Hi Bastian, hope your well. I'm moving to Geneva early April. Would be great to grab a beer. The areas I have been looking at are on the French borders, Feeney Voltaire, Annemasse etc the prices their tend to be much cheaper than Geneva. Speak soon buddy

Hi Chris,

Yea, a beer sounds good. As for potential neighborhoods, I agree that France could be a lot cheaper, unfortunately I'm a U.S. citizen and must therefore live in Switzerland. One thing I'd look into though is the taxes in France are such that they may erase a fair portion of the money you're saving in rent. I'm really not sure on that though, just something I think I remember reading. May be worth a little research. Anyway, welcome to the forum, and I'll see you in a couple months!

-Bastian

Hi Bastian:

Your question #1: your U.S. spec BMW indeed might need to be "European adapted" as it has probably the US headlights which needs to be modified and possibly turn signals(depends on models); your tyres might need to be changed if they are made only for U.S market ( look at the specific letter with dimensions on each tyre ) . Additionally make sure you own the car for more than a year otherwise you may find out you would pay additional import taxes at swiss entry point with your household goods move.

Question #2 : your rental budget will get you more living space outside of Geneva city but night life and excitement go with the city so Eaux Vives - Plainpalais - Carouge - Paquis are usually the prefered districts in downtown Geneva.

Let us know your progress. Bests

Hi Milord,

I've looked into the conversion a bit in the meantime. It seems that the big thing to change out is the tail lights. I've managed to update the nav system maps, and figured out how to enable the rear fog lights. I think the headlights should be fine since I have headlight washers (required in Europe for Xenon unlike in the US).

On point 2, yes, I've come to fully agree with you on living in Geneva. I came and visited and found it wasn't way cheaper outside of Geneva (in the nicer places at least), so I might as well pay the small price difference to live in Geneva. I've heard those neighborhoods mentioned, and I'll certainly look at them. I'll try to look more at Rive Droite since I'll be working in Grand Saconnex and I heard the bridges can be a bottleneck.

Anyway, thanks so much for your tips!

-Bastian

Hi Bastian,

Paquis, Grottes, Poterie and even Servette and Charmille would be all great areas to live, with more affordable prices than rive gauche and save you time with traffic (though that is all relatively in Geneva if you have lived in big cities).
Paquis is the red district so in some areas you do have a lot of ahem...traffic in the evening, but I never had problems when living there; actually that would be my no1 option if I were to relocate again as at least the city seems alive!

Then the areas around your office like the Big and Small Sacconex will offer bigger flats if you need the space.

Consider public transport works very well so you might actually go to work with that and find a place close to a bus/tram stop.

Geneva is one of those cities where you do not really see the locals, meaning the Swiss, but the glocals make up for it. This is a useful platform for events and getting to know people.

Do learn Italian, it is spoken with hands before anything else :), and travel to Italy as well it is very easy (and cheap) from Gva!

Good luck,

Elisa

Hi,

Always nice to hear that a fellow US person is moving to GVA!

I live in Eaux Vives and like it a lot. There is a nice, big park (parc la grange) and you are close to the lake. There are plenty of little shops and tons of restaurants, bars, at the same time it is quiet (no drunk crowds) and safe. The city centre is 5-10 minutes walking distance, the train station 15 min walking. There are lots of nice pre-war buildings that have charming flats. It is considered one of the nicest areas of GVA. With your housing allowance you should find a flat relatively easily.

I am working close to the UN (rive droite) and once you live in GVA you will probably realize that using public transportation is the way to go, especially if you live in the city. They are fast, reliable and fair priced. 

By the by I teach Italian, so if you want to meet up once you are here let me know!

A presto e buon trasloco!

Masha

Hi Elisa,

I'm glad to hear Rive Droite is affordable (well, in comparison only to Rive Gauche I suppose!) since I'm working in Rive Droite. Paquis sounds nice. I've got no issues with the kind of traffic you were referring to, in fact, it's nice to have all the amenities close by (joke).

About Italy, the reason I'm learning is because my company actually does a lot of business there, so I'll be traveling there quite a lot. I've actually done the Milan-Geneva trip a couple times now, and I definitely plan on traveling there often in the future.

Thanks for the kind message.

-Bastian

Hi Masha,

Yea, Eaux Vives came very highly recommended from a couple of different people. It is certainly very nice. It's the rush hour traffic across the bridge that frightens me as I'll be working in Grand Saconnex. I guess you must know what I'm talking about since you work by the UN. With all the hassle and cost of moving a car and then converting it to European specs, and with what I've heard about public transportation in Geneva, I'm certainly leaning toward selling my car here in the US. We shall see. And yea, I'd love to meet up and have a little chat in Italian! I'll let you know when I get there.

-Bastian