What I love about living in Switzerland
In another post I wrote about our experience arriving in Basel as expats. We came because we wanted somewhere steady and thoughtful to bring up children, and Switzerland had always left us with a sense of clarity and calm whenever we visited. After six years it no longer feels like a daily holiday, but I still catch myself pausing at how remarkable it is to be a short drive from the Alps, France or the Black Forest. It has become home while still feeling quietly special.
How Switzerland redefines the everyday
One of the first things you notice here is how smoothly everyday life runs. Not in a showy way. Just systems that behave as they should. Public transport that removes guesswork. Streets that feel looked after. People who take responsibility for shared spaces. After time in the UK or the US, you return to Basel with a sense of relief that’s hard to ignore. The contrast reminds you how rare it is for a country to treat the basics with such seriousness.
Basel itself has a confidence that reveals itself slowly. It doesn’t shout for attention. It simply functions as a proper city where people live their lives without ceremony. The river, the old town, the neighbourhood rhythms that settle around you after a while. Once you’re tuned into it, you realise how pleasant it is to live somewhere that isn’t trying to perform its identity at you.
Raising children here has deepened that feeling. There is a calm to family life that you only understand by living it. Children have more independence. The forest is their playground too. The streets feel safe without feeling sterile. People maintain a kind of polite distance that creates social ease rather than awkwardness. And the sound of Schweizerdeutsch in the school playground still makes me smile. It’s a reminder of how naturally children adapt and how rich the environment becomes when bilingualism is simply part of the background.
What I didn’t expect, but now appreciate enormously, is the way Switzerland balances heritage with the ultra-modern. The pride in old traditions is genuine. Whether it’s a parade, a seasonal festival, a village custom or simply the way certain crafts are still practised, there’s a deep sense of continuity. And yet this sits comfortably alongside cutting-edge research, contemporary architecture and some of the most advanced infrastructure in Europe. It never feels nostalgic for the sake of it. It feels like a country that understands its past well enough to push confidently into the future.
The beauty that reveals itself slowly
Tourists often see the headline acts. Hiking or skiing in the Berner Oberland, Chillon Castle, Rigi, Verbier, Crans-Montana, the big-name ski resorts. All beautiful, of course, but the real joy of living here comes from the smaller discoveries. A walk along a Jura ridge where, almost out of nowhere, the Alps stretch across the horizon. An unhurried afternoon in St Ursanne with its medieval bridge and quiet dignity. The warmth of Murten’s old walls and the shimmer of the lake. The contrast between rolling hills and white mountains in Appenzell. A 15 minute tram ride from Basel for a fabulous walk to the Arlesheim Hermitage castle (photo above). Hop over the border into Alsace or the Black Forest and you have an entirely different landscape and culture within well under an hour. These are the places that quietly become part of your life.
As for administration, I’ve come to respect it. Swiss admin is thorough, but it isn’t painful. Things happen when they say they will. Offices are organised. Processes are clear. There’s a logic to it all that makes even the more demanding tasks feel manageable. It’s one of those elements you only truly value after dealing with the opposite elsewhere.
Switzerland isn’t perfect. No country is. It can be reserved. It can be rule-focused. But that blend of heritage, modernity, competence and calm has shaped our daily life in ways I didn’t fully expect. It no longer feels like a holiday here. It feels like a place built for ordinary life to work well, with enough beauty and variety to make it continually interesting.