Which are the cities with best climate in Europe to live? Well, the question of the best place to live in Europe based on any criteria strongly depends on somebody’s preferences. But let’s see what we’ve got here on this question.
How to rate climate and for what purposes? Well, there is something called “weather rating.” It takes into account many conditions of weather: rain, sunshine, and wind, making it more or less objective. But objective for what? If you have one of these GPS devices, you might have noticed that there is a hunting and fishing option which predicts good and bad times for these activities. Well, those are also based on the weather, so weather rating is used to get such predictions for activities like fishing and hunting, as we have said. With weather rating, you can also get predictions for other outdoor activities such as hiking, water sports, cycling, golf, football, beach, barbecue, and you get the point.
This weather rating thus can be used for some short-term activities, and it is a great thing. But, what about the climate in general, if you are looking for the best places to live? Well, on this matter we must get a bit more subjective. Of course, year-round sunny beaches are a stereotype of best weather and climate locations. But, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. Some people like snow, some people like heat, so the warm beaches are not the only criteria in the game.
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There is also one other rating of the climate – the Köppen–Geiger climate classification. In short, this classification represents several main climate types throughout the world based on temperature and humidity. It is a division of climate we are all familiar with, having five main groups: tropical, arid, temperate, continental and polar. There was also interesting research done on climate score using this classification which puts up hot Mediterranean climate (that belongs to the temperate climate group with the symbol Csa – C meaning temperate, s meaning hot summer, a meaning dry summer) as the best climate.
So, for making our list of cities with the best climate in Europe, we have tried to cover many opinions on what a good climate is. Our goal was finding places that have either a mild, pleasant climate with no rapid changes year round or places with proper seasons but no extremes. So, we have tried to avoid places with rainy weather year round such as south of UK (though there you would find some of the best places to live in Europe for English speakers of course), or places with ‘’six months day six months night,’’ and long winters for example. For the information on cities for those who prefer mild/warm winters with no snow we have looked at Quora (where we have also found some tips on best places to live in Europe for expats and best countries in Europe to live and work as well), Reddit and The Mysterious World. On the City-Data and we Skyscraper City we have found out which countries people prefer in general considering the weather in Europe (with both snow and sun), and also mentions of some cities there helped us to complete our list.
But, choosing a city to live in does not only take climate into account, while it might be an important factor of course. Looking for best European cities to live in your 20s or best places to live in Europe for families, you will probably not find the same places on these lists. If you don’t have to stick to Europe only, you can also check out which 21 Cities with the Best Climate in the World Year Round are.
And finally, yes, as you have expected, there will be Italian, French and Spanish cities in here of course, but maybe you’d like to reconsider some other cities with best climate in Europe to live as well, and if so, proceed down to the list.
15. Gdansk, Poland
We start our list of cities with best climate in Europe to live from the northernmost area. In this case, it is Poland. Poland has all four seasons though there are several regions which differ in climate characteristics, usually having hot summers and cold (to very cold) winters. Gdansk is located on the Baltic sea; it is characterized by good weather, and also has some nice beaches, for those who like chill summers and cool winters.
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