Ask HN: What's the best place in Europe to live and work cheaply? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in Europe to live and work cheaply?

#31

Post by wcfields » Sat, Nov 09, 2013, 9:55 PM UTC

Ljubljana, Slovenia is really nice. It's a mix of east & west, uses Euros/EU, and rent is fairly inexpensive. I met a few ex-pat Americans that were working in tech / IT.

No one will ever expect you to learn Slovenian too, it's such a complicated language that unless you were a native speaker, it's next to impossible to speak correctly.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in Europe to live and work cheaply?

#32

Post by bluedevil2k » Sat, Nov 09, 2013, 10:01 PM UTC

briggers wrote: post #10

I'm in Sofia, Bulgaria right now, doing contract work for international clients. Rent is generally very cheap, 250EU/mo for a central apartment (12mo lease). I am staying here only a month however, so am paying a lot more. Eating out, beer etc is very cheap. Numbeo gets it about right. Amusingly, most Bulgarians I speak to ask why I would want to come to Bulgaria of all places. I guess it's like many places: great fu…

Not the original poster, but I lived in Istanbul for a month a few years ago. I found the people to be the most friendly I've ever encountered in my travels, probably against the expectations of most Americans. Try to live on the European side, north of the Golden Horn, in the Taksim area.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in Europe to live and work cheaply?

#33

Post by ofk88 » Sat, Nov 09, 2013, 10:01 PM UTC

I live in Munich since 1 year. I am originally from Istanbul. I guess Munich has the highest salaries in Europe. But the city is a bit expensive. I pay 755 euro for a 36 square meters apartment. Berlin is another option. It's a very international city and cheap but the salaries are lower.

After Istanbul, Munich seems like a dead village to me. I still can't get used to that streets are totally empty after 9-10 pm.

Istanbul is an amazing city. And a lots of job opportunities there. Better climate than Germany. You can't earn as much as Germany but you can still catch the same life standards.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in Europe to live and work cheaply?

#34

Post by emilsundberg » Sat, Nov 09, 2013, 10:02 PM UTC

I would recommend you to keep out of Eastern Europe. The people there wants to believe they have left their history behind but they haven't.

When I visited Budapest the police acted as Stasi and on the local metro they only asks foreigners for valid tickets. Very unfriendly. I would never recommend anyone going there.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in Europe to live and work cheaply?

#35

Post by fvrghl » Sat, Nov 09, 2013, 10:03 PM UTC

welder wrote: post #11

Budapest, Hungary: https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=budapest&tbm=isch Nice downtown apartments are $300 USD/mo.

I was just in Budapest. It was really beautiful, but I encountered some of the rudest people I have ever met. I've read on other travel sites that people in Budapest are extremely rude to tourists compared to the rest of Hungary. Maybe it's implied by the nature of this thread that you should learn the language before you move there, but you definitely should for Budapest (assuming you don't want to encounter rudeness).

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in Europe to live and work cheaply?

#36

Post by eCa » Sat, Nov 09, 2013, 10:05 PM UTC

zalew wrote: post #23

define cheap , but: Warsaw (I may be obviously biased). Berlin. beautiful Praha (no idea how the tech market looks like there though).

How would you rate Krakow compared to Warsaw? Numbeo says it's a bit cheaper[1]?

[1] http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun...

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in Europe to live and work cheaply?

#37

Post by AlexanderDhoore » Sat, Nov 09, 2013, 10:07 PM UTC

I guess France, Belgium and the Netherlands are out of the question? Since you included "cheaply".

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in Europe to live and work cheaply?

#38

Post by tonfa » Sat, Nov 09, 2013, 10:08 PM UTC

ofk88 wrote: post #33

I live in Munich since 1 year. I am originally from Istanbul. I guess Munich has the highest salaries in Europe. But the city is a bit expensive. I pay 755 euro for a 36 square meters apartment. Berlin is another option. It's a very international city and cheap but the salaries are lower. After Istanbul, Munich seems like a dead village to me. I still can't get used to that streets are totally empty after 9-10 pm. Is…

> I guess Munich has the highest salaries in Europe. But the city is a bit expensive. I pay 755 euro for a 36 square meters apartment.

You should try Zurich (higher for both: salaries and rent) ;)

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in Europe to live and work cheaply?

#39

Post by chozero » Sat, Nov 09, 2013, 10:12 PM UTC

Canary Islands, Spain, is one of them. Good weather all year round, good internet connection in many places and plenty of flight connections to most important cities in Europe. Affordable prices for housing and food.

You just need to avoid the too touristic places.

Re: Ask HN: What's the best place in Europe to live and work cheaply?

#40

Post by levosmetalo » Sat, Nov 09, 2013, 10:14 PM UTC

nmbdesign wrote: post #27

Montenegro is a quite nice place for a freelancer, beaches/good weather/very cheap prices and rent

That's all good and well unless you want to take a shower during the daylight in the summer. Just make sure that your apartment has water all the time, and you will enjoy Montenegro.