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Comment by rglullis | Hacker News Reader

Can someone please do it for Prague? Or Budapest?

As someone who used to live in (very expensive for non-basic necessities, cheap for basic necessities) São Paulo and moved to (reasonably cheaper for non-basic necessities, way more expensive for rent and food) Boston, when I went to Prague it felt cheap.

I found 4-star hotels in Prague 1 for the price of not-that-great hostels in London, €18/day. I'd go to a bar or a club and pay €1.50 for a pint of beer. I could get a day pass at the tram/bus for Czk 100 (about €4). I heard that a 2-bedroom downtown goes for about €600-700. Internet would be €50/month.

If someone can give more accurate prices or tell me how it's going for Budapest, I can guarantee you one karma point. :)

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Prague

Rent: Centre of town is expensive by any standard because much of the property is for tourist use of owned by expats. It drops quickly as you move away from pretty bits (check out Zizkov or Andel) €500-2500 for two bed.

Bills: €30 internet.

Travel: €200 annual travel card, singles about €1.

Going out: Carnivorous? You're in luck. €4 will purchase an enormous hearty meal and 0.5l beer in a local pub. If you want to hand out with the beautiful people, you'll pay for the privilege.

Other:

Flat-rate tax! 19% corp and 15% income.

The government is working hard to make Czech a business-friendly place but expect to spend hours in queues unless you pay lawyer to take care of it for you.

Strong engineering and hacker culture. Great python and ruby communities.

HTH

Budapest

Rent for a two rooms flat in a good part of the city is about 300-400€.

Internet is 40€ (15Mb).

You can get a meal for 3-4€. Monthly pass for tram/bus/underground is 40€. A pint of beer is around 1.5-2€ in clubs.

The average IT worker salary is about 1000€, but it's hard to tell because the tax system is complicated and everyone is finding and abusing holes in it.

See my post on Brno, which is second largest city in Czech Republic and somewhere little bit cheaper than Prague (but not that much).

Same apply to Budapest, it is pretty much like Prague, maybe little bit cheaper.

I'd say that Prague is actually cheaper than Brno, as you can very easily earn more there, and you can get food for pretty much the same price in the same chain store, public transit fares are almost the same, rents outside the city center are comparable, even better in Prague, as there is much more choice.

(I live in Brno.)

These days Sao Paulo has gotten very expensive. I paid $25 USD for a personal pizza, and had friends talk about how cheap a lunch place was, only $7!

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