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We will definitely be moving to a new city in the next 3 years, so this question comes up all the time for us. If it were up to me and funds were not a problem, we would definitely live in Paris. Copenhagen is high on our list (my DH already lived there for a few years). Some other cities we would consider in no particular order: The Hague, Bordeaux, Barcelona, Geneva, Stockholm, Marseille, London and Budapest.

@Mrs. Bee: I would definitely start researching well before you go...It is quite tricky to stay in Europe for more than 90 days, at least, legally, let alone work there, even if you are self-employed/working remotely.

I think it's easier to say where I wouldn't want to live, honestly. For right now, that's the Balkan countries.

At this point though, consistency in my son's education is key, so it would have to be a location with an IB program.

Spain please!

I would go back to London if the circumstances were right.

Netherlands. Simply because I heard great things about how great the educational system is to the kids. I was there and I really liked it too. Maybe not in amsterdam though. If I don't need to worry about kids, I'd prefer any Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark).

No idea- I have not been as an adult.

I would love to live in Berlin, Madrid or Copenhagen (though I don't really want spend a lot of effort learning Danish). I've lived in London and Paris, which are great. I sometimes dream about having a second apartment in Rome.

I've spent a lot of time in london and love it.

I've always wanted to live in Germany. Not for any real reason.

I also lived in Sweden as a kid and would love to raise my family in Sweden.

We've traveled through much of Europe & liked Copenhagen, Malmo (Sweden), & Helsinki. We'd also consider Germany or Austria, but the Scandinavian countries were most appealing.

Somewhere warm and sunny, so maybe Italy.

London or France. I'm job hunting and one of the jobs said we could do a 3-6 month stint at their Germany site! DH and I are really excited about that possibility.

@Mrs. Pajamas: it definitely depends on your specific situation and what you are doing, and it's different in each country. I actually don't need a visa where we currently live (but have a residency permit), but that's tied to my DH's job and the fact that he's European entitles me to work, which isn't the case for non-Euro residents. I think a lot of European countries are also tightening up their immigration rules in light of the refugee/migrant crisis.

It really depends on how long we intend to say. For long term living, I'd stick with Sweden - the whole country is so kid-friendly! But for a short year somewhere new, I'd go somewhere livelier ... maybe Paris. But I don't really want to live anywhere else besides Sweden. If we can do a year in S.Korea, that would be really tempting!

My husband and I lived a year in London and would LOVE to go back. Other options that could be feasible based on work options include Paris, Brussels, or Geneva. But if I could pick somewhere without regard to work, I'd love to go to Eastern Europe (having spent a significant amount of time living, traveling and working in Western Europe already).

I enjoyed living in London, but the weather drove me nuts so it would be nice to be further south. Italy is my fave, but I can't see living there long term. I would love a vacation home there though!

@lamariniere: She'd be starting right around her 5th birthday (although she could do one year of pre-k before kindy there). Do you think that's too late to just throw her in (like she'll freak out that she can't communicate?). I've heard at the schools around us they group 2-5 year olds together, so it's not as much of an issue since a 2 year old german child couldn't speak german well, and she won't be able to either...she would have to pass a test at the end of the year to graduate to german kinder including language! I wonder if a year is enough time? (well 1 year working at home and 1 year full immersion school). I also wondering if she does kinder and 1st in a german school, will she struggle when she goes back to a stateside school in 2nd grade? I'd love for her to really be able to speak it after our years there...and be able to hire a tutor or something for her to talk to to keep it up.

@ksnow: what do other families do? do you think there is a group of families that send their kids to local schools, and have some insight?

It's hard, I mean, German isn't really a language that is spoken in the US with any regularity, so unless there's a specific reason, I might lean towards English schools, considering that is where the rest of the education is going to be. My son is going into kindergarten this year and we've been speaking to him in a mix of English and German and he's had full comprehension since birth basically, of both langugages, but he's only begun to speak now. I have a feeling if we brought him back now and put him in a local school, the other children wouldn't have a clue what he is talking about, but the teachers might (in my husband's home country, English instruction begins in third grade).

The Netherlands. Specifically, Amsterdam. I would move there in a heartbeat if we could make it work.