Not all cities are noisy, overstimulating places where you regularly have to head to the park and touch grass just to feel sane. In fact, there are plenty which, thanks to low crime rates, well-designed infrastructure and affordable living costs, are wonderfully relaxing places to live.
Remitly, a digital financial service, has just produced the results of a study where it evaluated crime, healthcare, and cost of living as well as the average time it takes to travel 10km and the average pollution rates in each place, to come up with an overall ‘stress score’.
Landing the title of the most relaxing hub to live in the whole world? That went to the Dutch city of Eindhoven. Travelling 10km takes a mere 14 minutes and 37 seconds, and the city boasts low average annual pollution rates. Pair that with decent scores in the crime, cost of living and healthcare indexes, the city has a very low stress score of just 2.34 out of 10.
Nestled in the southern Netherlands, Eindhoven isn’t as popular as other Dutch cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam, which probably contributes to its stress-free streets. It is, however, an established hub of design, industry and art, and will soon become home to the second outpost of the world-famous Rijksmuseum.
Recommended: The best Dutch cities to visit (that aren’t Amsterdam)
The MU Hybrid Art House and Ton Smits Huis are a couple of noteworthy spots for immersive art, but head to Kazerne for their design exhibitions. To peruse the shops, Nieuwe Emmasingel, Kleine Berg and Edisonstraat will each have plenty of options, and if you’re after a good night out, Café Wilhelmina, Café ‘t Rozenknopje and FIFTH are good places to start.
Eindhoven was far from the only city in the Netherlands to feature in the top 10: Utrecht came second, Groningen came joint fifth (with Trondheim) and Rotterdam scraped in at number 10. In fact, the entirety of the top 10 was shared by just five countries – scroll on to find out which ones.
These are the world’s 10 most relaxing cities to live in
- Eindhoven, Netherlands
- Utrecht, Netherlands
- Canberra, Australia
- Tallinn, Estonia
- Groningen, Netherlands
= Trondheim, Norway - Bergen, Norway
- Porto, Portugal
- Brisbane, Australia
- Rotterdam, Netherlands
Did you see that this South American city is the world’s most affordable to live in, according to locals?
Plus: This beautiful Italian town will pay half your rent to move there – and it’s only an hour from Florence.
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