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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?

#601

Post by ansible »

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.

And how is that any better than in the USA right now?

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

#602

Post by dtkav »

ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #302
dtkav wrote: post #34

I just moved to Hobart, Australia from SF. It's quite affordable. I pay A$400 /mo rent in a share house, and walk 20 mins to a downtown co-working space every day (also A$400 /mo). Lifestyle is pretty incredible. It's small, but still a state capital city, so there's plenty going on. Hobart is also the home port for the Australian and French Antarctic programs, so a lot of smart folks come through. Plus it was a tria…

Tasmania is legitimately one of the most beautiful place I've seen anywhere in the world. Bruny Island, Huon Valley, most of the East coast, Hobart itself... but you absolutely pay for the beauty with lack of amenities and convenience. The entire state only has 500k people in it, and you feel it. Shops close early, and close multiple days a week to save staff costs. You have to buy most stuff online, and shipping tak…

It's definitely not a hub. I wouldn't recommend trying to find a software job here. However, if you are a software engineer focusing on intellectual pursuits (like writing, math, OSS) and not working, then Hobart is pretty damn good. Other places that are as cheap and beautiful can have some major downsides in terms of language barriers, safety, looking like a tourist, etc.

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

#603

Post by sneak »

CalRobert wrote: post #256
sneak wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Berlin is nothing like Silicon Valley. It’s a great city but job offers there are 60-80% lower salaries compared to the US, which makes Berlin being marginally cheaper (but with higher taxes) not really worth it.

The complete elimination of auto expenses helps a lot. And frankly, it's hard to put a price on 6 weeks' _guaranteed_ vacation per year. And true, salaries are lower, but 60-80%?? Obviously headhunters and published ranges are to be taken with a grain of salt but a HH was trying to entice me with 90k in Berlin for data engineering a while ago and that, while not SV money, is better than "60-80% less"

Yes, competitive salaries in business centers are 3x higher in the US. It is possible you are not acquainted with current prices.

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

#605

Post by [deleted] »

hycaria wrote: post #583
galfarragem wrote: post #514

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Universities in Portugal are not that great nor renowned. I disagree. Universities are not the problem. General school is. As a rule of thumb, public universities are better than private ones and the opposite on general school.

At least in my domain (veterinary, idk about medicine but if the same, that's frightening), they have seemingly no selection and numerous universities are offering the degree (even much more than smaller countries). So their degree is shit (no time for practice, only theoretical and you'll learn more once in the job), there are too many of them anyways and they can't find jobs. Also can't think of any portugese scien…

[deleted]

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

#606

Post by ianai »

candyman wrote: post #587

There's much discussion here about Portugal and other countries but what about the US? Could one go closer to a place like Colorado Springs (near Denver) or Cincinnati? There are also places like Albany NY? What are some of the lowest cost but good US areas?

I went through undergrad in NM. Not only did I come out without any student debt, I made a little surplus every semester. I was able to live a good life off around 10k in savings for something like 3 years there too. I think I’d say consider NM. It has pricier areas, but also very affordable areas. It’s got several colleges and two national labs.

There are bummers about NM, but it’s possible to mitigate them if you go in aware.

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

#607

Post by nelsonic »

madeofpalk wrote: post #423
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…

> There's a reason @paddycosgrave moved Web Summit to Lisbon. Because the tax payers are paying €110m for it? http://www.thejournal.ie/lisbon-web-summit-new-ten-year-deal...

€110m is an absolute bargain for the value that it has generated. Any public official who was involved in making that decision/deal and facilitating the influx of talent/ideas/energy/capital deserves a medal! Lisbon is buzzing now more than ever, thanks in no small part to Web Summit. It was good before, now it's incredible. Say what you want about Web Summit (that's a whole other rant!) it is unquestionably "net positive" to the Portuguese economy and the lives of tens of thousands of people.

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

#609

Post by EnderMB »

siquick wrote: post #323
EnderMB wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The culture point was a shocking one for me. I spent a week in Barcelona and you had to spend money to do pretty much anything, and if you've not pre-booked it's likely that you won't be doing what you want to do until at least tomorrow.

It sounds like you really didn't try because there are things on literally every weekend for free or low cost. Everything from free or lowcost music festivals, to street parties, to lighting installations in the park. And thats just been the last 3 weeks in a very small radius. Theres also free museums and music gigs are incredibly good value. Plus the beach is free, the mountains are free, walking around Montjuic is…

That's no different to any other major European city. The difference was that in Barcelona you had to have pre-booked, otherwise things that usually aren't ticketed in cities like Amsterdam or London like parks aren't fully accessible to you.

We still had a lovely time, but when you've got limited time in a place it's worth noting that you need to book things before you go. People that like to set plans to see certain things at certain times might find themselves disappointed, even if they were happy to pay a bit extra to book on the day.

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

#610

Post by HelgeSeetzen »

sonnyblarney wrote: post #189

In North America I would vote Montreal. It's 1/2 price of most American cities and 2x funner and cooler than almost any of them. LA and NYC have tons of cool, but they are expensive and doing fun stuff is generally expensive. Not so Montreal. Mtl has way more going on than even SF ever had back in the day, and it's much bigger than Austin, Boulder/Colorado Springs etc. etc.. During the summer, Montreal has an unbelie…

Montreal is a great choice indeed. I am originally from Europe (Germany, short time in Holland) and have built tech companies on the West Coast (Vancouver, SF). After a decade on the West Coast, I moved to Montreal in 2010. Really enjoyable city with a great mix of high quality of life, culture and massive diversity (which in my opinion - even more so that universities - is the cause of the "intellectual" environment that you seek).

My outfit, TandemLaunch, has built 20+ deep tech companies in Montreal with people from all over the globe (some 40+ countries of origin). Depending on your background, there might be opportunities for you in one of those. Our companies range from early stage to those with 100+ employees so there are opportunities along the entire risk/reward spectrum (see here http://www.tandemlaunch.com/#portfolio). Obviously there are plenty of other great companies in Montreal as well.

Happy to help with any local insights if you are considering this beautiful city (including with immigration since we have literally done this 100+ times).

cheers Helge

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