By Bhautik Patel, LivingSwiss
Moving to the Lake Geneva region comes with plenty of administrative milestones from registration at your local Office de la population to setting up mandatory health insurance (LAMal / KVG). But one of the most stressful situations for newly-arrived expats, international civil servants, and their families is falling ill before having a designated family doctor (médecin traitant).
If you call a standard medical practice, you will often find that their patient lists are full, or that the next routine intake appointment is 4 to 6 weeks away.
Fortunately, both Canton Geneva and Canton Vaud feature an established network of walk-in outpatient medical centers universally known throughout Romandie as Permanences. These centers bridge the gap between private doctor practices and hospital emergency rooms (urgences), offering same-day, English-speaking care without an appointment, 365 days a year.
Here is your practical field guide to navigating walk-in healthcare across Geneva, Nyon, and Lausanne.
The Gift Box Project will be collected between 10-20 November 2026. Tyrrian Livesley continues to make a difference in children's lives over the last 30 years. We write an article each year and are happy to bring this cause to our readers' attention.
The gift box project is simple: You prepare presents, and they are taken to children in Eastern Europe who are enduring difficult times. "Our common goal is to make them happy", Tyrrian tells us.
A year has passed and the world is still topsy-turvy leaving many families in dire need. So we are reaching out for your help with the Gift Boxes.
We cannot help everyone, but we can at least help some of the children living through war in terrible conditions without clean water or heating, and winter not far off. This is such a hard life for young children, many without the love of their families.
Let us give a little joy, happiness and laughter to as many needy children as we can in Ukraine and in Moldova. Last year with your help we sent almost 2,500 Gift Boxes to children, bringing them a little light, and a lot of love. Hopefully with your aid we can do even better this year!
Please help us by making a Gift Box brimming with their needs (see list below). Your donation - whether a complete box, a selection of the contents, or a monetary contribution - will certainly enable more of these youngsters to smile.
“One more box = one more happy child.”
When Mila Aleshina, founder of SANA Studio, a Pilates and functional mobility studio in Founex contacted us, we thought this was the perfect season for some self-care. These classes are for those who need to exercise after prolonged inactivity or an injury, people dealing with back pain or stiffness, and women over the age of 40, who need to train for bone health and muscle strength as they enter perimenopause or menopause.
Why did you start SANA Studio?
After teaching private sessions at Physio Santé Founex for several years, I decided to expand into group classes because my clients who were ready for them simply didn't have anywhere good to go. Despite the Pilates boom, studios are popping up like McDonald's, and the quality of instructors, and therefore studios, has tanked. Pilates has always been known as an effective, safe method for people returning to exercise after injury or prolonged inactivity, and doctors recommend it to patients managing back pain and stiffness. But it's spiraled away from serving those people. Instead, it's become booty and abs classes, misleading weight loss claims, and whatever an instructor found cool on Instagram, offering zero real value to the client.
My inspiration, and my mission, even though it feels like swimming against the current, was to be there for people returning to exercise after injury or prolonged inactivity, and for people managing back pain, stiffness, and bad knees, and the things that stop them from trusting their bodies. I call this the "McDonald's era" of Pilates, and I want people who need real, restorative exercise to have somewhere they can actually train for lasting recovery, get stronger, and work on long term health. Exercise should evolve with science, not regress into a trend.
Did group classes come about more recently?
I've been a Pilates instructor for over ten years, and I've been giving private sessions at Physio Santé Founex since I moved to Founex in 2020. The idea for group classes was actually born late last year, when I started testing the market to see if there was real demand. Earlier this year, I launched my studio, because people deserve so much better than what's currently available in the market.
When you move to Switzerland, navigating the local admin can feel like a full-time job from health insurance models to local tax declarations. But one practical topic that many international residents put off is what actually happens to their estate under Swiss law.
If you come from the UK, the US, or another common law country, Swiss succession rules can come as a surprise. Swiss civil law places strong emphasis on statutory shares, specific handwritten requirements, and cantonal procedures.
Whether you own property in Switzerland, hold assets across borders, or simply want to ensure your family is protected, here is a practical look at how Swiss inheritance works and how to prepare before consulting a notary.
The two ways to draft a will in Switzerland
In Switzerland, you generally have two main routes for creating a Last Will:
1. The Holographic Will (Testament olographe – Art. 505 CC)
Unlike many countries where a will is typed and witnessed, a Swiss holographic will must be entirely handwritten by you. No notary or witnesses are required, but the rules are strict:
- Every single word must be handwritten with pen on paper (a printed document signed by hand is void).
- It must clearly state the date (day, month, year) and place.
- It must be signed by you at the bottom.
2. The Notarized Will (Testament authentique – Art. 499 CC)
This is drafted with a licensed Swiss notary in the presence of two independent witnesses. It is officially recorded in the cantonal register and is standard practice for complex family structures or business transfers.
On over 100 square meters, children aged 4 to 12 will be able to “play at being little shopkeepers”. The mobile Mini-Migros will be touring Switzerland again in 2026, inviting children to play in 10 shopping centers.
This is the first time that Swiss children will be able to play in the supermarket under such realistic conditions. In the Mini-Migros, they can create their own world and slip into the shoes of customers or sales and logistics staff. Girls and boys can stack products, drive around with a cart or use the cash register as they please, without instructions or animation. The play area covers more than 100 m². Like the real Migros, Mini-Migros also has its own industrial companies, which supply the store with products.
- Booketins, a group of bilingual English/French parents in Lausanne
- GAOS' Elf, the Musical, is the perfect "Christmas meets Broadway" show
- Heart2Heart crisis line in English sees 75% increase in calls
- English-speaking health services for pregnancy and postpartum in Geneva
- Heart2Heart helpline in English for mental health and an understanding ear
- DoudouPerdu to the rescue when the all-important toddler's comforter goes missing
- BloominBreath is the new venture of Lois Vitry Trapman
- Services for new mothers in English for post-partum body care
- New name for Cancer Support Switzerland
- A year in review of the English-speaking support hotline: Heart2Heart
Page 1 of 15
