Our School is located in the beautiful Rhine Valley in Buchs, Canton St. Gallen and is surrounded by the Swiss Alps.
With its 13’493 (2020) inhabitants, over 691 different employers and 62 acres of parks and recreational areas, Buchs is one of the larger cities in eastern Switzerland.1)
The region shares borders with Austria, The Principality of Liechtenstein and Germany. As of 2020 43% of the population are of foreign nationalities so there are good structures and an active international community.
Sources: 1) Key figures Buchs (last visited 28/06/23)
Languages
The main language spoken in Buchs is Swiss German or German. Even though basic German knowledge is recommended to help to settle into the community, people will mostly be able to communicate in English.
Things to do
We love the outdoors! Living in the Rheintal, you will love it too! Did you ever go on a hike with a lama? You can try it here! From bike and e-bike tours, cable car rides themed hiking tours or a trip to Lake Constance - there is plenty to discover. Werdenberg Tourismus is a good place to start looking for an activity in and around Buchs.
Buchs also regularly offers fresh markets and thrift markets. It also has several playgrounds, a library, the Lokremise (an eventing space in an old train depot), the small theatre “fabriggli” and the Ludothek, where your children can choose from over 1’500 games to rent.
Safety
Switzerland is considered to be one of the safest countries in the world2). The Werdenberg region around Buchs is a safe family and commercial region.
Even though many Swiss families traditionally have a firearm in their household from the time of their military training, Switzerland has a very low crime and incident rate in connection with firearms. In fact, there have been no gun-related incidents since 2018 in the entire Canton of St. Gallen.3)
2) Travel Risk map (last visited 28/06/23)
3) Crimes including firearms in St. Gallen, p 34 ff. (last visited 28/06/23)