Zurich Accomodation

[sunnysan]

Have been flirting with the idea of going to live in Zurich for a while and have had quite a bit of interest from agencies so it seems that I could get a pretty good position there.

I have heard it is a total nightmare to get accommodation there, bearing in mind I will have to house a wife and a pet(small dog).

Can anybody comment on the difficulty of getting decent accommodation there? Should I get my work situation stable first and then send for the wife/pet?

Any comments/abuse welcome

[BlasterBates]

This question sounds familiar.

No problem if you don't want to be in the desirable part in the centre of town overlooking the lake.

[threaded]

Get yourself booked into to the Crazy Cow, then go house hunting, then bring wife and pet. Although there are some quite tasty birds in Zurich, so you might want to miss out the last step.

[sunnysan]

Thanks

Ok sounds better, do they have a Hackney or Moss Side in Zurich, ie areas that I may get knifed/shot for my half eaten packet of crisps

[Francko]

Ok sounds better, do they have a Hackney or Moss Side in Zurich, ie areas that I may get knifed/shot for my half eaten packet of crisps

The biggest danger as I see is that you hang yourself for boredom in some areas.

* on a serious note, no, there are no such areas in Zrh or the whole Switzerland.

[sunnysan]

What?

Are you actually saying that there are no "bad" areas?

I would imagine xenophobia and skinhead style violence may be an issue in places, but are there no neighbourhoods in the big cities where streetcrime is a major issue?

[Mich the Tester]

Ok sounds better, do they have a Hackney or Moss Side in Zurich, ie areas that I may get knifed/shot for my half eaten packet of crisps

No, but be careful if you use the urinals at Hauptbahnhof.

[Francko]

Are you actually saying that there are no "bad" areas?

I would imagine xenophobia and skinhead style violence may be an issue in places, but are there no neighbourhoods in the big cities where streetcrime is a major issue?

Yes, there have been some xenophobia and skinhead violence but no there is no "ghetto" area. In fact there is no even big city really. It's just a collection of small villages one next to each other. Allegedly some urban areas are a bit worse because there "foreigners" live (that's how swiss people address some areas) but however there is no large scale crime in any part of the town. You will find that these less desirable urban areas are still much safer than any London area.

[bobhope]

The worst bit of Zurich is probably Schwamendingen (Zone 12) but it's not Moss Side. Hope you like the imaginative (not) use of concrete in their architecture everywhere.

[NotAllThere]

The best thing about Zürich is the last train to Basel.