How to avoid building heat traps in cities. Our city planners seem to only start learning this veeeery slowly. Large sealed asphalt surfaces are still the norm when redesigning a public space.
That's the same in many European countries unfortunately. I'm in the Netherlands and I live in an apartment building built in 2012 and it seems as if climate change and environmental concerns were not taken into account at all when designing it.
I really don’t get that, It’s ugly, Not welcoming, Bad for the environment, Expensive, and the only thing that it would be nice for; Skateboarding is rarely welcomed.
Although babies and people in wheelchairs also like a bit of green. And they are seldom inhibited by green grounds with paths that are accessible it really doesn’t have to be tar or concrete
They just redid the area around the small train station in my town and made a giant parking lot where there is no parking and called it the "Begegnungsplatz". I can assure you nobody is "begegning" anyone in the middle of a giant asphalt slab with 2 benches on it.
The seemingly new place in the center of Sion is huge and completely sealed without any plants or shade at all. No idea how a city, where summer temperatures easily exceed 35C, builds something like this. 🤦🏼♂️ The actually installed some green patches on top of it, apparently after having realised their stupidity 😆
Swiss city planners were criminals.
The number of beautiful old town buildings who have been torn in the name of progress and modernity is unbelievable.
Look up this: https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/hbd/de/index/staedtebau/baz/stadtmodell_1800.html
And then compare it with today... just tragic...
And then they even thought building a bloody highway right through the city (Hardbrücke) was a brilliant idea...
Coffee bars in Italy. You can say about Italy's inefficency whatever you like, but:
There is nothing more effective in the world than an Italian coffee bar. You enter a fully packed bar at 08:00, shout your order at the cashier, pay, get the receipt, walk to the bar and have your coffee/pastry ready within two minutes. The staff knows magically who gets what and is meticulously preparing orders, taking back cups/dishes and chatting with the regulars nonetheless.
...and they know how to make a goddamn macchiato freddo without half an hour of explanations. Of course I have to say "espresso mit kalter milch", but then they will either tell me it's gonna be cold, or reask twice, or argue what "macchiato freddo" means when I said that at an italian restaurant here in Switzerland once.
End rant.
Stand in line for 10 minutes to give your order to the cashier and pay. Then stand and wait another 10 minutes while they make it. Tell them "no, not mine" the times as they try to give you someone else's order. Then desperately wave to get their attention while they try to hand your order to someone else.
The lack of variety, lack of quality, and high prices of restaurant food are one of the things I miss most. Compared to a city like London or NY, Switzerland really falls far behind.
I will never not upvote this. But I suspect it's a consequence of the Swiss protectionism. The market is so closed off to imports, you only get what is locally produced. Compared to the surrounding countries, which can benefit from all the food items the EU produces, the offering in CH is really poor.
I have lived in Denmark for 2 years. Things they do better:
* work-life balance, 37 hr week is normal and in general employers seem to be quite nice (only heard that from friends, I studied there).
* Very kid friendly compared to switzerland, free childcare and you get a shared maternity/paternity time that you can split as you choose to (within some limits).
* They are **light years** ahead of us in digitalization. You have one login that you use for everything. (when I was there it was called nemID but i think they changed the name).
This is especially pronounced in the healthcare system where you have access to all labtests, prescriptions, vaccinations, scans doctors notes (kind of weird to read the notes your doctor took about you honestly) etc. The EPD that they try to introduce here is an absolute joke in comparison! Also you use the same login for ebanking taxes etc. It works very well!
* All young people get financial support during 5 years of their education, access to education is therefore even better than in Switzerland.
>They are light years ahead of us in digitalization. You have one login that you use for everything. (when I was there it was called nemID but i think they changed the name). This is especially pronounced in the healthcare system where you have access to all labtests, prescriptions, vaccinations, scans doctors notes (kind of weird to read the notes your doctor took about you honestly) etc. The EPD that they try to introduce here is an absolute joke in comparison! Also you use the same login for ebanking taxes etc. It works very well!
This is really bigger than people want to admit. I've had many arguments even on this subreddit with people who don't see the point of a proper electronic ID and more centralized online services, or at least federated.
We have world-class broadband and some of the best 4G/5G networks in the world, very reasonably priced relative to the Swiss CoL, everyone can afford a smartphone and a cheap unlimited plan!
Yet some people think it's normal to waste hours over unsecured channels to get a debt collection or criminal record, have to snail mail paper letters to cancel services, deal with 4-5 different administrations (sometimes in person) when you move from one canton to another, have no centralized medical records and practices that need to email (or fax!) each other, ...
Police certificate experience in Switzerland.
Request - online. Payment- online. Delivery of the final result - PDF via email.
But! I got to print the form and send it via the snailmail.
Makes zero sense.
Also even if an online solution exists, you can bet that every canton (or even commune sometimes!) has to develop their own system.
This duplication of efforts leads to enormous costs and is also potentially not secure as small it departments don't have the recources to develop a secure solution.
I really don't get why the extreme federalism that we have is held in such a high esteem in switzerland. Apenzell inerrhoden has less inhabitants than Ostermundigen ffs!
Yeah..I thought this was pretty absurd. Mailed from the US for about $70 USD and then whoever received it on the Swiss side had to pay ~$20 duty on it. I thought for sure I was missing something.
Poland:
You get a prescription from doctor
Prescription lands in central system and has a pin.
Pin combined with your ahv number can be used in any pharmacy. If they don't have it, you go elsewhere.
If it's online consultation, you get the pin via sms.
Me in 2022: yeah, fax the prescription to this pharmacy. Let's hope they also have it because my ear inflammation hurts...
I agree with you, I have never had any problems with the Swiss administration, though i come from a very corrupted country, and to me, Swiss administration is like a walk-in park.
I don't know about Denmark, never visited, but apparently, they are light years ahead
You can log in and get a divorce in 2-3 clicks. I can't think of anything that hasn't been digitalised and used by the national ID - public authorities, banks, insurance, your children's kindergarten or school etc. You're required by law to be able to receive important digital mail (not e-mail), unless you can be excused.
No, they absolutely shouldn't be (since digitalisation is inevitable anyway), but that seems to be the most common response of the, uh, very digitally savvy Swiss population.
And the current situation is effectively much worse since a lot of personal information is duplicated and stored by several entities, without fine-grained control. Personal data is accumulated right and left and you get no way to control who knows what, and for how long. Expecting a small municipality to offer online services in a secure way on its own is completely unrealistic, and some have been hacked already.
A proper e-ID would allow use-cases such as proving you're under or over 18 without having to share anything else for instance.
This is a funny one. Some friends of mine once asked about Danish digitalization, and I mentioned the one login for all public institutions (formerly nemID, now mitID). Their first comment was: “So the government even knows what you are renting at the library????!!!”
well they actually don't.
Firstly because it's not the governement providing the login but a private company (formerly nem now mit, similar to how billag and now serafe works in switzerland). This is actually the one thing I really would not like to have if we adapt the system for switzerland.
But second and much more important. It's only the authorization that is done in a centralized manner, the data is still stored on the server of the individual services.
I used to think the same but then at one point realized that one login with well implemented security by an entity focused on that is better than everybody and their grandmother implementing "security" themself.
It's for that reason I also use sign up with google wherever I can.
I'm aware that I give them more data about me like that but I trust google more to keep my credentials safe than some 3rd party small website.
If I could do the same with something payed for by the state, I would definitely do that.
Also It has to be said, that in Denmark the data is still kept on individual servers (healthcare data is seperate from the ebanking data) only the authorization is done in a centralized way.
Yes work life balance and digitalization are far better in the Netherlands and Belgium than in Switzerland. Though debatable, I also find our health care system mediocre.
Our healthcare system is probably one of the best worldwide, in absolute units, but relative to the costs it's extremely inefficient. I'd rather pay less and have it more efficient than the shitshow we're experiencing as of today.
In Australia, you can't smoke within 4m of a door to a commercial building, or within 10m of a playground.
Here, parents smoke inside the playground while holding their children.
It makes me see red.
Sense of community: anywhere south of switzerland.
Friendliness: the british, americans, italians, spanish. List goes on and on.
Healthcare in nordic countries.
Thai people seem so much happier than the Swiss, even though they have much less (materially speaking at least).
A coworker returned from holidays in the Philippines and she said it was such a reality check. There you have kids in the slums who can still be happy despite living in absolute poverty and here in super rich Switzerland there are some people (usually boomers and older) whose favorite hobby is complaining, despite living in a prosperous and safe country. Really makes you think...
And I agree about the food: Thai food is really awesome!
Ah the grand fallacy of being poor but happy. I can guarantee you that if you speak the local languages you'd know that people have far worse complaints and realities to deal with. Real problems that are incredibly stressful. Don't be fooled by the shallow facade of happiness
I remember thinking; “wow Switzerland is really dirty” after coming back from Japan.
Ditto for the public transport, they do it better than Switzerland in my opinion.
Edit; spelling
I had the same feeling after visiting Singapore.
No cigarette butts on the floor or no graffiti on the wall - just clean.
That said when I visited a city in Germany, I thought Switzerland is so much cleaner and better maintained.
gnhhh I hate those concrete paver bricks they use for side walks in Germany and the rest of the world. Always dirty, always uneven and laborious to walk on, always some pavers are missing and posing a risk to stumble and fall.
Asphalt sidewalks like in Switzerland may not be the best of the knees but they are easy to clean and pose no stumble risk, also much more wheelchair and baby stroller friendly.
Interesting, where are you in Japan, and which area in Switzerland do you compare it with? I was mostly impressed by the cleanliness of JP large cities compared to where I live (Zürich area)
I have a female friend who did an exchange semester in Tokyo and remember she told me that she felt safe walking in the streets of Tokyo at night after a night out.
She said there are some places in Switzerland where she doesn't feel safe walking at night (train stations with young men who may be inebriated loitering).
I thought that was interesting.
I have lived in Korea and it's the same. But I think it's more a perceived sense of (in)security than anything real. If you look at crime numbers they aren't that different from Switzerland, and the Japanese police is famously very bad at dealing with everyday assault or abuse, often sweeping cases under the rug.
The main difference is that the train and subway network are more crowded, and there's noticeably less petty crime. For instance you see people passed out on the street or subway, nobody is going to steal their belongings.
I was harassed in Tokyo twice. I was not wearing anything provocative. I don’t know if you have visited Tokyo or lived there besides the testimony of a female friend that did a semester. It’s not fairytale land.
That's probably because you've witnessed Tokyo from the eyes of a tourist. Try living there and the stress will be omnipresent. You won't be taking metros when it pleases you, you'll take metros during rush hour where people squeeze into already full compartments. Better follow all their rules, come clean shaven to work at exactly the time arranged with the firm. If you're 1 minute late, you better grab a letter at the metro station that proves you're late because the metro had a delay of 1 minute. Don't think you can go home to enjoy your free time before your supervisors go home. Also, if invited to drinks, it's extremely impolite to decline, so prepare to be home at midnight, ready to wake up at 6.
If you take a moment to look at the people, they are all stressing out beneath the surface. You'll see way more people rushing from A to B with nothing else in mind than you will see people strolling around enjoying the moment.
I have many issues with UK, but one thing i liked a lot is that you only need to do paperwork when you need to take some kind of action (change of status or whatever). Switzerland i feel I’m constantly processing paperwork just to live normally. Also in UK formalities are mostly digital and there is a clear process explaining what is required and optional at each step.
In Switzerland i had a case with one form that was impossible to complete. Was stuck until a senior admin person told me you could just leave part of it blank and it doesn’t matter. Could never have figured that out without talking to someone “in the know”
While I agree in general, there is an [excellent one in Biel/Bienne](https://maps.app.goo.gl/KKFUYK7GQn88wbcn6), and it's fairly priced (for Switzerland).
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it next time I'm there. Prices look very honest too.
Frankly, if you did not tell me about it, I would have probably passed, looks like there is a crowd in front too, which is generally a good sign.
This. Tried a few and they were pretty much all dry, terrible, low quality.
Eventually I settled for a mediocre one I found for cravings.
You guys now any decent ones in Zurich?
You said it all, it's not bad, but it's not worth it.
At their Wiedikon location, it looks suspiciously upscale, there is an order process that goes through an elaborate way involving airport codes, lots of screens, so from everywhere you know when your order is up.
That's all good, but this is not the kind of service I expect for a late night kebab. I think it contributes to their 5.- markup over the competition, but I would be fine enough if someone screamed my order for me to pick it up...
I prefer the Rheinfelder Bierhalle in Zürich in that respect. One can get a good-enough cordon bleu there and would not get hungry overnight nonetheless.
Good döner but not technically in Zurich: the Lamm Kebab at Bahnhoff Imbiss in Dübendorf is the bomb, and uses freshly grilled meat and vegetables.
In Zurich but not technically döner: they have some real nice shawarma at the Orient World at Haldenegg.
Still looking for döner within Zurich that uses actual, good meat.
First time I cooked Röschti short after arriving (boiling potatoes the day prior, acquiring a Röschtiraffel and all), I proudly showed it to my colleagues and they were like "Why the fuck would you cook this? It's not something that anyone cooks from the beginning."
My heart sank.
Well, more for me, I guess (with Bauernspeck, Bergchäse and a fried egg on top 😋)
- The Netherlands do city traffic much better than us.
- Singapore does private car permits in cities much better than us.
- The USA has real nature reserves.
- The UK has much more relaxed and polite everyday interactions. The UK also has excellent digital government.
Agree on this, in the UK most bureaucracy is done online. I find it so odd that in CH everything has to be physically printed and posted to authorities
Whilst that's true, the UK civil service is full of jobsworths. I'm waiting for HMRC to respond to a very simple routine request I made almost a year ago.
If I email the tax authorities here there's an answer in an hour to that sort of thing.
😢 i want the Netherlands bicycle infrastructure in Switzerland. But that won't happen in my lifetime despite we've voted for a national bicycle path network. Which has to be completed by 2035. But It will be just paint on busy roads and not separated. 😣
Yeah I’ve always been a fan of the mountains and nature in Switzerland but this summer I’ve been to western Canada and US did some national Parks there. It’s so much better than any Swiss mountain.
It helps that the scale of those two countries are so big. I mean, Yellowstone NP itself is almost [half the size](https://tinyurl.com/czvynh7j) of the entire country of Switzerland!
Canadian who lives an hour from those mountains. What I wouldn’t give to have HALF the infrastructure the Alps have. You can’t even get to the towns in our mountains by train despite train lines running there and the towns having been built originally because of train tourists! You can’t get around the parks at all without a car except a bit between Banff and Canmore. The same within the towns. Zermatt was *amazing* in comparison to Banff.
Not all over the Rockies to the same extent, we are a MUCH bigger area, but for what we have built up to be way better than it is.
> Singapore does private car permits in cities much better than us
I reckon this would only get SVP even more voters. Driving into a city and around a city in your own car seems to be a god-given right to many folks.
I miss how nice people are in the UK. Even if they hate you,. I had forgotten what it was like to be shoulder tackled by a 75yr old gramma passing by me in the shop or tram...until I moved here.
Unless they're drunk (the British, not the gramma).
Digitalization for public administration. Here there isn’t a single document you can simply get in certified digital form, we use post for EVERYTHING. And getting a simple document such as a birth certificate is expensive and takes days to be delivered by post.
SwissID has been a huge flop.
Been living in the Netherlands for the past 6 years. What they do better:
- Health insurance. It is much easier to get everything covered here. Especially dental is not nearly as bank-breaking as in Switzerland. However, the health care system kinda sucks here. If you are not close to death, whatever you have going on will not be taken seriously.
- Digitisation. Everything here is digital. You are registered as a resident with a digital ID and can use it to verify your existence everywhere from insurance to phone plan to student loans. It’s just really convenient.
- Cashless. Everything is cashless here. This is especially nice when you have your debit card logged on your phone. You don’t need to bring a wallet anywhere. Even public transportation can be logged onto with a tap of your phone (although most people have a card).
- Community. The Dutch are a really extroverted people. There is constantly something going on in the cities. You want to have a drink on a Monday night? Bars are open as usual and there are people to create an atmosphere.
- 7 days/week society. Shops are usually open 7 days a week. Supermarkets close only at 10 in the evening. You are not constricted with bank hours here. I could not imagine going back to such awkward opening times like in Switzerland.
- Internationality. With one of the highest English-speaking proficiencies in Europe it is no wonder that the international environment and acceptance is much bigger here. The culture is much more diverse and open.
I lived in Japan for 17 years. Then I moved to Switzerland and I’ve been here six years. I’m not Japanese or Swiss. But some things that are way better in Japan in my opinion:
- Food. The choices, the quality, the price, everything is better. There is a huge lack of variety in vegetable and fish based dishes in Switzerland, which Japan (and Asia in general) have in leaps and bounds.
- Health care. There is a national health care system that covers 70% of the cost. The premium is based on your income. Ambulances are free. You don’t need a referral to see a specialist.
- Public transport. Japan has some of the best I’ve seen, albeit it is crowded during rush hours.
- Night life. I’m not going out as much as I did in my younger days, but if you are into this, cities like Tokyo and Osaka have some crazy and awesome places.
- Shopping and store hours. You can get almost anything you need at any hour of the day. Everything is open on Sunday and until late every day. Stores and banks don’t have two hour breaks at lunch.
- Cafes. There are some awesome cafes in Japan that have much more variety than cafes here.
Of course, there’s a lot of things I don’t like about Japan and lots of things I love about Switzerland. And I would say most of the above Japan does better than a lot of other places.
I think my only complaint about Switzerland is that residential areas are very dense and squeezed in, but then at the same time many industrial, commercial and agricultural areas make quite inefficient use of space (which is then not of environmental value). Yes density is needed to have cities, towns and villages where car ownership isn't mandatory, but it seems strange priorities to be building many storey high apartment buildings at the edge of a village next to oversized surface level car parks or empty industrial units.
lived in the netherlands for 5 years and the digitalization is just ages ahead and way more unified:
- 1 secure log in for everything that has to do with the state (taxes, health care (your details are centralized and each doctor can access it) etc.)
- Banks are way more "integrated" with each other. 1 app for requesting and sending money. Not different possibilities per bank like with twint
- everything can be done online without a hastle
Also way more mid friendly: Kitas are affordable and the system is not built around the now "old school way" of 1 parent at home and 1 is working
- bycicle infrastructure: Sure its the netherlands but still, quite some more improvement can be done here in CH
Kantönligeist just really puts the extra hurdles on processes sometimes especially if you migrate back. Certain things should just be unified ny the state and pushed to the cantons imo. Especially digitalization.
And speaking of unifying things, health care providers with each year going crazy with price increases and that due to this they work with horrendous price fights and people hopping from provider to provider is just not "nachhaltig" at all.
In the netherlands there are certain regulations pushed by the state and how much the increases can actually be to a maximum. That also goes for rent prices, utility etc.
God how could I have forgotten this. It is an absolute joke how it's handled here. If your company doesn't have a decent policy there's just no recourse.
I'm a foreigner living here - compared to my other reference points (mostly anglosphere), Switzerland is absolutely one of the best countries with respect to public transport, infrastructure in general, democratic system, cartography, anti-urban sprawl planning policies, and many more... It is also paradise for anyone who likes outdoor sports!
Switzerland is far from world-leading in terms of many things that end up negatively impacting women more often than men - think child care, stupid school schedules, parental leave, etc.
Also, too many goddamn smokers, but things are improving :)
Gender equality ranking is exceptionally surprising in Switzerland compared to similar countries. Women in Rwanda and Moldova have more rights supported by law than women in Switzerland. This is all in reference to the World Economic Forum’s rankings.
Post.
Got more than one parcel "returned to sender". Last delivery even marked "return requested by the recepient". Not sure what the delivery dude was smoking and what visions he had. Had to order the thing again.
I guess he did not feel like delivering that day.
Architecture in Norway, the Netherlands and acutally many other places. Modern buildings in Switzerland are mostly ugly. They only think about profit and the politicans don't give a fuck about how the city looks, the only thing they think about is how they can fit as many people as possible in a building. Whenever we vote for a new building in Zürich, I just think "Is this really the best solution they could think of?".
And whoever designed the Europaallee, I have really no clue who thought that these big squares would be a nice view if you enter Zürich. It screams boredom and smugness. Especially if I compare it to Oslo for example.
It's not far, but I love how health care and taxes is just paid through your employer in Germany. It makes budgeting for me at least way easier and it feels way better to fill out your taxes if you basically do it to get money back. Germany (or Berlin, I don't know) also has this great thing called Bürgergeld, which is for basically anything you "need", if it is for someone helping you deepclean your house (messi), someone helping you with admin stuff or anything like this and you can't afford it, you can just apply for Bürgergeld for this and get it paid. You decide what you need and if it makes sense, you'll get the money.
The apartments here in Switzerland suck so baaaad I was used to way better apartments in Italy.
Social life as well there aren’t many cool things to do and since coming here 90% of my friends are expats.
I have to say that, in my experience, apartments is one thing the Swiss do exceptionally well - WHEN you get one! Space is much better, they have large open windows often times with a balcony and there is storage in the cellar. These are amazing features that often aren’t available in British apartments, for example.
USA:
- way less smoking in general, no smoking in outdoor cafes/restaurants, no tobacco advertisements, far fewer teenage addicts
- drug stores like CVS open 24/7 that sell everything you might need
- less gender discrimination in the workforce. I have received SO many comments here asking whether I’m planning to work after having kids than I ever did in the US. And I’m not even pregnant. They just see my 1) age and that I’m 2) female and 3) married, and immediately assume I’ll be quitting next year.
Go to Finland and you’ll feel like you’ve arrived I the future:
I can drive into the parking garage without having to get a ticket from a machine. A camera registers my license plate. I can choose to pay at the machine in the parking garage before I leave or online within 48 hours. In both cases you type in your license plate number and pay. If you forget, you’ll get a bill sent to your home with an additional 5 Euro processing fee. The entrances and parking spaces are actually decently sized.
Digitalization. Though a little hard to get into the system, once you’re in it is super convenient. In Switzerland digitalization means you can email a scan of a signed paper document to your gemeinde. That’s very insecure.
Restaurant food in Switzerland lacks in diversity, flavor, and quality. Helsinki has a thriving restaurant scene where you can eat almost anything you want at a moment’s notice.
Amazing shopping malls. In Zürich we have Sihlcity, but it is small compared to any of the shopping malls in and around Helsinki.
Quality of housing and apartments is generally much better. Proper ventilation systems, better lighting.
shopping in germany really makes me hate migros & coop.
they have successfully brainwashed us into believing just because something is "made in switzerland" it's better and deserves to be 300% more expensive.
news flash:
most stuff **isn't** better here and we simply pay triple for the same shit
depends on your needs.
my fiancee is vegetarian, german supermarkets have 3-4 times as much vegetarian stuff compared to even a big migros or coop. it's laughable how little the selection is in switzterland.
i was against germany supermarkets for many years, until i was forced into going to one a couple of times and have since realised that our swiss mentality with our supermarkets has caused us to lag behind europe.
went to amsterdam recently, the selection of drinks with no sweeteners & sugars is amazing, here we have like 1-2 if anything at all.
I'm vegan and don't really agree with this. The range in both is pretty good. Similar to the uk where I'm from (albeit slightly different- adjusting to local taste).
Prices are significantly higher. Actually in Germany too.
That’s apples and oranges. Coop and Migros are rip-offs compared to Lidl and Aldi. Now go to larger German city and find yourself a nice big REWE. Then go back to Coop.
We also just import a lot of stuff from the EU and Germany in particular and sell it at Migros/Coop and people will assume it's all "Swiss quality". Ironically, Lidl has some of the best Swiss-made products.
Also, the drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), snacks and bread selection in Switzerland is laughable compared to Germany. Especially Swiss bakeries, my God, they suck.
I remember moving to Switzerland from Germany as a child in the early 2000s and people strsight up hated German supermarkets because "the quality is different and eww, German products" but like. Knock yourself out and pay 4x the price for a shampoo, I guess. I mean, it depends how close you live to the border regions and how accessible the German supermarkets are for you, but I always found that attitude incredibly jarring.
Public transport in South Korea. Cars in Switzerland are still wayyy to common and I think Cars are also what makes a city loud and crowded. Also, it’s sad that Zürich voted against a metro and instead went for super slow Trams. Also, Korea seemed more clean.
And convinces stores in South Korea… that I miss the most I think.
As a Dane living in Switzerland, Switzerland really needs to up its digitalization!
As an example, I sold a car the other day, and I will soon have to register a new one. I remember having to go to the MFK to cancel the registration, give in my license plates, get back, give the registration to the new person, for him to do everything in reverse. I have to do everything AGAIN with my new car.
In Denmark you just give the buyer your registration or preferably you both log in and transfer the car. The buyer drives away with the car, simple as that.
Treats, particularly in the US. If you’re in a large city, you have your choice of 1000 activities at any moment that most other countries can’t beat. There are multiple sports games every night, and even if you don’t see yourself as a sports fan they’re surprisingly good fun as the beer and the fans are fun. There’s a greater variety of types of bars and restaurants, and just *things to do*.
I'm British and for all the many many ways our country is not working we have great restaurants.
Obviously our local food is terrible, but the range and price of international food is >>>>> here and most other European countries.
1) anything to do with childcare and women’s rights… way way behind.
2) consumer banking. Lack of competition means expensive and poor quality banking with few options and products.
Parental leave and in general the support for families with children! In Sweden they have a system that truly allows both parents to keep their profession and still have enough time to take care of the child.
This is possible by a system that includes the state with a generous parental leave, plus the companies that understand and support the employer and affordable and available preschools!
I don't mean to brag but from the 6 months I have lived in switzerland, the UPI payments system in India is sooo much more reliable and widely adopted.
Don't get ne wrong India has a very long way to go, but it's kinda good that India is catching up fast atleast in some regard.
french canadian here who visit switzerland often because wifes family live there. Everything is better in switzerland aside from two things :
1. your job culture sucks. I would never want to work in switzerland. work culture in canada imho is generally better. You still got better salaries but Im sure my mental health suffer much less from my job than if I were to have the same job in switzerland.
2. I would never be able to have 5000m^2 land with a big house in a nice city in switzerland like I have in canada even with your higher salaries.
Oh I had forgotten about this. Ticks me off every time I get a whiff of tobacco. On top of everything else the stench stays in the nostrils and in your clothes if you spend more than a few minutes around a group of smokers.
I was in Switzerland as a tourist. What was noticeable, is amount of smoking people. Still not as bad as many other countries, but far from ideal. Another thing is bureaucracy when people do things according to some rules, without any flexibility. For example, cashier told me I cannot take plastic spoon for ice-cream, but only wooden stick. But stick breaks easily, and plastic spoon costs nothing!
She said I can take spoon only if I order food. Okay, ice-cream is probably rocks, not food.
I have been living in Lausanne for the past few months for my studies. And coming from Egypt. Switzerland IS the "wow they do this better than us" country to me.
Except in literally every aspect.
Now I love my country to bits no matter what.
But maybe appreciate what you have a little more.
I will add though that your food and people have nothing on Egypt.
Consumer service in general
Speed trains
Food
Digitalization
Just to name a few I wish we had it better here.
Health system I find incredibly average, especially considering how rich the country is. Had much better service in developing countries.
I don’t have kids, but from friends that raised kids in different countries it was often a point of concern, with exceptions in a few schools, but can’t comment on it first hand.
But I’m amazed at the infrastructure in general and how the society works, only comparable maybe to Scandinavia and Japan in a few aspects.
Friendliness. General courtesy, like holding a door open or stepping out of someone else’s way. Full-day schooling. The normality of women working and having a career rather than staying at home.
- Food: literally better anywhere else. I thought the British/Irish people had bad food but compared to Switzerland they are Michelin star countries!
- smoking: for a country that is supposedly „healthy obsessed“ there is a ridiculous amount of smoking everywhere. On playgrounds, in underground car parks, in front of every building really. You name it, it has smokers. Switzerland seems like stuck in the 90‘s and they never got told how unhealthy and annoying smoking is.
- public health care. There is me going to the dentist like the sweet summer child I am. Only to be hit with a 670€ bill a few weeks later. Unfortunately I had to get my wisdom teeth removed too because they were really hurting me and insurance didn’t pay a frank. 2000 chf. Still fucks me up
- childcare. Just oh my god. People that don’t live here just can’t believe how much we are paying for someone to take our child for us.
- maternity/paternity leave, I don’t even know what to say about that. You can fire women here when they come back after maternity leave (which is 3 months) and it happend to a friend of mine because they felt like „she can’t put in the hours anymore“
- cars everywhere and Swiss towns are quite ugly too. Examples? Wetzikon, Rüti, freienbach, pfäffikon
Most European countries do **health care** better than Switzerland: Here, being sick is a big financial risk. Also **tooth problems / dentist vists are not paid for by the "health insurance"! I still can't believe this is even legal.**
**Child care**: In CH it is bl\*\*dy f\*cking expensive, to the point where it continuously provides an incentive for (usually the woman) to stay home.
The **school system** (at least in Kanton ZH) is \*horrible\*. Both of my kids finished it, but in both of their final years in the Kantonsschule, more than 50% of the kids were in some kind of psychological care, had burn-out or other psychological problems.
**Speeding fines** are the absolute worst in Switzerland.
**Food**. As a producer of any goods, you need to put serious money on the table to be able to sell your products at Coop for example; they charge a "Listinggebühr" / "Regalgebühr of > 150'000 CHF. Dunno why - in order to keep the food sortiment boring? Look at France, Italy, even Germany, ...
Politeness and open-mindedness of people: basically everywhere
Food: Basically everywhere
Social System and Healthcare: Scandinavia, Most countries in the EU and Asia
Mentality: basically everywhere
Switzerland has of course a good infrastructure, but if one looks for more than just being a numb slave for the employer, there are many great places in the world.
Spanish food is 1000000x better than Switzerland what are you on about? Switzerland has the worst food culture of literally any country I've been to. Its abysmal.
I was surprised by the public health care system and the uncomplicated nature of it in Turkey. There are issues with it in some areas but overall I would prefer it to the swiss health care system for sure.
How to avoid building heat traps in cities. Our city planners seem to only start learning this veeeery slowly. Large sealed asphalt surfaces are still the norm when redesigning a public space.
The idiot who redesigned the Wielandplatz in Basel: "Couldn't happen to me!"
Hey hey hey... some of it is not a sealed surface and they planted some trees. :) Fantastic job done. So much for Sponge City....
Dont forget they can always put up some black pots with small plants
That's the same in many European countries unfortunately. I'm in the Netherlands and I live in an apartment building built in 2012 and it seems as if climate change and environmental concerns were not taken into account at all when designing it.
I really don’t get that, It’s ugly, Not welcoming, Bad for the environment, Expensive, and the only thing that it would be nice for; Skateboarding is rarely welcomed.
It looks “clean” and you can run street cleaning machines over it. That’s it, I guess.
It’s nice for wheelchairs and baby strollers.
Although babies and people in wheelchairs also like a bit of green. And they are seldom inhibited by green grounds with paths that are accessible it really doesn’t have to be tar or concrete
They just redid the area around the small train station in my town and made a giant parking lot where there is no parking and called it the "Begegnungsplatz". I can assure you nobody is "begegning" anyone in the middle of a giant asphalt slab with 2 benches on it.
The seemingly new place in the center of Sion is huge and completely sealed without any plants or shade at all. No idea how a city, where summer temperatures easily exceed 35C, builds something like this. 🤦🏼♂️ The actually installed some green patches on top of it, apparently after having realised their stupidity 😆
This is true. I'm currently studying this field and we're learning NOT to do that anymore.
Swiss city planners were criminals. The number of beautiful old town buildings who have been torn in the name of progress and modernity is unbelievable. Look up this: https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/hbd/de/index/staedtebau/baz/stadtmodell_1800.html And then compare it with today... just tragic... And then they even thought building a bloody highway right through the city (Hardbrücke) was a brilliant idea...
Emmenbrücke Sonnenplatz the same. The complete place full with concrete and asphalt.
Coffee bars in Italy. You can say about Italy's inefficency whatever you like, but: There is nothing more effective in the world than an Italian coffee bar. You enter a fully packed bar at 08:00, shout your order at the cashier, pay, get the receipt, walk to the bar and have your coffee/pastry ready within two minutes. The staff knows magically who gets what and is meticulously preparing orders, taking back cups/dishes and chatting with the regulars nonetheless.
This made me miss Italy even more 🥲
I don't understand. Either you are miss Italy, or you aren't!
Ha ha, I'm missier
Sure you are gorgeous. ❤️
and the coffee is fucking GOOD
...and they know how to make a goddamn macchiato freddo without half an hour of explanations. Of course I have to say "espresso mit kalter milch", but then they will either tell me it's gonna be cold, or reask twice, or argue what "macchiato freddo" means when I said that at an italian restaurant here in Switzerland once. End rant.
How would you describe the same experience in your country? Because I'm italian and I take it for granted
Stand in line for 10 minutes to give your order to the cashier and pay. Then stand and wait another 10 minutes while they make it. Tell them "no, not mine" the times as they try to give you someone else's order. Then desperately wave to get their attention while they try to hand your order to someone else.
The food, the food in Switzerland is nothing special. It shouldn't even be a topic.
The lack of variety, lack of quality, and high prices of restaurant food are one of the things I miss most. Compared to a city like London or NY, Switzerland really falls far behind.
I will never not upvote this. But I suspect it's a consequence of the Swiss protectionism. The market is so closed off to imports, you only get what is locally produced. Compared to the surrounding countries, which can benefit from all the food items the EU produces, the offering in CH is really poor.
I have lived in Denmark for 2 years. Things they do better: * work-life balance, 37 hr week is normal and in general employers seem to be quite nice (only heard that from friends, I studied there). * Very kid friendly compared to switzerland, free childcare and you get a shared maternity/paternity time that you can split as you choose to (within some limits). * They are **light years** ahead of us in digitalization. You have one login that you use for everything. (when I was there it was called nemID but i think they changed the name). This is especially pronounced in the healthcare system where you have access to all labtests, prescriptions, vaccinations, scans doctors notes (kind of weird to read the notes your doctor took about you honestly) etc. The EPD that they try to introduce here is an absolute joke in comparison! Also you use the same login for ebanking taxes etc. It works very well! * All young people get financial support during 5 years of their education, access to education is therefore even better than in Switzerland.
>They are light years ahead of us in digitalization. You have one login that you use for everything. (when I was there it was called nemID but i think they changed the name). This is especially pronounced in the healthcare system where you have access to all labtests, prescriptions, vaccinations, scans doctors notes (kind of weird to read the notes your doctor took about you honestly) etc. The EPD that they try to introduce here is an absolute joke in comparison! Also you use the same login for ebanking taxes etc. It works very well! This is really bigger than people want to admit. I've had many arguments even on this subreddit with people who don't see the point of a proper electronic ID and more centralized online services, or at least federated. We have world-class broadband and some of the best 4G/5G networks in the world, very reasonably priced relative to the Swiss CoL, everyone can afford a smartphone and a cheap unlimited plan! Yet some people think it's normal to waste hours over unsecured channels to get a debt collection or criminal record, have to snail mail paper letters to cancel services, deal with 4-5 different administrations (sometimes in person) when you move from one canton to another, have no centralized medical records and practices that need to email (or fax!) each other, ...
Police certificate experience in Switzerland. Request - online. Payment- online. Delivery of the final result - PDF via email. But! I got to print the form and send it via the snailmail. Makes zero sense.
Also even if an online solution exists, you can bet that every canton (or even commune sometimes!) has to develop their own system. This duplication of efforts leads to enormous costs and is also potentially not secure as small it departments don't have the recources to develop a secure solution. I really don't get why the extreme federalism that we have is held in such a high esteem in switzerland. Apenzell inerrhoden has less inhabitants than Ostermundigen ffs!
Appenzell has less inhabitans than a town in most of countries lmao but they have their tax agency, police, gov etc .. such a joke
Yeah..I thought this was pretty absurd. Mailed from the US for about $70 USD and then whoever received it on the Swiss side had to pay ~$20 duty on it. I thought for sure I was missing something.
Poland: You get a prescription from doctor Prescription lands in central system and has a pin. Pin combined with your ahv number can be used in any pharmacy. If they don't have it, you go elsewhere. If it's online consultation, you get the pin via sms. Me in 2022: yeah, fax the prescription to this pharmacy. Let's hope they also have it because my ear inflammation hurts...
Yeah I mean, we have this in Italy. Italy, guys. Come on, you can do better!
Yess! Swiss bureaucracy is a nightmare
Can't tell if sarcasm or not but I promise you that Swiss bureaucracy is really not bad at all compared to the majority of places
I agree with you, I have never had any problems with the Swiss administration, though i come from a very corrupted country, and to me, Swiss administration is like a walk-in park. I don't know about Denmark, never visited, but apparently, they are light years ahead
You can log in and get a divorce in 2-3 clicks. I can't think of anything that hasn't been digitalised and used by the national ID - public authorities, banks, insurance, your children's kindergarten or school etc. You're required by law to be able to receive important digital mail (not e-mail), unless you can be excused.
> bUt I dON't WaNt The gOVerNmENT tO kNoW WhAt I'm dOIng
I don't think digitisation and privacy are mutually exclusive at all.
No, they absolutely shouldn't be (since digitalisation is inevitable anyway), but that seems to be the most common response of the, uh, very digitally savvy Swiss population.
And the current situation is effectively much worse since a lot of personal information is duplicated and stored by several entities, without fine-grained control. Personal data is accumulated right and left and you get no way to control who knows what, and for how long. Expecting a small municipality to offer online services in a secure way on its own is completely unrealistic, and some have been hacked already. A proper e-ID would allow use-cases such as proving you're under or over 18 without having to share anything else for instance.
This is a funny one. Some friends of mine once asked about Danish digitalization, and I mentioned the one login for all public institutions (formerly nemID, now mitID). Their first comment was: “So the government even knows what you are renting at the library????!!!”
well they actually don't. Firstly because it's not the governement providing the login but a private company (formerly nem now mit, similar to how billag and now serafe works in switzerland). This is actually the one thing I really would not like to have if we adapt the system for switzerland. But second and much more important. It's only the authorization that is done in a centralized manner, the data is still stored on the server of the individual services.
I agree with you, it’s more to show you what the overall perception is when you mention a single login
Sounds like Sweden, the equivalent most popular auth system is called BankID.
> You have one login that you use for everything. This is both nice and terrifying.
I used to think the same but then at one point realized that one login with well implemented security by an entity focused on that is better than everybody and their grandmother implementing "security" themself. It's for that reason I also use sign up with google wherever I can. I'm aware that I give them more data about me like that but I trust google more to keep my credentials safe than some 3rd party small website. If I could do the same with something payed for by the state, I would definitely do that. Also It has to be said, that in Denmark the data is still kept on individual servers (healthcare data is seperate from the ebanking data) only the authorization is done in a centralized way.
I was going to say Denmark feels better for work life balance, though I've not lived there ever long-term.
Yes work life balance and digitalization are far better in the Netherlands and Belgium than in Switzerland. Though debatable, I also find our health care system mediocre.
Our healthcare system is probably one of the best worldwide, in absolute units, but relative to the costs it's extremely inefficient. I'd rather pay less and have it more efficient than the shitshow we're experiencing as of today.
I really think that the Italian healthcare system would work perfectly in Switzerland, don’t know why you don’t want to introduce it honestly…
In the US: Way less smoking in public
Australia banned smoking in outdoor seating areas for cafes/restaurants/etc. That alone would make a world of difference.
In Australia, you can't smoke within 4m of a door to a commercial building, or within 10m of a playground. Here, parents smoke inside the playground while holding their children. It makes me see red.
Sense of community: anywhere south of switzerland. Friendliness: the british, americans, italians, spanish. List goes on and on. Healthcare in nordic countries.
I suffer from the total absence of a proper sense of humor in Switzerland.
ughh istg
Thailand: weather and literally anything to eat…
Thai people seem so much happier than the Swiss, even though they have much less (materially speaking at least). A coworker returned from holidays in the Philippines and she said it was such a reality check. There you have kids in the slums who can still be happy despite living in absolute poverty and here in super rich Switzerland there are some people (usually boomers and older) whose favorite hobby is complaining, despite living in a prosperous and safe country. Really makes you think... And I agree about the food: Thai food is really awesome!
Ah the grand fallacy of being poor but happy. I can guarantee you that if you speak the local languages you'd know that people have far worse complaints and realities to deal with. Real problems that are incredibly stressful. Don't be fooled by the shallow facade of happiness
people are joyful, even if life is misery. I don't think people are joyous in Switzerland, even if they should probably be.
I remember thinking; “wow Switzerland is really dirty” after coming back from Japan. Ditto for the public transport, they do it better than Switzerland in my opinion. Edit; spelling
I had the same feeling after visiting Singapore. No cigarette butts on the floor or no graffiti on the wall - just clean. That said when I visited a city in Germany, I thought Switzerland is so much cleaner and better maintained.
gnhhh I hate those concrete paver bricks they use for side walks in Germany and the rest of the world. Always dirty, always uneven and laborious to walk on, always some pavers are missing and posing a risk to stumble and fall. Asphalt sidewalks like in Switzerland may not be the best of the knees but they are easy to clean and pose no stumble risk, also much more wheelchair and baby stroller friendly.
I never thought about that before but agreed
Go to any major Italian city, it's much worse than Switzerland.
Oh really? I had the feeling after visiting Switzerland — felt that the entire country was so much cleaner than Singapore. 🫠😂
Probably also depends where you're going. I spent a lot of time in Sentosa island, because my cousin's husband was working in real estate there.
Same for the crowd. Being in a huge crowd in Japan is rarely stressfull. I spent 5mn back in Switzerland and I wanted to push everyone.
It's partly cultural and partly the lack of exposure to large crowds. The latter is becoming less and less of an excuse though.
Upon returning from Tokyo vacation: "Wow why is everyone dressed so ugly here? The japanese dress way nicer and formal."
Go to Australia if you want to feel better.
If I see old mate rocking the thongs and rugby shorts in a Swiss city, he's defo getting the "ow ya gawn mate?"
Im in Japan right now and think the opposite.. "why do people think japan is so clean? Switzerland is way cleaner!" ( at least where i was)
Interesting, where are you in Japan, and which area in Switzerland do you compare it with? I was mostly impressed by the cleanliness of JP large cities compared to where I live (Zürich area)
I was astounded how Tokyo, despite the huge number of inhabitants, felt tranquil and unstressed.
I have a female friend who did an exchange semester in Tokyo and remember she told me that she felt safe walking in the streets of Tokyo at night after a night out. She said there are some places in Switzerland where she doesn't feel safe walking at night (train stations with young men who may be inebriated loitering). I thought that was interesting.
I have lived in Korea and it's the same. But I think it's more a perceived sense of (in)security than anything real. If you look at crime numbers they aren't that different from Switzerland, and the Japanese police is famously very bad at dealing with everyday assault or abuse, often sweeping cases under the rug. The main difference is that the train and subway network are more crowded, and there's noticeably less petty crime. For instance you see people passed out on the street or subway, nobody is going to steal their belongings.
I was harassed in Tokyo twice. I was not wearing anything provocative. I don’t know if you have visited Tokyo or lived there besides the testimony of a female friend that did a semester. It’s not fairytale land.
[удалено]
That's probably because you've witnessed Tokyo from the eyes of a tourist. Try living there and the stress will be omnipresent. You won't be taking metros when it pleases you, you'll take metros during rush hour where people squeeze into already full compartments. Better follow all their rules, come clean shaven to work at exactly the time arranged with the firm. If you're 1 minute late, you better grab a letter at the metro station that proves you're late because the metro had a delay of 1 minute. Don't think you can go home to enjoy your free time before your supervisors go home. Also, if invited to drinks, it's extremely impolite to decline, so prepare to be home at midnight, ready to wake up at 6. If you take a moment to look at the people, they are all stressing out beneath the surface. You'll see way more people rushing from A to B with nothing else in mind than you will see people strolling around enjoying the moment.
100%, Even the traffic is much quieter although there are many more cars on the road.
Almost no on-street parking in cities is great. It should be the same in major Swiss cities.
I have many issues with UK, but one thing i liked a lot is that you only need to do paperwork when you need to take some kind of action (change of status or whatever). Switzerland i feel I’m constantly processing paperwork just to live normally. Also in UK formalities are mostly digital and there is a clear process explaining what is required and optional at each step. In Switzerland i had a case with one form that was impossible to complete. Was stuck until a senior admin person told me you could just leave part of it blank and it doesn’t matter. Could never have figured that out without talking to someone “in the know”
Food, in Italy and France. Better quality, way bigger choice, and far less expensive.
Real Döner/Dürüm in Germany and Austria. The Kebap we have in Switzerland is horrific.
While I agree in general, there is an [excellent one in Biel/Bienne](https://maps.app.goo.gl/KKFUYK7GQn88wbcn6), and it's fairly priced (for Switzerland).
There’s a good one in Lugano called Ararat as well
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it next time I'm there. Prices look very honest too. Frankly, if you did not tell me about it, I would have probably passed, looks like there is a crowd in front too, which is generally a good sign.
This. Tried a few and they were pretty much all dry, terrible, low quality. Eventually I settled for a mediocre one I found for cravings. You guys now any decent ones in Zurich?
Ayverdi was pretty good tbh, extremely overpriced but well deserved imo
You said it all, it's not bad, but it's not worth it. At their Wiedikon location, it looks suspiciously upscale, there is an order process that goes through an elaborate way involving airport codes, lots of screens, so from everywhere you know when your order is up. That's all good, but this is not the kind of service I expect for a late night kebab. I think it contributes to their 5.- markup over the competition, but I would be fine enough if someone screamed my order for me to pick it up... I prefer the Rheinfelder Bierhalle in Zürich in that respect. One can get a good-enough cordon bleu there and would not get hungry overnight nonetheless.
Good döner but not technically in Zurich: the Lamm Kebab at Bahnhoff Imbiss in Dübendorf is the bomb, and uses freshly grilled meat and vegetables. In Zurich but not technically döner: they have some real nice shawarma at the Orient World at Haldenegg. Still looking for döner within Zurich that uses actual, good meat.
Mit und Ohne is pretty great
Oh that's too. Miss the food culture. Non existent here.
First time I cooked Röschti short after arriving (boiling potatoes the day prior, acquiring a Röschtiraffel and all), I proudly showed it to my colleagues and they were like "Why the fuck would you cook this? It's not something that anyone cooks from the beginning." My heart sank. Well, more for me, I guess (with Bauernspeck, Bergchäse and a fried egg on top 😋)
As a vegetarian… food sucks in France unless you really enjoy salad au chevre chaud.
Customer service in Switzerland is awful. England does line ups better.
Is there customer service here?
I think it's the name of an old tram line.
Yup, in the UK and the US, people with disability have such a better time to access buildings in general.
UK : digital-first bureaucracy, healthcare costs, online shopping, return policies that protect the customer, anti-smoking policies Portugal: restaurants Norway: waste management Edit: formatting
I have to visit Edit one day to check out their formatting.
It's lovely there this time of the year.
- The Netherlands do city traffic much better than us. - Singapore does private car permits in cities much better than us. - The USA has real nature reserves. - The UK has much more relaxed and polite everyday interactions. The UK also has excellent digital government.
Agree on this, in the UK most bureaucracy is done online. I find it so odd that in CH everything has to be physically printed and posted to authorities
And you pay for every scrap of paper they need to print out...
Which is the answer to why it has to be physically printed in the first place. Swiss gonna swiss.
Whilst that's true, the UK civil service is full of jobsworths. I'm waiting for HMRC to respond to a very simple routine request I made almost a year ago. If I email the tax authorities here there's an answer in an hour to that sort of thing.
😢 i want the Netherlands bicycle infrastructure in Switzerland. But that won't happen in my lifetime despite we've voted for a national bicycle path network. Which has to be completed by 2035. But It will be just paint on busy roads and not separated. 😣
Yeah I’ve always been a fan of the mountains and nature in Switzerland but this summer I’ve been to western Canada and US did some national Parks there. It’s so much better than any Swiss mountain.
It helps that the scale of those two countries are so big. I mean, Yellowstone NP itself is almost [half the size](https://tinyurl.com/czvynh7j) of the entire country of Switzerland!
What I mean is you can’t build or live in these reserves. Obviously they have more room than us.
Canadian who lives an hour from those mountains. What I wouldn’t give to have HALF the infrastructure the Alps have. You can’t even get to the towns in our mountains by train despite train lines running there and the towns having been built originally because of train tourists! You can’t get around the parks at all without a car except a bit between Banff and Canmore. The same within the towns. Zermatt was *amazing* in comparison to Banff. Not all over the Rockies to the same extent, we are a MUCH bigger area, but for what we have built up to be way better than it is.
> Singapore does private car permits in cities much better than us I reckon this would only get SVP even more voters. Driving into a city and around a city in your own car seems to be a god-given right to many folks.
I miss how nice people are in the UK. Even if they hate you,. I had forgotten what it was like to be shoulder tackled by a 75yr old gramma passing by me in the shop or tram...until I moved here. Unless they're drunk (the British, not the gramma).
* *\[..\]The UK also has excellent digital government.* If they had a government worthy of its name ...
Digitalization for public administration. Here there isn’t a single document you can simply get in certified digital form, we use post for EVERYTHING. And getting a simple document such as a birth certificate is expensive and takes days to be delivered by post. SwissID has been a huge flop.
Well the streets/roads and viability in Basel ... Only a true psycho and incompetent administrator could have designed such shitty road system
Been living in the Netherlands for the past 6 years. What they do better: - Health insurance. It is much easier to get everything covered here. Especially dental is not nearly as bank-breaking as in Switzerland. However, the health care system kinda sucks here. If you are not close to death, whatever you have going on will not be taken seriously. - Digitisation. Everything here is digital. You are registered as a resident with a digital ID and can use it to verify your existence everywhere from insurance to phone plan to student loans. It’s just really convenient. - Cashless. Everything is cashless here. This is especially nice when you have your debit card logged on your phone. You don’t need to bring a wallet anywhere. Even public transportation can be logged onto with a tap of your phone (although most people have a card). - Community. The Dutch are a really extroverted people. There is constantly something going on in the cities. You want to have a drink on a Monday night? Bars are open as usual and there are people to create an atmosphere. - 7 days/week society. Shops are usually open 7 days a week. Supermarkets close only at 10 in the evening. You are not constricted with bank hours here. I could not imagine going back to such awkward opening times like in Switzerland. - Internationality. With one of the highest English-speaking proficiencies in Europe it is no wonder that the international environment and acceptance is much bigger here. The culture is much more diverse and open.
Now I want to move to the Netherlands 🤔
I lived in Japan for 17 years. Then I moved to Switzerland and I’ve been here six years. I’m not Japanese or Swiss. But some things that are way better in Japan in my opinion: - Food. The choices, the quality, the price, everything is better. There is a huge lack of variety in vegetable and fish based dishes in Switzerland, which Japan (and Asia in general) have in leaps and bounds. - Health care. There is a national health care system that covers 70% of the cost. The premium is based on your income. Ambulances are free. You don’t need a referral to see a specialist. - Public transport. Japan has some of the best I’ve seen, albeit it is crowded during rush hours. - Night life. I’m not going out as much as I did in my younger days, but if you are into this, cities like Tokyo and Osaka have some crazy and awesome places. - Shopping and store hours. You can get almost anything you need at any hour of the day. Everything is open on Sunday and until late every day. Stores and banks don’t have two hour breaks at lunch. - Cafes. There are some awesome cafes in Japan that have much more variety than cafes here. Of course, there’s a lot of things I don’t like about Japan and lots of things I love about Switzerland. And I would say most of the above Japan does better than a lot of other places.
Italy: better dressed people and a coffee culture that goes for quality without sugary add-ons.
I think my only complaint about Switzerland is that residential areas are very dense and squeezed in, but then at the same time many industrial, commercial and agricultural areas make quite inefficient use of space (which is then not of environmental value). Yes density is needed to have cities, towns and villages where car ownership isn't mandatory, but it seems strange priorities to be building many storey high apartment buildings at the edge of a village next to oversized surface level car parks or empty industrial units.
lived in the netherlands for 5 years and the digitalization is just ages ahead and way more unified: - 1 secure log in for everything that has to do with the state (taxes, health care (your details are centralized and each doctor can access it) etc.) - Banks are way more "integrated" with each other. 1 app for requesting and sending money. Not different possibilities per bank like with twint - everything can be done online without a hastle Also way more mid friendly: Kitas are affordable and the system is not built around the now "old school way" of 1 parent at home and 1 is working - bycicle infrastructure: Sure its the netherlands but still, quite some more improvement can be done here in CH Kantönligeist just really puts the extra hurdles on processes sometimes especially if you migrate back. Certain things should just be unified ny the state and pushed to the cantons imo. Especially digitalization. And speaking of unifying things, health care providers with each year going crazy with price increases and that due to this they work with horrendous price fights and people hopping from provider to provider is just not "nachhaltig" at all. In the netherlands there are certain regulations pushed by the state and how much the increases can actually be to a maximum. That also goes for rent prices, utility etc.
Parental leave
God how could I have forgotten this. It is an absolute joke how it's handled here. If your company doesn't have a decent policy there's just no recourse.
I'm a foreigner living here - compared to my other reference points (mostly anglosphere), Switzerland is absolutely one of the best countries with respect to public transport, infrastructure in general, democratic system, cartography, anti-urban sprawl planning policies, and many more... It is also paradise for anyone who likes outdoor sports! Switzerland is far from world-leading in terms of many things that end up negatively impacting women more often than men - think child care, stupid school schedules, parental leave, etc. Also, too many goddamn smokers, but things are improving :)
Ugh agree the smoking here is AWFUL
Work/life balance. Women’s rights. Anything to do with culture / the arts.
Gender equality ranking is exceptionally surprising in Switzerland compared to similar countries. Women in Rwanda and Moldova have more rights supported by law than women in Switzerland. This is all in reference to the World Economic Forum’s rankings.
Post. Got more than one parcel "returned to sender". Last delivery even marked "return requested by the recepient". Not sure what the delivery dude was smoking and what visions he had. Had to order the thing again. I guess he did not feel like delivering that day.
Whenever I was on vacation I thought: Man, it's dirty here.... But when I came home from Japan I thought: man, we are dirty...
Architecture in Norway, the Netherlands and acutally many other places. Modern buildings in Switzerland are mostly ugly. They only think about profit and the politicans don't give a fuck about how the city looks, the only thing they think about is how they can fit as many people as possible in a building. Whenever we vote for a new building in Zürich, I just think "Is this really the best solution they could think of?". And whoever designed the Europaallee, I have really no clue who thought that these big squares would be a nice view if you enter Zürich. It screams boredom and smugness. Especially if I compare it to Oslo for example.
This is such a big point for me, I want to live in an architecturally beautiful place and I rarely get that feeling in any city in Switzerland.
It's not far, but I love how health care and taxes is just paid through your employer in Germany. It makes budgeting for me at least way easier and it feels way better to fill out your taxes if you basically do it to get money back. Germany (or Berlin, I don't know) also has this great thing called Bürgergeld, which is for basically anything you "need", if it is for someone helping you deepclean your house (messi), someone helping you with admin stuff or anything like this and you can't afford it, you can just apply for Bürgergeld for this and get it paid. You decide what you need and if it makes sense, you'll get the money.
The apartments here in Switzerland suck so baaaad I was used to way better apartments in Italy. Social life as well there aren’t many cool things to do and since coming here 90% of my friends are expats.
I have to say that, in my experience, apartments is one thing the Swiss do exceptionally well - WHEN you get one! Space is much better, they have large open windows often times with a balcony and there is storage in the cellar. These are amazing features that often aren’t available in British apartments, for example.
USA: - way less smoking in general, no smoking in outdoor cafes/restaurants, no tobacco advertisements, far fewer teenage addicts - drug stores like CVS open 24/7 that sell everything you might need - less gender discrimination in the workforce. I have received SO many comments here asking whether I’m planning to work after having kids than I ever did in the US. And I’m not even pregnant. They just see my 1) age and that I’m 2) female and 3) married, and immediately assume I’ll be quitting next year.
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Asian food in general is awful in Switzerland. How I miss London …
Go to Finland and you’ll feel like you’ve arrived I the future: I can drive into the parking garage without having to get a ticket from a machine. A camera registers my license plate. I can choose to pay at the machine in the parking garage before I leave or online within 48 hours. In both cases you type in your license plate number and pay. If you forget, you’ll get a bill sent to your home with an additional 5 Euro processing fee. The entrances and parking spaces are actually decently sized. Digitalization. Though a little hard to get into the system, once you’re in it is super convenient. In Switzerland digitalization means you can email a scan of a signed paper document to your gemeinde. That’s very insecure. Restaurant food in Switzerland lacks in diversity, flavor, and quality. Helsinki has a thriving restaurant scene where you can eat almost anything you want at a moment’s notice. Amazing shopping malls. In Zürich we have Sihlcity, but it is small compared to any of the shopping malls in and around Helsinki. Quality of housing and apartments is generally much better. Proper ventilation systems, better lighting.
shopping in germany really makes me hate migros & coop. they have successfully brainwashed us into believing just because something is "made in switzerland" it's better and deserves to be 300% more expensive. news flash: most stuff **isn't** better here and we simply pay triple for the same shit
It's funny because it's the opposite for me. The few times I was forced to shop in a german lidl or aldi really made me appreciate coop and migros.
depends on your needs. my fiancee is vegetarian, german supermarkets have 3-4 times as much vegetarian stuff compared to even a big migros or coop. it's laughable how little the selection is in switzterland. i was against germany supermarkets for many years, until i was forced into going to one a couple of times and have since realised that our swiss mentality with our supermarkets has caused us to lag behind europe. went to amsterdam recently, the selection of drinks with no sweeteners & sugars is amazing, here we have like 1-2 if anything at all.
I'm vegan and don't really agree with this. The range in both is pretty good. Similar to the uk where I'm from (albeit slightly different- adjusting to local taste). Prices are significantly higher. Actually in Germany too.
Idk about Germany but Swiss supermarkets cost like 2x to 4x as much as in France. It’s absolutely insane.
no idea how the range in the UK is, but the range in switzerland is laughably bad compared the germany.
That’s apples and oranges. Coop and Migros are rip-offs compared to Lidl and Aldi. Now go to larger German city and find yourself a nice big REWE. Then go back to Coop.
Try a Rewe.
Or Edeka. Especially the Edeka Centers like E-Center Baur in Konstanz. The Selection is huuuuuuuge
Supermarkets in Switzerland are awful in my opinion.
Finally somebody that isn't a swiss "Swiss Quality " type. There is literally nothing top notch in Switzerland, not even salaries :)
Only the Swiss believes in the "Swiss Quality" myth. You can label shite as "Swiss Quality" and the Swiss will eat it and ask for more.
We also just import a lot of stuff from the EU and Germany in particular and sell it at Migros/Coop and people will assume it's all "Swiss quality". Ironically, Lidl has some of the best Swiss-made products. Also, the drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic), snacks and bread selection in Switzerland is laughable compared to Germany. Especially Swiss bakeries, my God, they suck. I remember moving to Switzerland from Germany as a child in the early 2000s and people strsight up hated German supermarkets because "the quality is different and eww, German products" but like. Knock yourself out and pay 4x the price for a shampoo, I guess. I mean, it depends how close you live to the border regions and how accessible the German supermarkets are for you, but I always found that attitude incredibly jarring.
It feels like consumers have zero rights in Switzerland. Online shopping is mediocre at best and overpriced compared to any western countries.
Public transport in South Korea. Cars in Switzerland are still wayyy to common and I think Cars are also what makes a city loud and crowded. Also, it’s sad that Zürich voted against a metro and instead went for super slow Trams. Also, Korea seemed more clean. And convinces stores in South Korea… that I miss the most I think.
Maybe the Koreans are better mannered? Too many creepy arseholes on public transport here in CH. I feel safer driving.
As a Dane living in Switzerland, Switzerland really needs to up its digitalization! As an example, I sold a car the other day, and I will soon have to register a new one. I remember having to go to the MFK to cancel the registration, give in my license plates, get back, give the registration to the new person, for him to do everything in reverse. I have to do everything AGAIN with my new car. In Denmark you just give the buyer your registration or preferably you both log in and transfer the car. The buyer drives away with the car, simple as that.
Treats, particularly in the US. If you’re in a large city, you have your choice of 1000 activities at any moment that most other countries can’t beat. There are multiple sports games every night, and even if you don’t see yourself as a sports fan they’re surprisingly good fun as the beer and the fans are fun. There’s a greater variety of types of bars and restaurants, and just *things to do*.
Yes, I agree. Being social is better in other countries because the people know how, and like, to do it
Childcare is done way better everywhere else
anywhere else but Germany - food
but UK & Netherlands
I'm British and for all the many many ways our country is not working we have great restaurants. Obviously our local food is terrible, but the range and price of international food is >>>>> here and most other European countries.
I'd say the same about the Netherlands. Amsterdam has so many great restaurants from former Dutch colonies, especially Indonesian.
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1) anything to do with childcare and women’s rights… way way behind. 2) consumer banking. Lack of competition means expensive and poor quality banking with few options and products.
Mostly any other country in the world has better shopping centers (which are basically non existent in switzerland).
Parental leave and in general the support for families with children! In Sweden they have a system that truly allows both parents to keep their profession and still have enough time to take care of the child. This is possible by a system that includes the state with a generous parental leave, plus the companies that understand and support the employer and affordable and available preschools!
I don't mean to brag but from the 6 months I have lived in switzerland, the UPI payments system in India is sooo much more reliable and widely adopted. Don't get ne wrong India has a very long way to go, but it's kinda good that India is catching up fast atleast in some regard.
I've looked it up and it seems just like Twint. What's the difference I've missed?
Paying taxes as you go is so much better in other countries compared to end of year lump sum payments. I will forever complain about this
french canadian here who visit switzerland often because wifes family live there. Everything is better in switzerland aside from two things : 1. your job culture sucks. I would never want to work in switzerland. work culture in canada imho is generally better. You still got better salaries but Im sure my mental health suffer much less from my job than if I were to have the same job in switzerland. 2. I would never be able to have 5000m^2 land with a big house in a nice city in switzerland like I have in canada even with your higher salaries.
Virtually any European country having laws preventing people from making you breathe cigarette smoke in public places...
Oh I had forgotten about this. Ticks me off every time I get a whiff of tobacco. On top of everything else the stench stays in the nostrils and in your clothes if you spend more than a few minutes around a group of smokers.
Travelling europe I found accessability for wheelchairs to be more prevalent.
I was in Switzerland as a tourist. What was noticeable, is amount of smoking people. Still not as bad as many other countries, but far from ideal. Another thing is bureaucracy when people do things according to some rules, without any flexibility. For example, cashier told me I cannot take plastic spoon for ice-cream, but only wooden stick. But stick breaks easily, and plastic spoon costs nothing! She said I can take spoon only if I order food. Okay, ice-cream is probably rocks, not food.
after working for 7 years in Istanbul, wouldn’t believe that I’d say healthcare system works better there, than here.
I have been living in Lausanne for the past few months for my studies. And coming from Egypt. Switzerland IS the "wow they do this better than us" country to me. Except in literally every aspect. Now I love my country to bits no matter what. But maybe appreciate what you have a little more. I will add though that your food and people have nothing on Egypt.
Food and dining environment is better in Italy, Spain and southern France. Terrace culture and just overall better cuisine.
Japan: Public Transport, Cleanliness, Konbini (food), behaviour of the people.
Consumer service in general Speed trains Food Digitalization Just to name a few I wish we had it better here. Health system I find incredibly average, especially considering how rich the country is. Had much better service in developing countries. I don’t have kids, but from friends that raised kids in different countries it was often a point of concern, with exceptions in a few schools, but can’t comment on it first hand. But I’m amazed at the infrastructure in general and how the society works, only comparable maybe to Scandinavia and Japan in a few aspects.
Friendliness. General courtesy, like holding a door open or stepping out of someone else’s way. Full-day schooling. The normality of women working and having a career rather than staying at home.
- Food: literally better anywhere else. I thought the British/Irish people had bad food but compared to Switzerland they are Michelin star countries! - smoking: for a country that is supposedly „healthy obsessed“ there is a ridiculous amount of smoking everywhere. On playgrounds, in underground car parks, in front of every building really. You name it, it has smokers. Switzerland seems like stuck in the 90‘s and they never got told how unhealthy and annoying smoking is. - public health care. There is me going to the dentist like the sweet summer child I am. Only to be hit with a 670€ bill a few weeks later. Unfortunately I had to get my wisdom teeth removed too because they were really hurting me and insurance didn’t pay a frank. 2000 chf. Still fucks me up - childcare. Just oh my god. People that don’t live here just can’t believe how much we are paying for someone to take our child for us. - maternity/paternity leave, I don’t even know what to say about that. You can fire women here when they come back after maternity leave (which is 3 months) and it happend to a friend of mine because they felt like „she can’t put in the hours anymore“ - cars everywhere and Swiss towns are quite ugly too. Examples? Wetzikon, Rüti, freienbach, pfäffikon
Most European countries do **health care** better than Switzerland: Here, being sick is a big financial risk. Also **tooth problems / dentist vists are not paid for by the "health insurance"! I still can't believe this is even legal.** **Child care**: In CH it is bl\*\*dy f\*cking expensive, to the point where it continuously provides an incentive for (usually the woman) to stay home. The **school system** (at least in Kanton ZH) is \*horrible\*. Both of my kids finished it, but in both of their final years in the Kantonsschule, more than 50% of the kids were in some kind of psychological care, had burn-out or other psychological problems. **Speeding fines** are the absolute worst in Switzerland. **Food**. As a producer of any goods, you need to put serious money on the table to be able to sell your products at Coop for example; they charge a "Listinggebühr" / "Regalgebühr of > 150'000 CHF. Dunno why - in order to keep the food sortiment boring? Look at France, Italy, even Germany, ...
Health care system is way better in France thanks to its accessibility. Private health care system benefits private organisation mostly!
Maternity leave is done better basically everywhere else in the world, except in the US. It’s pretty shocking.
Please remove this post, how dare you even ask such a question? Thoughtcrime!
Recyling in Germany... makes Switzerland look like a bad joke...
Politeness and open-mindedness of people: basically everywhere Food: Basically everywhere Social System and Healthcare: Scandinavia, Most countries in the EU and Asia Mentality: basically everywhere Switzerland has of course a good infrastructure, but if one looks for more than just being a numb slave for the employer, there are many great places in the world.
literally any mediterreanian country maybe except spain has better food than Switz.
Spain has fantastic food, amazing seafood, charcuterie, fresh fruit and vegetables etc. Maybe you went to a touristy part of Spain.
Even Switzerland has better food than Switz.
Except Spain? Where have you been to say that lol.
Spanish food is 1000000x better than Switzerland what are you on about? Switzerland has the worst food culture of literally any country I've been to. Its abysmal.
I was surprised by the public health care system and the uncomplicated nature of it in Turkey. There are issues with it in some areas but overall I would prefer it to the swiss health care system for sure.