Choosing between Bonn and Cologne

Hi,

I'll be starting a new job in Bonn in July (moving from Zurich) and I need to decide where to live. My German friends strongly recommend living in Cologne and commuting. My future colleagues say that this is a useless hassle. Would you be able to summarize pros and cons of the two options for me? That would be very helpful. I should maybe point out that my German is very poor (it will certainly improve but it will take a while), I do not have a family and I have to develop my own social network from scratch. English will then be my only resource to do this (I guess French and Italian are not that popular).

Thanks, have a nice Sunday,
Chris

They´re right ... if you enjoyed your life in Zürich you´ll probably find Bonn as pleasant a place to live and work

Bonn´s official website (English)

Flip a coin, or throw a dart at a map and be done with it.

This TT thread may be of interest to you: Bonn vs. Cologne, choosing which city to live in

I have never been to Bonn, but heard it is fairly provincial and a "boring" place to live compared to lively and dynamic Cologne. My German friends, even those from Bonn, seem to truly dislike it, but then again they moved here, so probably biased! ;-) On the opposite side of a previous post, if you, like me, HATED living in stodgy Zurich, you will LOVE living in Cologne! :-) I still thank my lucky stars the day we moved away from Zurich to Cologne nearly 10 months ago. Cologne is not the most beautiful city visually, but it has such a big "heart" and the nicest people. Plus everything goes here. I love being back in a more gritty and "wild" place (compared to Zurich!).

Feel free to personal message me if you'd like...

If you think your social network will include colleagues who all live in Bonn then maybe it makes sense to live there.
Köln has more nightlife, Bonn is a better looking city. Both have a good transport network. Both have Irish pubs.
If you live in Köln you will need commute to work, do you want to spend that money and time?

I lived in Bonn for a work placement a few years ago and I really enjoyed it. It's a lovely little city with a beautiful town centre and good train connections to further afield. However the nightlife is pretty non-existent really... I always thought it would be a great place to bring up kids and grow old! =D

I ended up spending a lot of time at weekends in Köln because there is SO much more to do. I've now been living in Köln for nearly a year and it really is the best! You have everything here on your doorstep - and nothing beats coming home from work and seeing the Dom on the skyline!

"Cologne is not the most beautiful city visually, but it has such a big "heart" and the nicest people." missyj

I totally second that! =) Plus a guy I used to work with in Bonn (he's now randomly my neighbour!) also used to commute in from Köln and still does. Another plus point to consider: Köln is bigger hence it'll be easier to find a place to live! try kalaydo.de (Immobillien)

Hope this helps! =)
xxxx

(OT: How DOES the damn quote button work?!)

Dot, I think you have to use the 'Add Reply' option rather than 'Fast Reply' for the quote thing to work, at least l I've never got it to work with fast reply, does anyone know if it does?

Otherwise, just click on the 'quote' button, then click on 'addreply' and your quote should be there.

Having lived in Bonn and Koeln, I would say BONN! most people that move here can't seem to move away, I been stuck here myself for 4+years now.

i had to make a very similar choice about a month ago. just remember that living in cologne and commuting to bonn is a serious time commitment. depending on how conveniently your job and apartment are located, it will be likely 30-60 minutes... each way, each day... or 5-10 hours per week. if you live in bonn, you can still go to cologne all the time if the urge strikes you. trains run all night. if you live in cologne, you have no choice but to make the trip to bonn every workday, whether you feel like it or not.

I lived in Cologne for two years and loved it. I've been to Bonn. It seems a bit sleepy compared to the night life and pace of Cologne, So, if you want a peacefull lifestyle choose Bonn. But for a great night life choose Cologne