These Are The 5 Easiest European Cities For Expats To Make Friends
If you’ve reached the point where you’re ready to give up bagels, pizza, and baconeggncheeses, pack your bags, and take the plunge to move abroad, you’ve likely already considered where you’re headed. If not, we’re here to help.
Health insurance experts over at Compare the Market conducted research to find the most social cities around the world, aka the easiest cities to make friends as an expat. So if you were looking to leave NYC’s endlessly rising rent behind and fly across the pond to Europe–so long as you have this special travel authorization–here’s where to go:
1. Dublin, Ireland
2. Porto, Portugal
3. Lisbon, Portugal
4. Ljubljana, Slovenia
5. Manchester, United Kingdom
Taking the crown as the easiest city to make friends as an expat in Europe is Dublin, Ireland. Forbes writes:
The Irish capital takes the crown…scoring 69.73 out of 100 overall in the survey. It’s also the most populous city to land in the top five. Dublin offers some of the highest concentrations of meetup groups and social locations across the continent, making it a fantastic area to socialize for outgoing people.
Sure, we have our very own Little Ireland in the Bronx, where there’s a ton of smashing things to do, and we got a bit of a peek into Dublin when The Portal was open in Flatiron, connecting NYC to the Irish city, but nothing compares to the real thing!
Porto, Portugal, Portugal’s second biggest city, takes second place in the top five, tying with Warsaw, Poland as Europe’s most inclusive city, with a 77.66 Inclusiveness Index Ranking. Porto’s rich history is evident through its beautiful architecture, so it is a hot tourist destination, but it’s also fabulous year-round for anyone looking to make friends with the locals.
Portugal’s capital, Lisbon, follows closely behind Porto, ranking in the top five for inclusiveness and meetup group numbers.
To entice you even more, if you move to Portugal you can get 10 years of tax breaks if you’re 35 or younger! Oh, and don’t forget it’s also one of the cheapest places to retire abroad.
As for Ljubljana, Slovenia, they’re big on friendship apps over there–when it comes to Google searches for friendship apps, it’s the only city to have a four-digit score per 100,000 people. The Slovenian capital has an overall score of 58.54 out of 100.
And finally, Manchester. This big city is a popular night-out destination and scores especially particularly high on meetup groups, with 112 per 100,000 people in the city. Though, if none of the above cities pique your interest, runner ups include Amsterdam, Glasgow, and Zurich.
If you’re not ready to commit to a move and would rather dip your toes in the water first, this home swapping network allows you to live like a local in various cities around the world!
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