Quality of life in Zurich

Zurich (German: Zürich, Swiss German: Züri) is the largest city in Switzerland, with a population of some 400,000 in the city proper and 1.3 million in the metro area. Zurich is on Lake Zurich, where the lake meets the Limmat River, in the north of Switzerland. Contrary to what some believe, Zurich is not the capital of Switzerland — that honour falls to Berne.

Zurich is Switzerland's biggest city and a cultural center of German-speaking Switzerland. Despite it not being the administrative capital of any more than its Kanton, Zürich punches well above its weight in terms of major media and business headquarters and due to to it being at the heart of Switzerland's excessively punctual and meticulously maintained train network and being home to Switzerland's most important airport, it is often the first part of Switzerland that visitors get to see. Zürich is close to some excellent skiing resorts and many people headed for the Swiss Alps don't spend much time in Zurich itself, but you'd be missing a lot if you don't stay in Zurich for a couple of days at least.

While Zurich can be expensive, it is also clean, efficient and blessed with a high standard of living, which - together with the high wages - explains why people bear with the high prices. Zurich has drawn people from the rest of Switzerland for centuries, but in the 20th and 21st century it has also begun to draw both people and companies from outside Switzerland and in some cases even outside Europe. This means that you will hear a lot more languages than just Swiss German and the overall atmosphere is a lot more cosmopolitan than you might think.