Surprised no one did this one.
Cluj-Napoca / Romania
Local - 26 years of this... fml.
Cost of Living - 10 - Depends on where you're coming from. A lowstakes RB nit would be in heaven. Anyone winning over 1000 USD/month is good. Obv. more the moneys, more the fun.
- A decent 3 BD app rates from 400$ to 600$/month , no electrical, gas, tv, internet included. They are close to 200$ for such an appartment (if you live alone - which is stupid
) off course this is not in midtown. The nice thing is that the city is smallish sizewise... a 1 hour walk kinda gets you anywhere worth going.
- Buses are available from 5 AM to 11 PM at 1 Eur to anywhere, cab rides are expensive imo... but like I said the city is rather small... so 2-3 eur cab rides are common.
- Food is really good(you can easly go on eating sprees... yeah...) Costwise I really can't say... if you make it yourself it's really cheap. I don't go all that much to restaurants... but as a reference a pizza is like 4-5 eur(local food is cheaper).
- So if you live with a roomie and don't go on restaurant sprees you'll manage with 500-600 $/month... nightlife not included.
Recreation - 9 - Not that many museums... but who needs them as you are in a region of Europe filled with history - more than 300 castles in Transilvania. The city is 1000 years old with all kinds of buildings... most of them shops, coffe houses and pubs nowdays... but hey why not have while visiting?
Winter - Ski resorts nearby, even one like 2 km close to the city... a really small one, but larger such resorts can be found 1 hour away from the city.
Summer - Most students go home or on vacation, but there's enough of partying going on, and festivals going on. The only downside is that the nearest sea is like 600 km away... but really... who wants to stay in the city during the summer?
Hiking, climbing, camping, availible anywhere. The city is situated close to the Carpathian Mountains, lots of going around into the wilderness, one of the last wildernesses left in Europe, get it before they cut the rake from the forests
)
- Nightlife: Yes ! Cluj-Napoca is an university center with over 150000 non local students who party all night long. The most common establishment in the city are churches(available for redemption for all the crazy s.it you did last night...) and pubs/bars/clubs... during the week there are some places to party but from friday to monday morning it's a madhouse: the streets are filled with young hot babes during the day, which fill the clubs during the night. A beer is like 1-2 eur, music is good, drugs are available; all in all a perfect combination for a great night you won't remember
.
- Separate section for the girls: one of the hottest girls in the world(tall, small, petites, brunetes, blondes, redheads... blues
) , all too your hearts desire)... you really have to be looking for the ugly ones
. Escorts and such are available if you are looking for such a thing, but imo if you are a foreigner and have moneys for cocktails and such and you can make conversation like ... it's raining outside(though there isn't a cloud in the sky) you have no need for escorts.
How Scary? - 7 Safe during the day, no probs, during the night there are alot of drunkies... so naturally alot of fighting goes on, but if you're not looking for it, it won't be looking for you either.
- Police is not so corrupt as Thailand or anything like that, usually they give you a pass if you don't knock somebody senseless on the boardwalk. Nobody cares about weed and such unless you plan on increasing your winrate by selling such things
Poker Playing :
1. Live Games: - 5 -There are 2 legal poker casinos with games ranging from NL25 to NL600... I dunno how big is the rake, but there are a ton of whales going around, you just have to be a good boyscout and take their moneys... they don't need it either way
. Some small MTTs - 30-200$ buy in, and some private cash games which are available if you know the right persons(illegal off course, but nobody cares so far...). However the live poker market is growing and I won't be surprised to see this city become one off the poker centers in Eastern Europe somehwere in the future.
2. Online Games: - 10 - The internet connection in Romania is godlike, one of the first 3 countries in the world in that respect. You can play on the site of your choosing, everything is legal. From what I gather the sites are the ones that are paying the taxes... I haven't heard off anyone paying taxes out off their own pockets so far, even though the law states that any>180$ revenue/day will be taxed ... but perhaps I dunno so many people :P.
Easy to get here? - 7 - For non EU zone people I honestly dunno, for EU it's easy, we be neighbours
. You can stay as much as you like.
- There is an international Airport available... for longer flights you should reroute via Budapest.
All in all this is a great (more cold, with no ocean, in EU) version of thailand, clean, lotta fun and friendly palce. As long as you don't care about the most corrupt Government in Europe, you're all good
).
Cheers !
Last edited by Myher; 01-17-2014 at 05:56 AM.