Window-shopping countries: where would you choose?

[TheABC]

I am idly flipping through the various forums and wondering which country I would pick if I were wealthy and the UK were not an option. Please note, this list is not based on any notion of eligibility or the thought they would actually let me in. Pure window shopping.

• Canada: nice scenery, bloody cold and requires a transatlantic flight.
• Germany: brilliant cultural scene but my kids would struggle to adapt to both the language and the school system
• New Zealand: outdoors, less midges than Scotland, nice blend of cultures, I can't decide if living half the world away is better or worse.
• Italy: best kept for holidays: we would be eaten alive if we ventured in as bumbling British expats. But, yum. Even the language allows you to swear with elegance.

Where would you go?

Finland. The air is so clean you can taste it. Saunas. Lake swimming / cross country skiing depending on season. God I miss it.

Switzerland - chocolate, cheese, large bank accounts!

Mmmnnn. Finland sounds good. Especially with the skiing.

Rumour has it @Orchidflower1 that the Switz are especially talented kissers thanks to the mix of languages across the cantons. They also have spectacular scenery.

@TheABC 🤣

Australia. The weather and how far it is from the UK is very appealing.

Slovenia. Beautiful, inexpensive, friendly.

Bavaria, warm in summer, often snow in winter
Clean, efficient, awesome food and drink

Not sure what you mean about Italy - there are lots of immigrants where I live. On a good day I would probably choose Italy again but I am quite drawn to Scandinavia.

I'd say Holland. Not Amsterdam but the rest of it is so pretty and the people are fab.

The weather is the only downside.

I love Germany, although I hate what they have done to the EU. And they swear.

Slovenia and Bavaria both sound awesome and definitely unusual. Holland has the advantage of being more compact than most countries and I have always had a hankering to cycle through Utrecht.

@smemorata, it's no reflection on the Italian welcome: more on our ability to adapt as locals, rather than tourists. How does Scandinavia appeal on a bad day?

Germany for me, I think I could persuade DH to live on Berlin but would prefer to be by the Rhine

South of France
Seville
Boston Massachusetts

But actually I like it here.

I have the idea that Scandinavia has a better approach to the importance of public space and obeying rules (on driving for example) - two things that annoy me about Italy.

Florida and southern Brittany
I used to own in both

Really lovely might swap s brittany for sw france
Like La Rochelle.. for the better weather

A close friend is from Sweden
She’s been living in the canaries for 40 years
She would not go back to Sweden