How big do the mountains need to be?<p>I moved from London to Graz, Austria[0] a couple of years ago. The city has a population of roughly 300k and is surrounded by large hills.<p>There are some really good universities here, so quite a lot of interesting research happening, and a decent night life (although with a young family I don&#x27;t get to see much of it).<p>A car would be useful for exploring the countryside, but a bicycle would certainly see you in the middle of &quot;nature&quot; easily within 30 minutes ride.<p>Speaking German would help, but not mandatory, as almost everyone speaks some English. If you have your own projects to work on, then you&#x27;re in a good position. Trying to find employment here, without speaking German, is quite difficult, mostly due to the small population base.<p>There is an English speaking language group that meets at a bar on Thursday nights.[1]<p>There are around half a dozen co-working spaces which charge in the region of €20-€25 per day, with discounts for monthly commitments.[2]<p>Transport to and from the UK isn&#x27;t brilliant. There are no cheap direct flights (some might see this as a positive!), so your options are Lufthansa with a connection somewhere, or train to Vienna and direct on Austrian or Easyjet from there.<p>In short, it&#x27;s a nice little city, reasonable climate, good architecture, decent cultural attractions especially in semester, good natural surroundings, but if you&#x27;re from somewhere big in the UK, like London, it&#x27;ll seem very, very quiet.<p>Happy to help if you want more info.<p>[0] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Graz" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Graz</a><p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.anglo-austrian.at&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.anglo-austrian.at&#x2F;</a><p>[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;coworkinggraz.net&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;coworkinggraz.net&#x2F;</a>