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Looking at working in/near to Zurich, so what are the good resorts near to it?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I'm thinking of trying to get work in or around Zurich, as there seems to be quite a bit of IT contract work round there and I quite fancy living somewhere where I can ski in the winter and enjoy walking in the summer wink . My wife isn't working at the moment and is also quite keen.

My main question is, what are the good resorts near to Zurich (1-2 hour drive) and are there some local resorts that are very near Puzzled

My other question is, does anyone or has anyone ever worked and lived in Zurich. If so, whats it like Puzzled I've stayed in Geneva and really liked it but it's at the French end of Switzerland and we have good friends who live in southern Germany, so Zurich seems a better bet.

TIA
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Within 2 hours by train...? Engelberg... maybe Junfrau..
All should easily be within a 2 hr drive
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I lived and work in central Zurich in the Eighties. I had a great time with everything from rowing on the lake to the Opera (honest!) and everthing in between, Zurich has a veneer of a staid business and banking city but underneath there is a real buzz, as an example, there is a red light district in the old town, being Swiss its all organised and legal! I certainly never expected that Shocked
A lot of folk leave town at weekends and go up to the mountains which is quite esay because there aregood motorway links.
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We've been here 6 years now and love it so much we've put down roots. By car, a 2 hour radius gives you a huge choice - Klosters (Davos is prob another half hour on), Flims/Laax, Lech/St Anton, Engelberg, Grindelwald, possibly even Verbier or St Moritz - all depending, of course, on where you actually live (in the city, or which direction out). The two main local resorts that Zurich folk go to are Hoch-Ybrig (www.hoch-ybrig.ch) if you have a car or Flumserberg (www.flumserberg.ch) if you're reliant on public transport. The latter does get very busy at weekends, though, because many city residents don't keep a car. But you can get a Snow 'n' Rail ticket to most resorts which combines the rail travel there and the lift pass with slight discount on both.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Zurich is a great party town. I have lived in both Geneve and Zurich and the night life in Zurich beats Geneve hands down.

There are plenty of places to ski withing 2 hours and within 3 hours there are more places than you could do by going to a different resort every weekend. I know, I tried doing that when I was in Zurich.

As you probably know from living in Geneve, the trains do get busy at the weekends, but if you go first class - it's only about 30% more expensive - but you are pretty much guaranteed a seat at any time.

Zurich is probably less chaotic than Geneve. German influences rather than the French influences, but then again being Swiss, it's not very chaotic at all Very Happy Very Happy
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Sounds like the place to be...I'm not looking at staying there forever but if I like it you never know!

Thanks for the replies so far

boredsurfin, eng_ch, smolo, I forgot to ask this before: Is it easy to get by with just English ? I only know a few German phrases but would be keen to learn properly. Our German friends speak excellent English, so I never tried that hard before.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
pokemon, I did have a problem in that most people wanted to practice their English on me and I probably left speaking less German and French than when I arrived. Be aware tho in Zurich they speak their own version of German sometimes called Zurideutsch. I was a breath of fresh air when someone spoke proper German to me Laughing
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
There's also a very lively expat scene for which English is the working language. Personally I avoid "expat" stuff and only get involved in business stuff, which is more "emigres" if you like, i.e. foreigners who are here more or less permanently, rather than transients Wink In fact, even that I avoided for the first 4 years. So the answer is yes you can get by without German, but I wouldn't advise it - probably best to sign up for Swiss German classes when you get here because it is almost a different language (and that's another thread altogether!)
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pokemon, where did you find details about IT work near Zurich, you've got me interested now snowHead
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IanS, www.monster.co.uk and www.jobup.ch both have search facilities for Zurich specifically but for all other Swiss cantons as well. There are also IT job agencies (e.g. www.swisslinx.com) that deal with Switzerland. Going through an agency means that they usually sort out the work permit for you. A lot of the major UK agencies have a European office that deals with Switzerland.

Just need to find the job now !
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Thanks for that pokemon, unfortunately I can't look just now (I'm at work!).

I wonder what the wife will think about my latest scheme...
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
I'm at work as well Laughing
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
IanS, www.it.jobserve.com: all the jobs we have here get advertised there.

pokemon, It is entirely possible to work in IT here for years and never learn any German at all.

I live 20 mins SE of the city and by car I have a t-bar at 20 minutes. Small family area (Hochstuckli) at 30 minutes. Hoch-Ybrig and Flumserberg are 35 minutes. Engelberg is around an hour and Klosters/Davos and Flims/Laax are a bit further. There are a couple of small lifts doing night skiing but I've never tried them.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Another smaller resort that would be well worth a visit is Braunwald. It was 2 hours by train when I did it a couple of years ago, would be much less by road. A smallish, quiet (even at half term), car free family resort.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
nessy,
Quote:

pokemon, It is entirely possible to work in IT here for years and never learn any German at all.


I know its possible but why not learn German or Swiss German, its not that difficult if you try.

I,ve worked all over Europe inc Switzerland on a number of occasions and wherever I find myself I learn as much of the local language as possible.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
pokemon, check out the railway station at the airport if you're going over. There's a booklet listing loads of rail/ski options, unfortunately threw the one away I picked up. You can get your ski passes with station with your rail tickets so no messing around and everything runs with the expected efficiency. The info is probably online somewhere.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
rich, yes, it's called Snow'n'Rail which I mentioned earlier
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
rich, I think it's called SnowRail (and you won't see SchneeBahn) and www.sbb.ch normally has details, but I think that as it's seasonal it's not there any more. Posters normally start appearing autumn I think. I had two years of on and off in Zurich and loved it. Cracking place and would move back if I could.
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Yippee! I have Harry Potter's invisibility cloak
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
eng_ch wrote:
probably best to sign up for Swiss German classes when you get here because it is almost a different language (and that's another thread altogether!)


Arf, a joke surely. When I lived in Davos I didn't find the people of Zurich had any trouble with my slightly southern accented Hochdeutsch and I didn't find the Swiss too hard to understand except for the Ueberyokels in the valleys who spoke some kind of Bauerdeutsch - but I would probably have trouble understanding people in deepest Zommerzet. Written Swiss is almost the same as German with a couple of simplifications.

According to last week's Economist Zurich is the best city in the world to work in.
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eng_ch, Laughing Laughing
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
boredsurfin, what are you laughing at, eng_ch hasn't posted on this thread Puzzled
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Ray Zorro, I even went and checked Laughing Laughing Laughing Laughing Laughing Laughing Embarassed
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 You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
boredsurfin, you're upholding the reputation of our county again Laughing Laughing Laughing
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Ski the Net with snowHeads
eng_ch, sorry, I had that post ready to submit for a while.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
skanky, no worries, it was just that you were the second person not to have read my first post!
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
davidof wrote:
Arf, a joke surely. When I lived in Davos I didn't find the people of Zurich had any trouble with my slightly southern accented Hochdeutsch and I didn't find the Swiss too hard to understand except for the Ueberyokels in the valleys who spoke some kind of Bauerdeutsch - but I would probably have trouble understanding people in deepest Zommerzet. Written Swiss is almost the same as German with a couple of simplifications


davidof, are you absolutely sure you really, positively want to open that can of worms? Wink

Quote:
According to last week's Economist Zurich is the best city in the world to work in


I wouldn't argue much with that - not that I work in the city, although Mr Eng does. Certainly Zurich is regularly the number 1 or 2 city in the world in which to live (usually alternates with Vancouver)
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
eng_ch wrote:
skanky, no worries, it was just that you were the second person not to have read my first post!


Well I only skim-read the whole thread so I would have read parts of it...
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
stanton, just answering pokemon's question. He even said he wanted to learn.

Personally I am here for the duration and have learnt High German. Tuning into Swiss German is a matter of practice but personally I still find High German easier to understand. Learning Swiss German from scratch would be easier since it is quite simplified gramatically compared to High German but wouldn't be so useful in other German speaking countries.

BTW the Snow'nRail is a great way of getting to the mountains: http://www.railaway.ch/Deutsch/snowandrail/index.html Very Happy
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
nessy, we're here for the duration too. I'm a translator with a degree in German and lived in Germany for a year and it still took me six months before I ceased to have any problems understanding Zurideutsch. I was 90% there after 3 months but I still got caught out with odd words such as "Chundechaertli"
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
And then of course Zurideutsch is very different to Swiss German in other areas.


I'm surprised no one's mentioned Snow'n'Rail yet, though. Puzzled
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
skanky, Razz Laughing
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
eng_ch wrote:
rich, yes, it's called Snow'n'Rail which I mentioned earlier


DOH! Embarassed
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Thanks for all the banter

I think I understand the concept of snow and rail now Shocked
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
The SBB gotta love us Laughing Laughing
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Which reminds me, don't SBB offer some special skiing deals? You could look into those.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
If your working in Switzerland (residency) , you can get half price travel on the Public Transport Network. Very Happy
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Or the GA card which means that for just over £100 a month (CHF275 or CHF2'990 a year) you get unlimited travel on trains, buses, trams, some boats and cable cars and reduced price tickets on many private systems. That's the one I'd be going for. Compare that to it costing £70 a month for travel between Hertford & Stevenage when I was doing it recently.
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