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Where are the best places to live?

33K views 67 replies 39 participants last post by  janephelps 
#1 ·
I would like everyones opinion on where they think the best places to live would be. I have lived in a few places myself but have not traveled extensively, so getting this information from others will be very helpful in my decision. Be sure to tell me why you think that place is the best.
 
#30 ·
I hope this is not duplicate, it seemed to have bounced due to including URL for panama-guide

I have some some experience with Miraflores (and Barranco) & Panamá.

First, Miraflores:
I spent 16 days in Perú in late 2005, and fell in love with the country, and the people. If you have not visited, also check out Cusco and Arequipa, in the south. They are both beautiful old Spanish cities, and of course Cusco is the entry to Machu Picchu.

However, while there are beautiful, and inexpensive, 3 star “hostales” in Perú, apartments in Lima/Miraflores/Barranco seemed expensive to buy, from what I remember.

I paid $25US per night, including breakfast at Hotel Melgar(?), a charming 3 star hostal in a great location, in Arequipa. HostAl is not a youth hostEl, but more like a pension or parador.

Panamá City:
I moved here last July after nearly 3 years in Viejo San Juan, in Puerto Rico. While most gringos seem to love the country & city, I do not. The Panamanians are very nice people, but don't believe the hype that English is widely spoken, UNTRUE!

For me is a boring place, and places of any (questionable) interest are too far to drive (beach is an hour or two away, Bay of Panama is seriously polluted), or ridiculously expensive (prices on San Blas Islands are like Monaco & the French Riviera). Many like to live around other gringos in some of the mountain areas, like Boquete. I have not been interested enough to visit.

I have been, I think, in eighteen countries, on four continents and I think the driver’s, in Panama CITY, MUST be among the World’s worst. They are not only very aggressive, but downright nasty. They make those in NYC seem like saints.

Real estate prices in the city are rapidly escalating in a boom market.

Take a look at website panama-guide
 
#8 ·
I agree that there no single best place to live, but instead a best place for you. And that best place can change over time. You may want a big city when you are young, or a relaxed rural area. Then when you reach retirement, you may prefer a place with lots of activities, museums, theater, etc. because you are going to have more free time. Five years later you may want a quiet place near a beach. I think it is a mistake to settle somewhere and think, 'This is it." It rarely is.
 
#9 ·
Whistler, BC Canada

I would have to say Whistler, BC would be the best place to live. The logic is as follows:

1) Activities like skiing, watersports, golfing, and a great night life.
2) Scenery - Everything from Mountain peaks to ocean, lakes and rivers.
3) Close to a major city port - Vancouver BC is 90 minutes away and has everything from sporting events to museums and other attractions. Plus it is a hub to the pacific rim and North America

I have traveled all around this world and that in my opinion is one of the best places to live.

Michael Kettner
Managing Editor
ExpatriateGlobal.com
 
#11 ·
I agree

You are right. When picking the ideal place to leave somewhere where it gets cold for an extended period of time is not idea. However, Whistler is pretty unique in that you could golf in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and go skying in the same day. Or instead of golfing go scuba diving.

We are lucky that this planet provides a lot of different options to fit each of our interests and individual desires. It could even be said, "To each there own!"

Michael
 
#14 ·
Wales is one of the smallest and most beautiful countries in the world. The wonder of Snowdonia in North Wales, the wonderful beaches of the Gower Coast in South Wales and the quiet tranquility of Mid Wales. The people of Wales are renowned the world over as the friendliest people in the world, no exaggeration!
The capital city of Cardiff is one of the fastest growing cities in the world, vibrant,thrilling, exciting, Then you've got the nightlife, restaurants and shopping, there is no better.
If you enjoy sports or any leisure activities of any kind, and to any level, Wales can cater for it.
If you wish to purchase property the prices are so reasonable you'd be amazed.
Take a closer look and be prepared to be amazed!
 
#15 ·
Wales is one of the smallest and most beautiful countries in the world. The wonder of Snowdonia in North Wales, the wonderful beaches of the Gower Coast in South Wales and the quiet tranquility of Mid Wales. The people of Wales are renowned the world over as the friendliest people in the world, no exaggeration!
The capital city of Cardiff is one of the fastest growing cities in the world, vibrant,thrilling, exciting, Then you've got the nightlife, restaurants and shopping, there is no better.
If you enjoy sports or any leisure activities of any kind, and to any level, Wales can cater for it.
If you wish to purchase property the prices are so reasonable you'd be amazed.
Take a closer look and be prepared to be amazed!
 
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#18 ·
Not the best place

I can tell you where it is not a nice place to live!!
GERMANY!!
It's still a regimented land...........a modern dictatorship!!
This is were the yanks should be kicking ass as they like doing all over the place!!
Has anybody ever met a yank that doesn't allways think he or she's better than you, you know the sort..........if you say you've p****d in a coppers helmut he's s**t in one! allways better ya know what i mean!!

Anyway back to the point here in Germany taxed to high heaven poor wages and absolute no respect for tradesmen of any description.

That's why this whinging pomme is moving downunder, to annoy all the other whingers and they know who they are.
 
#24 ·
I think that before you worry about supporting yourself, you need to find out whether you can legally live in the country or not, and if you can, whether you can work there. Over the years I've seen so many posts from people who have decided to move to some country that makes it difficult to stay, without researching the visa/work situation at all.
 
#26 ·
i dont know where the best place is to live but the worst place to live at the moment is England with the current crime and high unemployment. my family are seriosly considering movind to cyprus in the hope of a better and safer place in which to bring up our children, does anybody have an opinion on the most ideal area of cyprus for schools, jobs and low crime rates etc, any information would be garatefully accepted.
 
#27 ·
Sort of relevant really. I'm from America and although my old area was a nice area, the crime rate here in England seems very minimal by comparison. Also depends upon what area of England you're talking about. There's also not a lot of unemployment in the part of England in which I live, but there are very few high-skilled or high-tech job openings in my area. So again, that's all relevant.

You should get some good advice and feedback here though Shane. Good luck!
 
#28 ·
I think it is really hard to tell how it is to live in a place until you do it. It is especially hard for people who have not traveled extensively, who have never lived abroad, and/or have never visited their expat destination.

Everyone runs into so many things that they hadn't expected, just because there are whole parts of the structure of a society that you don't see until you are living there over time. We are all full of assumptions about how things work based on our backgrounds, and it is hard to see differences in areas we never even think much about. There are places where the police routinely rob people and Spain has serious land title problems, so it's easy to assume you will have the same protections as you do at home. And that's even aside from day to day living issues.
 
#32 ·
Since someone mentioned one "best place NOT TO live" I can't help adding the USA. Of course, this is a biased, subjective opinion (like all other opinions) but it is MY opinion and I am happy to share it wherever the fist of the politically correct police does not stifle my mouth or keyboard. ;)
Ten years after having arrived here from Eastern Europe - and having succeeded with the "American dream", opportunity and all that jazz sparkling in popular stories about America - I am so ready to relocate back to Europe, ANY part of Europe!!!, that I cannot find words to describe how badly I need to be back. As a matter of fact, I have come to be weirdly jealous of all people who live in Europe or who have already had the chance to relocate there. I had to conclude that the price one ends up paying for all those apparent American "golden opportunities" - including, in my case, graduate degree, good job, relatively big house in nice (yet horrifically dry and lonely neighborhood, which is the case virtually everywhere), picture perfect family but no community to anchor it in - is a complete f**k-up of the psyche. Let me sum it up, be it with what some may denonce as "sweeping generalizations": no sense of authentic and spontaneous community, a feeling that there's nobody outside of the walls of your home, people so mentally isolated, so politically correct, so locked up into themselves and their own little personal agendas, that no one has any real time available for anyone or any "together-type" activity other than obsessing about themselves. Even when they get together or are in "crowd-type" situations, Americans (which includes immigrants arrived here recently, unless they live in their own enclaves) act lonely and isolated as crap. They are the worst conversationalists the world has ever seen and when I say this I MEAN it and STAND by it. (Don't point me to exceptions to the rule, they are irrelevant).
A nation of obsessed consumers, consumed in turn by a fanatic materialistic and individualistic mentality where nothing has value unless it translates into a sort of perverted, halucinatory individualism that actually has more to do with narcissism than with the individual himself. What's saddest is that once you are here, you can't really live life on your own terms because as the saying goes, you can't p** against the wind. On paper, everything is JUST RIGHT with living in this country. In reality, everything feels horribly WRONG. All that touted FREEDOM I found it to be just a poor excuse for mysanthropy, social isolation, fear of depending on another human being in any way, shape or form, hatred of community or any rapport of reciprocity, including at the family level. I am not sure what exactly the Founding Fathers of this currently freakish sociey had in mind when they talked about "the pursuit of happiness, men being created equal" and all that kitchy philosophy...but I am sure as heck that their good intentions paved the road to the proverbial Hell. Both my American husband and I (plus 2 small children) are ready to move to Europe the moment the right job opportunity happens (or lottery hit - ha!), which nowadays seem almost equally difficult. We will keep trying however, as I find the US a terribly sad and inauthentic place to live. We're ready to take on, and live with, Europe's little "discomforts" (gargantuan in the eyes of regular American folk) - such as:

- living in small spaces and dealing with tight streets (and sometimes uptight people),
- less efficiency in just about everything,
- the perennial obssession with class (as in "whose blood is "blue" and whose is less so),
- higher cost of living (as in "I will no longer be able to go to Wall Mart and buy a ton of China-made junk for almost nothing"; same principle will apply to gas and zipping on highways),
-fussy, gossipy people (with given variations depending on which country you're talking about),
- cliquish society which is particularly adverse to finding a job straightforwardly, with a CV only, and not with "just the right connection in just the right place".
- and finally, discrimination against Eastern Europeans (as I am one).

In fact, at this point I would prefer to deal with prejudice directed at my nation/culture (hoping that I can disprove the stereotypes as an individual) than to deal with this policy of indifferent tolerance promoted in the US culture. After all, the best way to "melt" into the Melting Pot is with a big WHATEVER on your lips. Then back to the "me, myself and I".

Finally, I find it ironic that many non-Americans say "we have nothing with the American people, we just dislike GWB, US government policies, its global actions and the like". I think this is a big blah-blah that hides the reality that only a freakish culture set up by freakish people could have generated such monster rulers and such government policies to begin with. It is easy to point the finger to the "big, bad wolves" and say "it's just them, not the average folk we dislike" but I find this to be disingenuous.
Once you live here long enough and manage to maintain some sort of perspective without trying to force yourself into "melting" into the Melting Pot at any cost, you realize how many things are wrong with the American way of life.

Definitely missing Europe... with all of its flaws, sins and imperfections.
 
#33 ·
Can't say that I disagree with you on much of anything - although perhaps because I was born and raised in the US, I tend to "understand" it a bit more (or "tolerate" it - not sure which). I had big immigration problems when I came to France, and didn't do so well here for quite a while, so I can probably match you obnoxious trait for obnoxious trait with the French. But ultimately I've come to prefer how things are here in Europe, and I now carry a French passport.

But when you do get back to Europe, I'd be very interested to hear your reactions to your return. There's that saying that "you can't go home again" and I think it's true. Europe has changed in the however-many years since you've been gone, and it won't be quite like you remember it. I fully acknowledge that I can't go back to live in the US again - because I've changed and because the US has changed. But I still enjoy my visits back there - in part to stock up on a few cherished items that are hard to find here in Europe (I guess we're all products of our culture :eek: ), and in part to see a few specific people I've kept in touch with over the years.

Good luck in your job search. I know from experience that it isn't easy for a US citizen to find a job in Europe - and that there isn't normally a "right" of return based on marriage to a local national. Get ready for some serious immigration hassle. But it is certainly do-able, provided your spouse speaks the local language. And do keep us informed of your progress.
 
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