I am sure some villages have traffic if they are on the way to a main city. But most villages are far enough from cities so that traffic is diluted enough when it reaches a village. In my village, there is a little traffic at rush hour, but the roads are never blocked.
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periferal home in the Valmara valley (behind campione dâitalia, near Arogno), down to liceo of Mendrisio. So in reality we were smack in the middle of civilization, not like in Maggia valley or something, but back in 2003 you had to take bus at 6:50, maroggia train station the train at 7:20, then in mendrisio at 7:35, then walk or bus until liceo 7:40/7:45
I think most traffic comes from transit. Rural connecting roads often are limited to 30 km/h, so the cars donât produce so much noise. In the city you have garages with cars tightly packed, in the village there is maybe 1 car per 1000 sqm. These are all loose thoughts, maybe totally wrong.
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Today what makes the difference is ability to work and study outside office/school settings, you can order groceries and clothes online (though I guess delivery may not work for remote areas).
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Swiss Post delivers everywhere, in the worst case your promised next day delivery from Galaxus/Digitec would take 2 days.
Exactly. Many of the people who I know and live in small and remote villages have become true virtuosi of online shopping. The internet really made life easier for them.
The only âissueâ that I would see in living in a really small village e.g. somewhere in the mountains is easy access to medical services. Some regions have problems attracting young family doctors. You might end up having to travel farther than youâd like just to see your family doctor.
Look for example at this (paywalled) story: This doctor has been working for decades, is the only doctor in the upper valley, and canât find a successor.
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Since itâs paywalled, I can only assume he is the only doctor in the whole valley? 
I have a feeling, this issue would not exist if healthcare was less regulated. Iâm sure people in a remote valley would gladly pay more to have a doctor available. But probably everything goes according to the tariff.
Minimum wage has a similar detrimental effect on remote rural regions. If you raise it to crazy levels (like in Poland), nobody will bat an eye in big cities like Warsaw, where the cost of life is high so itâs anyway necessary to pay more to attract people. But in a remote village on the eastern wall, who will pay the minimum wage? No jobs means people flock to cities and villages die out.
I now live in Zurich and know a lot of people here in the city who make absolutely zero use of the benefits of city life (i.e. educational and sports facilities, clubs, courses, social events, etc.). When they arenât at work (if they donât already work at home), they are in their flat in front of a screen gaming, watching series, browsing the web, using social media, etc. Some even shop and/or order meals online for home delivery. Some take an occasional walk, but mostly in the woods rather than the city. I canât really imagine why they are paying a premium to live in the city when moving to the backwoods would probably have zero impact on their lifestyles.
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Did they work in the city before the home office kicked in? Maybe they value short commute? Being able to walk to work.
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I would imagine 2 key reasons:
- Commute to work
- Closeness to friends and âlivelinessâ (restaurants, bars, shops), when covid is not around
Heâs the only doctor for the last 20km or so of inhabited valley.
The article said that he canât find a successor, because nobody wants to live there. Heâs got a son who is also a doctor but prefers to live in a city.
There used to be a hospital in the same village where he is, but it closed a couple years ago.
I donât think that Iâd make my decision on where to live in Switzerland dependent on this, though. I remember that in that same valley, a few years ago, an elderly woman slipped while in the shower, broke her hip, and couldnât get up on her own. She had a rescue helicopter in her garden not long after. Itâs not that one dies because thereâs no doctor just around the corner.
Hmm, you might be right⊠
I also know many such people. Also here in Basel.
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Iâm sure they must have reasons, although in many cases they are here either because they have always lived here, or because they once needed to be close to work (but now work from home). My point was that the Internet has made many of the reasons why many people once needed/wanted to live in cities obsolete. So itâs worth reviewing the actual benefits and assessing whether a move to a more affordable location would have any impact at all on your lifestyle.
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