I've lived in the following cities:
Toronto
Vancouver
Edmonton
Calgary
Moncton
Each of the cities has it's pros and cons.
What city is the best overall?
Please conisder the following:
1)Jobs
2)traffic
3)diversity
4)how friendly are people/easy to make friends
5)natural beauty (oceans/rivers/mountains/lakes/forests/etc.)
6)access to other cities/USA (driving distnance)
7)health care
8)restaurants/events/culture
9)housing costs
10)public transporation
11)climate
12)beauty of the city
13)taxes (income/sales/property)
14)crime
Ideal city: Located on the coast with stunning ocean views, not too big or small (500,000 to 1 million pop.), lots of jobs, a diverse population group from around the world, no too cold winters, and warm summers (but four distinct seasons), lots of beautiful forests and autumn foliage, driving distance to other major cities, airport has flights to cities worldwide, health care is excellent, with short waiting list to have a doctor, excellent hospitals, houses are aoffordable, and great public transportation.
None of the cities I lived in meet all critieria. Each has a major drawback.
Toronto I love for its diversity, jobs, locaton on lake, tons of great restaurants, proximity to Montreal, the USA, international flights are cheap and to every city, health care is good, and the city is beautiful (the CN tower, skyscrapers, etc.) However, it's very cold, hard to make friends (people are stressed and busy), too big of a city house prices are astronomical, public transportation is not great, and traffic is horrible.
I know that it's impossible to have everything, so compromises have to be made.
This list will include the top cities regarded as the best.
I recently visited Halifax, and think it may be the best city. It was gorgeous, next to the ocean, and therefore had mild weather. People were very friendly. Not too big of a city, but at half a million, a good sized city with lots of great restaurants. Housing is still very affordable (probably less than half the cost of Toronto). Only drawback I heard was healthcare was not easily accessible, and waiting list for doctor was too long. Oh, also, it's on the very east coast, isolated from all other cities, and internatonal flights from Halifax are not robust, so you have to fly to Montreal or Toronto first.
Has anyone thought of selling their home and moving to Halifax to have extra money to invest? I really think Halifax may be the best city in Canada overall. But Ottawa is close. A lot of people say it's a toss up between Halifax and Ottawa. Both are great cities.
Toronto
Vancouver
Edmonton
Calgary
Moncton
Each of the cities has it's pros and cons.
What city is the best overall?
Please conisder the following:
1)Jobs
2)traffic
3)diversity
4)how friendly are people/easy to make friends
5)natural beauty (oceans/rivers/mountains/lakes/forests/etc.)
6)access to other cities/USA (driving distnance)
7)health care
8)restaurants/events/culture
9)housing costs
10)public transporation
11)climate
12)beauty of the city
13)taxes (income/sales/property)
14)crime
Ideal city: Located on the coast with stunning ocean views, not too big or small (500,000 to 1 million pop.), lots of jobs, a diverse population group from around the world, no too cold winters, and warm summers (but four distinct seasons), lots of beautiful forests and autumn foliage, driving distance to other major cities, airport has flights to cities worldwide, health care is excellent, with short waiting list to have a doctor, excellent hospitals, houses are aoffordable, and great public transportation.
None of the cities I lived in meet all critieria. Each has a major drawback.
Toronto I love for its diversity, jobs, locaton on lake, tons of great restaurants, proximity to Montreal, the USA, international flights are cheap and to every city, health care is good, and the city is beautiful (the CN tower, skyscrapers, etc.) However, it's very cold, hard to make friends (people are stressed and busy), too big of a city house prices are astronomical, public transportation is not great, and traffic is horrible.
I know that it's impossible to have everything, so compromises have to be made.
This list will include the top cities regarded as the best.
I recently visited Halifax, and think it may be the best city. It was gorgeous, next to the ocean, and therefore had mild weather. People were very friendly. Not too big of a city, but at half a million, a good sized city with lots of great restaurants. Housing is still very affordable (probably less than half the cost of Toronto). Only drawback I heard was healthcare was not easily accessible, and waiting list for doctor was too long. Oh, also, it's on the very east coast, isolated from all other cities, and internatonal flights from Halifax are not robust, so you have to fly to Montreal or Toronto first.
Has anyone thought of selling their home and moving to Halifax to have extra money to invest? I really think Halifax may be the best city in Canada overall. But Ottawa is close. A lot of people say it's a toss up between Halifax and Ottawa. Both are great cities.
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