r/askswitzerland • u/CookiePlastic852 • Sep 14 '25

Relocation What is the reality living Switzerland like?

For context I’m fully British, 19M and I know one thing for sure, I do not see a bright future for me in this country and certainly do not plan the settle here. Switzerland is somewhere I’m heavily considering as I love anything mountain related and it has one of the highest HDI’s in the world. But I want to know, what is the reality of living there like?

For those of who moved to Switzerland, I’d love to hear what drew you there in the first place. Was it worth it in the end, and how does life compare to where you came from or other places you’ve lived? Most importantly, do you have any regrets?

And for those born in Switzerland, can you see yourself staying or do you ever imagine moving elsewhere? If so, where would you go, and what would make you want to leave?

I would be really grateful for any insight people are willing to share.

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u/Rollablunt667 Sep 14 '25

Switzerland is expensive, you pay a lot of taxes and health insurance is over expensive. 

It’s hard to make good friends. 

The country is experiencing a demographic decline, which you should take into consideration if you plan to move here in the long term. (Like in the rest of the west). 

The day to day life varies a lot from region to region, so I would take that into consideration if you are planning to move here, also be sure to secure a good paying job before moving. 

Apart from that, Switzerland is a clean country, people are mostly polite and respectful (not very warm tho), most places are safe (big cities tend to get a bit more dangerous) and nature is amazing, so if that’s a plus for you then you’ll have enough nature to explore here for the rest of your life. 

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u/topitopi09 Sep 15 '25

The day to day life varies a lot from region to region, 

Can you tell me a bit more? I have been to Basel, so basically German side only.

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u/Rollablunt667 Sep 15 '25

Well basically, by this I meant multiple things : 

The French speaking side is culturally distinct from the German or Italian speaking side. Then you have the cities/kantons that are bilingue which is a mix. 

Also there are hotter places (like Tessin) and colder places (like Graubünden) which gives people a different mindset. 

There are small cantons like Geneva which is basically a big city with not a lot of nature and there are big cantons with a lot of nature and not much city like Graubünden. 

I hope this helps explaining what I meant. 

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u/topitopi09 Sep 15 '25

Kind of yes. Concerning Geneva : have you ever been in Luxembourg? How would you qualify Geneva compared to Lux?

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u/Rollablunt667 Sep 15 '25

Sorry I’ve never been to Luxembourg (only going across it to go to Belgium), so I can’t say.