In which German metropolis (bar Berlin) would you rather want to live?

[Lechasseur]

Munich is definitely the nicest city in all of Germany, and arguably in all of Europe (it's a beautiful place in terms of both architecture and natural landscape; it seems very proseperous and I haven't seen the social problems there that I spot immediately in almost any other European city, and Bavarian culture and values are a very good fit for me overall), so as long as I made enough money to be able to afford to live there my top choice would definitely be Munich by far.

If money were an issue though, my clear second choice would be Cologne. It's not Munich but I quite like it, and I believe it's cheaper than the other three (including Berlin and Hamburg, both of which would be an awful fit for me culturally along with being expensive).

[Lechasseur]

Cologne is the fifth wealthiest city in Germany; Düsseldorf ranks only eighth. There are indeed several wealthy South German cities, the most prominent being Munich, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg, but the list of wealthiest German cities is otherwise dominated by northern cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Hanover. Even when adjusting per capita, most of the larger wealthier cities are in the north, with Stuttgart and Munich again being really the only exceptions.

You mistake GDP for wealth. A high GDP doesn't necessarily need to translate into public and private wealth, as you can observe by reference to real-life facts.
If you ask a genuine German, they will always tell you that the North is poorer than the South. If you tell them that you perceive Düsseldorf as a poorer city than Cologne, you will be laughed out of court.

This

[Lechasseur]

Munich > Cologne > Hamburg. Hamburg seems particularly unattractive to me. Bargain bin Rotterdam with worse weather and probably a more cold mentality too.

Cologne should be fine but not all that different from a big Dutch city, Munich may be the best city with over a million people in the world to live in.

Very much this^^

[Mr. Smith]

Ich glaube Muenchenist ist am Besten hier.

[muon2]

I've had a half dozen visits to Munich and its environs over the last 30 years, and I'm happy to pick it in the poll. I was even offered a visiting professorship at the University from one of the visits. The only other big German city I've spent time in was Frankfurt am Main and I found it it rather sterile, though that was 30 years ago.

That said, I admit my preference is biased since I only know the other poll choices only from conversations with my scientific colleagues, both German and otherwise. Given that, I came away with a reason to prefer Munich over Hamburg, with Cologne somewhere in between.

[parochial boy]

Have you guys considered that the hysterical debt obsession is why your trains are currently a laughing stock?

Anyway I really liked my visit to Hamburg, it has a cool anarchic side that doesn't seem as self-obsessed as Berlin. Munich is too stuffy, like a bigger, poorer version of St Gall where nothing works. Never been to Cologne but people who have seem to be equally divided between loving it and hating it. Love Kölsch though

[President Johnson]

Write in: Stuttgart.

Out of these, Munich.

[Crumpets]

Munich has mountains, so there.

[Mr. Smith]

Write in: Stuttgart.

Out of these, Munich.

More accurate.

[Illiniwek]

Munich is heaven.

[TDAS04]

Probably Munich.

[Progressive Pessimist]

I have no real preference, but I am the most familiar with Munich. So I guess I'll go with that one.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

1. Munich
2. Hamburg
3. (Frankfurt)
4. (Berlin)
5. Cologne/Rhine-Ruhr

[JA]

I've never been to Germany, so I can't answer from any personal experience. But, based on general ideas of their cultures, architecture, QOL, etc... I'd have to say...

1. Munich
2. Hamburg
3. Cologne

[Middle-aged Europe]

Munich, if money isn't an issue. It's pretty expensive. Otherwise Hamburg.

Don't know about Cologne, because I haven't been there for 20 years or something and I can't really recall the city.

[Zinneke]

The only city that matters.

[RINO Tom]

The only one I have been to is Munich, so I guess there.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

I've had a half dozen visits to Munich and its environs over the last 30 years, and I'm happy to pick it in the poll. I was even offered a visiting professorship at the University from one of the visits.

Congratulations! In which discipline? Politics? Economics?

The only other big German city I've spent time in was Frankfurt am Main and I found it it rather sterile, though that was 30 years ago.

I know what you mean. If you don't work in the financial business, there is no reason to visit Frankfurt.
That city is one of extreme, irreconcilable differences. If you are a Frankfurter, you are either very wealthy or very poor. Frankfurt is linked with numerous banking districts and huge villas on the one hand, and big prefabricated buildings and poverty on the other hand; Frankfurt is in fact the city with the highest crime rate in Germany.
There are two German cities that are (in)famous for their red-light districts and their street-walkers' patches: Hamburg and Frankfurt. While Hamburg Reeperbahn^*) is known for parties, fun and freedom, the area around Frankfurt Main Station is associated with massive crime, violence and shot-up streetworkers.

*) One of the electors depicted below has become a byword for Hamburg Reeperbahn:

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

I'm sure this makes it easier for you guys People in the north, the east and on the eastern border of the Netherlands should have no problem with it either, but Dutch people who don't speak a Lower Saxon dialect may even have more difficulty understanding Low German or Plattdeutsch, as we are taught High German in school. I even recall not receiving a 10/10 but only a 9.5/10 on a German oral test because of my Austrian pronunciation of certain sounds that I picked up from my family there

If you want to speak German with an Austrian accent, you just have to substitute every vowel with an ä. If you replace them with an ö, you create the Saxon dialect. And for Swiss German, you just have to throw in some random kch and ü sounds.

What I always wanted to ask a genuine Dutchman: There are many famous and popular Dutch people working in the German entertainment and sport industry. Do you in the Netherland also know Marijke Amado, Rudi Carrell, Linda de Mol, Harry Wijnvoord, Sylvie Meis, Rafael van der Vaart, Lilly Becker, Jopie Heesters, Arjen Robben, Louis van Gaal, Eloy de Jong, Bastiaan Ragas, and Alfred Jodocus Kwak? Or are they completely alien to you?

[DavidB.]

What I always wanted to ask a genuine Dutchman: There are many famous and popular Dutch people working in the German entertainment and sport industry. Do you in the Netherland also know Marijke Amado, Rudi Carrell, Linda de Mol, Harry Wijnvoord, Sylvie Meis, Rafael van der Vaart, Lilly Becker, Jopie Heesters, Arjen Robben, Louis van Gaal, Eloy de Jong, Bastiaan Ragas, and Alfred Jodocus Kwak? Or are they completely alien to you?

Everyone knows De Mol, Meis, Van der Vaart, Robben, Van Gaal and Alfred Jodocus Kwak. Most people would probably know Bastiaan Ragas and older people would know Rudi Carrell (name rings a bell along with "big in Germany", but that's about it). Heesters only rang a bell for me because his conduct during WW2 was questionable, to say the least. Which I guess is less of a big deal in Germany than here. Perhaps older people would know him for, err, more positive reasons. No idea who Lilly Becker, Harry Wijnvoord, Marijke Amado and Eloy de Jong are.

[muon2]

I've had a half dozen visits to Munich and its environs over the last 30 years, and I'm happy to pick it in the poll. I was even offered a visiting professorship at the University from one of the visits.

Congratulations! In which discipline? Politics? Economics?

Physics

PS. You probably should not post the image from Die Welt without their permission. I assume that it is subject to copyright, and that has been an issue for Dave recently.

[SnowLabrador]

Munich. It's the only one of those that I've been to.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Physics

Now I finally begin to understand your name. 

PS. You probably should not post the image from Die Welt without their permission. I assume that it is subject to copyright, and that has been an issue for Dave recently.

Really? I thought linking pictures legal??? That's what everyone does here.

[muon2]

Physics

Now I finally begin to understand your name.  

PS. You probably should not post the image from Die Welt without their permission. I assume that it is subject to copyright, and that has been an issue for Dave recently.

Really? I thought linking pictures legal??? That's what everyone does here.

Linking is not the same as posting. Using the img code "posts" the picture as I understand it.

Hi -
Please be critical of all images you wish to post on the forum to be certain they are not copyrighted.  I have received a letter of copyright infringement on an image posted to the forum (in 2011).  The image was removed not long after the post, but it remains linked to the forum in the Bing and Google image searches.  The letter is asking a very large licensing fee be paid.  I'm contacting them in hopes to resolve this without any such action.
Many thanks,
Dave

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

NOTA. Germany isn't my style.