US Yank moving, comparative cost of living?

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Bix

Hello

First of all, 100K CHF is a good salary in Switzerland, particularly for a single person.

In Basel, you'll find great cultural activities. There are fabulous museums there and in my opinion no other city in Switzerland can beat Basel with its museums (Kunstmuseum in Basel, Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, Antikenmuseum and the list goes on). The concert hall in the city (Stadtcasino) has in my opinion a better acoustic than the one in Zurich.

http://www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch/en/home/

http://www.beyeler.com/fondation/e/html_01start/01_sta__main.php

http://www.antikenmuseumbasel.ch/opencms/opencms/en/index.html

For eating out, I would recommend to go to neighboring France. It's cheaper and better. In my opinion, Basel isn't really a center for gourmets. There are nice restaurants though, such as the Teufelhof.

As Mr. Einstein suggested, go shopping in the neighboring countries. It's cheaper and particularly in France (Alsace) you can get excellent regional specialties.

The costs for rent are lower than in other big cities of Switzerland (Zurich and Geneva).

The taxes however, are extremely high. Therefore, people with your salary (or higher) go either to Riehen (which is a small municipality of the Basel-City canton) or to a municipality of the canton Basel-Country (Binningen, Bottmingen, Oberwil etc.). Particularly Binningen is very close to Basel-City.

This is the best website if you are looking for an apartment:

http://www.homegate.ch/homegate/index;HGSESSIONID=tjhjJpjdcThMwKHxLNbNttBv3yrsTyYX38Ppd1lF1QGY3hNqSQHC!206561468?layout=&agency=&lang=en

For 1800-2200 you'll get a very nice place in the area (also in the city).

Basel is one of the centers of European humanism with a university founded in 1461. It's one of the oldest universities of Europe (I think only the one in Bologna is older). The people of Basel have a very close relation to the Uni. You won't miss your university. The University of Basel is omnipresent in the city.

What else can I say about Basel?

It has the best football team of Switzerland (FCB) and literally everybody (simple workers, secretaries, doctors, judges, kids) goes to the games. FCB is quite a phenomenon in Switzerland. No other football team (you'd say soccer team) has so many supporters. The stadium of the team was designed by the world famous architects Herzog and Demeuron who designed the new London Tate and the stadium in Beijing for the Olympics as well.

http://www.red-alan.de/Stadien/basel.jpg

Let's not forget the famous Fasnacht of Basel, the most beautiful carnival of the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JdTrnv_jM8&feature=related

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