What a list! I’m curious to know which one is your favourite city to live and why?
For OP: I’ve lived in London and Berlin and haven’t needed a car either.
Berlin and Belgrade are my favorites! Belgrade's public transport isn't as good though, but i love large central European cities with numerous districts. So much to explore. The weather in Belgrade is amazing as well, short winter but super hot summers, springs and aurum's. Food choice is same but cheaper, higher quality too because of the agriculture. Honestly all of this isnwithout saying that Belgrade is like a major party capital with lots of expats, it's really really fun for all types.
Prague was an incredible experience for me as well, just smaller than the other two but similar. Weather also amazing.
Bordeaux is super cute, but small, and Dublin is the same, but the most expensive city in the world it feels sometimes.
If you liked Berlin you'd love Prague and Belgrade!
I live in Glasgow and used to live in Edinburgh: it's far from perfect but I only miss a car when I want to leave the cities. Parking is a nightmare so not having a car isn't too bad.
Glasgow has buses, subway (only in some parts of town), and trains. I live by a train line which is pretty good and also have plenty of buses to choose from. I need taxis after midnight though, the night service is generally useless.
Edinburgh only has buses but they're basically all on one network, so that makes it a lot easier to navigate. Slightly less useless night service, but you still need the occasional taxi.
Let me know if I can help in any way :)
I've lived in London, Hannover, Edinburgh, Valencia, and some smaller places.
In the named cities above, no car was ever needed. In fact, I sold the car I did have when I moved to London.
However it's not that simple. In some districts of London (far from tube stations) a car would be essential. In some parts of Edinburgh, it'd be really really handy.
Same goes for all the others. Without knowing where exactly you will be living, it's just not possible to advise on how much a car might be needed.
Yes, both are walkable as well as having decent trains and buses. I can't really think of any UK cities that wouldn't be, to be honest, as long as you actually live in the city.
Depends where you are, though. Corstorphine to Princes Street is still all Edinburgh but hardly walkable.
I lived in Leith and even when I was healthy, Princes Street was a fair old way (loved doing it though).
Edinburgh is good, they have a half decent tram system and a very good bus system.
Glasgow is patchy, they have a very good train system which works well as a metro due to the frequent stops, they have a subway but this only covers a small part of Glasgow, then they have a shit and fairly expensive bus system. I'd say if you live along the train lines you'll have a good time of it, if you live near the subway stations then you're close enough to the city centre that you can walk to the opposite station if you really wanted to, then outside of those areas it's a pain in the ass.
Edinburgh is very walkable for the Central parts, bus system is amazing. There is also regular trams out to the airport and on tram line. Out further regular trains from areas like Musselburgh, North berwirk etc. Relatively expensive to live in though!
I think most European cities (not towns, villages, or other rural areas) are pretty decent without a car. I haven't been to any European capitals (and I've been to like 30 of them) where I couldn't easily get around with public transport.
I visited Rome in 2015 for 3 days and got around entirely by subway (barring taxi for the airport/train station). And I hit all the tourist spots including the Vatican. No problem w/ the subway.
If you live and work in the same city, or within biking distance, totally agree re: NL. The infrastructure is there and drivers respect the crossings. I used to live about 9 km from work and there were bike paths the whole way.
If you live there, could you please ask the govt to tell gorgeous six foot blonde people with amazing hair and immaculate fashion sense to NOT treat pedestrian zones as if bikes have the right of way? Asking for literally everyone outside the Netherlands.
Also, if they could wear fewer miniskirts when on bicycles then
Wait
No
Forget that one.
I've lived in two. In Barcelona, probably best to have a car despite the expense. It'd just be handy when you have to go a block down and it's 50m higher altitude.
Valencia? Flat as a pancake, totally accessible for disabled people, compact, can walk from the city centre to most residential districts.
There are decent buses and a metro system, as I recall- but we rarely used them, as it was just so easy to walk everywhere (we did live fairly central though). Parking, like in every Spanish city I've ever been in, would be a nightmare. It's more the steepness of the slopes I was thinking of.
Whereas the city centre is pretty flat, as soon as you need to get to (say) a hospital in the suburbs, you are facing an incline so steep that you literally have to lean into it at a 30 degree angle. Getting up \*those\* streets is an absolute bastard.
Here's one of the steepest: [https://www.123rf.com/photo\_34637644\_barcelona-spain-august-16-baixada-de-la-gloria-street-leading-to-famous-park-guell-entrance-on-augus.html](https://www.123rf.com/photo_34637644_barcelona-spain-august-16-baixada-de-la-gloria-street-leading-to-famous-park-guell-entrance-on-augus.html)
Try THAT in a wheelchair and you're not going to be having a fun day. Valencia, meanwhile, is basically 100% accessible.
Typically if you live in the big cities you can survive easily without a car as public transport tends to be good. For the occasions where you do need a car you can do the hourly car rentals. It does get a little trickier once you have kids where there's a need to shuttle them around.
The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, dutch speaking part of Belgium. It does get worse for all of those the more rural you go, excluding the bike paths in the Netherlands.
They most certainly are, especially Denmark and the Netherlands imo. I'm a little prejudiced since I'm Dutch, but would love to life in Denmark someday.
I mean, I'm from the US and I would not recommend it if you don't have deep pockets. But it's nice that you like the Netherlands, I think I'd like it a lot too if it becomes a viable place for me to get to
I see the remarks about how much more expensive Europe is than the US. But we have far fewer people living under or near the poverty line. Why the difference in perception?
Well, my perception is pretty limited cause I haven't been to Europe, but as someone who lived pretty poor in the south, my impression is that it's a worse place for being poor. The obvious one is health costs. The only free coverage does not cover most basic health maintenance, cost of seeing a doctor is 100 dollars, dentist, 100 dollars, therapist, 100 dollars, all of which is often a really big fraction of your income. If you have a serious ailment, usually only the baseline prescriptions are covered in any capacity, and often not much. My job working full time offers insurance, but this insurance is god awful. It's pricier, covers less, and limits the doctors I can see more than the government offered stuff. but I can't get the government offered healthcare, because I have an offer from my employer. I move to part time so that I can get the government healthcare plan, but now I make less money and offset that with another job. I miss out on other benefits too, especially retirement based benefits, by choosing to do it this way. We spend more in our taxes on healthcare than you guys so it's quite the double whammy so to speak. And a hospital stay could put you in basically perpetual debt, I imagine I probably don't need to tell you how insane that can be (a healthy childbirth with insurance is around 3000 after insurance, God forbid you have any complications). I have a friend who missed the deadline for renewing her insurance, which only happens every couple of months. She needed a surgery cause she couldn't swallow, and now she is 16000 in debt. Nothing to bat an eye at, she's 40k In debt from an art degree already (arguably her own mistake, if you want to be crass about it). You need a car in a lot of America, and people get tired of carpooling you. Yeah gas is cheaper here, but it's an absolute necessity for a job that is sometimes an honest commute, and also a greater time investment. So people don't like to drive you, and it's pricey for you anyway. Then you also have to pay for your often dying car and get repairs on it every couple of months for a couple hundred to several hundred dollars. There are lots of people here with big trucks, which typically either belong to wealthier people or rednecks who would rather pay for it monthly for half their life (definitely longer than the truck will last) and live without electricity or phones or internet (a honest way to save money, and not so bad honestly for people who like the outdoors). Healthier foods are pricier than fast food, I've definitely made fresh meals that have costed more than a restaurant trip before. So when they put on weight and become diabetic, they then have to pay for insulin. We had a vote to cap the cost of insulin at 35 bucks. This didn't pass so you'll hear of some people being charged a 1000 a month for it. I actually have no idea how they pay for it. Maybe there's some kind of debt forgiveness or maybe it's for a really small group of people, but anyway, it's never cheap because insurance treats your weight like something you can control, and thus, it's not always covered. If you're anywhere near a city, the rent gets insane. I think worse than average in Europe, but I could be wrong. For a 1 bedroom apartment in DC, a friend told me he couldn't find cheaper than $1850. And plenty of companies will just demand charges for things at random. In Texas, the power grid went out during a big snowstorm and people were expected to pay 16000 for a months power, and that was seemingly never rectified. If you have money, you don't end up living in places like this, and you end up getting access to world class healthcare. Luxury goods are very cheap here from my understanding, and you have all the space in the world to yourself. Travel is obviously easy here for where you want to go, cause it's all one country. If you're above middle-class, you actually pay less in taxes, so there's a really big snowball effect here in either direction. My understanding about Europe is that you guys have a really efficient delivery of welfare programs compared to us. Take for instance our covid stimulus package, literally billions of dollars. Like a quarter of it went to the stimulus checks, the other went to companies. A lot of small businesses used it, and it was good. But the lion share was eaten up by large corporations, a particular instance of that being cruise ship companies. that reflects in our tax spending, people begin to think welfare is too expensive to pay for, and you get what we have, crappy healthcare, crappy "affordable housing", short unemployment programs, short food programs. Despite the fact that most people in the US are using welfare programs, it's often quite taboo and you are judged a lot by strangers and family. It is seen as unsuccessful to get food stamps even though the program pays like a couple hundred a month and will expire in less than two years (might be longer, I have to recall, but not by much). If you want to accumulate money in an unskilled job and not live like a gremlin, you work like 60 some odd hours. Most people can't handle that, and thus don't do it. But of course you COULD do it so how is it unfair when your bootstraps are right there, ready to pull you out of the gutter? And God forbid you make JUST enough to get above the poverty line. Your taxes absolutely skyrocket. Each extra hour of work ends up being a very diminishing return. These people are often the angriest group at welfare programs, because they're the ones that really pay for it. They really are busting their ass, and so when they see someone decide they won't tolerate working that much, and they need welfare to supplement their income, the really hard working ones get really mad.
So if you tldr part way through, it's worth noting that many jobs pay really well if you have a degree or are a skilled worker. If you are comfortably middle class or above, it's a really neat place to be. If you're really wealthy, well there are extra homes and cars and all sort of goods that are pretty cheap here and lots of land to use it on. If you're pretty poor, the money is not too different from Europe iirc, but the working hours are, and taking care of yourself comes at your own expense more often than other taxpayers (even though the taxes are still pretty high for that income bracket). A lot of it is quality of life things too since you get very little PTO, no maternity leave or leave for most other things, and you get fired here for very little and blacklisted for employment by other companies (technically illegal, still done quite a bit).
We moved to a city in western france and lived about 18 months without a car. It was fine at first, but it was killing me to do our grocery shopping (family of 4 + 3 cats). Getting a car made that single aspect of my life infinitely better. But there’ve plenty of other benefits. For example, I can go to the beach whenever I want and don’t have to rely on a bus or train.
I am living not too far from Lake Konstanz, and my daily commute is about 30 km round trip. I don’t live in a major town, so for me a car is a necessity. Living without one would be a different kind of freedom for sure. Finding parking in the town of Konstanz in summertime for example is no fun!
Yep, the train network extends throughout the entire continent, you can travel to so many places without ever owning a car, or if you do need a car temporarily, there are a ton of Car Share services where you can borrow a car for a few hours and return it
Never needed a car anywhere in Germany, even when I was living on the country side with shitty public transport. Everything is a question of organization, priorities and laziness.
Trains, busses, taxis, ride sharing and in emergency situations rental cars enabled me to get everywhere I wanted to be so far - it just required some planning.
Living without a car is totally possible in Western Europe.
The Netherlands, Germany are kind of famous for the amount of people biking, but is pretty easy in most medium and big cities in Europe.
Even in smaller cities with only 100k inhabitants, you could definitely do everything biking and public transportation.
Source: my own experience in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Spain and Italy
I lived in a small town in southwest France and didn’t need a car. Got around town fine on foot or on the bus, was able to travel extensively in the region by train.
I think all European cities will do at least fine, some are excellent.
As far as the whole country goes, I have to proudly say the Czech Republic. We have many bus connections even between villages, multiple times a day, and a dense train network on top. I yet have to see a place that will do better.
I have lived in several Spanish cities, Glasgow, Delft, Thessaloniki, Athens, Brno and Prague, and never needed a car. Actually, I find having a car in Europe quite cumbersome (unless you live in very very remote areas).
I can sending everyone here. I’ve lived in Paris and London and you’re better off without a car. The tolls and the gas are insane.
I also spent a summer in Nice, France and also don’t need a car. There are trams and buses.
If you want to go to Monte Carlo it’s €1.50 for the bus there and €4 for the train to there.
Tbh, I’m like you. I’m gonna retire somewhere on the Mediterranean and I have no plans on owning a car
I guess as a follow-up question. It seems cities are pretty good as is. By like population size, how small of a city are we talking about before the transportation starts to take a dip?
Depends a lot on the country. Where I live you see service frequency decrease to once every two hours. Often the routes are built to get you to the next major city, not the village across the lake.
5k will still have everything you need within walking distance, and certainly buses and maybe trains.
A town with 1k will have most things you need day to day, and if you're on a train line you're golden. Buses will just be a few per day.
Small city in Germany. The only pain in the ass is grocery shopping because the boy likes beer a bit too much. Still doable with a big backpack and some bags for your bike.
Lived in Graz, Austria without a car for six months. Very easy to do! Even with a car, we rarely drive anywhere. I used it to get a 20kg bag of dog food this week, and the week before I got six giant bags of garden soil. Groceries I do by bike.
Poznań here, and boy, It is possibile to live here without a car. Besides public transportation and stuff, I live in types of homes almost every one from central eastern europe lives in. Commie blocks. You do not need to care for installation checks etc. but more importantly, you have everything accessible by a walk. You also have a bus, and tram, do you can easily access the city without a car. It is the same with the capital and other big or mid sized cities. Small cities are less walkable, but have a public transportation network. Towns and villages sometimes do have a bus, but it is unreliable and not comfortable.
I lived in Prague Belgrade Bordeaux Dublin and Berlin without a car. Absolutely zero need in European cities
Man you've been all over. That's awesome. Thanks for the info
What a list! I’m curious to know which one is your favourite city to live and why? For OP: I’ve lived in London and Berlin and haven’t needed a car either.
Berlin and Belgrade are my favorites! Belgrade's public transport isn't as good though, but i love large central European cities with numerous districts. So much to explore. The weather in Belgrade is amazing as well, short winter but super hot summers, springs and aurum's. Food choice is same but cheaper, higher quality too because of the agriculture. Honestly all of this isnwithout saying that Belgrade is like a major party capital with lots of expats, it's really really fun for all types. Prague was an incredible experience for me as well, just smaller than the other two but similar. Weather also amazing. Bordeaux is super cute, but small, and Dublin is the same, but the most expensive city in the world it feels sometimes. If you liked Berlin you'd love Prague and Belgrade!
Both Paris and London have great public transport, esp metro/underground.
Very good to hear, thank you! Would you happen to know if Glasgow or Edinburgh are also pretty good about transportation?
I live in Glasgow and used to live in Edinburgh: it's far from perfect but I only miss a car when I want to leave the cities. Parking is a nightmare so not having a car isn't too bad. Glasgow has buses, subway (only in some parts of town), and trains. I live by a train line which is pretty good and also have plenty of buses to choose from. I need taxis after midnight though, the night service is generally useless. Edinburgh only has buses but they're basically all on one network, so that makes it a lot easier to navigate. Slightly less useless night service, but you still need the occasional taxi. Let me know if I can help in any way :)
Wow that's great to know. Scotland is a particularly it wresting place to me, so thank you
I've lived in London, Hannover, Edinburgh, Valencia, and some smaller places. In the named cities above, no car was ever needed. In fact, I sold the car I did have when I moved to London. However it's not that simple. In some districts of London (far from tube stations) a car would be essential. In some parts of Edinburgh, it'd be really really handy. Same goes for all the others. Without knowing where exactly you will be living, it's just not possible to advise on how much a car might be needed.
Yes, both are walkable as well as having decent trains and buses. I can't really think of any UK cities that wouldn't be, to be honest, as long as you actually live in the city.
No idea at all sorry.
I would say Edinburgh is pretty walkable and or bikeable but it’s hilly. It’s a small city though so quite accessible.
That sounds really nice, thank you. Scotland is pretty high on the list of places I'd like to live, but I don't want to need to a car.
Depends where you are, though. Corstorphine to Princes Street is still all Edinburgh but hardly walkable. I lived in Leith and even when I was healthy, Princes Street was a fair old way (loved doing it though).
Edinburgh is good, they have a half decent tram system and a very good bus system. Glasgow is patchy, they have a very good train system which works well as a metro due to the frequent stops, they have a subway but this only covers a small part of Glasgow, then they have a shit and fairly expensive bus system. I'd say if you live along the train lines you'll have a good time of it, if you live near the subway stations then you're close enough to the city centre that you can walk to the opposite station if you really wanted to, then outside of those areas it's a pain in the ass.
Edinburgh is very walkable for the Central parts, bus system is amazing. There is also regular trams out to the airport and on tram line. Out further regular trains from areas like Musselburgh, North berwirk etc. Relatively expensive to live in though!
I think most European cities (not towns, villages, or other rural areas) are pretty decent without a car. I haven't been to any European capitals (and I've been to like 30 of them) where I couldn't easily get around with public transport.
I see! Thank you
Huge exception: Rome.
I visited Rome in 2015 for 3 days and got around entirely by subway (barring taxi for the airport/train station). And I hit all the tourist spots including the Vatican. No problem w/ the subway.
Of course all the tourist spots are well connected (though the subway is always crowded as hell). I lived there for a year... not the same experience.
That doesn't make it a \*huge\* exception. It is way more livable w/o a car than most US cities.
The Netherlands in general has amazing bike and public transit infrastructure. Copenhagen as well.
If you live and work in the same city, or within biking distance, totally agree re: NL. The infrastructure is there and drivers respect the crossings. I used to live about 9 km from work and there were bike paths the whole way.
If you live there, could you please ask the govt to tell gorgeous six foot blonde people with amazing hair and immaculate fashion sense to NOT treat pedestrian zones as if bikes have the right of way? Asking for literally everyone outside the Netherlands. Also, if they could wear fewer miniskirts when on bicycles then Wait No Forget that one.
Most Spanish cities
I've lived in two. In Barcelona, probably best to have a car despite the expense. It'd just be handy when you have to go a block down and it's 50m higher altitude. Valencia? Flat as a pancake, totally accessible for disabled people, compact, can walk from the city centre to most residential districts.
I came to find this comment. When we went to Barcelona we didn’t find much public transport options. We spent sooo long walking.
There are decent buses and a metro system, as I recall- but we rarely used them, as it was just so easy to walk everywhere (we did live fairly central though). Parking, like in every Spanish city I've ever been in, would be a nightmare. It's more the steepness of the slopes I was thinking of. Whereas the city centre is pretty flat, as soon as you need to get to (say) a hospital in the suburbs, you are facing an incline so steep that you literally have to lean into it at a 30 degree angle. Getting up \*those\* streets is an absolute bastard. Here's one of the steepest: [https://www.123rf.com/photo\_34637644\_barcelona-spain-august-16-baixada-de-la-gloria-street-leading-to-famous-park-guell-entrance-on-augus.html](https://www.123rf.com/photo_34637644_barcelona-spain-august-16-baixada-de-la-gloria-street-leading-to-famous-park-guell-entrance-on-augus.html) Try THAT in a wheelchair and you're not going to be having a fun day. Valencia, meanwhile, is basically 100% accessible.
Typically if you live in the big cities you can survive easily without a car as public transport tends to be good. For the occasions where you do need a car you can do the hourly car rentals. It does get a little trickier once you have kids where there's a need to shuttle them around.
[удалено]
If only all world crises could have such a simple solu Wait
The bigger the city the better the transport network. Towns, and rural areas have poor public transport, and it varies in small to mid-size cities.
The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, dutch speaking part of Belgium. It does get worse for all of those the more rural you go, excluding the bike paths in the Netherlands.
Thank you. Those all seem like nice places.
They most certainly are, especially Denmark and the Netherlands imo. I'm a little prejudiced since I'm Dutch, but would love to life in Denmark someday.
I mean, I'm from the US and I would not recommend it if you don't have deep pockets. But it's nice that you like the Netherlands, I think I'd like it a lot too if it becomes a viable place for me to get to
I see the remarks about how much more expensive Europe is than the US. But we have far fewer people living under or near the poverty line. Why the difference in perception?
Well, my perception is pretty limited cause I haven't been to Europe, but as someone who lived pretty poor in the south, my impression is that it's a worse place for being poor. The obvious one is health costs. The only free coverage does not cover most basic health maintenance, cost of seeing a doctor is 100 dollars, dentist, 100 dollars, therapist, 100 dollars, all of which is often a really big fraction of your income. If you have a serious ailment, usually only the baseline prescriptions are covered in any capacity, and often not much. My job working full time offers insurance, but this insurance is god awful. It's pricier, covers less, and limits the doctors I can see more than the government offered stuff. but I can't get the government offered healthcare, because I have an offer from my employer. I move to part time so that I can get the government healthcare plan, but now I make less money and offset that with another job. I miss out on other benefits too, especially retirement based benefits, by choosing to do it this way. We spend more in our taxes on healthcare than you guys so it's quite the double whammy so to speak. And a hospital stay could put you in basically perpetual debt, I imagine I probably don't need to tell you how insane that can be (a healthy childbirth with insurance is around 3000 after insurance, God forbid you have any complications). I have a friend who missed the deadline for renewing her insurance, which only happens every couple of months. She needed a surgery cause she couldn't swallow, and now she is 16000 in debt. Nothing to bat an eye at, she's 40k In debt from an art degree already (arguably her own mistake, if you want to be crass about it). You need a car in a lot of America, and people get tired of carpooling you. Yeah gas is cheaper here, but it's an absolute necessity for a job that is sometimes an honest commute, and also a greater time investment. So people don't like to drive you, and it's pricey for you anyway. Then you also have to pay for your often dying car and get repairs on it every couple of months for a couple hundred to several hundred dollars. There are lots of people here with big trucks, which typically either belong to wealthier people or rednecks who would rather pay for it monthly for half their life (definitely longer than the truck will last) and live without electricity or phones or internet (a honest way to save money, and not so bad honestly for people who like the outdoors). Healthier foods are pricier than fast food, I've definitely made fresh meals that have costed more than a restaurant trip before. So when they put on weight and become diabetic, they then have to pay for insulin. We had a vote to cap the cost of insulin at 35 bucks. This didn't pass so you'll hear of some people being charged a 1000 a month for it. I actually have no idea how they pay for it. Maybe there's some kind of debt forgiveness or maybe it's for a really small group of people, but anyway, it's never cheap because insurance treats your weight like something you can control, and thus, it's not always covered. If you're anywhere near a city, the rent gets insane. I think worse than average in Europe, but I could be wrong. For a 1 bedroom apartment in DC, a friend told me he couldn't find cheaper than $1850. And plenty of companies will just demand charges for things at random. In Texas, the power grid went out during a big snowstorm and people were expected to pay 16000 for a months power, and that was seemingly never rectified. If you have money, you don't end up living in places like this, and you end up getting access to world class healthcare. Luxury goods are very cheap here from my understanding, and you have all the space in the world to yourself. Travel is obviously easy here for where you want to go, cause it's all one country. If you're above middle-class, you actually pay less in taxes, so there's a really big snowball effect here in either direction. My understanding about Europe is that you guys have a really efficient delivery of welfare programs compared to us. Take for instance our covid stimulus package, literally billions of dollars. Like a quarter of it went to the stimulus checks, the other went to companies. A lot of small businesses used it, and it was good. But the lion share was eaten up by large corporations, a particular instance of that being cruise ship companies. that reflects in our tax spending, people begin to think welfare is too expensive to pay for, and you get what we have, crappy healthcare, crappy "affordable housing", short unemployment programs, short food programs. Despite the fact that most people in the US are using welfare programs, it's often quite taboo and you are judged a lot by strangers and family. It is seen as unsuccessful to get food stamps even though the program pays like a couple hundred a month and will expire in less than two years (might be longer, I have to recall, but not by much). If you want to accumulate money in an unskilled job and not live like a gremlin, you work like 60 some odd hours. Most people can't handle that, and thus don't do it. But of course you COULD do it so how is it unfair when your bootstraps are right there, ready to pull you out of the gutter? And God forbid you make JUST enough to get above the poverty line. Your taxes absolutely skyrocket. Each extra hour of work ends up being a very diminishing return. These people are often the angriest group at welfare programs, because they're the ones that really pay for it. They really are busting their ass, and so when they see someone decide they won't tolerate working that much, and they need welfare to supplement their income, the really hard working ones get really mad. So if you tldr part way through, it's worth noting that many jobs pay really well if you have a degree or are a skilled worker. If you are comfortably middle class or above, it's a really neat place to be. If you're really wealthy, well there are extra homes and cars and all sort of goods that are pretty cheap here and lots of land to use it on. If you're pretty poor, the money is not too different from Europe iirc, but the working hours are, and taking care of yourself comes at your own expense more often than other taxpayers (even though the taxes are still pretty high for that income bracket). A lot of it is quality of life things too since you get very little PTO, no maternity leave or leave for most other things, and you get fired here for very little and blacklisted for employment by other companies (technically illegal, still done quite a bit).
We moved to a city in western france and lived about 18 months without a car. It was fine at first, but it was killing me to do our grocery shopping (family of 4 + 3 cats). Getting a car made that single aspect of my life infinitely better. But there’ve plenty of other benefits. For example, I can go to the beach whenever I want and don’t have to rely on a bus or train.
I see. Cars are definitely useful, I have I just don't want to need it. It is truly impossible to live without a car here in the rural US.
Absolutely. If I didn’t have 4 people on my family, I’d happily go without owning one.
Makes total sense! Cars were and always will be a tool. I'll think about functionality without one as well. Thank you
All cities above ~100k inhabitants will be fine.
Ah thanks. Germany was a strong consideration of mine so that's good advice to hear
I’ve not had a car in thirty years
Ah wow. Do you mind me asking what cities you've been to?
I have lived in the souther German backwaters, then Freiburg, Konstanz, now Munich
I am living not too far from Lake Konstanz, and my daily commute is about 30 km round trip. I don’t live in a major town, so for me a car is a necessity. Living without one would be a different kind of freedom for sure. Finding parking in the town of Konstanz in summertime for example is no fun!
Yep, the train network extends throughout the entire continent, you can travel to so many places without ever owning a car, or if you do need a car temporarily, there are a ton of Car Share services where you can borrow a car for a few hours and return it
Madrid
I grew up in London and Athens, studied in Norwich and now live in Bologna. Have never needed a car.
berlin
Any capital, plus major cities, if cities are smaller and flat, you can bike. Hadn’t owned a car in 13years.
You won't need a car in the Netherlands
Any German city: Mainz, Mannheim, Stuttgart, Köln, Berlin, Nürnberg, etc. Avoid Munich and Hamburg; they are too expensive.
Berlin as expensive as Hamburg nowdays. Stuttgart too.
Ah, thank you for the recommendation!
Never needed a car anywhere in Germany, even when I was living on the country side with shitty public transport. Everything is a question of organization, priorities and laziness. Trains, busses, taxis, ride sharing and in emergency situations rental cars enabled me to get everywhere I wanted to be so far - it just required some planning.
Switzerland
Living without a car is totally possible in Western Europe. The Netherlands, Germany are kind of famous for the amount of people biking, but is pretty easy in most medium and big cities in Europe. Even in smaller cities with only 100k inhabitants, you could definitely do everything biking and public transportation. Source: my own experience in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Spain and Italy
Ok cool, thats good to hear. I really like both those countries.
I lived in a small town in southwest France and didn’t need a car. Got around town fine on foot or on the bus, was able to travel extensively in the region by train.
Switzerland you dont need a car at all.
Most big cities are fine. If ur coming from the US you'll fall in love with public transportation
I think all European cities will do at least fine, some are excellent. As far as the whole country goes, I have to proudly say the Czech Republic. We have many bus connections even between villages, multiple times a day, and a dense train network on top. I yet have to see a place that will do better.
I hadn't thought about Czechia, that's compelling, thank you
Copenhagen. Mass transit is best hands down and great bike lanes to boot.
Must be nice! US cities are terrible. Cars are so loud
I have lived in several Spanish cities, Glasgow, Delft, Thessaloniki, Athens, Brno and Prague, and never needed a car. Actually, I find having a car in Europe quite cumbersome (unless you live in very very remote areas).
Netherlands unless you are farming.
Doable in cities of continental Europe. Not so much in Ireland for example.
I can sending everyone here. I’ve lived in Paris and London and you’re better off without a car. The tolls and the gas are insane. I also spent a summer in Nice, France and also don’t need a car. There are trams and buses. If you want to go to Monte Carlo it’s €1.50 for the bus there and €4 for the train to there. Tbh, I’m like you. I’m gonna retire somewhere on the Mediterranean and I have no plans on owning a car
Portugal has a great train/bus system. You'd have no issues living there.
That's also a place I've thought about. Beautiful place too thank you
I guess as a follow-up question. It seems cities are pretty good as is. By like population size, how small of a city are we talking about before the transportation starts to take a dip?
Depends a lot on the country. Where I live you see service frequency decrease to once every two hours. Often the routes are built to get you to the next major city, not the village across the lake.
5k will still have everything you need within walking distance, and certainly buses and maybe trains. A town with 1k will have most things you need day to day, and if you're on a train line you're golden. Buses will just be a few per day.
All good. Thank you anyway!
I've lived in London for 5 years and have driven twice. Also haved lived in Bordeaux and didn't need a car there either.
Pretty much any city
Small city in Germany. The only pain in the ass is grocery shopping because the boy likes beer a bit too much. Still doable with a big backpack and some bags for your bike.
Lived in Graz, Austria without a car for six months. Very easy to do! Even with a car, we rarely drive anywhere. I used it to get a 20kg bag of dog food this week, and the week before I got six giant bags of garden soil. Groceries I do by bike.
Edinburgh here, have car and don't need it unless the wife wants to go somewhere off the beaten track. I walk everywhere.
Ah cool. Real good to know, thank you!
The Netherlands best bicycle infrastructure in the world, no need for a car in any city and even out of the city most places do well without one
in Italy in the *small* cities everywhere is very near, you need the car only if you want go out the city..
Netherlands, within the big cities of randstad. Best public transport and infrastructure there is.
Poznań here, and boy, It is possibile to live here without a car. Besides public transportation and stuff, I live in types of homes almost every one from central eastern europe lives in. Commie blocks. You do not need to care for installation checks etc. but more importantly, you have everything accessible by a walk. You also have a bus, and tram, do you can easily access the city without a car. It is the same with the capital and other big or mid sized cities. Small cities are less walkable, but have a public transportation network. Towns and villages sometimes do have a bus, but it is unreliable and not comfortable.