If You Could Live In Any City In The World, Where Would It Be And Why?

New York, where I’ve lived all my adult life.

Newport Beach, CA, Bel Air, CA or Holmby Hills, CA

I'm a LA gay!

A certain little-known town in Italy.

^ listen to her....so secretive!

Lucerne, Switzerland.

It's touristy in places, but it's heaven on Earth. The decorative fountains in the street are fed from glacial springs, and you can drink icy clean water straight from them!

Paris. There’s no place quite like it, and it’s a great hub for visiting the rest of Europe.

R5 is it gay friendly? Also, are the urban areas gay friendly? I asked in a FB group but got no responses.....seemed telling.

Stupid question. One only experiences a city when they actually speak the local language. Paris is full of suburban slums, which you'd know if you spoke French.

R7 It's about as gay-friendly as the rest of Western Europe. Cute little inns with restaurants in the basement, and plenty of smoking on the sidewalks. It's too small to have its own red light district, but it definitely has some Gays With Money hanging around.

Oh, and the lake attracts plenty of swans. What's gayer than that?

I don't know!

If I have enough money to live anywhere, I have enough to take a world tour, and check out Oslo, Melbourne, Geneva, Dublin, Vancouver, etc. Or to just live on a nice cruise ship, and visit them all regularly.

Does it have to be a city? I've lived in big cities for the past 4 decades and I'm over it. I'd like a small town where the weather is consistently 70° and is populated by reasonably sane people.

R9 thanks...I would love to spend a couple months there but want to feel safe. I love the look of Switzerland and Norway....

I live in Dublin, R10, but I'm wondering why you mentioned Oslo instead of Bergen. It's the same with Geneva; Lausanne(which is located on Lake Geneva) is meant to be really nice, if a tad bit expensive.

Switzerland is the most racist country in Europe after Ukraine, regardless of the current war.

Tokyo.

R6 This is spooky as I just finished googling Lucerne then came here and see this post. Algorithms anyone?

I was thinking about my friend, straight woman, who took a teaching job there. She never looked back. Found a cute husband, has a kid now, travels, makes 3x what she did in the States but concedes cost of living is high. Nevertheless she has a nice, modest apartment in a beautiful city.

Nimes! Or Arles.

Somewhere in southern California -- I'm not familiar enough with it to pick a specific city, but I've been in SF, Santa Cruz, LA, and Long Beach, and I loved every place I visited. I know, mock me -- but with enough $, I'd love to live there.

Luxembourg

Copenhagen. My family is mostly Danish and I can hunt and peck some words, but don't really need to. Progressive society, excellent quality of life. Beautiful city. I loved it when I visited.

R17 here. I forgot to say why. All the Roman stuff and other art and architecture. Great food, great wine and a refreshing piscine in the sun by May every year!

I'd live in Edinburgh, Scotland. I've lived there months at a time so familiar with the climate, people, etc. While there are many places that I've visited, Edinburgh is the only one where I'd live for an extended period of time. Why I'm not there? I moved back to the U.S., March 2020, where I have full medical coverage.

R22 How long were you allowed to stay in Scotland?

[quote] Switzerland is the most racist country in Europe

Good thing I’m Jewish. We’re welcome everywhere.

Firenze, Italia

Christchurch NZ

^Been there. Chose again please.

Cuzco. Quite possibly my fave city ever with no lack of art, history, archaeological sites, things to do.

Richland, Washington

Paris. Because it's Paris.

[quote] Somewhere in southern California -- I'm not familiar enough with it to pick a specific city, but I've been in SF, Santa Cruz, LA, and Long Beach, and I loved every place I visited. I know, mock me -- but with enough $, I'd love to live there.

San Francisco and Santa Cruz are in northern Calif.

Florianopolis, brazil

London NW3

Have you actually been to Christchurch, r26? There are nicer cities in NZ.

These days? Carmel, California.

Sydney.

Melbourne is so much nicer than Sydney

East Orange, NJ

Wellington, NZ.

[quote]Stupid question. One only experiences a city when they actually speak the local language. Paris is full of suburban slums, which you'd know if you spoke French.

Lol! I can only picture you as Dwight Schrute from the Office saying that.

Sydney has better weather.

Bluff, NZ

If I don't have to worry about money, visas, or language, literally anywhere where I don't freeze or burn. Anywhere temperate. If I didn't have to worry about money, I could travel anywhere, but my base, my home, would be somewhere with a Mediterranean climate but somewhere the Federales don't mess with me. So basically in a hole in the earth.

Suzhou.

[quote] There are nicer cities in NZ.

Bull bloody shit!

R31? CA is a loooong state -- where exactly do you draw the line? At the very bottom? I assumed it would be somewhere in the middle.

Avignon or Aix en Provence

For practical purposes, California ends just above San Francisco. North of that is South Oregon.

“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”

So long as it’s not Kansas, that is…

Tunis, Tunisia.

Yonkers New York

Bogalusa!

Roma

Strasbourg; it's cheaper, the Grand Est (Alsace-Lorraine) is more scenic and has better food than the Île-de-France (region around Paris), plus it's easier to get to Germany and Switzerland.

Tokyo. I love the culture and the people. So much more civilized. And clean.

Elliðaey Island

Switzerland

Kyoto

London -preferably in Mayfair or Piccadilly since money is no object. When your passions in life are Indian food, theatre, and uncut men London is paradise.

In the meantime, I'm settling for San Diego.

A lot of Londoners would love to live in San Diego, R59.

I'll trade!

Baltimore

The attractions of these grand cities fade over time. You don't go out strolling and absorbing the grandeur of Paris or Rome everyday like a tourist if you live there.

What you want is a safe place with a good climate, good public transport and a local neighborhood with shops and character that endlessly enchant you.

R23 IIRC, you can stay up to 6 months at a time in the U.K. (England, Wales, Scotland, North Ireland). No need to obtain a visa ahead of your arrival. From experience, I can say that your passport is carefully examined.

R62 Baltimore? Yuck yuck yuck. I lived there for two years during my fellowship. I couldn’t wait to get the fuck out of there.

R64 Nonsense about your passport being "carefully examined." Americans and many others use automatic gates at Heathrow and Gatwick and never see an immigration officer, never get a stamp in their passport. Easy peasy.

Paris - either in Montmartre or Latin quarter

R46, San Francisco is the anchor of northern CA. Anything north of SF or nearby (e.g., Santa Cruz) is northern CA.

Los Angeles is the anchor of southern CA. Anything south of LA is southern CA.

Here's a definition of "central California," which includes Bakersfield. Anything north is northern CA; anything south is southern CA, generally.

Paris. I love french language . French everything . I dint give a fuck about politics . They pretty much hate Jews. I’m a Jew, so I would be pretend Christian or catholic .

Religion is a fucking fairy tale . We die and worms eat us .

In the meantime let me stroll around Paris unfettered

London. It's just a couple of hours from Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and all the foreskins that live in those cities.

Union Grove, N.C. For reasons known only to a certain strapping young man.

If I had to chose somewhere other than my hometown, Paris.

Realistically, I'd have to live somewhere where English was the main language. I've lived in Japan before and not being fluent really wore me down. Yes, I could learn a new language. I've taken languages (Japanese, French, & Spanish) in HS and college. I don't have the gift for learning languages (yes, I'm American).

That said, maybe the Brentwood area of LA. I prefer San Francisco and maybe even NYC, but as I get older, I appreciate warmer weather.

R73 Same here. I lived in Thailand and China and would have stayed longer but not knowing the language does indeed wear you down. Even though the OP said disregard language, that's meaningless. I can only choose based on knowing English so my choice would be London, Edinburgh or Dublin if I had all the money in the world.

I've lived in SF and wouldn't live there again even with big bucks. I guess it bores me now. There's really not that much going on, it's crowded but tiny, always has felt like something of an outpost compared to L.A. and NYC. Nice views though.

Walnut Grove

Brentwood? Are you a 40ish mom of three?

Why don’t you eat my delicious ass instead of grilling me about my choice of a city?!!!

R77, shouldn't you be working on your football skills, Mr. Tebow?

I’ll meet all y’a guys in Paris. I’m fluent, dont drink. I’ll be designated driver .

San Sebastián. I’d eat out every meal. Especially if I could speak Basque; it’s fascinating.

It’s a pity to be shitty in the city

London or NYC Because there is so much history and culture in each city.

Too much crime in New York and too lenient punishments for criminals.

[quote] From experience, I can say that your passport is carefully examined.

When were you last there, r64? My passports never been carefully examined. Flying into Heathrow, Edinburgh, even Newcastle I just scanned my (US) passport, it took my photo, and the gates opened. Didn’t even speak with a real human.

R83 I suggest your stop watching Fox News

Trenton, NJ

Mill Valley was quite spectacular, and there’s always the chance of running into Lindsey Wagner about town.

Amityville, NY

I would like to try Mexico city. It is the giant tree of cities.The energy of all that humanity is fascinating unto itself.

Somewhere warm. A tropical island would be ideal.

R90 Seems ideal till you're there and have a craving for some good Italian bread one day. Maybe a bagel the next. And where's the nearest subway station?

Noosa, Australia

My hometown, beautiful Santa Barbara, CA. Couldn't possibly afford it these days.

63 has a point.

We lived abroad for two months, in a city Partner & I love.

Got an apt with views from living/dining/bedroom. Main thoroughfare skyline view in bedroom. From time to time, the views would catch our eye but we forgot about them at times.

Also the places we loved as tourists became things we'd walk by everyday without thought.

We loved it, but variety is the spice of life.

R89 We just lived there for two months. Still can't say we did everything we wanted. We'll be back!0

The older I get, the less I want to live in an actual city. What I want now is to live in a medium to large town, a nice prosperous walkable town with some good restaurants and nice parks, which is within driving distance of a major city. I live in Davis, California now, and it's close to my ideal town, except it's much too fucking hot in the summer.

If I could afford anywhere I might look at some of the towns in Marin County - Mill Valley, Tiburon, maybe San Anselmo or Fairfax, down the street from Skywalker Ranch. If it's good enough for George Lucas, it's good enough for me!

[quote] [R83] I suggest your stop watching Fox News

How about reading this?

For the month of February 2022, New York City saw a 58.7% increase in overall index crime compared to February 2021 (9,138 v. 5,759). Every major index crime category saw an increase for the month of February 2022. Robbery increased by 56% (1,276 v. 818), grand larceny increased by 79.2% (3,762 v. 2.099), and grand larceny auto increased by 104.7% (1,083 v. 529). Citywide shooting incidents decreased by 1.3% (76 v. 77) in February 2022 compared to the same period last year.

This is really a very silly thread. Of course we don't all agree! For some people a big city is a paradise. For others it's a quiet, tropical island. The grass is always greener...

Older people require the services of large cities. It's younger people who can flourish out on the farm.

Love Madrid. I love Spanish guys. The guys on Elite are ridic hot.

^^^ Literally every Spanish guy is hot. They guys on elite are average by Spanish standards.

A shame most are arrogant and cliquey, but you take the good with the bad.

Madrid days are too long for me though. Between having dinner at 10 and then late nights that go until 6am, I'm too old for it.

^Beware of the lithping hombres of Barcelona. It can be hard to tell which of them are... gay or straight

[quote]Paris is full of suburban slums, which you'd know if you spoke French.

Riiiight. This information is completely unavailable in English 🙄.