Hi everyone,
We’re a family of four, with two kids aged 2 and 5, and we’re considering moving to Geneva even though neither of our jobs would be based there. Since we could technically live almost anywhere, I’m trying to sanity-check whether Geneva is worth the cost purely for quality of life and family reasons.
A bit of context:
- We lived in London for many years, then moved to coastal Portugal (Cascais). On paper it was a dream lifestyle, but after two years we realised we missed city life and being somewhere where we could communicate easily with locals.
EDIT: we miss the convenience of city life (walking everywhere: school, shops etc… ) - we don’t need a big city. We are currently living in a remote place near the ocean (dream on paper) but have to drive everywhere
- We speak French and English at home.
- We love the outdoors, especially mountains.
- Education for the kids is a big factor.
- We have family about two hours away.
We’re looking at central areas like Eaux-Vives, Florissant, or Champel, ideally to be close to schools, parks, daily conveniences, and to make it easier to build a social life. We do have a couple of friends in Geneva, but would mostly be starting from scratch socially.
For those of you living in Geneva, especially families: would you choose to live there if your work didn’t require it? Do you feel the family lifestyle, schools, nature access, safety, and social life justify the premium?
Would love to hear honest experiences, both positive and negative.