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Comment by great_psy | Hacker News Reader

Regarding the Balkans …

Low cost of living in some regards … housing for example compared to most western countries.

But higher cost of living in others … price of gas for example… it’s close to 1.75$ per litere.

Food in the big cities is slightly cheaper, but not that much cheaper than the west. Around 40-50$ per person at the restaurant.

Food is much cheaper in the smaller towns, but most people from the west are unlikely to want to live there. Gas the same, housing is basically free, but there’s a reason for it.

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I am baffled by your claim that restaurant prices are $40-50 per person. Except in Romania where dining out has surged in price, or in coastal ripoff Montenegro or Croatia, I would be hard pressed to spend more than about $20-25 per person in Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo, or Albania for dinner. (I have no recent Bulgarian experience.) Do you eat at those few places for the local upper class, or order expensive wine or spirits with meals?

Food is significantly cheaper as is rent.

Westerners are unlikely to want to live there because they've never even visited it so that's not an argument against. The Balkans is sunny, taxes are low. I'd take that any day over subzero Northern Germany.

40-50$ per person in a restaurant is a flat out lie so I'm not gonna even bother with that.

According to you it's much better to live in a 2m^2 apartment in Paris than in Balkans. I'd take the Balkans any day.

> 40-50$ per person in a restaurant is a flat out lie so I'm not gonna even bother with that.

Unfortunately things here in Bucharest are pretty much getting there, maybe not in the range of 40-50$ per person but most definitely in the 35-40$ range, and I'm talking a regular restaurant. Before the pandemic I'd say that that price was in the 20-25$ range.

Though I can see how prices in cities like Belgrade, Sofia or Skopje might still be lower, as even Athens is now cheaper than Bucharest when it comes to eating out (I've experienced that myself recently), in which case enjoy it while it still lasts.

That's more expensive than Paris. Well it depends the type of restaurant of course. Would you have some examples in Bucharest?

A mom-and-pop German restaurant near me [1] where for Bavarian Weisswurst, a cabbage salad, some "peasant potatoes" (I don't know the official name) and a non-filtered beer I paid about 30 euros when I went there about a month ago. Had I also ordered a soup, or a second bear, I could have easily gone into the 35-40 euros range.

[1] I highly recommend it, it's the real deal when it comes to eating honest German food in Bucharest https://www.google.com/maps/place/Die+Deutsche+Kneipe/@44.45...

Cartofi taranesti would be in English, I suppose, simply ”roasted potatoes”. At least an image search for each term shows basically the same dish.

> Had I also ordered [...] a second bear

Hopefully they have doggy bags?

I'll leave it like that :)

I had them in mind when I made the comment because I had just learned earlier that day that Japan had bears, that was a surprise to me. Plus, bears are cool, beer, too (if drunk responsibly).

Basically this.

The price of a shitty room in a coloc (not even in paris) gets you an actual 2/3 bedroom apartment.

Taxes are, as you say, very low in comparison. The usual min wage + dividends can get you an effective tax rate of about 9% (depending on the country).

> The Balkans is sunny, taxes are low. I'd take that any day over subzero Northern Germany.

Isn't the weather still not great during the winter months? I don't care if it's 0 C or +8 C, both make me not want to go out.

The Croatian coast doesn't get too cold (usually).

If you like sun it is, we get tons of sun.

> Food is significantly cheaper

Only when eating out (if you're comparing to Northern Germany).

That's interesting, I didn't know that.

How much is the rent for a studio in Northern Germany?

Impossible to tell without further qualification. Hamburg (Germany's second largest city after Berlin) is expensive though still cheaper than Munich, other cities with universities such as Bremen, Kiel, etc. aren't cheap but bearable, countryside places are relatively cheap, seaside places OTOH can be expensive or outright unaffordable (Sylt and other North Sea islands/places), remote places in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern can be really cheap but not around Schwerin and at places near Hamburg. Also, energy costs need to be considered.

And Munich is not a shithole but a fantastic place to stay at in the summer - less so in winter unless you can go skiing in nearby Alps IME and especially not during Oktoberfest.

The 40-50$ is not a lie.

A good quality meal with some wine and dessert will cost you +40$ for sure

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