Hello / Guten Tag everyone,

I've gone over the previous posts regarding relocating to Basel and I've seen many different opinions on the relocation. E.g. single guy moving from Sydney was recommended to stay in AU, same for one post for a guy with his family relocating from Spain. Some people recommend to find a living place in Basel-land instead of the city. On the other hand, people say Basel is a nice town, some say it has issues with beggars and some drugs (which I expect most of EU cities have tbh so no escaping that fully). Many different opinions. So I'd like to clarify some of my own conditions to get some more personal feedback for this relocation and what I should look out for. More questions at the end of the post I guess.

My current situation is that I am located in Estonia (EU citizen), married (non-EU citizen with a permanent residency permit 1 year off from Estonian citizenship) and we have a 3yo son a baby due end of October. Our combined income currently is about 98K € annually. The tax rate here is 20% on income tax some 3% for pension and unemployment insurance 22% VAT on all products/services. In addition there are some "hidden" taxes like fuel excise tax etc. The government has also announced some new taxes starting from next year for cars and overall want to raise taxes. There have also been new discussions on a "defence tax" the last week, so taxes are expected to raise drastically. Inflation in Estonia has been highest in the EU for a few years now I believe so this is another "hit" to us. We have our own house here with mortgage, and a car on lease. Together with everything else, I believe our expenses come up to some 4000€ monthly. It's a good and comfortable life we have here at the moment and we love our little life, but how it will change in the near future is pretty foggy. Relocation has been on our minds with all the war going on and the looming threat of our not-so-friendly neighbour. Estonian government feels pretty provocative also towards Russia. Plus it's cold as fuck. I mean literally 80% of the time it's cold and cloudy, rainy or snowy. We've been thinking of relocating to southern parts of the EU for a good few years already I believe as we'd like our kids to enjoy their summers waaaaay more and have more outdoor fun.

The offer is for an IT job in Basel, 110K CHF annually some other bonuses like pension plans etc. which all total together around 116K CHF annually. This seems a pretty good deal so I have currently accepted the offer and am flying there to sign the necessary contract(s). I will also receive a 2K CHF relocation support. The company will provide a work permit for Switzerland and they also have discount deals to join Credit Suisse and Helsana/SWICA additional benefits to use Helvetia/Zurich insurances and a credit card without any annual fee. I also have free public transport in Basel, so I don't have to account for transportation fees for the beginning but would like to get a car at some point. So all in all seems a pretty good deal and as I've understood the tax rates are lower in Switzerland with the health insurance being a separate service I'd need to pay myself. We've received some recommendations to find rentals in "Big Basel" and specifically the 4052 and 4053 areas as they have nice small cafes and are generally more quiet areas in comparison to the "small Basel". We're currently considering to rent out our house from some point in Nov-Dec this year to cover the mortgage and fully relocate to Basel.

So here are some questions I have..

• I want to get the feel of Basel, which areas or places would you recommend me to visit as I will have couple of hours to spare?

• What's the usual process for rentals? What documents, permits and whatnot at necessary? What is the initial payment to be made (in Estonia it is usually 3x monthly rent as we need to pay for agents ourself)?

• Any other taxes or costs I should be aware of?

• Can you also explain the health insurance a bit more precisely? Do I have to use some specific hospitals/clinics like in the US or is it more flexible?

• What are the childcare/daycare costs? What should I account for?

• Other tips for relocation overall, regarding cars, rental apartments etc.?