# Germany



## vikrams22

Hi Everyone !

I need some advice. I am about to move to Germany from France.

My work is located in Moenchengladbach (30 km from Dusseldorf). I really feel no charm of living in Moenchengladbach city  so plan to live in Dusseldorf. As I do not drive now, I plan to stay near the hauptbahnof (train station) in Dusseldorf and travel to Moenchengladbach everyday by 30 min train + busride. In the meantime I plan to take driving classes and get my license converted.

Now the housing allowance my company is giving me is only for Moenchengladbach and is abysmal  by Dusseldorf standards. I plan to top it up and take up a good apartment in Dusseldorf . 

Could anyone advice me how is the cost of living in Dusseldorf compared to Moenchengladbach ? Also any other factors I should be considering while making my move ?

Thanks a million ! 

Vikram


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## gerrit

I once had the choice between a job in Dusseldorf and Berlin. I picked Berlin then, but I did research this prior to making the move. The oddity about Germany is that the capital is actually by far the cheapest city, whereas in most other countries it is the other way around. 20 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Wende (reunification of Germany) the western German cities still are hell more expensive to live in than most eastern German cities (maybe with Dresden as notable exception, but for example Leipzig or Magdeburg are very cheap). However, the salaries in the west are also better!

In Dusseldorf, my research gave me a 300 to 400 euro a month for a decent apartment somewhat centrally located. That was Warmmiete, so including water, heating, etc. Maybe prices changed a bit ever since though. I would advise you to register on a few websites such as Immobilienscout24.de where you can actually browse per price, location, size of apartments, etc.

Must mention as well that Dusseldorf has a very good subway system so getting around is easy, and most other cities in the Ruhrpot area are only half an hour maximum by train (Dortmund, Bochum, Duisburg, ... also, Koln and Aachen are quite near as well and a lot is going on there)


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## vikrams22

Thanks for your advice. I found rents around Euro 450-700 for modern one bedroom apartments which are reasonable by my standards .. I will live in Dusseldorf and commute daily to Moenchengladbach.
Thanks again ! 





gerrit said:


> I once had the choice between a job in Dusseldorf and Berlin. I picked Berlin then, but I did research this prior to making the move. The oddity about Germany is that the capital is actually by far the cheapest city, whereas in most other countries it is the other way around. 20 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the Wende (reunification of Germany) the western German cities still are hell more expensive to live in than most eastern German cities (maybe with Dresden as notable exception, but for example Leipzig or Magdeburg are very cheap). However, the salaries in the west are also better!
> 
> In Dusseldorf, my research gave me a 300 to 400 euro a month for a decent apartment somewhat centrally located. That was Warmmiete, so including water, heating, etc. Maybe prices changed a bit ever since though. I would advise you to register on a few websites such as Immobilienscout24.de where you can actually browse per price, location, size of apartments, etc.
> 
> Must mention as well that Dusseldorf has a very good subway system so getting around is easy, and most other cities in the Ruhrpot area are only half an hour maximum by train (Dortmund, Bochum, Duisburg, ... also, Koln and Aachen are quite near as well and a lot is going on there)


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