[Closed] Talk to me about.. Copenhagen

expensive.

There is some opportunities for biking on Sjælland/Zealand

They even have some mtb marathons http://www.mtbmarathon.dk/

The [url= http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=quzrfntejysfeoah ]route[/url] goes up to the dizzy heights of 300ft 😀

Sweden's not too far away either.

Wonderful and Wonderful, it's friendly old girl of a town.

Great city, stunning women, pricey, flat as a pancake, Davinci cycles is a great shop if you like cruisers.

According to Mrs Pigface they all talk like they have porridge in their throats.

you want to look at houses outside Copenhagen, gets stupidly expensive in center.
Have a look at prices on the other side of the bridge in sweden, might well be worth it commuting from there, assuming you got a job in Copenhagen.

Great city, stunning women, pricey, flat as a pancake.

Pigface is right the women are very pricey, but not so flat. Unless that is what you want. But given the prices you have every right to be choosy.

Pigface, you tried saying Havregrød?
Molgrip will need porridge to say it :0)

Loved it when i lived there as a student. We stayed a bit out of the copenhagen centre in a place i cant remember how to spell! gyllenvye (sort of looks like it)
public transport runs like clockwork but is expensive.
proper seasons too.
so flat and dear but great.

Can't be more expensive than Munich.

It can

Mercer expat survey most expensive cities copenhagen 10 Munich 59

I live in Sweden and it now takes 35mins on the train to get to Kopenhagen airport, something like 20 from Malmö. Loads of biking this side of the bridge from the DHlift at Vallåsen to mint forests.

bloody expensive I had my 21st in Copenhagen and could only afford 7 bottles of Tuborg Green before i ran out of money. I wasn't exactly loaded back then to be fair.

Mercer expat survey most expensive cities copenhagen 10 Munich 59

If you don't drink, does that make it much cheaper? 🙂

I've been living out here for 3 years now, it's quite unique in that the centre of the city is much smaller than other cities and if you look out side that area (if you want a garden you will have to) then it's much less desirable with Danes and the prices are much lower without being that far outside the city.

The further out you go the moore you get and by car you'll never be that far out, just doon't ask how much it costs to own a car.

I've done a few races including the 300ft marathon listed above (really not intended as a technical challenge, it can't be if I did it) They're very big on weight weenie XC here so if that's your thing there are quite a few good marked routes not far from the city itself.

Oh yes just to confirm it's very expensive, the Danes are hard to get to know, the language isn't particularly alluring and is very hard to learn and the women are rather nice (but the Swedes are nicer). Feel free to drop me an email if you need any help.

if you look out side that area (if you want a garden you will have to) then it's much less desirable with Danes and the prices are much lower without being that far outside the city

This is good news for me. The job would be with a well known shipping company, I assume their offices are down the docks, although working in IT I might not end up there.

As for language - I assumed English was is as widespread as I foudn it to be in Helsinki. There, I didn't even need to ask if people spoke English. Even drunk tramps swore at me in English.

I guess I know where you mean and that is slap bang in the centre of the city but easily reachable by train. I live 65km from the centre of CPH and have worked there (7 pointed star?) as a consultant from time to time and go by train, probably about an hour or so each way.

It's a nice boring flat country with generally antisocial people. I've been here for 7 years and am reasonably happy but for about 5 of those years I have longed to leave.

If you're on your own, then go for it, if you have kids and a wife to bring over then it will be tougher for them, remember that Danish kids don't learn to speak english from birth so unless they are mid teens or above, they will need to speak Danish to communicate. There are international schools where teaching is in English, but these are in the more expensive areas (meaning very expensive for the better ones).

Don't forget that income tax will be >50% of total earnings and an average family car (new ford focus) will set you back £25-£30k
Let me know if you want more information

Right, ta. I'd be me, Mrs Grips, a 2 year old and a baby. Antisocial doesn't sound great tbh after this experience.

I dunno if I'd be able to work through my UK company - bugger that tax regime, I'd only be there temporarily.

Not so keen on train commuting, I'd want to be able to do it by bike. Can you cross that bridge from Malmo on a bike?

Can't you just bring your car from here?

I would bring my car with me of course - how better to move your family and stuff?

Can use the car if you are not moving here and if you are on an expat contract then you can work around the tax

You can take your bike on the train over the bridge but can't cycle over it (motorway and train tracks)

2YO would pick up the language quite quickly but for a temp job I think I would consider commuting from the UK and avoid the tax whilst (hopefully) getting paid a Danish sallary...

Commuting from the UK would be an option, but of course I'd not get to see my new baby much 🙁

If you chose to "move" your family to DK then you'll have to pay import duty on the car. When I moved, i was quoted about £3k to import a 3 year old fiat punto which I subsequently sold for £2800.

We paid £23k for a 3 year old Mazda 6 estate about 3 years ago

There are good things about working here, but there are "issues" as well 🙂

What're the good things then?

You want to check how long you can keep your car registered elsewhere for. Registering a foreign car in Denmark is eye wateringly expensive - 180% of the cars value or something like that.

Very flexible working hours, you get well looked after as an employee. Most companies pay for your broadband at home so that you can work from home when it suits (sometimes in the evening TBH) but then nobody cares if you arrive at 9 and leave at 3 to fetch the kids so long as the work gets done.
The place is really safe so there is no real worry about being attacked or anything. There is some crime, but it is a safe place.
Most Danes seem to be racist, but if you are white then that doesn't matter (I recall that you are, but I don't know about your wife/kids)
That doesn't sound like much to be honest, but my wife is Danish so we have some family here and get help with child care etc and now that I have learned the language, it is getting easier to blend in.
I dunno, I am not sure I would chose to move here again, knowing what I know now, I think I'd have stayed in Manchester.

IF you are moving here, there is no time limit for the car registration, you must pay when you arrive.

What're the good things then?

My danish colleagues have a very English sense of humour, that's about all I can offer you.

Well, oddjob has been here longer than me, so I defer to his greater insight, but I have absolutely loved living here. Copenhagen is a beautiful city, clean, safe, walkable, great architecture, nice pubs (excellent beer!!!), super public transport, cycling infrastructure, loads to do.

I haven't found the Danes to be antisocial, but I moved here from Holland so anything would be an improvement.

The language is impossible and the girls are stunning (better than Sweden :-))

Oh yes - and after you've lived here a while, travelling abroad seems really really cheap !!

IF you are moving here, there is no time limit for the car registration, you must pay when you arrive.

Isn't there new EU ruling on the subject? That you should be free to move your car about Europe as you are yourself?

Most Danes seem to be racist, but if you are white then that doesn't matter

It bloody well does to me!

The beer aint cheap!

DrJ i like your comment about travelling abroad seems really cheap after living in Denmark.

Im Danish but have lived in the UK for the last 7.5 years and i still find it cheap when i go shopping and usually laugh when british people start moaning about how expensive the UK is.

I couldnt live in Copenhagen myself, its to big and noisy for me, but love going there for short stays which reminds me i really need to go visit my sister there soon.

IF you are moving here, there is no time limit for the car registration, you must pay when you arrive.

Isn't there some scheme whereby you can pay in installments, and then get a chunk back when you re-export your car? Seems to me that this is what my collagues have done. I can't afford a car, and don't miss it at all, so I haven't investigated the details.

Most Danes seem to be racist, but if you are white then that doesn't matter

It bloody well does to me!

Point is - you will never be aware of it. I live in a "mixed" area and I am not conscious of a problem of racism, but maybe there are things I don't see ...

I have a school friend who is of Indian descent who also lives in Copenhagen and has a different experience of the place than I do. There is constant reference to 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants causing social problems and an underlying mistrust. If you are a 3rd generation immigrant Dane then you are just a Dane as far as I can see. You can also look at the rise of the Danish Peoples party who are pretty right wing on these things.
I went to school in Coventry and to me I would say that the Danish middle class is significantly more racist than the English.
I am not saying that racism doesn't matter, I am merely saying that it will not directly affect you if you look Danish as I am lucky enough to myself

I don't know about how you pay the car import duty, but I know tha IF you move your "life" here then you will have to pay it, there aren't really any loop holes otherwise everyone would abuse them.

Just think of all that Mikkeler single hop IPA and things will be fine.

Beer is certainly good and pretty cheap in supermarkets ( in every other respect, however, the supermarkets are rather developing country-ish)

( in every other respect, however, the supermarkets are rather developing country-ish)

Again - I moved here from Holland so my supermarket is calibrated different from somebody used to Tesco 🙂

Holland is at the bottom of the list of European countries I would want to live in.
Bad food, too much traffic and the people are annoying to work with although oddly enough, they are very nice socially IME.

The Brits are certainly more spoiled with supermarkets than most of them realise...

I can see exactly where the Racist thing comes from.
immigrants been the main issue in politics for so long now, that i am almost glad i don't live there anymore.

Certain politicians will insist that they are not racist, but there is a very big "them and us" feeling many places in Denmark.
Its not something you will really notice as oddjob say, unless you are not white.

Go to the west coast would be my advice ;0)

I thought immigrants only flock to countries that have manufacturing capacity but Denmark? I only know bacon as the main export so not sure why immigrants go there.

Well according to Danish people party, they go there to steal and rape.
Not to mention eat all the cake at local doctor surgeries.

Apparently they invited a lot of Turks over in the 60s when there was a shortage of workers much as the UK did to Indians and others.

3 generations later they have become unwelcome...

The Danes think that they immigrants want to take advantage of the social security and avoid paying taxes and therefore cheat society they also seem to think that native Danes would never do that

Mikkel - Member

Well according to Danish people party, they go there to steal and rape.
Not to mention eat all the cake at local doctor surgeries.

Cakes at local doctor surgeries !? 😛 😯 😆 Woohoo! I AM definitely going so make sure you get the cake ready. Organic chocolate/vanilla please. I was banned for 18 days after missing one appointment at my local GP so any local GP with cakes will definitely get my vote. Banned for 18 days! FFS!

Steal & rape ... hhhmmm ... surely you get one or two bad apples that slipped through?

oddjob - Member

Apparently they invited a lot of Turks over in the 60s when there was a shortage of workers much as the UK did to Indians and others.

But which industry did they go into? I mean the Turks ... bacon? Hog ridding? Thought they don't eat bacon. UK is understandable.

Lots of immigrants in all sorts of places you would not expect them. Many Turks in Helsinki for instance.

molgrips - Member

Lots of immigrants in all sorts of places you would not expect them. Many Turks in Helsinki for instance.

Again what/which industry? I am really struggling to understand this.

If it is gun manufacturing in Finland ... perhaps yes but what else? Farming? Suomi does that ...

The only thing I can think of is kebab shop but how many kebab shops do you need there? 😯

I dunno.

Many of them seem to own pizza parlours for some reason, and make absolutely heavenly pizza too. The best I've ever had in fact.

how many kebab shops do you need there?

Apparently lots! They are all sit down eateries though which is a bit weird - you get to eat your kebab with a knife and fork!

molgrips - Member
Apparently lots! They are all sit down eateries though which is a bit weird - you get to eat your kebab with a knife and fork!

So it's some sort of "corner" shop but selling kebabs ... LOL!

Kebab with knife & fork ... 😆 Excellent!!!

Many of them seem to own pizza parlours for some reason, and make absolutely heavenly pizza too. The best I've ever had in fact.

Not a pizza person me so can't judge any of them. I think I last ate pizza about 7 years ago and it tasted shite. Bloody rip off too. The reason they tasted good because they taste like nan bread ... 😆 Try making one with proper lard ... top with olive at the last minute.

I am sorry if i got your hopes up about the cake.
Never experienced it myself and don't know any who have, but still the before mentioned party came out using this as one of the problems with the immigrants.
That due to their big families the doctors had to stop serving cakes as those families ate it all.
And sadly i am not making this up.

And the immigrants in the 60-70s came as there was a general lack of workers.

I am sorry if i got your hopes up about the cake.
Never experienced it myself and don't know any who have,

That's cos the immigrants ate it all, dur.

Re the turkish pizza - huge, but with a base so thin it was like some kind of flexible bready tasting wafer that actually melted in your mouth and tasted amazing.

Mikkel - Member
That due to their big families the doctors had to stop serving cakes as those families ate it all.
And sadly i am not making this up.

No more cake 😥 But I am sure if there is anything free it will vanish rather quickly. Human nature.

Sadly, many think of the promise land as paradise where they are welcome with opened arms. No sure why they get the idea from. Sad.

And the immigrants in the 60-70s came as there was a general lack of workers.

What did they do? Really I am puzzled.

molgrips - Member

Re the turkish pizza - huge, but with a base so thin it was like some kind of flexible bready tasting wafer that actually melted in your mouth and tasted amazing.

😯 That's not pizza. That's must be something else because pizza cannot taste good ... well in my experience pizza are poorer cousin of nan bread. 😆 The toppings are a mixture of plastic cheese and some dry salty meat in thin slices. 😆

Ashamed to say i don't really know what they did.
But just been searching for info without to much luck.
but i assume a lot worked in the heavy steel industry.
One little article said the work was often "dark and dangerous"

This is good news for me. The job would be with a well known shipping company, I assume their offices are down the docks, although working in IT I might not end up there.

I work for that company - feel free to mail me if I can help!

The Danish Peoples Party, though a loathsome bunch of scum, are not entirely stupid, and have hitched their repulsive racist ideology to a bunch of populist policies about being nice to animals, helping ladies across the road etc. that appeals to a large segment of the population especially old people, so they get a vote which does not correspond (I hope) to the number of people who agree with their xenophobic agenda. I just wish the main parties would grow some and refuse to work with them.

Mikkel - Member

Ashamed to say i don't really know what they did.
But just been searching for info without to much luck.
but i assume a lot worked in the heavy steel industry.
One little article said the work was often "dark and dangerous"

Luxury ship building? That's a skill labour that North East loss out to many years ago. I am also not sure if they would fit into luxury shipbuilding industry but we can never know. Heavy steel ... hmmm ... that's a new one to me with Denmark. I thought it was Sheffield only in those days ... 😆

"dark & dangerous"? Cannot be true. The only place on earth that's dark and dangerous is the mine shaft in the North East ... 😆

Unless the meaning of "dark & dangerous" refer to criminal acts which I assume might be the case ...

So unless they were hog riding or pig farming I am not sure where they could find work. The takeaways could only absorb so much so who feed the rest ... hhhmmm ...

DrJ,

Is that M*e*sk you are referring to? I thought they are Ch*nese? Or at least being bought over by Ch*nese?

The party just doesn't like funny looking people hanging around so can you blame them? 😆

was quite some ship building in Denmark.

They where not all build up on the Clyde.
And i think a lot also worked on the farms of course, all those sugar beads needed weeding.....