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Yeah the South is better than the North for many reasons. I lived in Munich for 22 years but still Octoberfest beer prices doubled since 2002 (introduction of t
by s3nnyy 9y ago
Yeah the South is better than the North for many reasons. I lived in Munich for 22 years but still Octoberfest beer prices doubled since 2002 (introduction of the Euro) (http://www.bpb.de/nachschlagen/zahlen-und-fakten/soziale-situation-in-deutschland/61766/lohnentwicklung http://www.bpb.de/nachschlagen/zahlen-und-fakten/soziale-sit...), while wages only rose 20% (http://www.bpb.de/nachschlagen/zahlen-und-fakten/soziale-situation-in-deutschland/61766/lohnentwicklung http://www.bpb.de/nachschlagen/zahlen-und-fakten/soziale-sit...). That is why I moved 350km South-West from Munich, Germany (most livable city in Germany) to Zurich, Switzerland (most livable city in the world)
- hk__2 9y agoIsn’t Zurich horribly expensive, like the rest of Switzerland? I went to Geneva once and the prices of things struck me compared to what we have in Paris, France (which is already a pretty expensive city).
- matttproud 9y agoConsider what you're paid in Zürich. That salary buys you far more here than anywhere else — especially when you compare tax efficiency to its neighboring countries. It's clean, society functions well, and people are kind, etc. You don't find this Goldilocks Zone everywhere. Compared to the U.S., where I am originally from, I couldn't pay any amount of money to get what I have here.
- ucaetano 9y agoYou can work in Zurich and live in Southern Germany, where you can buy a 1-2BR apartment for <200k Euros. Your commute time will rage from 55min to 1h15min.
- ephimetheus 9y agoI live in Geneva, and it's horribly expensive. The living costs as well as rents are insanely high. The wages are higher as well though. The worst thing is if you're paid in Euros and have to convert them to Swiss francs for spending
- s3nnyy 9y agoWhy would you get paid in euros? No tech company I know would do that.
- homakov 9y agoI've only been to Berlin and Cologne (sooo boring there) and I found Zurich and the rest of CH so much better. Can you say the key difference between these two countries as a German?
- tormeh 9y agoYou found Berlin boring, but Switzerland not boring? By what criteria?
- jacquesm 9y agoI read it as 'Berlin and (boring Cologne)'.
- matttproud 9y agoDepends on your preferences. I lived/did part of university in Berlin and live in Zürich now. Party scene in Berlin is great, but Zürich is more about house parties with friends. Live music was a hair better in Berlin, but we still get interesting acts here. The nature and outdoor activities rival Berlin any day. The water is clean, warm, and smells nice. Plenty of hills for mountain biking and running, etc. Public transit just works. I could count Zugausfälle on a single hand here; whereas I would have needed a whole accountant book to have inventoried Berlin's and DB. There is a lot of weird stuff here, too, art- and culture-wise. When H.R. Giger (art designer for Alien) died, I went to his funeral service at the Peterskirche. Brought a strange collection of people out of the woodwork: Swiss Hells Angels (ha!) and a bunch of other freaks. People here small talk a bunch here out in public, so I've gotten to meet a bunch of random folks more informally than I have elsewhere. If you like craft or international beer or cocktails, Zürich probably beats Berlin. The market is more globalized here, so you can find beer from anywhere in the world (pedestrian German beer is still better than in CH, though the microbreweries here are outstanding). That was a challenge in Berlin: only one or two places to find Belgian beer. A good cocktail in Berlin cost € 18 (my benchmark was an unlabeled speakeasy near Rosenthaler Platz whose name I forget; it was the only proper cocktail bar I found in months of searching/trial), which is a lot of cash on a Berlin salary. A similar quality cocktail in Zürich costs the same, but that is cheap on local salary. As a parent (not one who sequesters himself and child like so many others do — at least in the U.S.), the day-to-day here is priceless and frictionless. So many fun things to do with a little one. In Berlin, I would constantly worry about broken glass on the sidewalks, which isn't a problem here. Try keeping an eye to ensure the little one doesn't fall into it; it's a challenge. Street food was better in Berlin, to be sure, but sit-down restaurants between both cities are a toss-up. The Indian is certainly better in Zürich, and the same can be said for the Vietnamese. Fewer of the foreign restaurants here do the whole Pan-Asian do-everything-but-nothing-well than in Berlin. The slow food festival as well as some of the pop up restaurants are a nice addition to the scene — actually really nice. We (slow food group) did a large potluck at an old slaughter house by Letzigrund a year back. Someone caught a monster of a fish from Lake Zürich and smoked it there on premise: some two meter long thing that was wider than my torso. I don't know. Both are great. I keep very busy and don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.
- praneshp 9y agoIs Zurich the most livable city for you or according to some study? I found it average (definitely not bad) but I have only been there about 10 days in my life. For example, given a choice I'd choose to live in Luzern than Zurich.
- s3nnyy 9y agoIf you look for a job / if you want to move to Zurich, let me know: "8 reasons why I moved to Switzerland to work in tech" https://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/eight-reasons-why-i-moved-to-switzerland-to-work-in-it-c7ac18af4f90 https://medium.com/@iwaninzurich/eight-reasons-why-i-moved-t...