No Bavarian Gemütlichkeit for Expats in Munich (53rd)
Munich has never performed well when it comes to the ease of settling in. Its last place in the 2024 index is a new low, however.
Over two in five expats (41%) find it difficult to get used to the local culture (vs. 21% globally). And they feel neither welcome (52nd) nor at home (50th) in the Bavarian capital. Munich ranks dead last when it comes to the friendliness of the local population towards foreign residents (53rd): close to half the respondents (46%) give this factor a negative rating (vs. 20% globally).
“It’s difficult to make any sort of social contact with locals.” – Italian expat
When asked about their friends, most expats in Munich say they’re fellow expats (54% vs. 37% globally). In fact, close to two-thirds (65%) find it difficult to make local friends in Munich (vs. 41% globally), and only 37% are happy with their social life (vs. 52%).
A Lack of Local Friends in Hamburg (52nd)
Hamburg has a reputation for a wet and cold climate — but according to expats, it’s not just the weather that lacks warmth.
“The locals are cold and not welcoming towards foreigners.” – Spanish expat
The city ranks last (53rd) when it comes to respondents feeling welcome, and close to half (44%) say they don’t feel at home in Hamburg (vs. 23% globally). The struggle to get used to the local culture (51st) is one contributing factor here.
Another is the unfriendliness of the locals. Only 42% of respondents find that Hamburg’s population is friendly, a result that’s more than 20 percentage points below the global average of 63%. Making local friends is thus difficult according to 73% of expats, with close to a third (31%) giving this factor the worst possible rating (vs. a global 41% and 17%, respectively).
In fact, for nearly half of respondents in Hamburg (49%), their circle of friends consists of mainly other expats (vs. 37% globally). And many point out that they don’t have a personal support network in the city, ranking Hamburg 50th for this factor.
Berlin (51st), No Home for Expats?
The final spot among the three worst cities for settling in again goes to a German destination: Berlin ranks 51st in the index, though it’s the first of the three to not land in the bottom 10 for every factor of the index.
However, even its best result here — Berlin’s 41st place for how happy respondents are with their social life — is nothing to write home about. As in Munich and Hamburg, expats struggle to feel at home (53rd) and welcome (51st) in the German capital.
“Even if I understand the language, I just don't feel welcome.” – Hungarian expat
The local population seems to be both unfriendly and difficult to connect with. In fact, Berlin ranks last in the Local Friendliness Subcategory (53rd), and 64% of respondents disagree with the statement that it’s easy to make local friends (vs. 41% globally).
by Few_Maize_1586
34 comments
Outperforming Berlin. Yeees!
A German colleague who worked in Hamburg for a while told me that she found it unfriendly and the people stand-offish. Some places just be like that, I guess.
Who needs friends?
Is all a lie and interests connections.
Start calling yourselves immigrants instead of expats if you weren’t sent by you employer, and it might get better.
The word expat has a meaning, and it isn’t “white immigrant from rich country”.
I’ve lived in 5 different countries during my lifetime. I can honestly say Berlin was by far the worst big city I’ve lived in. And I lived in other big cities in the continent, like Paris, which I absolutely love and miss.
I’ve never experienced so much hostility from locals, along with neverending bureaucracy and inefficiency, ranging from dysfunctional public transportation to having a kafkaesque experience while trying to rent an apartment.
So, yeah, I can understand this ranking. [And I’m not alone on this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyQthWQsMYo).
Take that Munich and Hamburg 😀
Gtp title?
I bet that if anyone does a ranking for locals to evaluate expats, those same cities will be at the bottom.
Inb4 tomorrow’s “happy people don’t complain on Reddit, it’s not real and Germans are friendly” thread
I would guess people who respond to InterNations surveys are probably self-proclaimed “expats” from wealthy countries who make very little effort to integrate. They (mostly) enjoy nice, cushy office jobs where they have very little contact with the average local.
Don’t get me wrong, Germany isn’t even close to being the most open and friendly country. But, I would take these survey results with very little seriousness. I live in Hamburg and once you learn the local culture, you realise that people here are generally not particularly chatty. If they say “Moin, “Na”, or “Tja” that’s already saying a lot – even for locals. When you get to know them, they’re genuinely very easy to talk to, given that you at least try to speak in German.
EDIT: Just saw the website and yeah, it’s stupid as fuck. Riyadh, Muscat, Doha, and Dubai ranking higher than German cities for “Finding Friends” makes no sense. The only friends you’ll find in those cities are other expats, which was the main criticism against German cities. Also, as someone from Bangkok, while we’re incredibly friendly to foreigners, we also don’t share deeper relationships or conversations with them. Our friendliness is very limited to fun pop culture conversations, food and drinks, and service and hospitality. We don’t really discuss religion, philosophy, or politics with outsiders.
I’m actually a very open person when approached, doesn’t matter who it is. But I’m just not actively seeking out people to make friends, doing that feels kinda… off? ~
Whew. Hopefully, everyone will move to Malaga now. More flats for the rest.
So there are only 53 cities globally
Not surprising at all. I think the only internationals who feel at home here in Germany are surprisingly the ones from India. Most of them seem completely unbothered by what many other immigrants have a hard time getting used to. I wonder what the reasons for that could be.
Surprised to see Cologne so low considering the people have some of the best reputation for their friendliness and openness. But I guess the German bureaucratic processes are just really difficult and complicated and I do feel like theres plenty of tricks and life hacks that are normal to know for the average German but unknown by foreigners which ofc makes life more difficult.
people feel more at home in vienna? I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS SLANDER!
It’s good if the German cities get such a bad image. They are full. We don’t need more people to come. Housing prices are already incredible
As somebody living near Hamburg this tracks, but is also historically grown. The land surrounding Hamburg mostly consisted of relatively small but heavily connected villages. You didn’t particularly know the guys from the village 3 villages over, simply because you could get everything from within a two village radius (as an example). And this you grow into a circle and it kinda stays didn’t change that much.
As an Irishman living in Germany, and have done for the last 6 years, there could not be a wider gulf of cultures between Germans and Irish people.
But, that being said, once German people actually get to know you through work or various other social connections, the standoffishness fades.
I don’t even find it very challenging to talk to strangers in Germany, it’s all about how you do it. Germans are more than willing to have a random chat with a stranger if you both find yourselves in an awkward situation or a mutually funny experience.
What I do is just offer to politely help people, older people, moms with kids, etc. It makes people perfectly chatty.
German culture, as far as I can tell, actually really appreciates what I can only describe as ‘Gentlemanly cordial behaviour’, ESPECIALLY older Germans.
It took me years to crack the social nut of this country, but now that I’ve done it? I don’t really see the issues anymore. I’ve also ingrained some traditionally German mentalities like get tHE FUCK OFF THE CYCLE PATH GET OFF THE CYCLE PATH DONT PARK ON THE FUCKING CYCLE PATH DONT WALK ON THE CYCLE PATH **GET THE FUCK OFF THE CYCLE PATH.**
My partner is an immigrant. She has plenty of friends in Hamburg, whereas I struggle. But then again, I have no hobbies and just like to work and build a company.
I am kind of surprised about Cologne to be honest. I have had friends that lived in Munich or Berlin and hated it. The people I know that went to Cologne have had a MUCH easier time. Same with places like Aachen and Dusseldorf. So far I think everyone I know that has come to NRW has ended up staying.
When they say people in Munich are unwelcoming to foreigners- do they mean everybody from outside Bavaria? 😉
On one hand, sure, the social climate here isn’t as good as it used to be in the 00s and 10s. People are in a foul mood, for plenty good reasons.
On the other hand, isn’t it obvious that Nordic and Germanic cities would score low on anything loosely correlating with cultural extroversion? Of course you’re gonna meet people more easily in chatty Spanish party towns than at the Hamburg fish market. …Duh?
Another thing I’ve noticed is, other European countries have much more cohesive, communal expat communities. Anecdotal, but the few British expats in Germany I know don’t just not bother to mingle with locals, ever, they also don’t really care to find other expats. So I feel like you can’t really pin this score on us natives alone.
Someone is probably gonna say, “When you learn the language, it’s gonna get better.” No, it won’t!
I came to Cologne 2 years ago with C1 German, although it helps with paperwork and everyday things it does make you more “welcome”.
And Cologne is supposed to be one of the friendly citizens.
I’ve lived in Hamburg for 10 years as a Brit, so here’s my experience:
No, the people are not outwardly friendly. I moved here, became an English teacher, made friends with a bunch of other teachers from UK, US, Australia, etc., and that’s still pretty much my core group. So yeah, it hasn’t been easy for me to make friends with North Germans, but then I’m quite introverted.
You sort of have to slowly get to know them a bit at a time, and then you’ll actually become friends. They like their privacy and their boundaries very much, but then again, so do I, and many British people. Also, it’s a big city, many people are rushing around, stressed, and don’t have time to talk to strangers. Plus it’s Northern Europe, the weather is dark and cold most of the time and we’re not happy about it.
A lot of people say the best way is to join a club. Germans go to work in order to work, not to make friends, and they don’t go out every weekend looking to randomly meet people at bars.
But, if you like basketball, join a basketball team, then you’ll meet people who share your interests, and make friends that way. Again, it might take a while. Hamburgers don’t just say “hey a new guy! What’s up?! Let’s immediately grab a beer after this!” It takes longer than that. I’m a fan of St Pauli, and I slowly got into a group who I see at the games a lot. It took a long time but now I can chat with all of them when I go, and they’re all very nice guys.
Im acctually impressed the germans beat stockholm
Can confirm, moved to Hamburg a year ago from Florida, I have zero friends. 38F married to 36M, we love goth, industrial, metal, beer, pc gaming, hit me up if you also don’t have friends (or if you do!).
Man i wish this was true but i doubt it when i was living in Berlin way to many tourist way to many foreigner students from rich parents
In fact, all 4 major German cities are in the bottom 10
No wonder, many expats refuse to learn the local language!
I’m German and I find it hard to settle in German cities.
As a non-german, that list seems a bit personal. I know its not anything like that.
I am surprised about Hamburg. I haven’t met friendlier, more civilized, and more polite Germans in any other city I’ve visited in Germany.
I’m not entirely sure if I should feel insulted that Cologne isn’t counted among Germany’s ‘major’ cities. But above all, I find it a shame that Cologne only ranked 48th out of 53, just three places away from the “big three.” On the other hand, I understand that most people have problems with Germans, their way of life, and the way things are done. We are very special.
Also, I often hear that people from Berlin are extremely unfriendly, people in Hamburg are extremely stiff, and people from Munich simply hate everyone. I personally never had any problems in any of those cities, but I get why people, especially from outside of Germany, might have problems there.
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