A Comfortable and Lovely City

I'm afraid the overall rating for this Bonn experience will turn out quite low, which is a shame. Bonn is really a nice city and I had a wonderful semester there. To me, there were no real minuses and a few major good points, but I have to say that in comparison to my semester in Pamplona, Spain, the city of Bonn ITSELF was not quite as exciting or beautiful. Bonn has a wonderful university with a nice student culture, and it's a safe place that's a good place to live with many advantages...

Architecture and Landscapes

Bonn has a few cool buildings, and many lovely art novo residential streets... but it doesn't feel ancient or medieval or very deeply historic. It's also the gateway to a somewhat flat and industrial segment of Germany to the north. Things are better to the south, where Bonn marks the beginning of the pretty part of the Rhine river valley. On the extreme outskirts of Bonn lies the Drachenfels mountain and castle, a lovely hike and view. All in all, just fine, maybe a 3 1/2 since it's better than a great many cities...

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I give Bonn only a medium grade for weather because we had the most beautiful, amazing lovely Spring I've ever seen... but the entire summer was cold and rainy. A bad year, I guess.

Culture and Customs

Well, for an American Germany does not have the most exotic culture, but still I felt that Bonn was an interesting enough place. It's one of the big centers of the Karneval tradition in February/March, so that was awesome!

The Party culture is just okay. It's not that it is nonexistent, and maybe a normal person would rate it as a 3, but after Spain I couldn't give it more than 2 stars. I didn't like the parties in Bonn because they usually smelled to me of cigarettes and sour beer. But I have a sensitive nose maybe! Also note that if you need more action, Cologne and Dusseldorf aren't far away!

I gave a solid four for Entertainment and Spare Time, mostly because of travel. Bonn makes a great starting place to travel pretty much all over Europe. In particular, it's the gateway to the Benelux. Bonn itself also has a lot of lovely green areas and a good student culture with lots of sports and activities to get involved with. Bonn attracts a fair number of cultural events and has a few good museums. And might I recommend a nice Rhine river cruise? As with parties, if you need more action, Cologne and Dusseldorf aren't far away!

Gastronomy

In Bonn is not bad but nothing special. Like German food? Good. Don't like German food? Also okay. You can find Thai, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Ethiopian, whatever here and in ample supply. And I love the crepes on every street corner!

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Prices is one of Bonn's strong suites! Probably the cheapest place I've ever been to in Northern or Western Europe! Cheaper than where I was in Spain as well... on many items such as some foods, it's also cheaper than the United States! For students, dorm accommodations, subsidized student meals, and transportation (free within the entire German state) are especially good bargains!

Transportation

Transportation is another five-star aspect of living in Bonn. The train station has surprisingly good connections and is on many ICE lines... you can go straight to Vienna for example. And you can get to a LOT of places directly from Cologne! Transportation within Bonn itself is good and within the whole state of Nordrhein Westfalen it's free for students! You can get all the way to the Netherlands or Belgium for free this way! Bonn is near several good airports such as Dusseldorf International and Bonn/Cologne (not even so far from Frankfurt) and two Ryanair hubs in Dusseldorf Weeze and Frankfurt Hahn.

All in All

Bonn is a great, easy, comfortable place to live. You can get all over Europe easily from here for side trips, and Bonn makes a perfect safe, welcoming, cheap base to come home to! However, compared to my semester in lively, beautiful, enchanting Pamplona Spain, I can't give it five stars in all categories. It was a different kind of semester but I do not regret it at all and I would choose Bonn again in a heartbeat.

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