8 Best Places to Live in Germany

By Betsy Burlingame

6 of 9 slides

5) Munich, Germany

An Old Tram in Munich, Germany

To some travelers, Munich is synonymous with Oktoberfest, but there's a lot more to Munich such as Marienplatz, English Garden and Munich Hofbräuhaus. With approximately 1.5 million residents, Munich is the 3rd largest city in Germany (Source: Wikipedia).

Munich International School is a well-respected international school. "The school is constantly under review what can be changed to the better. The facilities are very modern and up to date. You can find basically every afterschool activity you want from girl scouts to sports to art and music. There is a big PTO which is very active in all kinds of activities. Additionally there are area representives with coffee mornings etc," praised one expat whose children attend Munich International School. Other schools include European School Munich and Bavarian International School, which has two campuses. The Haimhausen Campus, which is 10 km north of Munich, has primary and secondary programs. The City Campus offers only a primary school program.

When a newcomer asked about where to live in Munich, one expat responded, "I live in Unterfohring which is about 5 kilometres northeast of Marien Platz, which is downtown Historic Munich. Ismaning is a nice place too but is about 8 kilometres from the centre. The trains run each 20 minutes and are best way to get around I find. Overall northwest Munich is nice and easy to get around. The centre is cool if you can find an apartment. The problems with finding an apartment are many. There are plenty advertised, but the owners are picky and will only rent them to people they like - and being German is who they like.. Honestly, all of Munich is nice."