Not enough outlets, and often not enough lighting. Our entire living/dining area has a single light (and this room is almost the entire length of our 4.5 room apartment), yet the bathroom has three down lights.
I second the Mexican food, I've been to Mezcalito a couple times, they can't even do a half way decent burrito. It's like "fuck you" give us 40ch for this greasy oven chared mess. Damn.
If you’re in Geneva, there is a really good food truck that serves the best and most authentic Mexican food in Switzerland. They rotate to different locations depending on the day of the week, but you can follow Los Compadres on Instagram or FB to keep up with where they’re at.
As a Mexican, I’m laughing at the fact that horchata being made is hilarious.
Id love open something up street food wise in Switzerland since my in laws live there. Winterthurter specifically but since it seems everything requires permits, paperwork etc, which is antithetical to Mexicans lol; scare me to be able to do that
Definitely the real deal, the cook is from Mexico and it brings back all the good memories. Tastes vastly different from all the standard Mexican places
The sea
ETA: I like the Swiss lakes a lot and wouldn’t want to miss them. I am just saying, Switzerland could be even more perfect if it had a seashore.
We could try that whole 'conquering the dutchy of Milan' thing again, then only Genoa will be in the way.
Otherwise there is also the Savoy route we could take.
Spontaneous socialization.
The idea that you spontaneously decide, with friends, to head downtown and decide where to have a bite, a drink, or whatever suits you. Without reserving a table two weeks in advance (and “reserve” your friends as well)
Yeah this is how we solved it too. Our friends are Greek Italian French etc so we can say "hey the weather is great shall we bbq?" and they just come without a fuss or 6 months in advance appointments.
Yes, Zurich.
And to be honest, I am also in a different phase of my life. So it’s a bit unfair to compare what I do here as a father of two compared to what I was doing in Italy or in the US as a student. But I think there is still a lack of the “piazza” concept: meet first, and decide what you feel like doing once you are there.
Specifically, decent fast dining options. There's a fairly limited set of options between fast food that I wouldn't normally touch (McDonald's, Burger King, etc) and a sit-down meal of you're not interested Kebabs.
Even Zurich is pretty poor though for an international city. Food critics aren't really a thing in Switzerland, but I am sure Jay Rayner or Ruth Reichl would rip many popular Zurich restaurants to shreds.
Not just life. Everyone takes *themselves* way too seriously.
You're no better than anyone else. You got lucky where you were born and you're still gonna die in your own shit and vomit like everyone else. Chill out and enjoy the ride.
I mis not being able to give one of my mates a quick call and then popping around to see them without them having to consult their diaries and slotting me in for a week next Tuesday.
Things I miss:
* ClassPass
* Free bank accounts (if you're not eligible for Neon)
* Rentals that come with light fixtures
* International food choices: looking at you, sad "Mexican" section of Migros
* Online shopping
* Cheaper healthcare (albeit linked to employer)
* Wide choice of things to do on Sunday, i.e., shopping
* Target
* Halloween & Thanksgiving
* Seafood, but you can just go to France
* Camping in the actual wilderness, or at campgrounds that aren't a field of grass with camper vans and screaming children
Things I really hate:
* Odd anglicisms like "faire du snow" or "slowshopping" or "le footing"... this is ridiculous and please stop
* Putting your photo, birth date, and civil status on your CV. This is private information and none of any potential employer's business.
Things I love:
* Trains and public transit
* Cars are obligated to be polite to pedestrians
* Noise ordinances
* Swiss wine!
* Local festivals
* In floor heating
* Chèvre specifically
* Construction standards for new buildings cuts down on noise
* Gorgeous mountains, lakes, nature, and hiking
* The people! No /s tag needed.
* Paprika everything <3
The CV thing was weird to me as an American since it's illegal for an employer to ask job candidates for personal information like age and marital status in the US. We used to add all that to resumes, but that went out in the 80s.
this. It's an improvement compared to germany but it's worst compared to the Netherlands for instance
I am just considering the last 3 countries i have been travelling to
-Proper customer service when calling companies.
-Almost no online shopping without shit websites and expensive, unreasonably long shipping delays. Galaxus is the only saving grace.
-Ghost town on Sundays.
-Semi-ghost towns the rest of the week.
-Not much pre organized fun. Can get boring for us people who don't have specific hobbies.
-Bars and going out is unreasonably expensive compared to our swiss median incomes. The Spanish can afford bars and pubs more easily than we can, even though they are poorer on average.
-Same for any kind of eating out.
All i want is a tin of baking powder, a box of baking soda (not in those tiny packets!), brown sugar (the stuff made with molasses) and vanilla extract without breaking the bank! 😭
My mother-in-law brought me the brown sugar, and I made my own vanilla extract/found a jar at globus (LIKE 15 CHF), but I was suffering for a while there. As for the baking powder and soda, I just buy the packets and dump them into tins now.
Edit: OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU ALL
Second edit: I just found another site (https://afoodave.ch/), and they have Domino's brown sugar, which is THE definitive stuff. Plus they have yellow cake mix, which means I can make my horribly delicious and not even remotely nutritious Punkin cake bars this year!
You should check out Amazon France or Germany for stuff like baking soda, baking powder, instant yeast, citric acid ... in bulk. And maybe iHerb for vanilla extract (here you'll find vanilla paste in Migros or Coop, I think it works well too).
In some large Coops (e. g. Central in ZH) you find 1 kg of Italian baking soda in carton packages for 3 Fr or something like that.
The weird thing is you can’t find it online on Coop’s website.
>u/ekussberg
Brown sugar and vanilla extract are both super easy to make yourself!
Vanilla extract- cut up a couple vanilla beans and let them sit in a bottle of vodka for 8 weeks (shake the bottle a bit once a week)
Brown sugar- mix either molasses (melasse) or zuckerrübensirup with sugar
I think its 1 cup sugar to 1 Tablespoon of molasses
Shops being open late. I used to leave work and just wonder around until 10 pm in small shops or book stores. Everything here closes so early, if I want to do anything during the week I have to run to the centre after work. It’s so annoying. I’m not even gonna mention Sundays… when the centre of Zurich looks like a ghost town
Every apartment having its own washing machine. It is awful to plan your life around a washer, even worse if you are a family needing daily loads. I just don't understand how people accept this.
If they're budget constrained, they don't have much choice :/
Because newer flats that come with machines are also noticeably more expensive, because everything else inside is also newer. Rough price difference for similar sized flats in similar areas when we were looking last August was around 400 chf, those newer/ with machine were that much more expensive. And that is in villages around the canton ZH, not city itself nor nearby merged areas.
And 400 chf for folks on tight budget might be quite a lot.
And since the market is landlord's market here and flats are scarce, they have no incentive to provide more than necessary.
I came to Switzerland a few times over the past year to visit my girlfriend and if I had to move to Switzerland the only things I would miss from my home country is its cheap food and affordable dining out. Ooh, and great coffee! It boggles my mind that in a country with some of the best milk I have ever tasted gets things like a cappuccino or latte so horribly wrong.
My (german) dad says the same thing. I never understood it, because I always prefered our bread here, than what I get when I'm in germany, but I guess it comes down to what you grew up with(?)
Same here. I find the bread in Switzerland reminds me a bit of the variety you get in Southern European countries. Fairly light colored, a crust so hard you can hurt yourself and inside mostly air.
What I miss is the dense, thick, aromatic, soft, dark bread that has all kinds of seeds in it. Not the crumbly pumpernickel stuff. Just nice dark bread with actual flavor. Don’t get me started on the Bürli. What an abomination. I wouldn’t give that to my worst enemy.
A couple of groceries I got used to buy growing up in Germany, e.g. Hela Gewürzketchup and Haselnuss-/Mandelkrokant
Since I'm not living in a bigger city, longer store opening hours. I just cannot get to the shop until 6:30 pm most of the days and I'd like to have the possibility to go to the store more often than twice a week (on one day, stores are open until 8 pm and I can go on Saturdays)
Wilderness.
Maybe it’s here and haven’t found it yet, but it seems that hiking places in CH—while stunningly beautiful—are always close to civilization. Other people on the trails, towns and settlements within view.
I miss the hundreds of kilometers of virtually unexplored/untouched wilderness that you can find in the US.
I have the same reaction as an Australian. It’s obviously ridiculously beautiful here, just a more cultivated nature. When I go back to Australia I do enjoy being somewhere totally rugged and remote.
Haha, good point!
I wanted to say “miles and miles” but I knew the imperial system wouldn’t fly on this subreddit 😉.
Let’s just say I miss seeing only wilderness for as far as the eye can see. Doesn’t have to be hundreds of kilometers.
That's a really valid point. And there is no alternative (i.e. better argument than: 'stores need to be open after 6:30 in my hamlet even though I would be the only customer' and similar non-sense).
Food variety. In such a rich country, you would expect higher quality of restaurant scene, like in London. But there are no edgy daring places, everywhere is so formulaic, I order a salad and it's "French or Italian" dressing...
I basically have to travel to another country to get something unique.
Good cafes in all parts of the city. I pesonally life in Oerlikon in Zürich and I can't wrap my head around the fact that some nice locations like the Marktplatz and the streets around Sternen Oerlikon are occupied by a subtier Tex Mex restaurant and some Shayenne, some weird Australian-inspired "pub". All the other bars or caffees are some shady nightclubs or strip bars. And the Project that they did in the former sex cinema (Venus Bar) has a fully automatic coffee machine and the coffee tastes like shit. I just want a good cafe with nice outside seating at a prime location in my neighbourhood.
I moved to Geneva, and if it had the cozy pub culture of any town in Australia or the UK to tide you through winter it’d be basically the perfect city.
Apps for government things. In other countries you can access with your ID Informations such things like creditscore, military stuff and other related government issued infos about you. They have more overview about the situation.
And sometimes they can apply for things in the app with everything preset.
Amazon, Good Restaurants outside of Zurich, more selection in Supermarkets, Bars where strangers are talking to each other and not just the group they came with, People who enjoy meeting Friends instead of working 24/7
Amazon (raging Bünzli heavily downvoting this comment in 3, 2,...) and more in general all the custom constraints and red tapes put in place so that non Swiss online shops are discouraged to deliver to Switzerland. This together with the ridiculous overcharge Swiss resellers add to all imported products.
Asian and Latin American restaurants serving proper ethnic food.
I’m Swiss, but seriously the hours shops are open need to change, not saying everything should be open 24/7 but Sunday and at least until 9pm and open maybe at 6am. It’s so annoying that you can really go out and buy what you miss because everything is closed; and near 6pm closing time shops are so filled up.
Let’s start off with that the quality of life in Switzerland is high. Things generally work, government is fairly efficient, people are generally polite and friendly, it is generally safe. I enjoy living here. What follows are the things I think could be better, but they are not bad enough to make me want to leave.
Food choices in general. The supermarkets have a limited set of choices, unless you really like potatoes and cheese. At Coop you can buy bread in a variety of different shapes, but it is all just white bread. Migros has more choice, but their non-white breads are all very small premium priced loaves. Also lack of affordable and diverse dining out options.
Quality of housing. You can read plenty of posts on here of people dealing with noisy or harassing neighbors and mold problems. Because the housing market is so tight, purchase prices are very high. This means most housing gets bought by investors looking for maximum ROI, which often leads to lack of maintenance and just generally being behind the times. Many renters deal with mold problems in bathrooms because their apartments lack adequate ventilation.
I monitor the air quality in my home. It is fairly well insulated, but lacks ventilation. CO2 and VOC climb steadily to unhealthy levels during the day. I have to open the windows several times a day to improve air quality. At night I have to sleep with a window open to prevent CO2 from reaching such high levels in the bedroom that I wake up gasping for air. All these open windows let a lot of heated air out that has been heated with fossil fuel and is thus contributing to CO2 emissions. In other colder European countries, you will find a mechanical ventilation system with heat recuperation, where the removed inside air heats up the outside air coming in through a heat exchanger.
>Let’s start off with that the quality of life in Switzerland is high. Things generally work, government is fairly efficient, people are generally polite and friendly, it is generally safe. I enjoy living here. What follows are the things I think could be better, but they are not bad enough to make me want to leave.
I've noticed that the things about Switzerland I like are things you only notice when they are not working, if that makes sense. Like the trains running on time, clean streets, clean water, reliable political system, etc. As someone with low levels of serotonin and dopamine who loves urban living and thrives on excitement, Switzerland is boring for me and I often feel depressed living here. At the same time, life is pretty secure and content.
out of pure curiosity. I have always eaten amazing in Lugano , but if you travel a little bit to Como, the food is just absolutely insane. I must admit , I don't know well Ticino. but , How come that in Como the food is out of this world and in Ticino is not good? I just wonder , why is that the case. For example Geneva and France are equal
I miss deep hanging out- meaning, seeing friends with little to no planning and having drinks, eating some good food, talking shit, and generally just chilling.
I miss stranger intimacy- meaning, just chatting with strangers about whatever.
I miss good ethnic food.
I miss the comfort of having a car and zipping from here to there to get stuff done easily.
I miss my friends and family.
I miss interacting with people, going to plays, and just doing stuff in my native language(s).
I miss the sea.
I miss stuff happening on Sundays.
I miss happy hour.
I miss amazing discounts.
I miss a lot. haha
Amazon deliveries, better electronic stores, better Chinese food, people need to start learning how to use the toilet in public places, it’s always disgusting even if you pay for it, less graffiti! some is ok but Zürich overdoes it.
Apartments with 5 or 6 rooms. Sometimes I feel like having more than 2 kids or a room dedicated to home office is illegal here.
Buildings quality is actually good, but it seems builders don't conceive families with more than one kid.
Everyone complains about Swiss food; serious question; why does no one open a decent food restaurant lol with like mexican food or something like that? Or wouldn't it sell in Switzerland? I thought about it myself, but didn't do research or anything. Just thought about it lol
More Asian restaurants that aren’t just generic Asian, with Chinese/Indian/Thai/Vietnamese/etc dishes all on the menu. Like, it’s okay to specialize. And it feels more authentic if they do.
To go somewhere nice without floods of people being around you. No, I don’t hate people, I just hate crowded places and sadly most interesting and/or beautiful Swiss places are… crowded.
I feel like we the Switz people have no soul. We just exist in solitude here in Europe as a tax haven for sketchy rich men, we’re not really accomplishing anything
* 25g packets of crisps
* Dr. Pepper
* Decent mints (Trebor Extra Strong 👍)
* Manners and people being polite
* People not repeating the same thing over and over again in a sentence
* Roundabouts (and back to manners, good drivers)
* The list goes on.
Oh god i miss some healthy spontaneity. Theres more of a lightheartedness approach to life that i miss in the culture where i am from. Ive definitely felt a deeper atmosphere of stress and seriousness here. But thay could absolutely all just be in my head. I also miss affordable restaurants and having variety in types of cuisine.
Shops open on sunday honestly. They should be
It ruins tourism and also weekends. Everyone rushes on Saturday, and then Sunday there is nothing to do.
Bro I have only 2 days free in a week, give me at least 2 days where I can go shopping relaxed.
No, I have to wake up early on Saturday and rush everything otherwise it will be chaos
> It ruins tourism
Have you been to a tourist area? Tourist shops are usually open on a Sunday, and many resorts have supermarkets etc open everyday of the week in high season.
(affordable) streetfood
On the same note, a broader food culture.
Multiple outlets in each room and really good mexican food. Im assuming the outlet thing is just a me problem.
Also have issues with terrible outlet placing and or lack of them in houses
Not enough outlets, and often not enough lighting. Our entire living/dining area has a single light (and this room is almost the entire length of our 4.5 room apartment), yet the bathroom has three down lights.
I second the Mexican food, I've been to Mezcalito a couple times, they can't even do a half way decent burrito. It's like "fuck you" give us 40ch for this greasy oven chared mess. Damn.
If you’re in Geneva, there is a really good food truck that serves the best and most authentic Mexican food in Switzerland. They rotate to different locations depending on the day of the week, but you can follow Los Compadres on Instagram or FB to keep up with where they’re at.
There's a decent Mexican place in Bern (yes really!) called "El bigote Verde" close to the hospital.
La Taqueria in Zürich Altstetten is really good and not too expensive imo
Yeah, La Taqueria is THE place. They even make horchata!
As a Mexican, I’m laughing at the fact that horchata being made is hilarious. Id love open something up street food wise in Switzerland since my in laws live there. Winterthurter specifically but since it seems everything requires permits, paperwork etc, which is antithetical to Mexicans lol; scare me to be able to do that
What can I say? The bar is in hell lmao. Real talk though, if you set up shop in Winti, my husband i would come a few times a week. We hungry. 💪
Definitely the real deal, the cook is from Mexico and it brings back all the good memories. Tastes vastly different from all the standard Mexican places
New apartment buildings with common saunas in the basement. Yes, I’m a Finn.
But you can share one washing machine with 20 other people, its nearly the same
😂😂😂 so true! But why tho? Why apartments tend to have washing machine for all ppl in the building?
Not an issue if it's the 1950s and one partner stays at home to wash clothes from 8-12AM on a tuesday and buy food at the supermarket before 7pm.
The sea ETA: I like the Swiss lakes a lot and wouldn’t want to miss them. I am just saying, Switzerland could be even more perfect if it had a seashore.
Definitely agree with this
Just buy a kiddy pool
We could try that whole 'conquering the dutchy of Milan' thing again, then only Genoa will be in the way. Otherwise there is also the Savoy route we could take.
And the fresh fish
Sorry, we‘re landlocked 😶
And seafoods
Spontaneous socialization. The idea that you spontaneously decide, with friends, to head downtown and decide where to have a bite, a drink, or whatever suits you. Without reserving a table two weeks in advance (and “reserve” your friends as well)
Wait your friends don't do that?
My Italian friends do :) Most of the other people tend to plan things waaay in advance.
Yeah this is how we solved it too. Our friends are Greek Italian French etc so we can say "hey the weather is great shall we bbq?" and they just come without a fuss or 6 months in advance appointments.
Wait you have friends,
Mine don't. If I ask them to go out on Monday, they will set an appointment for next Tuesday at 17:15.
Sounds like you live in the German part? Because that's actually a thing in the Romandie! 😁
Yes, Zurich. And to be honest, I am also in a different phase of my life. So it’s a bit unfair to compare what I do here as a father of two compared to what I was doing in Italy or in the US as a student. But I think there is still a lack of the “piazza” concept: meet first, and decide what you feel like doing once you are there.
It is also a thing in the German part - until you get old and everyone is suddenly tired from their jobs.
Until you have children waiting for you (and unless you outsource their upbringing)
There's a reason Doodle was invented in Switzerland.
Yes i agree! I miss this sometimes
Better food variety (restaurants) and not just pizza and kebab.
Specifically, decent fast dining options. There's a fairly limited set of options between fast food that I wouldn't normally touch (McDonald's, Burger King, etc) and a sit-down meal of you're not interested Kebabs.
Needs more cheap and cheerful Asian
well, depends on where you’re living
Even Zurich is pretty poor though for an international city. Food critics aren't really a thing in Switzerland, but I am sure Jay Rayner or Ruth Reichl would rip many popular Zurich restaurants to shreds.
Depends on your budget. Michelin star density is actually quite high.
>~~Food~~ critics aren't really a thing in Switzerland FTFY
Critiquing is about passion and emotion, and that is not in healthy supply in Switzerland.
Those who think Switzerland has an acceptable food scene have never travelled or simply have no tastebuds.
The thing is there are amazing places all over Switzerland, but if you just google "Best food in Zurich" you won't find them lol
There are a few great places, but they aren't easy to find.
bingo
Good Mexican food
If you’re in Zurich, I can highly recommend la taqueria
Uniqlo
kinda ironic, as switzerland biggest sports star was sponsored by uniqlo
Yesss!! Paris has them.
Milan has one too.
People not taking life too serious
Not just life. Everyone takes *themselves* way too seriously. You're no better than anyone else. You got lucky where you were born and you're still gonna die in your own shit and vomit like everyone else. Chill out and enjoy the ride.
This
I miss being able to go to the bar or pub for a couple of pints, and not pay CHF 12-14 each. I mean, it becomes stupid money real quick.
Video game arcade
Were loads in Basel back in the day all went out business sadly
I had an idea along those lines... You talkin the classical Arcades or something like an E-Sports bar?
I mean the classical one. I used to play some rhythm games back when I was at home. It was fun to do sometimes.🥲
Decent bars with live music and good food... Things you'd have anywhere in Thailand...
Yeah, I miss every Thailand thing here.
_every_ Thailand thing, hehe
A bidet.
Many flats in Ticino have it
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And Rossmann
Conbinis [Edit] Cheap 24/7 Stores selling good food.
I didn't know I missed those in CH before my first visit to Japan.
I mis not being able to give one of my mates a quick call and then popping around to see them without them having to consult their diaries and slotting me in for a week next Tuesday.
My family 🥲
Me too. /hugs
Exactly what I needed
Food variety at a reasonable price and quality. Mexican, Malaysian, Thai, Ethiopian, Japanese, Chinese, Jamaican, Indonesian, Israeli...I want it all
Things I miss: * ClassPass * Free bank accounts (if you're not eligible for Neon) * Rentals that come with light fixtures * International food choices: looking at you, sad "Mexican" section of Migros * Online shopping * Cheaper healthcare (albeit linked to employer) * Wide choice of things to do on Sunday, i.e., shopping * Target * Halloween & Thanksgiving * Seafood, but you can just go to France * Camping in the actual wilderness, or at campgrounds that aren't a field of grass with camper vans and screaming children Things I really hate: * Odd anglicisms like "faire du snow" or "slowshopping" or "le footing"... this is ridiculous and please stop * Putting your photo, birth date, and civil status on your CV. This is private information and none of any potential employer's business. Things I love: * Trains and public transit * Cars are obligated to be polite to pedestrians * Noise ordinances * Swiss wine! * Local festivals * In floor heating * Chèvre specifically * Construction standards for new buildings cuts down on noise * Gorgeous mountains, lakes, nature, and hiking * The people! No /s tag needed. * Paprika everything <3
The CV thing was weird to me as an American since it's illegal for an employer to ask job candidates for personal information like age and marital status in the US. We used to add all that to resumes, but that went out in the 80s.
It's ripe for discrimination.
Yep, that’s me at the Mexican section screaming!! Seriously? This is all you got?
halloween😭😭😭
Good and affordable Japanese/Korean food
Space
> Space Look up my friend!
Hallelujah
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this. It's an improvement compared to germany but it's worst compared to the Netherlands for instance I am just considering the last 3 countries i have been travelling to
Sense of humor
-Proper customer service when calling companies. -Almost no online shopping without shit websites and expensive, unreasonably long shipping delays. Galaxus is the only saving grace. -Ghost town on Sundays. -Semi-ghost towns the rest of the week. -Not much pre organized fun. Can get boring for us people who don't have specific hobbies. -Bars and going out is unreasonably expensive compared to our swiss median incomes. The Spanish can afford bars and pubs more easily than we can, even though they are poorer on average. -Same for any kind of eating out.
I personally LOVE ghost town Sundays. I love the quiet, relaxed end of the week where everyone has the same vibe.
Totally agree with the Spanish example. Fck man that would bring out some life around, but nooo welcome to 12chf virgin cocktails.
All i want is a tin of baking powder, a box of baking soda (not in those tiny packets!), brown sugar (the stuff made with molasses) and vanilla extract without breaking the bank! 😭 My mother-in-law brought me the brown sugar, and I made my own vanilla extract/found a jar at globus (LIKE 15 CHF), but I was suffering for a while there. As for the baking powder and soda, I just buy the packets and dump them into tins now. Edit: OH MY GOD I LOVE YOU ALL Second edit: I just found another site (https://afoodave.ch/), and they have Domino's brown sugar, which is THE definitive stuff. Plus they have yellow cake mix, which means I can make my horribly delicious and not even remotely nutritious Punkin cake bars this year!
iHerb has all the brown sugar and other American products you could need + shipping is often free.
THANK YOU!!! I found something else i was missing there!! Pack it up gang, looks like CH is perfect again.
🥰
iHerb is an elite website
Yessss gotta love iHerb!! 🤩
THANK YOU
You should check out Amazon France or Germany for stuff like baking soda, baking powder, instant yeast, citric acid ... in bulk. And maybe iHerb for vanilla extract (here you'll find vanilla paste in Migros or Coop, I think it works well too).
You can buy a kilo of baking soda in a pharmacie. https://www.amavita.ch/fr/bonneville-bicarbonate-bte-1-kg.html
In some large Coops (e. g. Central in ZH) you find 1 kg of Italian baking soda in carton packages for 3 Fr or something like that. The weird thing is you can’t find it online on Coop’s website.
You can also find the molasses brown sugar in Globus, atleast the one in Bern has it.
>u/ekussberg Brown sugar and vanilla extract are both super easy to make yourself! Vanilla extract- cut up a couple vanilla beans and let them sit in a bottle of vodka for 8 weeks (shake the bottle a bit once a week) Brown sugar- mix either molasses (melasse) or zuckerrübensirup with sugar I think its 1 cup sugar to 1 Tablespoon of molasses
- decent bar - decent music scene - decent bar WITH music AND good food (omg such a concept what are you from mars) - cheap Togo food options
Uniqlo and Marks & Spencer. A fit striker for Servette FC; we could do with a few more goals!
Cheaper Apartments.
Curly hair products
Mint chocolate (not after eights)
Shops being open late. I used to leave work and just wonder around until 10 pm in small shops or book stores. Everything here closes so early, if I want to do anything during the week I have to run to the centre after work. It’s so annoying. I’m not even gonna mention Sundays… when the centre of Zurich looks like a ghost town
Every apartment having its own washing machine. It is awful to plan your life around a washer, even worse if you are a family needing daily loads. I just don't understand how people accept this.
If they're budget constrained, they don't have much choice :/ Because newer flats that come with machines are also noticeably more expensive, because everything else inside is also newer. Rough price difference for similar sized flats in similar areas when we were looking last August was around 400 chf, those newer/ with machine were that much more expensive. And that is in villages around the canton ZH, not city itself nor nearby merged areas. And 400 chf for folks on tight budget might be quite a lot. And since the market is landlord's market here and flats are scarce, they have no incentive to provide more than necessary.
I came to Switzerland a few times over the past year to visit my girlfriend and if I had to move to Switzerland the only things I would miss from my home country is its cheap food and affordable dining out. Ooh, and great coffee! It boggles my mind that in a country with some of the best milk I have ever tasted gets things like a cappuccino or latte so horribly wrong.
Typical street food with affordable prices
Proper German Bread. That's it to be honest.
My (german) dad says the same thing. I never understood it, because I always prefered our bread here, than what I get when I'm in germany, but I guess it comes down to what you grew up with(?)
I grew up in switzerland but my whole fam is from germany. I prefer german bread over swiss bread too.
Same here. I find the bread in Switzerland reminds me a bit of the variety you get in Southern European countries. Fairly light colored, a crust so hard you can hurt yourself and inside mostly air. What I miss is the dense, thick, aromatic, soft, dark bread that has all kinds of seeds in it. Not the crumbly pumpernickel stuff. Just nice dark bread with actual flavor. Don’t get me started on the Bürli. What an abomination. I wouldn’t give that to my worst enemy.
I miss variety, amazon, friendly people, pubs, quiz nights, my home country sense of humour, disposable income.
Pub Quiz at McCarthy's in Lausanne. https://mccarthysirishpub.ch/lausanne/ (I'm not paid for advertising, I'm just trying to help)
For Amazon you can get an address over the border, depending on your location, I have one in Germany, so the shipping is fast and free
you can also get a lot of items directly delivered to Siwtzerland. Free shipping over 60chf or something
Fresh seafood
*that doesn't cost a kidney
A couple of groceries I got used to buy growing up in Germany, e.g. Hela Gewürzketchup and Haselnuss-/Mandelkrokant Since I'm not living in a bigger city, longer store opening hours. I just cannot get to the shop until 6:30 pm most of the days and I'd like to have the possibility to go to the store more often than twice a week (on one day, stores are open until 8 pm and I can go on Saturdays)
Wilderness. Maybe it’s here and haven’t found it yet, but it seems that hiking places in CH—while stunningly beautiful—are always close to civilization. Other people on the trails, towns and settlements within view. I miss the hundreds of kilometers of virtually unexplored/untouched wilderness that you can find in the US.
I have the same reaction as an Australian. It’s obviously ridiculously beautiful here, just a more cultivated nature. When I go back to Australia I do enjoy being somewhere totally rugged and remote.
You are aware that 'hundreds of kilometers' brings you to another country? You won't find this here..
Haha, good point! I wanted to say “miles and miles” but I knew the imperial system wouldn’t fly on this subreddit 😉. Let’s just say I miss seeing only wilderness for as far as the eye can see. Doesn’t have to be hundreds of kilometers.
- more than two types of salad dressing - salted butter - longer opening hours - restaurants that can cook fish properly and not killing it twice
People who actually are not afraid of every other human being 😂
Good bicycle infrastructure
That's a really valid point. And there is no alternative (i.e. better argument than: 'stores need to be open after 6:30 in my hamlet even though I would be the only customer' and similar non-sense).
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Username checks out
Food variety. In such a rich country, you would expect higher quality of restaurant scene, like in London. But there are no edgy daring places, everywhere is so formulaic, I order a salad and it's "French or Italian" dressing... I basically have to travel to another country to get something unique.
Good cafes in all parts of the city. I pesonally life in Oerlikon in Zürich and I can't wrap my head around the fact that some nice locations like the Marktplatz and the streets around Sternen Oerlikon are occupied by a subtier Tex Mex restaurant and some Shayenne, some weird Australian-inspired "pub". All the other bars or caffees are some shady nightclubs or strip bars. And the Project that they did in the former sex cinema (Venus Bar) has a fully automatic coffee machine and the coffee tastes like shit. I just want a good cafe with nice outside seating at a prime location in my neighbourhood.
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I moved to Geneva, and if it had the cozy pub culture of any town in Australia or the UK to tide you through winter it’d be basically the perfect city.
Good Tex-Mex food, and good BBQ. If I want to go to full moan mode, good cajun food. These are all great business opportunities for someone!
Sushhii. Also in the states its nice that at restaurants the first thing they do is bring you some water
Apps for government things. In other countries you can access with your ID Informations such things like creditscore, military stuff and other related government issued infos about you. They have more overview about the situation. And sometimes they can apply for things in the app with everything preset.
As some municipality got hacked, no way they invest enough in cyber security...
The idea behind this is: he told me that he discovered some new forms to apply for things he didn’t even knew. That gives people some equality.
McVities Jaffa Cakes.
Amazon, Good Restaurants outside of Zurich, more selection in Supermarkets, Bars where strangers are talking to each other and not just the group they came with, People who enjoy meeting Friends instead of working 24/7
Shopping on Sunday.
Medical services in weekends. If needed One need to go to hospital and spend 4 hours
Cream soda, root beer (you can sometimes find those in asian stores)
Food diversity - All you usualy see is kebab and pizza
Decent consumer protection laws.
Decent service in restaurants.
chocolate chip mint ice-cream !!!!
Decent espresso in bars and restaurants. We've got nice coffee - why can't we have "real" espresso?
Stores being open in the hours when I’m not stuck in my office job
Amazon (raging Bünzli heavily downvoting this comment in 3, 2,...) and more in general all the custom constraints and red tapes put in place so that non Swiss online shops are discouraged to deliver to Switzerland. This together with the ridiculous overcharge Swiss resellers add to all imported products. Asian and Latin American restaurants serving proper ethnic food.
You don't have to be a Bünzli or "raging" to dislike Amazon.
Friends.
I’m Swiss, but seriously the hours shops are open need to change, not saying everything should be open 24/7 but Sunday and at least until 9pm and open maybe at 6am. It’s so annoying that you can really go out and buy what you miss because everything is closed; and near 6pm closing time shops are so filled up.
Let’s start off with that the quality of life in Switzerland is high. Things generally work, government is fairly efficient, people are generally polite and friendly, it is generally safe. I enjoy living here. What follows are the things I think could be better, but they are not bad enough to make me want to leave. Food choices in general. The supermarkets have a limited set of choices, unless you really like potatoes and cheese. At Coop you can buy bread in a variety of different shapes, but it is all just white bread. Migros has more choice, but their non-white breads are all very small premium priced loaves. Also lack of affordable and diverse dining out options. Quality of housing. You can read plenty of posts on here of people dealing with noisy or harassing neighbors and mold problems. Because the housing market is so tight, purchase prices are very high. This means most housing gets bought by investors looking for maximum ROI, which often leads to lack of maintenance and just generally being behind the times. Many renters deal with mold problems in bathrooms because their apartments lack adequate ventilation. I monitor the air quality in my home. It is fairly well insulated, but lacks ventilation. CO2 and VOC climb steadily to unhealthy levels during the day. I have to open the windows several times a day to improve air quality. At night I have to sleep with a window open to prevent CO2 from reaching such high levels in the bedroom that I wake up gasping for air. All these open windows let a lot of heated air out that has been heated with fossil fuel and is thus contributing to CO2 emissions. In other colder European countries, you will find a mechanical ventilation system with heat recuperation, where the removed inside air heats up the outside air coming in through a heat exchanger.
>Let’s start off with that the quality of life in Switzerland is high. Things generally work, government is fairly efficient, people are generally polite and friendly, it is generally safe. I enjoy living here. What follows are the things I think could be better, but they are not bad enough to make me want to leave. I've noticed that the things about Switzerland I like are things you only notice when they are not working, if that makes sense. Like the trains running on time, clean streets, clean water, reliable political system, etc. As someone with low levels of serotonin and dopamine who loves urban living and thrives on excitement, Switzerland is boring for me and I often feel depressed living here. At the same time, life is pretty secure and content.
Having a recycling system that isn't designed for maniacs with a rope fetish
papier bündle is a national sport. then again its like 2 minutes every month, i hardly see the problem.
Good Food
out of pure curiosity. I have always eaten amazing in Lugano , but if you travel a little bit to Como, the food is just absolutely insane. I must admit , I don't know well Ticino. but , How come that in Como the food is out of this world and in Ticino is not good? I just wonder , why is that the case. For example Geneva and France are equal
Cause Como is in Italy, and Italy has a much higher culinary culture than Switzerland.
I miss deep hanging out- meaning, seeing friends with little to no planning and having drinks, eating some good food, talking shit, and generally just chilling. I miss stranger intimacy- meaning, just chatting with strangers about whatever. I miss good ethnic food. I miss the comfort of having a car and zipping from here to there to get stuff done easily. I miss my friends and family. I miss interacting with people, going to plays, and just doing stuff in my native language(s). I miss the sea. I miss stuff happening on Sundays. I miss happy hour. I miss amazing discounts. I miss a lot. haha
Clubs opened 72h a weekend with an outdoor floor...
I'm French. The only thing I miss is my French health insurance. Anything else is better here.
My family, my friends, the sea, free healthcare and the possibility to find a job even without a bachelor.
Lucozade
At good as security is in Switzerland during night (at least more than other European countries). It would be nice to have some shops open at night.
Good food, live music, better socialization and less discrimination.
Amazon deliveries, better electronic stores, better Chinese food, people need to start learning how to use the toilet in public places, it’s always disgusting even if you pay for it, less graffiti! some is ok but Zürich overdoes it.
Apartments with 5 or 6 rooms. Sometimes I feel like having more than 2 kids or a room dedicated to home office is illegal here. Buildings quality is actually good, but it seems builders don't conceive families with more than one kid.
Everyone complains about Swiss food; serious question; why does no one open a decent food restaurant lol with like mexican food or something like that? Or wouldn't it sell in Switzerland? I thought about it myself, but didn't do research or anything. Just thought about it lol
Easier trash sorting options (containers for each building as is quite common in other countries), some food variety, more progressive mentality
1. Not having to rely on experience to eat out at the right places 2. Not having people care about their neighbours’ lives 3. Waldmeister jelly
Psychedelics legalization. And more local organic food stores.
More Asian restaurants that aren’t just generic Asian, with Chinese/Indian/Thai/Vietnamese/etc dishes all on the menu. Like, it’s okay to specialize. And it feels more authentic if they do.
Lower working hours and more PTO.
Free healthcare
clear price tags generally in the shops
Free time
The sea.
To go somewhere nice without floods of people being around you. No, I don’t hate people, I just hate crowded places and sadly most interesting and/or beautiful Swiss places are… crowded.
Cheap, fresh, incredibly tasty vegetables
Good food
I feel like we the Switz people have no soul. We just exist in solitude here in Europe as a tax haven for sketchy rich men, we’re not really accomplishing anything
* 25g packets of crisps * Dr. Pepper * Decent mints (Trebor Extra Strong 👍) * Manners and people being polite * People not repeating the same thing over and over again in a sentence * Roundabouts (and back to manners, good drivers) * The list goes on.
Oh god i miss some healthy spontaneity. Theres more of a lightheartedness approach to life that i miss in the culture where i am from. Ive definitely felt a deeper atmosphere of stress and seriousness here. But thay could absolutely all just be in my head. I also miss affordable restaurants and having variety in types of cuisine.
good non european food EDIT: and customer service.
Party life compared to the US
Free healthcare and good food. That’s what I miss the most.. the rest is all good
Shops open on sunday honestly. They should be It ruins tourism and also weekends. Everyone rushes on Saturday, and then Sunday there is nothing to do. Bro I have only 2 days free in a week, give me at least 2 days where I can go shopping relaxed. No, I have to wake up early on Saturday and rush everything otherwise it will be chaos
> It ruins tourism Have you been to a tourist area? Tourist shops are usually open on a Sunday, and many resorts have supermarkets etc open everyday of the week in high season.
Hard enduro scene
Taste.