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Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

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Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#461

Post by John_KZ »

I'd say fix your personal problems and stay in your home country. If you can currently afford to live and work in SV, you can move 500-1000km in any direction and live cheaply, while staying in your own country.

"Intellectual atmosphere" is a meaningless buzzword. If you're looking for high-earning academics to hang out with you've gotta live in an expensive city near a university. If you mean you like a hipster-y atmosphere, you'll find such people nearly everywhere if you go looking for them.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#462

Post by bogomipz »

nsomaru wrote: post #141
whitef0x wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How bad is the crime? I've talked to a few who've lived there but they always tell me the crime forced them to move out. Do hijackings at robots still happen often?

The fact that you call a traffic light a "robot" makes me suspect you're a South African or your parents are :) I have never been hijacked, robot or otherwise. The worst that happened to me was getting mugged in a dark alley around 7pm in Cape Town. Rely shouldn't have been walking around that neighbourhood well-dressed. In general I leave my laptop in the trunk and ladies leave their bags there too. The most common…

>"The most common form of traffic light theft is "smash and grab" which is entirely mitigated by getting the right kind of windows and not leaving your stuff on the seat/where it's visible."

That's quite a statement that the experience of waiting at a stoplight would be improved by investing in special windows for your car. Does this to all of ZA or just Cape Town?

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#463

Post by altvali »

Arkight wrote: post #330
victorpascu wrote: post #289

Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Per month: Rent is 500-600 EUR max (worst case unless you're actively looking to splurge), with the average going around 250-300 or so. You can cover food and taxes at a basic level on another 300. Of course, YMMV if you only order restaurant food and such, but if you stop by a supermarket every now and then you're set to go as low as 600 EUR/mth to live comfortably. I got by on 400 when I reall…

I heard that Romania have great internet speed, especially comparing to fellow nations in Eastern Europe. However..... what about its stability? BTW what about food? I am picking a location for doing remote job next few year in Europe, now it seems that Romania should be part of my short list. Like, I really love to eat, so it would be nice to know whether Cluj-Napoca have a diverse catering service.

I moved from Bucharest to Cluj-Napoca. The food is far better in Cluj and with great variety: vegan, asian, italian you name it! Some restaurants are Michelin star level according to some, though none have been officially evaluated. Most food places close at midnight. 1 in 10 people work in IT in this city, there are meetups on any tech stack you want and the Universities are the best in the country.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#464

Post by tluyben2 »

siquick wrote: post #308
calgoo wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has lived in Barcelona for over 23 years now I agree with some of these points, but it also depends where you go in the city. 1) Climate - Yes the summers are warm, but not extremely hot, I have a lot worse time when i go visit the southern US for example. 2) Yes I totally agree we have way too much tourism in the city. However, the restaurants that try to rip you off etc are all in the touristy areas,…

Thank you for the sane response. Having lived in the worlds most liveable city, Melbourne, for several years, I have so far found Barcelona to be far more enjoyable. The thing that has stood out is that people actually care about their city and socio-political events that affect their lives. I personally think the tourist issue is overhyped and most of them don't stray from the centre of the city.My local beach, Mar…

For me Barcelona easily wins of Melbourne; no idea what the criteria of most livable city is; streets littered with homeless, completely dead nightlife during the week and only average during the weekend (and I am 44, so I am not looking for much but even that is not there) and expensive. Barcelona or Lisbon are a lot nicer imho.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#465

Post by suchoudh »

anonlilcoward wrote: post #214

Bangalore,India: Rent price : 200$/month for a 1000sqft apartment. Bangalore is often called the silicon valley of India, filled with software professionals. Majority of the city's inhabitants are migrants from other parts of the country and almost everyone communicates in English. The living expenses for a couple is not more than 600-700$/month including rent for a decent lifestyle. The city has a good pub culture a…

+1 for Bangalore There is Hyderabad and Pune as well

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#466

Post by glx1126 »

scrollaway wrote: post #417
graeham wrote: post #390

Expensive by UK standards, but cheap vs Bay Area: Cambridge UK. I've not been anywhere else that has the density of interesting people doing interesting stuff. London is not far if you need to break the bubble (and Stansted Airport even closer). Downsides: salaries are generally lower than SV (esp for technical work), Brexit uncertainty, weather is fairly average, limited outdoor sport options (other than running, ro…

Cambridge is crazy cool and one of my favourite cities but it's expensive by many standards, not just UK ones. "vs Bay Area" nearly everything in the world is cheap. For those looking to spend though: Cambridge has a cool tech/startup scene, almost everyone bikes and there's no cars in the city center. It's a fairly small city, very green, both quiet and lively.

There are cars in the city center and there are traffic jams most working days. Maybe one of the reasons so many people cycle there.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#467

Post by lotsofpulp »

justin66 wrote: post #174
fipple wrote: post #68

The answer here is places that are COLD. For any type of city, the one in a colder place is cheaper. Minneapolis might be a good choice, or Chicago if you want a bigger atmosphere. You’ll have to put in elbow grease to create an intellectual milieu but it is there.

> For any type of city, the one in a colder place is cheaper. Did you leave NYC and Boston just completely out of your calculations?

There are outliers. But in general, places that are cold and/or hot and humid are not as in demand as others.

NYC and Boston are unique in their institutions and history, giving them enough momentum to stick around as desirable destinations despite the weather. And NYC isn’t that bad cold-wise.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#468

Post by batuhanicoz »

rb666 wrote: post #369
rolleiflex wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is awesome. I live in SF, and have a base in Istanbul, which is from what I heard, similar to Lisbon in many aspects — but I would be hesitant to recommend it without at least a willingness to learn Turkish. There are some digital nomads here in HN based in Istanbul, though. Nevertheless - my point was, you’re living my dream and I’ll definitely give a visit when my life allows for a Portugal trip. Never been ye…

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahaa Istanbul a good intellectual atmosphere? A country run by a lying, corrupt, refuge-bombing despot. Why on EARTH would you invite anyone over.

Disclaimer: I am Turkish and I live in Istanbul.

Well, you could say that the United States is run by a similar person. That does mean all of the U.S. is like that?

Istanbul does have a good intellectual atmosphere. Izmir too.

I'm not going to say it's all fine over here, but it's perfect for a digital nomad. Istanbul, especially places like Besiktas and Kadikoy are perfect.

Re: Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere?

#470

Post by kozak »

loriverkutya wrote: post #335
maxdo wrote: post #193

Kiev , Lviv , Kharkiv in Ukraine are extremely cheap, it’s still in Europe, and it has tons of talents. It’s a known talent pool actually. Eating out starts from $2 usd, for $3-4 you could even have a service in the restaurant. Renting a flat starts from $200/mo for some sub urbs areas. You can rent some office space for $150/mo I bet in most places you called cheap you spent more on coffee and smoothies.

And just be prepared to be invaded by Russia on a cloudy afternoon.

I think of the cities listed above this only applies to Kharkiv. And even Kharkiv is much safer now than it was three years ago.
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