Just dreaming but 2nd home/apt. in Europe? Where would you live?

[LNC]

Somewhere -

beautiful

centrally located enough to travel by train throughout Europe

affordable

safe

 

 

Ideas?

:)

[Melinda in VT]

Somewhere -

beautiful

centrally located enough to travel by train throughout Europe

affordable

safe

 

 

Ideas?

:)

 

Burgundy. Specifically, I really like Noyers-sur-Serein.

[PRTGSw2K]

Portugal.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I would move to Tours, France in a heartbeat. I lived there in grad school, and felt very much at home. It's in the heart of chateaux country in the Loire River Valley. 50 min. TGV ride to Paris, easy to get everywhere else, too.

[MrsBear]

Italy, somewhere just outside Florence.

[Liz CA]

Somewhere between Nizza and Alassio on the Riviera. :001_smile:

[Melinda in VT]

Italy, somewhere just outside Florence.

 

Any particular recommendations? I'm heading to Florence for a week starting tomorrow. :bigear:

[Stacia]

Northern Belgium

[MrsBear]

Any particular recommendations? I'm heading to Florence for a week starting tomorrow. :bigear:

 

The entire Tuscany region is breath-taking and beautiful....I was in residence there for about two months a few years ago and seriously tried to come up with a way to stay, it was that amazing. Florence itself is, IMO, a great city to live in, I spent the majority of my time in a rented apartment there (two blocks from the Duomo), so lived like a local and loved it. Outside of Florence my favorites were Arezzo and Sienna, although the smaller towns were wonderful too! Livorno, on the coast, is also really nice if you want to hit the coast (Pisa is very touristy).

[Melinda in VT]

The entire Tuscany region is breath-taking and beautiful....I was in residence there for about two months a few years ago and seriously tried to come up with a way to stay, it was that amazing. Florence itself is, IMO, a great city to live in, I spent the majority of my time in a rented apartment there (two blocks from the Duomo), so lived like a local and loved it. Outside of Florence my favorites were Arezzo and Sienna, although the smaller towns were wonderful too!

 

Thanks! We are staying in an apartment in Florence, although farther from the Duomo than your apartment. (That sounds wonderful!) Sienna is on our list. I'll have to look into Arezzo.

[TX6]

Munich, it is a wonderful city close to the beauty of the Alps. We lived in Germany for 4 years. I thought Munich was a perfect location. It has easy access to many countries.

[MrsBear]

Thanks! We are staying in an apartment in Florence, although farther from the Duomo than your apartment. (That sounds wonderful!) Sienna is on our list. I'll have to look into Arezzo.

 

Wikitravel Arezzo

[sagira]

The entire Tuscany region is breath-taking and beautiful....I was in residence there for about two months a few years ago and seriously tried to come up with a way to stay, it was that amazing. Florence itself is, IMO, a great city to live in, I spent the majority of my time in a rented apartment there (two blocks from the Duomo), so lived like a local and loved it. Outside of Florence my favorites were Arezzo and Sienna, although the smaller towns were wonderful too! Livorno, on the coast, is also really nice if you want to hit the coast (Pisa is very touristy).

 

Yes, yes, and yes! I would at least live in Tuscany for a few months. It's soooo beautiful. I love Italy, and dh can't wait to visit.

 

We even named our youngest after the other city of art treasures, Siena :)

[Elinor Everywhere]

Thanks! We are staying in an apartment in Florence, although farther from the Duomo than your apartment. (That sounds wonderful!) Sienna is on our list. I'll have to look into Arezzo.

 

We rented an apartment for a month in Florence, and it was fantastic. Lots to do in Florence, plus the train goes everywhere - we went to Rome, Pisa, Venice, the Cinque Terre, etc., all by train.

 

For me though, if I could have an apartment in Europe (and oh, haven't we thought about it and researched it!) I'd get a little place in the Dordogne region. I love it there, love the village of Sarlat and all the things to do nearby. Lots of great castles, hiking, canoeing, etc. Love it! Disclaimer: I haven't been to a part of France yet that I don't like. :D

[Mom-ninja.]

Switzerland

 

 

Love Heidelberg but also love the Munich area.

[Melinda in VT]

We rented an apartment for a month in Florence, and it was fantastic. Lots to do in Florence, plus the train goes everywhere - we went to Rome, Pisa, Venice, the Cinque Terre, etc., all by train.

 

For me though, if I could have an apartment in Europe (and oh, haven't we thought about it and researched it!) I'd get a little place in the Dordogne region. I love it there, love the village of Sarlat and all the things to do nearby. Lots of great castles, hiking, canoeing, etc. Love it! Disclaimer: I haven't been to a part of France yet that I don't like. :D

 

The bolded part is us, too. I never thought I would love anyplace as much as I loved Britain. And then I went to France. :D (I still think Britain's great, but it can't beat the food in France.)

[Elinor Everywhere]

Somewhere -

beautiful

centrally located enough to travel by train throughout Europe

affordable

safe

 

 

Ideas?

:)

 

If you do end up doing this, I'd love you to do another thread and tell us how the process went. We go to Europe almost every year, but the biggest reason we haven't bought an apartment is the whole process of a foreigner buying something (we wouldn't be able to pay cash). I'm curious about the rules, restrictions, and loan processes.

[aggieamy]

I'm torn because I'm a total Anglophile but I also love Germany. I'd have a hard time choosing between the two but Germany might win because I LOVE the food and it was the cleanest place I've ever visited.

 

Top choices:

Berlin

A little south of Munich in the Alps

The Black Forest area

A little cottage in a little town in England

[HSMWB]

Luxembourg

[amsunshine]

South of France.:)

[craftymama]

Anywhere. Once I'm in Europe I can get anywhere.

 

That aside my top cities would be Rome, Brussels, and Prague, though I'd love to live in Paris for just one year.

 

As for a vacation home, Tuscany would be at the top of my list. It's not very affordable these days. The northern part of Croatia is so very relaxing, but travel would be a little more difficult.

 

I guess if I was going to have a vacation home, I would go back to the Stuttgart area and hook up with my friends and then I'm pretty sure I'd be able to work a deal to have someone looking after my place.

 

In the end, I'd rather live in Europe and have a vacation home in the USA.

[Colleen]

Somewhere -

beautiful

centrally located enough to travel by train throughout Europe

affordable

safe

 

 

Ideas?

:)

 

For obvious reasons, I'd go with Switzerland. But really, I'm happy just about anywhere in Europe.

[Colleen]

If you do end up doing this, I'd love you to do another thread and tell us how the process went. We go to Europe almost every year, but the biggest reason we haven't bought an apartment is the whole process of a foreigner buying something (we wouldn't be able to pay cash). I'm curious about the rules, restrictions, and loan processes.

 

Yes, that makes it challenging. Even Switzerland is more difficult now that the banking system has responded to foreign demands to tighten restrictions there. Ultimately, it's best an "in" with someone where you want to buy.

[Joyofsixreboot]

Lucerne if I'm wanting central but London if I had my druthers.

[Cassy]

For me though, if I could have an apartment in Europe (and oh, haven't we thought about it and researched it!) I'd get a little place in the Dordogne region. I love it there, love the village of Sarlat and all the things to do nearby. Lots of great castles, hiking, canoeing, etc. Love it! Disclaimer: I haven't been to a part of France yet that I don't like. :D

 

Hey, that's exactly what I was going to say!

 

(There are also an awful lot of English people living there ... which, as an English person, is not necessarily a good thing).

 

Cassy

[CanaryMelody]

When I was stationed in northern Italy with the Air Force, I fell in love with Europe. I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked. My favorite city was Munich, though. It had an easy subway system to get around Munich itself, it was easy to get to by car or train, and it was beautiful.

 

My second choice would be a tie between Aviano area (where I was stationed) or Milano.

 

Of course, this is based just on location and nothing else. ;)

[Happy]

Northern Belgium

 

:iagree:

 

We lived in Brussels for a couple of years...and it's so centrally located. Just a short drive to France, Germany, Holland...A longer drive gets you to the south of France, Switzerland, and Austria. Italy just takes a little bit more time.

 

Plus Brussels has great people and great food....

[Susan in TN]

Southern Germany. No good reason, really, except that I know/can speak a smattering of German, it's beautiful there, and a generally central European area. I long to see the late summer return/separation of the mountain cow herds (viehscheid).

[Mrs Mungo]

I would choose Italy because it is easier for foreigners to buy property than in Germany, France or some other countries. We know several people who have purchased property in Italy for this reason. But, I do love Germany, France, etc.

[Brigitte]

If I could pick any where in Europe to live, I would live in Nice, France. It is warm, has beautiful beaches, and is French. If I were looking for a place that would make travel to everywhere in Europe easy, I would live in Paris. My next choice would be Leuven, Belgium, since my family is there.

[eternalknot]

I'd pick Zagreb, maybe Split. We're more partial to Central and Eastern Europe, in general, though. Easy train access to the big cities in Western Europe has never been important (even when we were living in Western Europe LOL).

 

We looked into buying there, but the politics and bribery were so rampant that we decided to stay far, far away from it (as foreign investors residing out of country).

[Jane in NC]

Can't wait to visit all of you after you purchase these second homes!! ;)

[rutamattatt]

We adopted our daughter from Latvia, so we are partial to that country! ;) Riga, the capital is amazing, but we also liked Daugavpils which is southern Latvia. Of course, I would buy a summer home in Jurmala on the Baltic in a heartbeat. (Latvia's weather lends itself to a summer home. :D

 

We spent a little time in Prague. Absolutely LOVED it. Would go back in a heartbeat.

 

Sister and bro-in-law lived in Germany for three years, and they adored Belgium as well.

[wisdomandpeace]

Salzburg

[Corraleno]

I'd get a little place in the Dordogne region. I love it there, love the village of Sarlat and all the things to do nearby. Lots of great castles, hiking, canoeing, etc. Love it! Disclaimer: I haven't been to a part of France yet that I don't like. :D

We used to own a 220-yr-old stone farmhouse on 30 acres of rolling meadow and woodland in a tiny hamlet west of Sarlat and NE of Bergerac. It had no heat (just a HUGE open fireplace in the living room and lots of kerosene heaters), crazy dangerous electrics (you couldn't even make toast if the tiny water heater was on), and tempermental plumbing, but I loved it more than any other home I've ever lived in. It had a crumbling stone barn and pigsty, a cylindrical pigeonnier, a huge fig tree, and overgrown orchards with apples and cherry-plums that made the most incredible jam. Our neighbors were wonderful — you never knew when someone was going to knock on your door at 7:00 AM with a leg of boar over his shoulder as a gift!

 

I cried buckets when we sold it (to move back to the States), and I still cry every time I look at the pictures. I hope DH will scatter my ashes around there when I'm gone. :crying:

 

Jackie

[Elinor Everywhere]

We used to own a 220-yr-old stone farmhouse on 30 acres of rolling meadow and woodland in a tiny hamlet west of Sarlat and NE of Bergerac. It had no heat (just a HUGE open fireplace in the living room and lots of kerosene heaters), crazy dangerous electrics (you couldn't even make toast if the tiny water heater was on), and tempermental plumbing, but I loved it more than any other home I've ever lived in. It had a crumbling stone barn and pigsty, a cylindrical pigeonnier, a huge fig tree, and overgrown orchards with apples and cherry-plums that made the most incredible jam. Our neighbors were wonderful — you never knew when someone was going to knock on your door at 7:00 AM with a leg of boar over his shoulder as a gift!

 

I cried buckets when we sold it (to move back to the States), and I still cry every time I look at the pictures. I hope DH will scatter my ashes around there when I'm gone. :crying:

 

Jackie

 

 

Wow, I am seriously very jealous! What a great experience. We cannot move there permanently due to dh's job being here, but we have often talked and dreamed of getting a summer place. With having to fly over every summer, and then needing to keep a car there, it seems like it would just be too expensive. But......I still want to. :tongue_smilie:

[Elinor Everywhere]

Hey, that's exactly what I was going to say!

 

(There are also an awful lot of English people living there ... which, as an English person, is not necessarily a good thing).

 

Cassy

 

We noticed that, too. We actually stayed at a B&B run by a British couple, which we normally don't do, but it worked out well. They were able to tell us a lot about the area, and since the last time we went there we brought an empty suitcase to fill at a nearby foie gras farm, they kept it for us so it would remain safe. ;)

 

Ideally I'd like a place that's on a major train line, so we could try and avoid a car, but that seems harder to do in France than in Italy.

[UnionJack]

This thread is depressing me!! I've lived abroad a few times in my life (UK, Milan, and Monaco [we lived in Villefranche sur Mer, between Monaco and Nice]) and they were my most favorite times ever. We're constantly brainstorming about how we can move back...but it's a lot more challenging with children, owning homes, the state of the economy, my husband's job, etc. Sigh, maybe someday....:sad:

 

To the original poster, I'd say it depends on whether you're more drawn to big city/small city/rural.... Any language experience you'd like to use or develop? Would you rather Western Europe? or more Central or Eastern? So many great options....

[Splinter]

My parents have a little house in Italy, in a small town near Naples. It's hard to think of a better place than that.

[Colleen]

My parents have a little house in Italy, in a small town near Naples. It's hard to think of a better place than that.

 

Especially if someone else owns it.:D

[Audrey]

Somewhere -

beautiful

centrally located enough to travel by train throughout Europe

affordable

safe

 

 

Ideas?

:)

 

 

Cahors, France. My dh's family still holds ancestral property there. Transportation is a breeze to anywhere, plus the area is rich in history and culture just on its own.

[Donna]

I want a tiny cottage in Ireland with one of those cute stone fences around it and lots of flowers somewhere in County Clare.