Moving to Switzerland: A Six-Month Experiment

For years, my girlfriend Clémence and I talked about leaving Paris. As outdoor enthusiasts in our thirties, staying in the city felt increasingly wrong. We weren't closed-minded about where to go, the French countryside was an option, but we were open to anywhere that could offer the lifestyle we craved.

Don't get me wrong: I love Paris. It's one of the coolest cities I've ever experienced. The coffee scene, the food, the fashion, the culture—everything happens there first. That's probably why we stayed so long.

Why leave Paris?

The main reason was simple: I want to raise kids in nature, not concrete.

I grew up in the countryside, cycling to school, building forts in the forest with friends, crashing my mountain bike into trees—all the chaotic, joyful things kids do outdoors. Watching children grow up in the city makes me sad. I want to give my future kids the same experiences I had.

There's also something meditative about being in nature, especially in the mountains. Hours of hiking help you disconnect from screens and reconnect with yourself. Plus, I secretly hoped living near epic cycling terrain would transform my riding.

The swiss reality

Switzerland is genuinely great, but it comes with adjustments.

The schedule shift was immediate. I wake at 6am, leave home at 7am, and arrive at work in Geneva by 7:30am. I finish around 4:30pm. Surprisingly, I love this rhythm. The flip side? Everything closes early. Try shopping in Lausanne or Geneva at 5pm on Saturday—good luck. You need to be organized.

The cost of living is as high as expected, though not shockingly higher than Paris for many things. The real difference is that you pay for everything. Companies are also aggressively sales-focused in ways that caught me off guard.

When we signed for our apartment, I looked for internet providers—only to discover we were locked into whoever installed the fiber. Before learning this, I was offered DSL with the hard sell that "speed is the same as optical fiber." Spoiler: it's not.

Health insurance is mandatory and expensive (easily several hundred francs per month). When I contacted insurers, most immediately sent sales reps to my home to close the deal—often without giving me time to properly review contracts. That felt predatory.

Signing contracts here is surprisingly casual. A phone call or email response is often enough to lock you in. Be careful.

How did it go?

We're moving back to France in a couple of weeks.

To be clear: this isn't because Switzerland was terrible or because of the issues I mentioned above. We're leaving due to visa complications around my freelancing status. It's bureaucratic, not personal.

But it was an interesting experiment—and one that taught us a lot about what we really want from life outside Paris.