Ask HN: Cheap places to live with a good intellectual atmosphere? • Hacker News Board

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

#411

Post by ssijak » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:18 AM UTC

loriverkutya wrote: post #352

kowdermeister wrote: post #145

Try Budapest https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou... Lots of stuff here to do and see, there are many expats all over the city. English speaking is low among Hungarians (¬20%), but in the inner city you won't have a problem with it. I'd try a couple of cities for a few weeks then decide, Prague is also very beautiful, but as others suggested Berlin rocks too.

Corruption is sky-high, the government is in a constant “we are waging a war” mode, currently against the immigrants, and the prime minister is turning the country into a dictatorship slowly. Burocracy is horrible, nobody speaks English. And it effects people pretty badly, most of them are negative and sour. Also, intellectually it is way behind Western Europe. Source: I lived in that city for 15 years, family is sti…

And Hungarian language is the worst ever.

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

#412

Post by scrollaway » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:20 AM UTC

jonathanstrange wrote: post #344

nelsonic wrote: post #229

Depending on your ability to work remotely, I would make the "case" that you should consider Portugal . Lisbon and Porto are super popular with ["digital nomad"] remote workers who work for international companies so earn in USD but spend [much less] in Euros for a superb lifestyle. There's a reason @paddycosgrave moved Web Summit to Lisbon. It's one of the cheapest cities in Europe and [unlike Barcelona] everyone sp…

I live in Lisbon and work as a foreigner at one of Lisbon's universities and can confirm that the living quality in Lisbon is absolutely top. It's a fantastic city. And our bridge is similar to yours - looks smaller but is longer! Caveats: - If you intend to work within Academia, you may occasionally have to deal with fairly incompetent professors. It depends on the research unit and area, but there tends to be a cer…

> Is there any major capital where they don't rise?

Athens.

I need to leave that country for my own sanity and I'm currently on the lookout for a new one to move to. All this talk about portugal is very tempting :)

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

#413

Post by zongitsrinzler » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:20 AM UTC

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Teleport (https://teleport.org/). This entire service was created to find a better place to live, allowing you to compare various attributes of each city.

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

#414

Post by epynonymous » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:21 AM UTC

nelsonic wrote: post #229

Depending on your ability to work remotely, I would make the "case" that you should consider Portugal . Lisbon and Porto are super popular with ["digital nomad"] remote workers who work for international companies so earn in USD but spend [much less] in Euros for a superb lifestyle. There's a reason @paddycosgrave moved Web Summit to Lisbon. It's one of the cheapest cities in Europe and [unlike Barcelona] everyone sp…

+1 for portugal, i was actually in lisbon for a few days this summer, first time, i really liked what i saw, was more on vacation than for work, but definitely had a few escalations that forced me to get on the internet and everything was fast. people are friendly, costs relatively low, i stayed in 2 different parts, but near my hotel there was a large huawei office (not that i'd ever consider working there), but it tells you that some big, multi-national companies are there.

i also heard that if you buy a 600k usd house in portugal, you could register for eu citizenship, please someone confirm.

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

#415

Post by tralarpa » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:22 AM UTC

tetrazine wrote: post #242

Kovah wrote: post #168

There are some smaller German cities like Göttingen which have - in my opinion - a high intellectual atmosphere because they are so called university-cities: lot's of students and academics in a rather small city. And, in comparison with big cities like Berlin or Munich, the rents are much cheaper: from what I know you pay 2/3 to half of the price for the same amount of space. Example: a flat with 55-60 qm is about 6…

This is true. Lots of other mentions of Germany in this thread with good points. The downsides to Germany that Americans and Canadians (and to a lesser extent British) might perceive: - Constant store closures. Almost all Sundays and numerous holidays, almost all stores, including groceries, are closed. Don't forget to get milk or you have to trek to the central train station. - Very bad international food. Even in m…

From all the things that are going wrong in Germany, this is the most bizarre compilation I have ever seen (except the food situation). Probably an indicator for how good life is in Germany in general :)

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

#416

Post by foxreymann » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:22 AM UTC

ajuc wrote: post #326

msadowski wrote: post #22

If you feel adventurous you can consider moving to Poland. I would recommend Krakow. Most young people will speak English, there are couple of top Universities there (PK and AGH for technical schools, UJ for humanities, medicine and some tech too and UE for economics). The tech scene seems to be constantly growing, with lots of international companies having their offices there. As a senior dev in Poland you can earn…

Poland is very cheap, English is common (among 35 and younger), and in university cities the atmosphere is nice. Deoending on what you value more I recommend: - Kraków (biggest startup scene, biggest city out of these, most active cultural scene, but also crowded with tourists, worst air quality and slightly more dangerous than the others because of football clubs violence) - Wrocław (almost as big tech scene, less t…

[flagged]

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

#417

Post by scrollaway » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:23 AM UTC

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.

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

#418

Post by foxreymann » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:24 AM UTC

mahrain wrote: post #156

Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Kind of like the silicon valley of Holland still with major tech companies around (Philips, NXP Semiconductor, ASML, Tomtom, Here) and a growing startup culture. Eindhoven University of Technology is a major force in e.g. Solar and rent for a centrally located appartment will be around 1000 Euro. Train connections to Amsterdam and Germany (Düsseldorf) and a local airport with cheap connect…

+1 for Eindhoven. Very cheap beautiful (quite small) houses. Very nice people. Lots of tech. Great transport, both trains and airport.

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

#419

Post by panorama » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:24 AM UTC

the_clarence wrote: post #191

I have made such a list myself. Asia: Bangkok, ChiangMai, Taiwan, Shanghai, Beijing, Hanoi. Europe: Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Berlin, Varsaw Not sorted

Would you consider the English level of Bordeaux or Montpellier good though?

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

#420

Post by te_chris » Mon, Oct 08, 2018, 9:26 AM UTC

axansh wrote: post #54

NZ is good an option. I heard couple of startup moving to nz from bay area. Good atmosphere, easy visa, government supportive for migrated ppl

Cost of living in Auckland and Wellington is high (rent and food, mostly), but great fibre internet and huge demand for engineers. Big days rates from what I've heard (I'm in London now).

Auckland is on two harbours, absolutely beautiful geography, but you'll need a car and it can be a congested, frustrating nightmare. Lots of smart people though, universities, cultural stuff etc. GREAT food. Seriously good - loads of Asian migration will do that.

Wellington is much smaller, also beautiful, but worse climate. Lots going on though, for a city of its size (150k cbd, 400k wider area). Is the capital, so combination of liberal arts educated public servants, HQ of Xero and centre of film industry (including Weta Digital), 2 universities both with strong creative schools, HQ of national ballet company, HQ of national orchestra and lots of other stuff makes it a pretty great city intellectually. Really cosmpolitan, also great food, but the asian food isn't as good as Auckland. Great local tech scene and lots of creative people.