Woman who left New York to move to ‘the world’s most livable city’ of Vienna reveals the things that surprised her most about the European lifestyle

A woman who quit her life in New York City to move to “the most livable city in the world” talks about the most surprising things she encountered when she arrived in Vienna.

Sonja Matejko, 32, fell in love with the Austrian capital after spending six weeks there in 2021, and moved full-time in March 2022.

The writer and yoga teacher cited low rents, cafe culture and accessibility as just a few reasons why she loves her new home, which has been named the world’s most livable city.

Although Sonja has truly fallen in love with Vienna, she admits there are some aspects of her European lifestyle that she had to get used to.

In a first person piece for Insider Sonja outlined what surprised her about her move to Vienna.

The first thing the American woman noticed was that the rent was significantly lower than rents in New York, where she lived before moving.

“The first time anyone told me they were paying like $533 a month in rent with one roommate in Vienna,” she said. ‘I imagined a terrifying basement with no windows. I was wrong.’

Sonja added that most of her friends pay less than $1,000 for their apartments, describing them as “spacious” and with amenities such as an elevator.

“That same rental budget wouldn’t get you much in the heart of New York City,” she added.

Sonja added that Vienna’s cafe culture is great, with more than 2,000 cafes in beautiful buildings “on every corner.”

“(The cafes) make you feel like you’ve traveled back in time with antique furniture, silver-plated servers and marble tables,” she said.

A pleasant surprise for Sonja was how accessible she finds Vienna – the European city has a public transport systemeven better’ than New York’s.

“Thanks to the metro, tram network, buses and cycle paths you can (for the most part) get anywhere in the city in 30 minutes or less,” she marveled.

She added that the location also makes it easy to travel to other cities.

“You can be in Prague or Budapest in three hours by bus or train,” she said.

Finally, Sonja spoke about the cultural events available and reminisced about a free symphony she stumbled upon a few years ago.

She continues: ‘I saw a queue forming outside the Museum Quarter for a free symphony. A little later I was able to enjoy the classical music concert together with hundreds of people,” she remembers.

‘But what felt like a unique experience turned out to be commonplace in Vienna.’

Sonja was also amazed at how much greenery there is in the city, listing the urban vineyards within a 30-minute train ride from the city

“Since then, I have also learned that about 50% of Vienna is covered in green space,” she added. ‘In addition to the parks, you have the wine hills, hiking trails and water activities. I took my first ski lessons in ten years, just an hour outside Vienna.’

Despite the idyllic lifestyle, there are a few things that shocked Sonja when she first moved.

The first thing she also had to adjust was the closure of shops on Sundays – which she says is partly for religious reasons and partly to ‘maintain the quality of life’.

“If you don’t do any shopping late in the afternoon on Saturday, you’ll be out of luck on Sunday,” Sonja advised.

However, not all is lost: some cafes, restaurants and bakeries are still open, although according to Sonja it is better to ensure that you always have cash on hand.

“I’m constantly amazed at how many restaurants, cafes and even some stores in this city are cash-only,” she said.

Perhaps the nicest surprise is that even the hairiest Austrian residents get a passport.

“These passports are available for cats, dogs and ferrets in the EU,” she said. “Last December, the guy at TSA couldn’t help but laugh when he saw my cat’s passport when we returned to the US for the holidays last year.”