The question really is, if you want to live in the city itself, or if one of the many neighbouring towns would suit your requirements better. This is how I would go about (and did, when I moved abroad) finding the perfect place to live: first, ask yourselves what kind of dwelling you're looking for. Should it be in an old house, a city penthouse, a simple apartment building or semi-detached house with a green lawn? How much are you willing to pay for said place? Then, try setting priorities towards your surroundings. You already mentioned that it should be somewhat close to the open countryside (which isn't all that big of a deal; Zurich is a small city surrounded by fields and woods, much like the suburbs) and close to "the" train station. From that, I assume your husband will commute by train to Schaffhausen on a daily basis. Since the public transport network is pretty dense even on the outskirts of the city, you might consider living closer to his workplace. Then start looking for a place on a property-finding website that has a map (homegate.ch or immoscout24.ch are probably the most popular places to look for property). You might also want to check your husband's commuting timetable to check how long it would take him to get to work. The district you mentioned I would pretty much consider being in the middle, or at least very close to, the centre of the city. But (of course very much depending on your financial capabilities), it will be quite a task to find a decent place to live in that part of town. If I may suggest a suburb that could be interesting: a town called Bülach, which lies on the intercity train line from Zurich to Schaffhausen. Takes you ~20 minutes by train or car to get to Zurich, is surrounded by green hills, and has property prices slightly more moderate than Zurich itself (these points actually apply to pretty much any town in Zurich's surroundings). Edit: forgot to mention that, IMHO, there aren't any real "no-go" places anywhere in Switzerland in terms of crime or other negative connotation. Of course there are areas considered being "posh" (such as the east coast of the lake, i.e. "Goldküste"), and others less-so (outskirts of the city such as Altstetten and Seebach), but most people wouldn't judge on you -or even care- about where you live.