the greatest European city

[the science eel]

I know it's subjective and all that, but still - maybe we can come close to a sort of consensus. Liveability is what I'm thinking - forget about holiday destinations.

I'll put forward Berlin, Barcelona and Prague. I've lived in all three places and loved (and hated!) them all.

I'll come back later with justification for my choices, maybe. I'm interested in reading about some less-obvious choices. Or even some cities in the UK!

[Cuellar]

St Albans

[mothman]

Brussels. No, seriously. Also, Toledo. And Milan. And Venice. And Florence.

[sevendaughters]

depending how liberal you are with the definition of Europe I'd have to have Istanbul in the top 5. it is crazy and chaotic and I had to leave when I did but I feel like there's a novel, or two parts of a bad podcast, about my time there. there's just so much happening, there's a sea running through the middle of it, it's full of communists battling increasingly militant Islamists, there's opulence and history and things to goggle at around every corner. just don't go to Taksim when Galatasaray are playing or shopping on Istiklal ever.

Barcelona is incredible, won't disagree there. Toulouse is beautiful and has a wonderful vibe, I could live there in my dotage. I recently visited Lubeck and fell in love with it and the surrounding area - biking and wild swimming and eating fresh fish from out of the Baltic. I recall Berlin being ace but that was 2004 so I don't count it now. Ljubljana, Utrecht, and Rennes as dark horses. fav UK city is Glasgow.

[Lemming]

Doncaster

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Who gives a fuck?

[Crabwalk]

I've just got back from a long weekend in Kraków and it has to be up there. Beautiful, fun, cheap, amazing food and drink on every street, incredible history. Absolutely fell in love with the place.

[the science eel]

And Venice.

To live?

[pancreas]

London, of course, drearily.

But if you're prepared to make compromises on everything, then there are lots of possibilities. Lyon is one.

[buttgammon]

I've just got back from a long weekend in Kraków and it has to be up there. Beautiful, fun, cheap, amazing food and drink on every street, incredible history. Absolutely fell in love with the place.

Definitely one of my favourites, along with Berlin. I love London too, but just thinking about the logistics of living there gives me a migraine. Sad, because it's a wonderful city.

[Captain Z]

Visited many and had pleasant experiences in the majority, but since I've never lived in any I guess I'll fuck off then.

[Bhazor]

Not for everyone but I have a love for Valencia. I like that its a bit of a clusterfuck between old and new. Gorgeous old buildings being borg assimilated into brand new things. A two hundred year noble's house now becomes an Apple store. Dozens of strange little roads that loop back on themselves and go underground and open into cafe plazas. Its also a far far cheaper place to live than Madrid or Barcelona.

I also like Granada as a kind of Small Town That Just Kept Growing but it's an absolute screaming bitch to navigate through on foot or by car.

[a duncandisorderly]

madrid.

[Ferris]

Edinburgh. Toulouse. Munich.

[Z]

As an English speaker, probably London with Berlin second.

I'd probably be willing to learn German to settle better into Berlin, unsure I could be arsed learning a language just to get by in any other major European city; and at this point in my life, I've no time whatsoever for a place that doesn't provide me with the options that you'll get in a multi million person city

[Dex Sawash]

Brexit

[the science eel]

I also like Granada as a kind of Small Town That Just Kept Growing but it's an absolute screaming bitch to navigate through on foot or by car.

and the noise - all through the night, every night - of mobs of party people yelling and chanting, dropping glasses, ringing bells...

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Who gives a fuck?

Steve Rostron

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I know you've said "liveability", but without really living there I can only hazard guesses.

As a tourist...so thinking about number and variety of attractions, sightseeing and the quality of the surrounding environment, transport infrastructure (some of which overlap with criteria for liveability) I have made the following, to which is comprised only from cities where I have actually been, of course:

Pretty

1) Bruges
2) Siena
3) Prague
4) Vilnius
5) York
6) Goslar
7) Olomouc
8) Kraków
9) Bologna
10) Györ
11) Varazdin
12) Sibenik
13) Mostar
14) Rothenburg ob der Tauber
15) Budapest
16) Amsterdam
17) Nuremberg
18) Dubrovnik
19) Gdansk
20) Avignon

Stuff to do

1) London
2) Budapest
3) Barcelona
4) Prague
5) Kraków
6) Edinburgh
7) Amsterdam
8) Gdansk
9) Florence
10) Split
11) Valletta
12) Vienna
13) Sarajevo
14) Brussels
15) York
16) La Rochelle
17) Riga
18) Lisbon
19) Nuremberg
20) Dublin

[Ian Drunken Smurf]

What do you all think of Vienna? Lived here for 18 years and love it. But the one thing I hate is all the global quality of living surveys we always come top of.

[Twit 2]

It's Seville - an absolute gem of a city, though I don't like to say it too loudly as I don't want too many people to twig - bad enough with all the GoT tourism. It has everything you want from a beautiful city, including the history and culcha, whilst also being cheap, friendly and (relatively) un-touristy.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Istanbul.

Got the looks, the history, the culture and the whole crossroads of civilisation thing down to a tee

[Neville Chamberlain]

Berlin - it may be littered with fag-ends and dogshit, but they're my fag-ends and dogshit!

[CaledonianGonzo]

On New Year's Day this year we walked through a park in Kreuzberg at about 9am and there were two gentlemen BBQ-ing a pig on a spit roast.

[greenman]

To live?

You'd probably live in Marghera which is basically the equivalent of that black tar monster in TNG that killed Tasha Yarr, all the negative aspects that Venice has ridden itself of.

[DrGreggles]

Seville

[northernrebel]

I lived in Budapest and think it's a great city - all the Mittel Europa culture you could wish for - opera, cakes, goulash, baroque churches, etc. And the Danube makes for such a dramatic setting. Admittedly the Hungarian language sort of seals it off from most people but it also makes the whole place sound very exotic, and if you're a language nerd like me, it's part of the thrill.

Other than that, Strasbourg is wonderful - stunningly beautiful in a Germanic way, but with that French flair, and the best approach up to a cathedral in Europe (in my humble but well-travelled opinion)

[Pseudopath]

Other than that, Strasbourg is wonderful - stunningly beautiful in a Germanic way, but with that French flair, and the best approach up to a cathedral in Europe (in my humble but well-travelled opinion)

If you're just counting the Grande Île, then it's definitely up there with Europe's prettiest cities. However, the bits outside that aren't quite so charming.

My vote goes to Munich. Something stunning around every corner (even if most of it actually dates from 1946 onwards) and it never feels like a mad, bustling city. I swear there's no greater feeling in this world than breakfasting to beer, bread and sausages, then lounging around in the Englischer Garten under impossibly-blue skies watching the Münchners surfing on the Isar, giving their horses a run-around and getting their tits, cocks and fannies out. Bliss.

[northernrebel]

If you're just counting the Grande Île, then it's definitely up there with Europe's prettiest cities. However, the bits outside that aren't quite so charming.

My vote goes to Munich. Something stunning around every corner (even if most of it actually dates from 1946 onwards) and it never feels like a mad, bustling city. I swear there's no greater feeling in this world than breakfasting to beer, bread and sausages, then lounging around in the Englischer Garten under impossibly-blue skies watching the Münchners surfing on the Isar, giving their horses a run-around and getting their tits, cocks and fannies out. Bliss.

I live in Germany, over in Baden-Württemberg  and I can get pretty grumpy about the place, but all it takes is a good sausage (fnar) or beer or maybe a Fachwerk house and an O.T.T rococo church to make me fall in love all over again.

[Paul Calf]

London, of course, drearily.

[tag]Not even the best city in The Beatles Britain[/tag]