For Your Consideration: Bern, Switzerland

Old Town of Bern from Rosengarten. Daniel Kraft via Wikimedia Commons.

Switzerland? I thought we were looking at places in Germany.

Well, mostly Germany.

Let’s start with Orson Welles’ opinion of Switzerland.

After the last decade or so in the US, I’ll take a pass on the Borgias and go for the five-hundred years of brotherly love.

Even though Bern is Switzerland’s capitol, Most Americans think of it as Zurich’s quiet little sister if they think of it all. But if Bern is the little bookish sibling with the glasses, the glasses are very, very stylish.

The most picturesque parts of Switzerland—the Lauterbrunnen Valley, the Eiger, the Jungfrau— are in the Canton of Bern. Bern has it all—food, music, mountains, culture, great infrastructure, great healthcare, trains, and easy access international airports.

And cuckoo clocks, I suppose.

Down by the River

What’s it like to live in Bern? In the warm months, the Bernese have a habit of commuting home from work by river. Not by boat— actually in the river. Come the late afternoon, the Aare river is crowded with workers in swimming outfits, holding onto the their work clothes safely tucked in waterproof “Aare bags” floating along as the swift river sweeps them to the downstream residential neighborhoods of the city. At strategic points along the river, poles extend from the banks for commuters to grab and use to climb out of the water.

Think of that the next time you’re stuck in on the top-end Perimeter at 5:30.

A city of renters

The challenge with Bern, and the rest of Switzerland, is cost. And laws, of course.

Switzerland does have one of the highest costs of living in the world. It shows up in the excellent restaurants, the excellent hotels, and the excellent shops. And the homes.

The Swiss welcome visitors with open arms. It’s easy to have a great time and spend a lot of money for just about anything in Switzerland.

Except real estate.

For most of the cantons within Switzerland, a long-term residency permit is required to purchase a home. And long-term residency permits are not something handed out casually in this protective country. It involves already living there for some time and passing civic tests.

Overall, home ownership is a challenge even for the Swiss. Less than 20% of Bern residents own their own home. But rental is no float down the river either. The market is highly competitive and quite expensive, with long wait lists for popular apartment buildings. So finding a place to live is probably the biggest challenge to Switzerland and Bern. It might just be worth it, though.

In the face of climate change, Switzerland has near ideal weather. Summers are warm, winters are cold. There are alpine lakes and cool rivers nearby for a refreshing dip in the summer and spectacular mountains for hiking and skiing in the winter.

And although the official language of Switzerland is German or French (depending on Canton), English is nearly universal.

Also, Swiss wine is very good. But just like their real estate, it’s not for outsiders. The country exports less than five percent of its wine, but pours it liberally locally.

So let’s take a look at the ratings.

Overall Score: 4.1

I once spent 45 minutes in Bern. We were traveling with my mom, brother, and sister-in-law and I thought it would be nice to spend an afternoon exploring the city before heading back to Zurich for a flight the next day.
It was unusually hot, my traveling companions were already exhausted and uninterested in anything but a quiet, air-conditioned hotel room, and we couldn’t find an easy way to store our luggage for the afternoon. We got back on the train and were in Zurich an hour later.
The evening in Zurich was pleasant and the ac felt good, but I really wish we’d stayed and jumped in Aare. It’s a city that deserves more of my time.

Song of the Week

I’m going with my favorite Swiss citizen of recent years. The first few decades of Tina Turner’s life don’t make for a happy story, but things turned around in the early 80s with the release of the album Private Dancer. By the mid-nineties, she’d built her own personal fortune and moved to Switzerland. She spent the last three decades living on Lake Zurich, writing, and collecting deserved awards. File this under life goals.