The most expensive city for working expats to live in is...

[norwaysaint]

Oslo, replacing Tokyo.

 

Link

 

Probably no surprise to anyone who's visited.

[Brussels Saint]

Sat in a bar in Oslo right this moment and can confirm am paying €15 for a bottle of beer (a decent bottle mind.....very tasty).....2 weekends ago took a taxi from my friends house in a Bergen suburb to the city....no more than 10km €58........feck me.....you might be right!

[This Charming Man]

I was in Oslo last summer and it was extortionate. Luckily we found some bar by some dodgy market that was about £5 a beer. The only downside was all the Somalian smackheads that also frequented the same place.

 

I'm off to Tokyo this summer as well, anyone know where the Somalian smackheads drink there...?

[buctootim]

Some cities are no surprise but Luanda in Angola and Juba in South Sudan in the top five well above places like Copenhagen and Geneva, how come?

[Barry Sanchez]

Some cities are no surprise but Luanda in Angola and Juba in South Sudan in the top five well above places like Copenhagen and Geneva, how come?

 

Security and the bribes needed to get petrol, goods into the City. Once stability happens it will become cheaper.

[This Charming Man]

Some cities are no surprise but Luanda in Angola and Juba in South Sudan in the top five well above places like Copenhagen and Geneva, how come?

 

"At the top of the global list, Oslo is followed by the Angolan capital of Luanda, where the goods and services commonly purchased by expatriates are difficult to access and command a premium"

[norwaysaint]

Norway has two economic classes, those getting oil money and those not. Those in the offshore industry can easily afford those city bars and restaurants and a taxi afterwards, most other people can't, but many Norwegians are running up huge debts trying to follow that lifestyle. I do some occasional work for the oil ministry and they pay me three times my normal wage. It's insane. The only time I ever use a taxi is when I'm with the wife and it's her company paying.

 

It is however possible to live an amazing life here very cheaply indeed, but few tourists or short stay visitors get to see how that works.

[thesaint sfc]

I live in Geneva which is horrendous too. The prices for beer vary depending on where you go, but unless you want to drink in a very dingey bar you're looking at about £10 for a pint. The difference between drinking somewhere crap or a 5* establishment isn't much. It's an odd place. Geneva has a few, and I mean only a few nice places but a majority of the place looks like it needs a damn good clean and there is very little to do. I'm sick of the place and am trying to get our office moved to Gibraltar.

[Scummer]

It is however possible to live an amazing life here very cheaply indeed, but few tourists or short stay visitors get to see how that works.

 

Could you explain how? I was wondering how 'normal' people could have a decent standard of living if everything costs so much.

[JRM]

Could you explain how? I was wondering how 'normal' people could have a decent standard of living if everything costs so much.

 

yes any tips would be interesting to hear on that, visiting Bergen for 4 nights in August, going to spend most of the time walking and kayaking so won't need much for that, but would like to have a few beers in the evening without spending a fortune. going to see Brann Bergen play as well, will keep an eye out for Claus at the match.

[norwaysaint]

I live on one of the islands just outside of Bergen, connected by a tunnel. It's a lovely area for kayaking, although with two small kids, I rarely get out. Just cleaned off mine and my wife's kayaks though and am hoping to use them this summer. I bought a plot of land and built a house by the sea for probably less than most of you paid for your flats, terraces and semis in the south of England.

 

I don't spend much time in bars and restaurants, but I do drink at home, many Norwegians have a vorspiel (foreplay!) before they go out, that's when they meet up and drink at someone's place before the real evening begins. Otherwise we stock up on beer and stuff whenever we can. I have a well stocked beer fridge at home. I'm sure you'll want the bars in the city, which are expensive, but do not make the typical British mistake of walking into the pub with a large group and offering to but a round, it just doesn't work that way unless you are loaded, a round for three or four people is a bit safer.

 

Things that most Norwegians do don't cost much at all. They spend time at a "hytte", a cabin or holiday cottage in the mountains, forest or near the sea. These are usually owned by them, their family, a friend or often, a workplace has one for its employees and it can be booked. A weekend at these might involve loads of daytime activity like skiing, kayaking, canoeing, mountain walking, climbing or whatever, followed by a night of partying and drinking. My family has two and we'll be at one or the other for most of the summer.

 

If you don't have access to these, or want something else, you can quite cheaply join Den Norske Turistforegningen. This is a kind of ramblers association that for a small joining fee gives you the key to hundreds of cabins across the whole country. You can walk across every beautiful part of Norway and stay at them. They take responsibility for marking the paths and maintaining them and you can walk for days across mountains without seeing a car, but still spend the night in a nice cosy cabin. Many of them are stocked with food and the payment system is entirely on trust. Some of them are staffed and there is a shop or restaurant but not many. I used these extensively in my first four years here. Sometimes you get the place to yourself and sometimes other people show up and you share your food and wine/beer or whatever. I've turned up at one after a hard day's skiing and been given reindeer stew and a nice glass of red as soon as I walked in. You meet a lot of great people that way and up in a mountain cabin, everyone is friendly and hospitable. Non-members can use them too, but then the price is higher, although still pretty good.

 

As far as skiing goes, we do plenty of downhill here, but that is expensive, whereas all Norwegians do cross country skiing, which is entirely free and one of the best ways to experience Norway. If you're in Oslo, you can use your normal bus or rail ticket to jump on the "underground" which will actually take you to the top of a mountain at the start of an amazing area called Nordmarken which is a huge forest perfect for walking, skiing and cycling, you bus ticket will also allow you to take a ferry out to any of the small islands in the Oslofjord. When I lived in Oslo, we used to get on the train in the evening up to the top of the mountain, then ski down floodlit paths (nearly all downhill ) and at the end after a few kilometres, hop on another train home.

 

As far as everyday living goes, most Norwegians have a well stocked freezer and stock up when good offers come around. We also have a freezer full of elk and venison from the hunting, which is also free. don't just go out and shoot a deer for your dinner though.

[Grey Crab]

It's a lovely area for kayaking, although with two small kids

 

If I don't have two small kids, can I just use a kayak?

[RonManager]

If I don't have two small kids, can I just use a kayak?

 

Well done for not committing the schoolboy error of spelling kayak backwards.

[Whitey Grandad]

I've been to Bergen a few times. Has it stopped raining yet?

 

Actually I was lucky, it was only raining on one of my visits, but I understand it's one of the wettest places around.

[svetigpung]

Having lived in Sweden for a few years, which is expensive but not norwegian, but still the price of a drink is not cheap. We all travel down to the Border shops on the german coast and stock up with as much beers as the car an carry, wine by the boxload, and a good selection of spirits. This gets us through the year comfortably.

As Herr Norwegian also said, before hitting town its sensible to have a get together at someone house early in the evening, get well tanked up, then the cost of an evening might only be around a hundred quid. This is just for an evening doing the pubs.

Add in a nightclub and its easily a weeks wage down the ****er.

All in the name of fun.