Best city to learn German on a budget

Hello igregoriou.

Welcome to Expat.com!

Hope other members will soon give you some advices.

Thank you,
Aurélie

Since cost of living is comparatively high anywhere in Germany, coming here "on a budget" is generally a challenge. You need at least €600-700/month (plus school fees, compulsory health insurance and any luxury or travel you'd like).
That said, your enquiry contains some points that may make your stay costlier:
- Living in the countryside generally costs less (and less English is understood, thus you're forced to speak German), but you said city (and only cities have Volkshochschule)
- Eastern Germany is cheaper than Western, where you want to stay
I'd recommend you look for a smallish town with Volkshochschule (or other school) offering full-time German classes. Don't expect to later find a job in the same area, though - except in the big cities, changing workplace (in tech jobs) usually means moving house in Germany!

Hi beppi,

Thank you for your reply!

I've managed to gather a certain amount of money in order to support this move, so I'm prepared to live without income for some months. I see your point about a smaller city, but I think that living in one of the bigger cities like Berlin, Stuttgart or Dusseldorf, has the advantage of being able to search for a job more easily. So, my question is more like which of the big cities has the lower cost of living for such a move, but also is big enough to offer decent transport, has a bigger expat community, has more job opportunities, etc.

The main difference in cost between cities is that of rent. So look for rental level comparisons of these cities (I don't know them in detail).
Berlin, being in Eastern Germany, is probably cheaper.
Looking for Expat communities and learning German are non-compatible!

Hi beppi,

Thank you again for your prompt reply!

I've done a little research since yesterday and it seems that Berlin has indeed the lowest rents, so maybe it's a good choice for us.

Any other information that you think will help me in any way is more than welcome!