Zurich vs Lugano vs LATAM vs Singapore vs Warsaw
Continuing my research on finding the best spot to live in as a remote worker.
Today’s article is a part 2 of this deep-dive on my research on finding a place to base myself as a remote worker.
Also an expansion on this Zurich vs Lugano comparison.
It will be a bit of a collage of some of the content I put out on various social medias, and additional considerations I did on top of that.
Here’s some of my socials where I’ll be taking some content from: X, LinkedIn, IG.
I will talk about a few remote setups I’ve explored recently:
Zurich + Warsaw/Italy/other
Lugano + Milano/other
Warsaw + holidays
Singapore
LATAM
Let’s start from Switzerland and Italy
Here’s a few more resources on Switzerland in case you’re curious.
I will go through data points and tales from my December in Zurich and my Christmas time in Lugano, Milano, and my hometown in Marche, Italy.
Zurich cost of living and lifestyle:
As you go more south (Lugano/Italy) some things start to get worse:
Prices don’t necessarily go down by much (in Lugano):
Prices DO go down in Italy:
Especially on certain items.
And vibes can go up:
For instance, having a top-tier apero in a very vibe-y bar before heading to a 24th lunch with friends
Is not an easy vibe to replicate in CH.
And little things like this can contribute to your happiness at the end of the day.
Also, the lunch:
You can see more pics on my IG profile
That said, Italy’s downsides are there, and there’s not much you can do about it:
Warsaw is generally better than Milan these days:
If you’re resident somewhere else and in Warsaw/Milan just for “weekend getaways” or a workation week/month, it could be that they are comparable.
Milan a bit more vibes/architecture/weather/food (although they’re very good in Warsaw too) and Warsaw a bit more energy and much more safety.
Probably, all in all, Warsaw still is better than Milan even just as a lifestyle/secondary base.
But, Lugano-Milano is 1-1.5 hours by train, and Zurich-Warsaw is 2 hours by flight. Meaning you’re looking at 1h45m vs 3h45m door-to-door.
But, from Zurich you can also do Milano by train in 3h20m and Paris in 4h, plus you have more connections than Lugano for flights in general.
One thing is for sure: living full-time in Italy is not an option
The following is true for Spain but even worse for Italy:
These things are important:
And they’re significantly better in Switzerland.
The Financial Times recently said Italy is doing very well but I think it’s a bit nonsense:
Could LATAM be an option?
Some things there are good.
But safety is a major concern, and it’s a very important variable, at least for me.
It’s also not just safety:
It can also get pricey, when trying to have high standards:
The following is a bit of a superficial understanding of things:
The following arguments give more nuance (and can be made not just for LATAM countries but also to Asia, Eastern Europe, and other affordable places):
There are still good things in Italy and similar countries.
People are generally more genuine and grounded, life is less stressful, there’s abundant beauty and fertile nature all around.
Personally, I have friends and family in Italy:
Go here for the full IG post.
But all in all I think for me it’s a no, at least for now. And only a yes for holidays.
Switzerland stays a solid option
Lifestyle is not always 10/10 but I think WITH EFFORT you can have a good/great lifestyle there too
Cost of living is gonna be high, no way around that:
Sometimes it’s wasted money, sometimes not:
Some considerations of buying beef in CH vs abroad (as an example).
You mitigate it by being abroad, and that’s a pretty common setup for Swiss-based remote folks:
It has some limitations once you have kids, but also not the worst at the end of the day:
But you can’t have the Swiss benefits without living there a substantial amount of time.
Living there is good: many pros about it.
Some downsides, for me personally, are about the type of people I meet, if I’m being honest.
Switzerland is great because people obsess about productivity.
Which is also why it sucks.
Honestly, I don’t vibe too much with people in Zurich.
The EU FAANGers, the ETH venture-backed overachievers…
I don’t have anything against them, and I think that it’s great that Switzerland has such people. I definitely wish for more huge robotics companies to be born in CH and bring up the GDP etc.
But I just don’t have a lot of fun when meeting these people in real life.
Oftentimes it’s very “mono-dimensional” people: true nerds/geniuses.
I tend to find more “normal” people and have more fun going out in other places.
Many people in Zurich seem quite stressed out to me.
There’s generally an overachiever/productivity energy in the air. Options to have fun are limited and expensive. I think many people are not doing all that well mentally.
I know this also for a fact: many of my friends in CH seem to struggle psychologically (weather they admit it or not), even me and my gf seem to be a bit less relaxed and happy when in Switzerland than abroad.
That’s an issue.
I think there are ways around it. But you need to put in some effort.
If you consider that most other things at the end of the day are great, maybe you can put some extra effort for the “human”/happiness factor and then have an overall good deal.
In 2026 I’ll see if with more effort, this aspect improves or stays the same.
If you’ve arrived until here: time for a little break :D
Look outside the window, stretch a bit, take a few deep breaths.
Aaand… Let’s get back to it!
Lugano - Milano setup: the verdict
TL;DR: Need another visit.
What seems better in Lugano than in Zurich:
People seem more chill / happier / better dressed (Italian vibe).
1-1.5h to Milan is nice as Milan boasts good costs and high-lifestyle (with some safety compromises).
Retains many positive Swiss features like infra, stability, safety, OK taxation.
Rental market more affordable and less competitive than Zurich.
Cute city all in all.
What seems worse:
Things are less “Swiss”: infra a bit worse, things working less well, taxes a bit higher, economy less rampant.
I don’t like its roads/traffic a whole lot: a friend of mine living in Lugano almost got killed after getting hit by a drunk Italian driver while riding his scooter. Walking around in Lugano I can see how that would be possible. Something is off about its roads etc: semaphores don’t work very well, people speed.
It’s far from Milan: 1h30m is not 40m. Lugano is NOT a Milan’s suburb. So in the end you’re living in a small town, with close-by access to a larger city. But you’re not living in a big city.
Milan safety is getting worse, and that’s a bit concerning / would make its proximity to Milan (one of its main advantage) less attractive.
I want to check it out in summer and see the vibes then.
In winter, I don’t think it’s all that boring. It’s OK. Less to do than Zurich, maybe a bit more boring, but also less stressed / more relaxed.
Curious to see how it’s in summer :)
Zurich - Warsaw/Italy/Other: my current setup
Could be that this stays the optimal setup for me going forward.
I talked a lot about it in the previous deep-dive, so you can check some stuff there.
For the foreseeable future, this will stay my setup.
In the meantime, I’ll try to explore some things that I haven’t explored much during my 5 year tech/grind tenure in Switzerland so far. Leisure options, non-tech communities, more nature and sports, etc. Will report on how it goes.
Maybe it will stay the same: a quiet base where I get to chill with gf and few friends while focusing on work, nature, sports and little going outs every now and then, while doing more lively things when abroad. And maybe that will be good enough.
An option I was thinking of exploring is to get a flat somewhere close both to Zug and to Zurich (like Thalwil), and rent a seat in a co-working in Zug.
My understanding is that Zug is more popular for remote workers/freelancers/bootstrappers than Zurich, which is instead more popular for corporate employees.
So maybe that could be a nice social opportunity.
And cities like Thalwil make it possible to be both at 20m from Zug and 20m from Zurich city center (to go out on restaurants etc).
BTW: if you know of anyone leaving a 2+ or 3+ flat in Zurich area for 1800-2400 CHF/month, let me know!
Singapore
I don’t know much about it, other than having added it some time ago to my codecapitals.com tool.
Grok said a few good things about it.
Like more cost effective without compromising quality:
Friend said it’s a bit more fun than Zurich, although not sure how much.
Another friend noted that it’s a bit restrictive and a bit too foreign for a European:
We’ll see.
2026 I’m visiting Dubai 100%. Might even squeeze in an Asia trip with stop in Singapore.
But not too bullish on them becoming my actual base anytime soon.
Warsaw
It’s not just good for software engineers.
But also for remote business owners and workers in general.
Not affected by several issues making EU countries worse these days:
Easy to have a great lifestyle there.
Possibility to have low taxes:
I seriously considered moving there myself and here’s why I didn’t:
A few other reasons:
I will continue to hang out there as a visitor and fan.
And will see how the situation there evolves.
Social security as explained above you don’t need to necessarily have too much to do with it, and it’s also not that bad. Although it has some challenges typical to EU countries.
That’s all for today, folks!
Let me know what you think!!
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