Munich

Regional snapshot

• Why people narrow here: Bavaria's largest metro with finance, engineering, and multinational HQs; the country profile groups Munich with Berlin and Hamburg for IB and bilingual schooling—often chosen when families want southern Germany, Alpine weekend access, and a dense S-Bahn/U-Bahn core, accepting higher housing costs than many Berlin budgets.
• Air access: Munich Airport (MUC) is a major intercontinental hub; ICE and regional rail tie into the rest of Germany and Austria—travel planning stays separate from which residence title you hold nationally.
• Daily life: Strong transit, cycling culture, and walkable districts; many households skip a car for city life. Driving rules, registration, and licensing follow the same federal framework as Berlin.
• Languages: German remains the language of administration and most public schools; English is widely used in multinationals and services (aligned with Germany's high EF EPI ranking in the profile), but Anmeldung, tax post, and authority appointments still reward German or vetted help.
• Watch-out: The national profile calls out steep costs in Munich, Frankfurt, and Hamburg versus Southern Europe—budget housing and childcare early and read country-level COL context before committing.
• Another watch-out: Bureaucracy and mandatory health insurance are paperwork-heavy nationwide; Munich's Ausländerbehörde and housing markets can feel crowded—same federal rules as the capital, different local queues and competition.