Basel?

[Arthritic Toe]

I was there last week, but just passing through on the way to Strasbourg. As said above, the Alsace is right on the doorstep, which is beautiful. BMI also fly there pretty cheap, by the way and you get treated marginally better than cattle, as opposed to marginally worse which is the case with Queesyjet.

 

[Badger]

I went to Basel for a couple of days last summer, it's a nice enough city but there really isn't much to do and we found ourselves having to kill time in a cafe. It is VERY expensive though, even basic pub grub is going to cost you at least £15 and you're looking at £7-8 for a beer.

 

[Notters]

Freiburg is lovely as are Colmar and Besancon.

Would recommend all of those over Basel.

Besancon is probably my favourite town in France. Beautiful setting in the foothills of the Jura and fascinating old castle. Was completely ransacked by the Germans during the war so they absolutely love English people there - quite unusual in France. They wouldn't serve the Germans sat next to us in a restaurant there!

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

I'm moving to Basel in a month. I hear what you're all saying, but it is a good place. Are there any other seagulls over Basel? I'll keep my season ticket but share it with my sister.

Pickwicks bar is not cheap but the place to watch British football in Basel. The burgers in there are not bad - especially when you see some of the restaurant prices. Watch out for the woman who tries to convert you to Buddhism though!

 

[mlg57]

"If you do go though, I would recommend getting the train down to Luzern as that is a very beautiful place."

I can thoroughly recommend Luzern too, been there several times and it's superb.

 

[thisistips]

Pickwicks bar is not cheap but the place to watch British football in Basel. The burgers in there are not bad - especially when you see some of the restaurant prices. Watch out for the woman who tries to convert you to Buddhism though!

Thanks

 

[Captain Sensible]

This is not about Basel, but about some of the "prices" quoted in this thread. I always think Switzerland has this image of being as expensive as Norway etc. But it most definately isn't.
I am currently in Valais, Switzerland. I have been to Zermatt, Ginals/Zinals and Saas Fee. As most countries are judged on the price of beer, I thought i'd dispute some of the OVER pricing quotes here.

For a Large Beer (500ml) in all 3 places I've paid between 5.30 to 5.80 Swiss Francs, At the tourist rate today of 1.50CHF to 1GBP that works out at £3.53 to £3.87.

Zermatt is one of the most exclusive resorts in Switzerland, while you will pay £20-£25 for a steak dinner, you will only pay pretty much the same as in the UK for a beer. I honestly don't know where on earth some people are going to pay some of the prices quoted in this thread. In my view, its bollocks. So far my holiday has been quite resonable all things considered.

 

[Badger]

This is not about Basel, but about some of the "prices" quoted in this thread. I always think Switzerland has this image of being as expensive as Norway etc. But it most definately isn't.
I am currently in Valais, Switzerland. I have been to Zermatt, Ginals/Zinals and Saas Fee. As most countries are judged on the price of beer, I thought i'd dispute some of the OVER pricing quotes here.

For a Large Beer (500ml) in all 3 places I've paid between 5.30 to 5.80 Swiss Francs, At the tourist rate today of 1.50CHF to 1GBP that works out at £3.53 to £3.87.

Zermatt is one of the most exclusive resorts in Switzerland, while you will pay £20-£25 for a steak dinner, you will only pay pretty much the same as in the UK for a beer. I honestly don't know where on earth some people are going to pay some of the prices quoted in this thread. In my view, its bollocks. So far my holiday has been quite resonable all things considered.

You obviously found a good place to buy beer, I certainly wasn't exaggerating with the prices I gave and found beer was prohibitively expensive to buy in Basel.

 

[Captain Sensible]

You obviously found a good place to buy beer, I certainly wasn't exaggerating with the prices I gave and found beer was prohibitively expensive to buy in Basel.

Fair enough, maybe you got ripped off in some bar or expensive hotel. But I've been here a week, eaten out lunch or dinner in 7-8 establishments and never paid over 5.80sfr for a nice larger. The exchange rate is .20 better for us than this time last year so that makes a difference.
I'll be moving on to Davos, Lugano and then Zurich. Ill let you know if I come across any £7-8 beer places.

 

[Badger]

Fair enough, maybe you got ripped off in some bar or expensive hotel. But I've been here a week, eaten out lunch or dinner in 7-8 establishments and never paid over 5.80sfr for a nice larger. The exchange rate is .20 better for us than this time last year so that makes a difference.
I'll be moving on to Davos, Lugano and then Zurich. Ill let you know if I come across any £7-8 beer places.

Ah ok, it was a year ago so I guess that made a difference. I think it was less than 1.2fr to the pound so we were pretty much doing a one-to-one comparison on all the prices.

 

[KRJ7]

I sadly have to travel to Switzerland on a regular basis and it does nothing for me whatsoever - albeit the German section i travel to.

£12 for a Latte in Starbucks pretty much sums the place up!

 

[Hants Gull]

I live in Switzerland and here's what I've found on the beer front. If you want a normal Swiss beer, you will get a 3dl (half pint) of very nice lager for about 5 CHF (£3.50). If you go to any one of the "English/Irish" pubs here and order a pint, you will pay upwards of 8 CHF, depending on what beer you order. I think the country is great and a fantastic place to visit, but the exchange rate is still a bit damaging for UK visitors, as prices haven't changed since the exchange rate was 2.5CHF to the £ (and it's 1.5 now).

 

[Badger]

I live in Switzerland and here's what I've found on the beer front. If you want a normal Swiss beer, you will get a 3dl (half pint) of very nice lager for about 5 CHF (£3.50). If you go to any one of the "English/Irish" pubs here and order a pint, you will pay upwards of 8 CHF, depending on what beer you order. I think the country is great and a fantastic place to visit, but the exchange rate is still a bit damaging for UK visitors, as prices haven't changed since the exchange rate was 2.5CHF to the £ (and it's 1.5 now).

Am I right in saying they have very low income tax in Switzerland and instead have quite a high VAT rate? Or was the person that told me talking bollocks?

 

[Hants Gull]

The tax system is somewhat complicated here, but quite fair once you work it out. Generally you pay much less tax than in UK, but it depends which Canton (state) you live in. The country's made up of 26 states, and each has it's own tax system!!!! So if you live in Zug, you pay very little tax, but then the demand, and therefore the cost, of housing is much higher as a result. It all evens out in the end! Last year I paid about 8% income tax and then the usual compulsary medical expences to the private health insurance (no NHS here) on top. You also pay national pension and unemployment/insurance directly from your salary. So I guess in the end it works out at about 15 - 20% of salary goes on tax etc. VAT is typically 8% You get taxed heavily to import goods into Switzerland. The government do this to encourage people not to go to Germany and other surrounding countries to buy their stuff cheaper as a result of exchange rates (i.e. keep the money in the country and you won't end up with un-employment and devaluation of the currency). I've been here for two years and I'm still learning most of the proceedures though!!!

 

[gjh1971]

Are many places in Europe cheap anymore?

Moldova

 

[Captain Sensible]

I sadly have to travel to Switzerland on a regular basis and it does nothing for me whatsoever - albeit the German section i travel to.

£12 for a Latte in Starbucks pretty much sums the place up!

Funny that coz I had a starbucks today at the train station and I paid £3. 4.50sfr

 

[Noldi]

At the moment the £1 buys you 1.5 Chf instead of the normal rate of 2.4 so it will be about 40% more expensive than if the pound w.as strong. A good time to visit Basel would be at carnival time (I think Jan ?) and that is one big party. Public transport is cheap go to Zürich in the summer maybe even for he street parade. It isn't cheap but its got to be on the to see places.

I lived in Zürich for 11 years still miss it.

Noldi

 

[JOLovegrove]

I flew there a few weeks ago, as we had a college trip to the South of Germany. Didn't get to see Switzerland at all, but Waldkirch, where we spent most of our time in Germany is very nice. It is also not far from the 3rd biggest theme park in the whole of Europe!

 

[thisistips]

As I said above I just moved to Basel. Three weeks in and it's going well. Things are expensive if you convert to sterling, and as I haven't been paid yet, I'm doing that continually.

First impressions are good though. Its really easy to get around on the tram system. I can't help but think that Brighton and hove would be hugely enhanced with trams. Mind you, the cabs are so pricey - yesterday I paid £ equivalent 26 for a ride that would have cost half in brighton.

It looks like I will be living near the football ground. I'll probably go to a few matches although I think the real expense will be my sleazy flights to gatwick, cause I'm still hoping to go to about half of the Amex home games.

 

[Hants Gull]

As I said above I just moved to Basel. QUOTE]

Welcome to Switzerland You've learnt the hard way about the cost of cabs lol! Whilst NSC is obviously the forum of choice for any self respecting Brighton fan, you might also want to take a look at englishforum.ch if you are not already aware of it. There's loads of useful info about living here, it's a great place to get involved with the expat social scene and there's lots of other useful stuff. Are you going to the Italy vs England game in Bern next month?