biel or Fribourg.
For the last year and half we live in Bern, and we are working in Zurich and Lausanne.It worked well for us and we liked very much in Bern.It is good size
and very good connected with other major cities and attractions.
We are moving in December in Zurich since I found job there.
We are looking also for someone to take our apartment. Let me know if you
might be interested. Good luck with your start at CH
We spent 10 years just outside Fribourg, we loved it there and still visit whilst we try to sell our house. My wife learnt French which was beneficial. I learnt a little but due to work commitments and the English language at work did not make the progress I would have liked. We made many international friends in Fribourg with English our common language. We made many Swiss friends also and found the people very friendly and warm. There is a good Expat Club in Fribourg which will help you meet people.