The main site of CERN, where most offices are, is a mile long and straddles the border between France and Switzerland (Suisse).
Some nearby villages students/post-docs choose to live in include:
- Saint-Genis-Pouilly, France – pop 7,000
- Thoiry, France – pop 4,000
- Meyrin, Switzerland – pop 21,000 (city on lower right of map)
- Ferney-Voltaire, France – pop 7,000 (not shown)
- Geneva, Switzerland – pop 190,000 (also not shown)
There are advantages and disadvantages to living in each country. If you like cities, being able to get around on bus or train, and lots of nearby restaurants and things to do, then live in Switzerland. If you like the outdoors, like needing a car, and peace and quiet, then live in France.
The cheaper housing in France is offset by the cost of needing a car. You’ll do fine without a car in Geneva, but you’ll be stuck and bored if you don’t have a car in the French countryside.
The best resource on where to live is word-of-mouth: talk to students who’ve lived there. Besides that, there is also a CERN Housing Service, which lists housing (apartments and hostel), or check out their open market listings. There’s also some advice on choosing where to live around CERN from their student site.
For a studio or one-bedroom in France, expect to spend 700 Euros/month or more ($1000+ at the current exchange rate). Yes, that is really how much it costs to live in a small French village of just a few thousand people!
In a future post I’ll talk about the other costs of living by CERN – all to help give you a better idea of how much you’ll need to earn and save.
Tags: student life
