With mountain views and outside sports activities, the village of Lenk presents an alternative choice to busy metropolis life.
Switzerland won’t be the primary nation you consider for digital nomads, however the peaceable mountainous environment have lots to supply.
After 10 years as a digital nomad, travelling everywhere in the world, Andy Stofferis has landed within the Alpine village of Lenk. He finds the quiet setting and lack of crowds make for a a lot better working setting than busier, extra standard areas.
“I want a peaceable setting the place I can actually work and be productive as a result of there isn’t a actual noise,” Andy says.
“Within the massive cities, you might be all the time disturbed by quite a lot of issues.”
Now Andy is organising a digital nomad hub within the village for many who wish to be a part of him in Lenk.
Why is Switzerland good for digital nomads?
Working from 16 October to 22 December, the hub could have personal flats appropriate for everybody from solo nomads to households. Every one has its personal desk for extra particular person enterprise however there’s additionally a co-working house to get to know your fellow residents.
So why Lenk? This village within the Swiss Alps has round 2,500 everlasting residents with about 15 per cent of them having moved from different international locations.
Some 20 completely different mountain climbing trails begin there with a collection of the very best peaks in Europe simply accessible by automotive or public transport.
There’s additionally horseback using, biking and different outside actions in the summertime months. In winter, there are 200km of ski slopes to benefit from within the area.
The unbelievable surroundings implies that, from the hub’s lodging, there are mountain views on each facet.
Andy says that the situation is good for followers of the outside but in addition these which might be a bit extra introverted. You don’t have to be an skilled digital nomad to remain on the hub and he’s hoping to draw distant staff which might be fed up with working from their dwelling international locations.
Lenk isn’t utterly disconnected from metropolis life, nonetheless.
“The capital Bern is just one hour and half-hour by public transport, by practice,” Andy says.
Commuting to airports in Geneva, Basel or Zurich isn’t tough both. And, in comparison with the remainder of the nation, Lenk is a comparatively reasonably priced nook of Switzerland.
The pricing on the hub displays that and it decreases for each further month you keep.
“For the primary month, the flats are 1,500 CHF, which is kind of €1,500, which for Switzerland is sort of honest. Then progressively all the things is discounted,” Andy says.
“If you happen to keep for the second month it might be 1,200 CHF after which for the third month, 800 CHF or euro, which is for a non-public condominium in Switzerland is excellent.”
Connecting with the local people
Andy’s goal is to create a group of distant staff that may combine with locals – one thing that may be tough for transitory nomads.
“The purpose is to create some actions between the locals and the digital nomads,” he explains.
“As a result of digital nomads have quite a lot of issues to share by way of expertise in digital advertising and marketing or no matter their job or ardour is. And the locals have issues to share with them like locations to discover and all of the issues to do in Switzerland or how you can save on cash.”
Slightly than staying for per week or two then transferring on, he recommends staying in the identical place for one to 3 months.
Whereas the village can see as much as 5,000 vacationers at a time, Lenk doesn’t sometimes entice many guests within the Spring and Autumn.
Travellers have a tendency to come back for snowsports within the winter or outside actions in the summertime. A digital nomad hub may assist entice digital nomads within the low seasons.
“A proportion of the residents actually depend upon the tourism trade immediately or not directly,” Andy says.
So that is actually one thing that we’re creating as nicely with the tourism board and with [apartment provider Ferienlenk] that really offers the lodging.”
What are the visa necessities for Switzerland?
Although many international locations in Europe have launched them, Switzerland doesn’t but have a digital nomad visa and there’s no indication the federal government is contemplating introducing one.
This implies non-EU residents can’t stay and work there with out making use of via a extra standard means. That usually requires them to have a job with a Swiss employer or robust ties to the nation.
Andy says that the most suitable choice for these from outdoors the EU or European Financial Space (EEA) could possibly be a Kind C Schengen visa. This short-stay visa means that you can flow into within the Schengen space for a most of 90 days inside a 180-day interval.
However you will have to point out you could have medical health insurance at some point of your keep, ample funds to help your self and be a resident elsewhere for tax functions.
EU residents or folks from international locations within the EEA can keep for 3 months in any 180-day interval attributable to freedom of motion guidelines. To remain longer, they should register and apply for a Swiss residence allow.
