{"id":40698,"date":"2026-03-15T18:34:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T18:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/40698\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T18:34:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T18:34:31","slug":"i-moved-to-copenhagen-from-london","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/40698\/","title":{"rendered":"I moved to Copenhagen from London"},"content":{"rendered":"

A British woman who moved from London<\/a> to the world\u2019s \u201cmost liveable city\u201d<\/a> says living in<\/a> Copenhagen<\/a> has given her back 10 hours of her life every week thanks to less time spent commuting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chiara, 27, who holds dual British and Italian citizenship, moved to London from Italy<\/a> with her parents when she was six and grew up in the city.<\/p>\n

However, two years ago she decided to move from Britain to Europe to escape rising rents<\/a>, poor work-life balance<\/a>, and long and miserable commutes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLondon was wasting too much time for me, in both work and personal spheres,\u201d Chiara, a project manager, said. \u201cIt\u2019s so big and hectic and it\u2019s become really unliveable.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeed to get to work? That probably takes an hour a day if you\u2019re lucky. Need to see a friend from a different area? That\u2019s another hour. Getting from A to B in London is tiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Chiara says she is impressed by the real sense of community in Copenhagen<\/p>\n

She and her Portuguese partner started shopping around for European cities to live back in 2023.<\/p>\n

It was not until their friend, a wig maker at Copenhagen Opera House, convinced them to visit him. A few trips later, they both decided Copenhagen was the right European city for them.<\/p>\n

Copenhagen replaced Vienna <\/a>at the top spot of the 2025 Global Liveability Index<\/a> from the Economist Intelligence Unit, thanks to its high scores for stability, healthcare, education, infrastructure and culture and the environment.<\/p>\n

All the British cities covered in the index \u2013 London, Manchester and Edinburgh \u2013 dropped down the ranks to 54, 52 and 64 (down nine, nine and five points) respectively this year. <\/p>\n

\"\"Chiara says the city is \u2018very relaxed and the people seem to be less tightly wound\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat really got me was the amenities and focus on health. There are random trampolines that people can use whenever, cycle lanes are abundant, people can swim in and out of the harbours. You also get incentives to recycle, such as supermarket discounts. It feels very relaxed and the people seem to be less tightly wound,\u201d Chiara said.<\/p>\n

She finally made the move this year and says she already knows she has made the right decision. \u201cI\u2019ve probably gained 10 hours of my life back a week since moving,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Chiara is now renting an apartment far closer to the centre of the city than she had been in her former London flat, and double in size, for the same price.<\/p>\n

She added that Copenhagen was much more community-based, citing its smaller size and higher taxes as key factors. <\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t feel looked after by the government or my community in London,\u201d she said. \u201cHere I can get a doctor\u2019s appointment for the same or next day via an app, without having to wait in line for the phone to be free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"There is more of a focus on amenities and health in the Danish capital than in London, Chiara says<\/p>\n

In her new workplace, she said she had found everyone to be friendly and inclusive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve found the people to be extremely welcoming too, even if I\u2019m currently learning the language,\u201d Chiara added. \u201cI know there\u2019s a stereotype of Danish people being cold, but that\u2019s not been my experience at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

She cited the example of a couple her parents\u2019 age who had taken her under their wing and cooked her some dinners. <\/p>\n

There were also plenty of locals of her own age whom she had met from communal dining, a culinary concept found in community centres, where strangers sit together and eat Danish food at long tables for around \u00a310, talking while doing so. <\/p>\n

The one major difference in red tape compared with the UK that she had noticed so far was the Civil Personal Registration number (CPR), a unique 10-digit number used for identification and registration with public authorities. Residents in Denmark <\/a>need it not only for healthcare, but for opening bank accounts and getting Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

Until Chiara and her partner gained theirs last week, they were restricted to using their mobile data for internet. She said it was a very small hurdle in the grand scheme of things, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very aware my experiences come from a privileged place though,\u201d Chiara said. \u201cI\u2019m a fair-skinned European and I\u2019ve observed it\u2019s not as easy for people to integrate who look different or who come from outside of Europe. Denmark is a very homogeneous place.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut for now, all I can say is that Copenhagen is the place for me. I can actually live my life here and breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n

New FeatureIn ShortQuick Stories. Same trusted journalism.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A British woman who moved from London to the world\u2019s \u201cmost liveable city\u201d says living in Copenhagen has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[23027,21984,108,26,71,23028,23029],"class_list":["post-40698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-copenhagen","tag-brits-abroad","tag-commuting","tag-copenhagen","tag-denmark","tag-europe","tag-expats","tag-work-life-balance"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116234634602179802","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}