grasdubide, Oct 21, 2008 @ 23:51

Thanks for your input - I shall take a look!

Cheers,

Aussiegirl
aussiegirl, Oct 22, 2008 @ 00:11

if you prefere to live in an animated place, prefere carouge, plainpalais is good for that too but noisy in some area (car and hospital).

paquis is close to the lake and the center, but people in streets thre, specially when it gets dark are sometime very strange, it doesen't bother me as i spent my childhood there, but it can be difficult to handel for people not use to it.

accacia and lancy are also nice places, tram goes in both, quite but a bit away from the animation centers.
Pika, Oct 22, 2008 @ 01:56

I use to meet  my clients at their places so I visited many flat and place in Geneva and to me best places to live are .

If you don t have a car, the best place if you can afford it ( one of the most expensive area of Geneva) is the Old town of Geneva cause you are in the center and very close to eveything ( shop,hospital,lake,restaurant...).

 the only problem in old town is to find a place to park so unless having privat garage better to go : Grand saconnex, Champel, Carouge and Saint Jean.

cheers
Tryky, Oct 22, 2008 @ 04:20

Hello,

I have the same question as Aussiegirl had last year, when she started this thread. Where to live in Geneva?  We are moving to Geneva in January and now I am surfing the Internet and forums checking the information about the school (we are choosing between Ecolint vs. College du Leman) and house of course. We are allowed to rent the property up to 7000 CHF, of course I don't want to miss the chance to find appropriate house/apartment in good area.

I don't want to choose the place depending on school, since both of them have their own transportation, we definetely will buy the car there and as I see the public transportation is perfect.  

So the questions are: 

1. In which place is better to live if we prefer quite area, preferably near the lake, park? Transportation is not a problem (but on the other side, not 30 min drive just to drink a cup of coffee in good place)

2. What type of house/apartment can we afford for this money? I read a lot about spooky neiborghs :( and would like to take a shower and do the laundry when I want, not when I am allowed. So I think about the house, but realy don't know what type of house could it be there, or may be top-floor apartment with terrace?

3. What you guys can advise to look for and what can/should be included in that renting price (dedicated parking place, gardening, cleaning, some extra payments-heating, hot water, etc.)?

4. Should it be furnished/unfurnished, with Inetrnet, cable TV (satellite installation) or something else?

5. We have an agent, but I'd like to be aware of some "dos and don't" in advance.

Hm-m-m, may be that's all up to now 

Sorry if something sounds a little bit stupid. I am newbie (even I am about to be one) and realy count on your wise advises and experience. Thanks!

Thanks for quick reply Tinkie!

Hi,

Although both schools run a school bus service, and Geneva has a great public transport system, choosing either the right bank or left bank of the lake does matter. It doesn't sound like something right in the centre of town would suit - probably a villa in the suburbs. If the kids are going to the Grand-Boissiere campus of Ecolint, and you live on the other side of the lake (Versoix/Genthod/Bellevue etc.), they will spend a substantial amount of their day on the school bus (bearing in mind that the further away you are from the school, the more pick-ups/drop-offs there will be). Vice-versa if they're in CDL or the International School Nations campus and you're on the left bank. This also counts for work - you don't want to live lakeside in Anieres/Corsier etc. and have to commute to the Nations/airport area if you can avoid it. Champel is lovely, very central (handy for Ecolint LGB) and great for families but only apartments are available. If kids/work are on left bank (Grande Boissiere), and you're looking to rent a house, the left bank lake villages  are beautiful: Corsier, Anieres, etc. Near College du Leman, areas include Versoix, Bellevue, Genthod, Grand-Saconnex - you have to be wary though of plane and train noise (v. near the airport). Other villa areas tend to be: Vessy/Veyrier/Troinex (handy enough for town and near to Carouge), Onex/Bernex/Confignon (there are some lovely villages in the countryside around here, and proximity to the autoroute de contournement (ring road) make it convenient for Nations etc.). Best of luck. BTW, when you rent something here, you generally find there's not even a lightbulb, never mind furnished. Though, if you're not sure how long you'll be here, you could find something furnished for a year or two to rent from someone on a temporary posting abroad. Apartment rentals generally have a separate fixed charge (obligatory) per month for heating and hot water, and cable rental is usually included. In our experience, villa rentals generally don't include these charges. I've lived in Geneva for 17 years now, and spent 12 of those years very happily in city centre areas (Paquis, Carouge, then Plainpalais) but since having kids am a complete convert to villa life in the Geneva suburbs - space for the kids, proximity to both town and countryside. Best of luck!

Dear Fionas,

Thanks a lot for the tons of information. I feel much better now