Ask HN: Best places in Europe to leave city life and work on your projects?

Barcelona & Lisbon.

How big do the mountains need to be?

I moved from London to Graz, Austria[0] a couple of years ago. The city has a population of roughly 300k and is surrounded by large hills.

There are some really good universities here, so quite a lot of interesting research happening, and a decent night life (although with a young family I don't get to see much of it).

A car would be useful for exploring the countryside, but a bicycle would certainly see you in the middle of "nature" easily within 30 minutes ride.

Speaking German would help, but not mandatory, as almost everyone speaks some English. If you have your own projects to work on, then you're in a good position. Trying to find employment here, without speaking German, is quite difficult, mostly due to the small population base.

There is an English speaking language group that meets at a bar on Thursday nights.[1]

There are around half a dozen co-working spaces which charge in the region of €20-€25 per day, with discounts for monthly commitments.[2]

Transport to and from the UK isn't brilliant. There are no cheap direct flights (some might see this as a positive!), so your options are Lufthansa with a connection somewhere, or train to Vienna and direct on Austrian or Easyjet from there.

In short, it's a nice little city, reasonable climate, good architecture, decent cultural attractions especially in semester, good natural surroundings, but if you're from somewhere big in the UK, like London, it'll seem very, very quiet.

Happy to help if you want more info.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graz

[1] http://www.anglo-austrian.at/

[2] http://coworkinggraz.net/

Greek Islands (e.g. Crete) can be both cheap and beautiful.

Central Europe, from Lago di Como (IT) to Konstanz (DE) - breathtakingly beautiful German city that borders with Switzerland - there are lots of amazing places.

West of Ireland! Ok, I'm biased, I live here. But the scenery is nice, the pace is easy going, and everyone speaks english. It's also not going to break the bank to get here. It's not nearly as expensive here as Switzerland / Norway / Sweden etc. Westport in Co. Mayo is surrounded by beautiful scenery and was voted best place to live in Ireland. Pretty views, nice friendly people and great food. Internet can be slow if you venture away from towns, but most towns have decent speeds.

Outside of Europe.

What about Asia like Thailand and Indonesia?