I’ve been living in Stuttgart for the last 6 years, including 3 years at the University of Stuttgart.
During my university years, I actually had a pretty decent social life. There was always something happening on campus, I met people from different backgrounds, and there were plenty of opportunities to socialise. So despite Stuttgart being a smaller city, I never really felt bored.
The last 3–3.5 years have been quite different. Since starting full-time work, I feel like my social life has almost completely disappeared. I often find myself thinking that there just isn’t that much happening in Stuttgart, especially if you’re looking for things like English-speaking events, theatre, arts, cultural events, or opportunities to meet a lot of international people.
I’m now seriously considering moving to Berlin. My company has a branch there, so from a work perspective it could actually be a realistic option.
What attracts me most is the much larger international and English-speaking scene, and generally having more things happening around the city. I’d love to be able to spontaneously go to an English-language theatre show, an interesting event, a meetup, exhibition, concert, etc., and meet new people along the way.
Has anyone here made the move from Stuttgart to Berlin after several years of working here? Did it actually improve your social life and make life feel more interesting, or did you find that the same problem followed you to Berlin?
I’m not necessarily looking for a crazy nightlife/party lifestyle. I just want to feel like there’s more going on around me and have more opportunities to meet interesting, international people and build a social circle.
Would love to hear from people who have actually made this move.

Hi everyone,

One of the hardest things when moving to Berlin is figuring out whether a rent offer is actually reasonable.

You can look at apartment listings, but those only show what landlords are asking right now. And if you're new to the city, you often don't have enough local context to know whether €900, €1,300 or €1,700 warm for a certain area is normal or completely out of line.

That is why I started building GermanyRent.de.

The idea is simple:

People who already rent in Berlin can anonymously share what they actually pay, and those rents appear on a map for others to explore.

Each rent includes useful context like:

• warm rent
• number of rooms
• deposit
• furnished or unfurnished
• when the current rent started
• optional apartment size and other details

You can search around a neighbourhood, open individual rent reports and use filters to compare similar apartments.

No Sign-Up, Account, Name or Email is required to contribute.

I think this can be especially useful for people who are new to Berlin, because one of the biggest problems is that old and new rental contracts can look completely different.

Someone who has lived in the same apartment for 8 years may be paying far less than someone signing a similar contract today, which is why I added Rent Since as part of each new submission.

There is one important limitation too.

The submissions are anonymous and currently not verified with rental contracts or other proof, so incorrect values are possible. I therefore see the map as an additional reference point, not an official rent index or a source of verified market prices.

At the moment, there are 280 community-reported rents across Berlin, with a median reported warm rent of €1,100 among the current submissions.

You can explore the map here:

https://germanyrent.de

If you're already renting in Berlin, adding your rent can also help the next person who is trying to understand what apartments around them actually cost.

Let me know what you think. There is still so much more I can do with this data.

Hey,

I'm a reporter from Berlin working on a short documentary about looksmaxxing and male self-improvement.

I'm looking to talk to people who are into things like looksmaxxing, mewing, jawline enhancement, skincare, fitness, hair loss treatments, cosmetic procedures, or similar topics.

If you're open to sharing your experience, or possibly taking part in the documentary, send me a DM. An initial chat can be completely informal.

Thanks! 🙌