What it's really like to live in one of the cities with the best quality of life in the world

• Lianna Brinded
 

• 9h
• 116,742

Rebecca Griffiths/Business InsiderThe views in Bern are incredible.

Bern in Switzerland is considered one of best cities to live in the world.

The Alpine city ranked 14th in the annual "Quality of Living Index" of one of the world's largest HR consultancy firms, Mercer, and as the second-safest city in the world in the group's separate rankings.

According to London-based think tank Legatum Institute in its annual global Prosperity Index, Switzerland overall is the second happiest, richest, healthiest, and most crime-free country in the world.

Glassdoor also showed that Switzerland has the best standard of living in Europe because of its on average high salaries of over €50,000 (£39,038, $56,838) and strong purchasing power.

Basically, Bern sounds pretty amazing. Travel experts point out that it's underrated because it is less well known than Switzerland's huge financial hubs, Zurich and Geneva.

So what makes Bern great?

Rebecca Griffiths is a cardiovascular admissions manager for a large NHS Foundation Trust in London, but she went to Switzerland for a month to experience and learn about the healthcare system as part of the multidisciplinary Hope Exchange programme.

"The quality of life in Switzerland, and very much so in Bern, is of a very high standard. People take care of themselves. Work-life balance was good," Griffiths said.

She gave us the inside track on why the Swiss city is so incredible and one of the best places to live and work in the world and how it compares to London:

View As: One Page Slides

This is Rebecca Griffiths. She usually lives and works in London. She moved to Switzerland for a month to experience and learn from the differences in the British and Swiss healthcare systems.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

One of the biggest differences between London and Bern was the incredible scenery.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

"The medieval part of Bern is amazing. The river is also beautiful. It's so clean you can drink from it, and people use it for swimming in the summer," she said.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

Even the view from her apartment was vastly different and was really calming.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

Her commute was also a lot less crowded than the London tube network. And if you didn't want to walk, Griffiths said: "Bern has excellent public transport, which means your train/bus often arrives early if not on time."

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

"I like that the whole city was walkable, and I also spent time on the lawns near the public lidos at Marzili. I absolutely loved walking five minutes to work, and I do not look forward to my first cramped train commute when I'm back in the UK," said Griffiths.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

Once she got to work, she said the difference in terms of work-life balance was very different. Here she is with Ana, a fellow from the Hope Exchange programme attendee.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

She said that "the full-time contracted hours are longer than the UK, at around 42 hours per week. However my experience was that everyone made sure to have a proper lunch away from their desks and the workday really did finish at 4 p.m. to 5. p.m."

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

Staff facilities were incredibly different to those in a UK hospital. For example, there was an outdoor staff canteen area on the roof.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

Freshly squeezed fruit juices were available to everyone. Griffiths said that the staff even gave her a tour of their kitchens and all the meals they prepare. "Having talking time when sitting down to lunch and eating one of the many delicious hospital meals (who'd have thought) was so much nicer than scoffing lunch quickly while hunched over my desk or rushing to a meeting," she said.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

"Bern is more relaxed than the other cities of Switzerland and there seems to be a running joke that everything runs a bit slower there too."

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

She said that overall "the atmosphere was relaxed and it was perfectly situated to visit other areas like Zurich, Luzern, Biel, Basil and the surrounding mountainous regions."

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

The nightlife was also a lot more upmarket and chilled out.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

"My experience was that there is a big focus on nice dinners with good wine/beer," she said, as opposed to Britain's drinking culture.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

"The town was often quiet during the week, especially if the weather was bad ...

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

... but Thursday's were busy due to late-night shopping and there seemed to be an r'n'b/hip-hop scene with lots of promoters and some awesome break dancing near the Bahnhof," said Griffiths.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

There is also a lot to see and do in terms of culture in Bern. For example, there is the Einstein Museum ...

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

... and a park full of bears.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

The food is also meant to be pretty spectacular. Griffiths recommended Steinhalle bistro for trendy, tasty lunches next to Einstein museum and Beaulieu restaurant for a great Rösti — a traditional Swiss potato dish.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

There are only five downsides to Bern, Griffiths said. The first was how expensive everything was compared to London. (But this shouldn't be a problem of course if you are on a Swiss salary, which is higher than the UK).

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

Secondly, "if you don't want to get woken up at 5 a.m., do not stay near a church. The bells literally ring every 15 minutes, and it takes a while to adjust," she said.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

Thirdly, she said she missed having an Indian curry — a staple dinner dish in Britain. "Although I did manage to find a half decent Indian restaurant near the end, I missed making curries at home as the ingredients were so expensive to buy," she said. For example, these usually retail for £1 in Britain but in Switzerland, a jar was being sold for the equivalent of £3.50.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

She said she also missed smoke-free train stations, as "the platforms were unpleasant."

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

And lastly, this "creepy, yet hilarious" statue of a man eating babies near the landmark Zytglogge tower in Bern.

Rebecca Griffiths/Business Insider

SEE ALSO: The 27 cities with the best quality of life in the world

More: Features Bern Switzerland Mercer 

The 10 most valuable brands in the world

• Lara O'Reilly
 
•  

• 17h
• 54,651

APLarry Page, CEO of Google parent company Alphabet. Google reclaimed the top spot back from Apple this year.

Google has overtaken Apple to become the "most valuable global brand" this year, according to brand consultancy Millward Brown's annual BrandZ rankings.

Just like last year, technology brands dominated the top 10.

The ranking is based on interviews with more than 3 million consumers plus data on the financial and business performance of each company, using data from Bloomberg and Kantar Worldpanel.

These are the top 10 most valuable brands in the world and an analysis of what happened over the last 12 months to shift those companies into their respective rankings.

View As: One Page Slides

10. IBM

IBM

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty.

Brand value: $86.2 billion

Percentage change from last year: -8%

Last year's rank: 4

What happened: Millward Brown says that IBM is "investing in its future," particularly with its cognitive-computing system Watson, which is working across areas such as advertising, healthcare, education, and retail.

The company has also quietly built the world's largest digital agency: IBM iX.

Millward Brown doesn't give a reason why IBM's brand value dropped from the previous year, but it is probably IBM's move away from consumer products that has seen the company drop down the rankings.

Millward Brown says that "consumer perception of a brand is a key input in determining brand value."

9. McDonald's

By Heikomari on Flickr

Brand value: $88.6 billion

Percentage change from last year: +9%

Last year's rank: 9

What happened: Millward Brown says that McDonald's has made a number of improvements to the business this year.

It is making efforts to separate its drive-thru offerings — based on convenience and speed — from its in-store experience, where it has been rolling out customization, premium products, and improving hospitality.

Meanwhile, Millward Brown also notes the success of its healthier and lifestyle-focused McCafe offerings.

8. Verizon

Thomson Reuters

Brand value: $93.2 billion

Percentage change from last year: +8%

Last year's rank: 7

What happened: Millward Brown says that Verizon is another company that is investing in its future.

Verizon has expanded its business into the digital and video content and advertising markets, thanks to the $4.4 billion acquisition of AOL in May 2015. It also launched its Go90 mobile video-streaming app in October 2015.

7. Amazon

AP Photo/Reed Saxon

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Brand value: $98.9 billion

Percentage change from last year:+59%

Last year's rank: 14

What happened: Amazon was the fastest riser in this year's rankings.

Millward Brown said that Amazon is constantly disrupting other sectors by creating new industry standards — everything from one-hour delivery time and its own proprietary entertainment content to the testing of delivery drones and its Echo personal assistant.

6. Visa

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Brand value: $100.8 billion

Percentage change from last year:+10%

Last year's rank: 5

What happened: Visa is the only financial brand in the top 10 this year.

The company is a big sponsor of sporting events, and its blue, white, and yellow logo is ubiquitous in retailers across the world.

Last year, Visa, a FIFA sponsor, came out strongly against the corruption scandal at world football's governing body. The company is continuing its partnership with FIFA and also the NFL and the Olympics.

5. Facebook

David Ramos/Getty

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Brand value: $102.6 billion

Percentage change from last year:+44%

Last year's rank: 12

What happened: Facebook continued its strong financial performance in 2015, and the company has been working to transform itself into a media platform, encouraging publishers to post original content —particularly video — to its site.

Millward Brown also credits Facebook's long-term vision in areas such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and connecting the parts of the world that are not yet on the internet for the increase in its overall brand value this year.

4. AT&T

Tim Boyle/Getty Images

Brand value: $107.4 billion

Percentage change from last year:+20%

Last year's rank: 6

What happened: AT&T is the second telecoms company in the top 10.

Millward Brown suggests that one of the reasons AT&T outperformed its competitors was the quad-play — mobile, fixed-line, internet, and TV — bundle it offers, through the acquisition of DirecTV.

The research company also notes that AT&T formed connected car partnerships with automakers, including Ford, BMW, and Tesla.

3. Microsoft

Reuters/Robert Galbraith

Brand value: $121.8 billion

Percentage change from last year: +5%

Last year's rank: 3

What happened: Microsoft is the world's most valuable B2B brand, according to Millward Brown.

The company has seen "exponential growth" in its commercial-cloud business — which has mostly been driven by its Office 365 programs — and Windows 10 is now active on more than 270 million devices worldwide.

In order to keep laser-focused, the company has streamlined its smartphone hardware business.

2. Apple

Andrew Burton/Getty

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple.

Brand value: $228.5 billion

Percentage change from last year: -8%

Last year's rank: 1

What happened: Millward Brown said that Apple's lack of big new products launching this year affected its brand value.

The company did launch the Apple Watch in April, but that hasn't yet reached mainstream appeal — despite selling more units than its other smartwatch competitors.

But Millward Brown says that Apple's move to invest in Didi Chuxing in China has shown how "Apple has progressively moved to building an ecosystem served not only by gadgets, but also services."

Another big service launch was Apple Music, which rolled out last summer.

1. Google

Getty Images

Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

Brand value: $229.2 billion

Percentage change from last year:+32%

Last year's rank: 2

What happened: Millward Brown says that "Google has thrived thanks to continual innovation, increased revenue from advertising, and growth in its cloud business."

Google has also been "very transparent about what it's working on," which boosted its brand value, Millward Brown added.

Google officially restructured its business under new holding company Alphabet in October, which allows its separate businesses to operate independently and move faster.

More: Features BrandZ