An Expat Talks about Moving to Zug, Switzerland

What is the name of the city or town that you are reporting on?

Zug

Name three things that you wish you had brought and three you wish you had left at home.

Wish we'd brought:

• Some books about Switzerland in our own language. We don't understand a lot of German and English books are very expensive.
• More of the shampoo I really like. Can't get it here and "bad hair" takes on a new proportion when everything else around you is also strange and new
• Our CD collection - but we didn't leave this behind deliberately (packing miscommunication!!)

Wish we had left behind:

• Some wine glasses with high sentimental value that were broken by the movers
• Any and all plants!
• Small occasional tables and stools - they are really in the way in our (quite small) apartment!

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What advice would you give someone preparing to move to your area about the actual move, choosing a neighborhood and finding a home?

GET HELP before you commit to anything and don't be pushed by any agents or HR people into making decisions!

There is choice in the field and we think it is really important that you feel comfortable with your agent as they are going to get to know A LOT about you and your family!!

Find an agent that doesn't work on commission - ours didn't and so we were shown flats ranging from SFr 2000 - SFr 5000 a month and weren't pressured into choosing either way.

Ask around in your company for advice and tips - and don't think you have to take the relocation agent that your HR department works with.

Ask as many questions as you want - we must have mailed Peter almost daily at one point and he answered every single one of our questions thoroughly and quickly - really a great guy!

Try to remember that people have been living in Switzerland for hundreds of years and no exapt has yet starved (as far as we know!) - so don't stress if you can't find your fav cereal - take a step and try a Swiss one. Some of them are surprisingly good!

And a really useful thing that Peter's wife said was - "Milk drink" in the supermarket is actually semi-skimmed milk! Such a small thing but it really helped us!

Hope this helps someone!

What type of housing do you live in? Is this typical for most expats in your area?

Apartment with 3 bedrooms, living/dining room, kitchen (more or less open to the living room), bathroom and seperate shower rom with WC, garage.

It is in a 4 storey-block (we are on the 3rd floor) and seems very typical for expats and locals in the area.

How did you choose your neighborhood and find your home or apartment?

We emailed all the relocation agents in the Zug/Zurich area we could find (via Google) and picked the one that seemed best for us - Le Concierge. Really glad we did as they took away masses of stress and could answer questions immediately.

We don't have children so are not tied to a school but wanted to have as full-on a Swiss experience as possible. So first we got Peter to drive us all around the canton and give us the low-down on what's hot and what's not for DINK couples like us! He gave us loads of tips and eventually we decided to go to Aegeri if we could find a place there. (think chocolate box, lake, mountains, snow, no fog!)

Are your housing costs higher or lower than they were in your home country? What is the average cost of housing there?

About the same:

Rent: 3500
Utitlities: about 250 - 300
Garage: 150 per month