Bern or Lucerne
 

Dear all,

I'm brazilian, 32, engineer and I received a job proposal from a Swiss company located in Herzogenbuchsee. I was researching about the city and i thought it is a very small city, so i decided to look for another place to live. I found two nice cities called Bern and Lucerne. Where do you guys suggest me to be based in? I'm looking for a beautiful place, easygoing people (i like to make friends), lower living cost, good weather, good nightlife and of course close to my new job (Herzogenbuchsee).

I really appreciate if you help me to decide it. your opinion will be very welcomed.

Thanks.
Rodrigo Aragao
Salvador-Ba

Bern for sure given you requisites. Lucerne is one of the most expensive places IME in Switzerland, a country where nothing is cheap!

Bern is a much bigger city with more offerings of all types - Lucerne has a gorgeous setting but Bern does too, on the rushing Aare river - but as the capital of Switzerland also attracts a multi-national crew of folks you age - Lucerne is neat too but Bern hops!

Herzogenbuchsee is just 25 min by train from Bern, trains at least every 30 min from 4.40am until midnight (longer during weekends).
Bern railway station is in the center of the town.
May be you find a flat in the city center of Berne (count about 1500 EUR/month for a flat with 2 rooms in this area), if not, the tramway or citybus ride from your flat to the city center may not be much faster than the train ride from Herzogenbuchsee to Bern.

If you intend to move by car, take into account some traffic jams at the entries of Berne and Lucerne at the time where everybody goes to work or has finished to work.

BTW: I suppose you know that in Switzerland, the tax levels varies not only from canton to canton, but also from town to town.
The taxes to pay at Bern ar higher than those to pay at Herzogenbuchsee (for the same salary), those at Langenthal are deeper.....
Taxes to pay in some towns of neighbouring canton of Solothurn are most probably even deeper than those at Langenthal.

Thank you guys for your reply.
Just one more question. I will earn something about CHF 4.200 per month. Is that good for living in Bern? How much do you think i will spend with accomodation (1bedroom fully furnished), food, transportation, leisure, shopping, health insurance and parties?

That's about 4000 EUR.

Surfegirl, is EUR 4000 good to live in Bern?

Here is a site which has average income for Switz for a large number of jog categories

www.payscale.com/research/CH

I don't know what your job entails so have no idea what is fair - but I had a client in Basel and I know that their mid level employes made significantly more than that - and everything there seems to be much more expensive than here (new York).

I would investigate this in much more detail before accepting any opportunities.

Sorry - several of these people choose to live in nearby Germany, rather than Swtiz, since the cost of living is so much lower.

For such a low income, the income tax (Confederation, canton of Berne, city of Berne) is very low: about 10.000 CHF/year (catholic, not married person with no child).

Rail Pass for tramways, citybuses, commuter trains for Berne and the surroundings up to Herzogenbuchsee: 2755 CHF/year

1 room studio: about 8000-15000 CHF/year, cheaper if far away from everything

Another note: from talking to several colleagues it seems that apartments in Switz (unless you get a long-term sublet) do NOT come with closets, kitchen appliances or kitchen cabinets. One had turned her small second bedroom into a walk-in closet since there was no room in the larger bedroom.

"do NOT come with closets, kitchen appliances or kitchen cabinets."

That may be true about closets, but not about kitchen appliances or cabinets. I don't know anyone in Basel who didn't get a fitted kitchen in their apartment. We looked at several apartments before lucking out with the one we have now. They all had fitted kitchens.

Also, have things changed regarding canton work/residence? When we moved to Switzerland, our residency was tied to the canton our B permits came from. IOW, since our work permits were for Basel city, that's where we had to live (which is where we wanted to live anyway). We couldn't live just anywhere in Switzerland. We've got C permits now, which does give us greater flexibility.

For some Bern rent ideas, click here:
http://www.homegate.ch/rent/apartmen...lastMap=ctn_be

I liked at the photos for many of these listings -- all the apts had fitted kitchens with appliances.

"looked at" not liked at, of course.