Hacker News Reader

Three miles is quite a long way though. From central Amsterdam, for example, it’s basically as far as the ring road and contains all the main parks

View on HN

So everyone lives in these idyllic places close to parks in all of the Netherlands or the EU or is that a choice people make just like in the US?

After my youngest graduated high school and we became empty nesters, we were in fact looking for that smaller place, walkable area, where we could easily get to gyms, restaurants, a park, etc.

We decided to change our entire city to a place in Florida with better weather and no state income taxes. Those places do exist in the US just like I am sure that most people who live in the EU don’t live in the idyllic places you describe.

I’d say that it’s pretty normal in the Netherlands to be very close to a park. It’s a very densely populated country. In Amsterdam specifically I think they consciously decided a few hundred years ago the parks should be everywhere. It’s hard to generalise about the EU as it’s pretty large and diverse, but most of the places I’ve been, 3 miles would be a long way to go in a city. I would expect to come across several parks of varying sizes, shops, schools, etc. In the countryside there are fewer facilities generally, but less need for parks.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com