r/AskAustria • u/StrangerinNewYork • 14d ago
Insights on Villach
Hi everyone,
Next year, we’re moving to Villach! We currently live in Germany but originally come from Southern Europe. Our plan was to move to Bavaria, but we didn’t find suitable jobs there, so we’re excited to have landed a job opportunity in Villach.
It will be me, my wife, and our two young children (kindergarten age). We’re eager to learn more about Villach—especially about:
The local community: Are people welcoming? Is there any xenophobia?
Dialect: it's not our mothertongue, but we are both fluent. can we manage with the local Dialect? Is there a way to learn it? Does understanding get better with time?
Housing: Are apartments hard to find? Prices seem high—what’s the actual situation?
Kindergarten: Which ones are highly rated? Are there any we should avoid?
Healthcare: Is it easy to find a pediatrician or general practitioner?
Any general tips or pointers that would help us settle in smoothly.
Thanks so much for any insight you can share!
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u/Avejaal 14d ago
People are nice on the outside and then just do not care too much. nowadays it seems like it is easier to find an apartment to rent, you can use willhaben.at to look around. Kindergarten is doable, but maybe not so easy. Local dialect is a nightmare, but if you speak fluent Hochdeutsch, communication should not be a problem, they all get it but do not use it. Local.doctor could be an issue, the one I signed up to said my family was last to take, as already having too many. Due to Infineon, Villach is quite open and cosmopolitan, yet of course that is Carinthia, other then that it is a great place to live and to work, 2hrs drive to Adriatic, lots of outdoor opportunities etc. I moved here 5yrs ago, feel free to DM for some more details
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u/PintsOfGuinness_ 12d ago
You can get by well enough with English and Hochdeutsch. There are plenty of non German speakers at Infineon.
Make sure you get the Kärnten Karte and Familienkarte for the kids. When you have that, there are all kinds of fun free family activities nearby. You can keep busy all summer without paying much.
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u/Huge-Sense-2170 13d ago
As a foreigner, Asian to be precise, currently living and working in Villach, I like it here. But mostly because I love nature and sports in general. So if you're into that (hiking/biking) then I think you're going to love it here. And also I already have a lot of friends here. So it helps as well. It's not a city. So it gets boring if you're used to city life.
- There are more and more foreigners working and living here mostly because of Infineon. So I'd say Villach is kind of diverse now. Locals are pretty chill. They don't normally care. Like what the other responses are saying, I'm not sure about racism. Maybe they are racist, but we've never experience racism so far, thankfully. I've heard friends saying that some kids greeting them with "Ni hao" and saying chingchong even though we're not Chinese. But other than that, no extreme cases yet for us.
- Apartments are definitely more expensive now than years back. But there are more available apartments now that 2yrs ago ever since Infineon stopped mass hiring. There are also a lot of apartments or house available for buying.
- For the healthcare, highly rated house doctors are full now and most do not accept new patients. But there are still other house doctors who accept patients.
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u/Increase-Tiny 12d ago
Villach has a huge international Comunity cause of the companies (eg infineon). So there is a good support for foreigners and there are also many communities from them.
there is also a very good international kindergarden in velden (village nearby directly at the beautiful lake wörthersee which is a + for the are aswell)
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u/PlasticError7209 12d ago
Villach probably one of the best cities in Austria. Moving from Germany would reflect you a cultural shock as Villach only has 65k around population. Prices would boring yeah.
Also, are you coming from Southern europe, are you italian? There are so many Italian people there, you could contact to them.
What degree do you have?
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u/StrangerinNewYork 12d ago
we are from Balkans, not Italian. We are engineer and a nurse, but we got the jobs covered (for now).
In Germany we live in a really small town (10k) and both work in a nearby town with 30 k, so Villach would be bigger although we are also open to living in Villach Land.
Could you tell me what do you mean but cultural differences, I am really interested in that? Especially if you have experience living in both countries.
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u/PlasticError7209 12d ago
Austria has Italians, slovakians, slovenians, czech and turkish people. Even though Germany and Austria speak german, the country is not the same, austrians are austrians, germans are germans. You both gotta live and see.
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u/blink-1hundert2und80 14d ago
Local dialect will be intense. Good luck. Just learn when you get there. You can‘t really prepare.
Apartments aren‘t as accessible as in bigger cities but they are still not so hard to get at a fair price.
I lived in Villach 3 years. I found them much more welcoming than Viennese. But there is a sort of "in-group" vibe I sometimes got. I think generally though if you‘re into nature and sporty you‘ll meet people very fast. Or if you‘re a techy at Infineon or the other local startups
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u/Traditional-Deal6759 13d ago
I grew up in Villach.
In general: Austria is not Germany, meaning that Austria and Carinthia are more xenophobic than Germany.
However, Villach is a tourist and commercial region. So people are generally more open than in other regions. Due to its proximity to Italy and the Balkans, people from this region are not as much of a target for xenophobia or racism.
You will easily manage the local dialect. The main difference from the rest of Austria is that vowels are generally pronounced more fully. For example, 'Villach' is pronounced 'Viiillaaach'. This is due to the significant influence of Slovenian on the Carinthian dialect (but never mention this when you are in Carinthia — it's a complicated history and there's not enough space for this on Reddit). Because of this influence, there are many Slovenian words in the Carinthian dialect. For example, "tschompe" means "potatoes", "notsch" means "little pig" and "tschaupad" means "feeling a little sick".
Housing: Due to the influx of highly skilled workers in the chip industry and tourism, housing is rather expensive in Villach and in areas close to the main lakes. However, it is still cheaper than in big cities in Germany.
Kindergarten: They are run by the municipality and are all fine. Volksschule is also generally OK. When it comes to schools after Volksschule (Year 5), you should aim for either of the two Gymnasia (both are good) or a middle school in the countryside. City middle schools can be problematic.
Healthcare: A general practitioner should be no problem. Specialists can be challenging.
General tip: you are in a three-state area. Drive through the Wurzenpass and you will be in Slovenia; drive through Thörl-Maglan and you will be in Italy. The Adriatic Sea can be reached in under two hours. The lakes are beautiful; my favourite is Faaker See, but Ossiacher See and Wörthersee are also very nice. There are plenty of opportunities to go hiking. Drive up the Dobratsch and walk to the mountain top. And, of course: In winter: skiing.
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u/fdupNeighbor 14d ago
I mean most people nowadays are f'ing racist... Even leftists tend to be quite racist. Austria? I'd say 90 percent here are either actively racist or don't even notice it because it is sooo standart here. But: There are still countries that are even more racist. For example I'd say France, Switzerland for example are even more racist. (which is actually not easy). So it is not the worst racism wise.
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u/antialbino 13d ago
Well Carinthia is definitely one of the most racist if not the most racist corner Austria has to offer. At least used to be for a long time. Recall that Jörg Haider was most successful here of any county in the country. Whenever I’ve been there with darker skinned friends they had issues. (Also in some historically Nazi infested parts of Salzburg by the way). As for Villach….maybe a bit better since it’s a larger town. But the commenters above are not entirely wrong, Carinthia really is possibly the most racist part of Austria. If you manage to make friends they are fun people though so give it a chance.
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u/Warm_Temperature5136 14d ago
imo, austria has the biggest problem with xenophobia in all of europe. so i would never in my life move to fucking villach, not only a shithole without any future or vision, also the people are terrible. i would even consider just going to western or northern europe, austria is looking very gloomy
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u/pdevon 13d ago
You don't get around much do you? Yes there are countries which are less xenophobic (mostly those that have less immigration than Austria), but saying Austria is one of the worst or even the worst, is just ridiculous. Talk to Greek what they think about Bulgarians or Albanians, talk to Serbs what they think about Muslims, talk to Hungarians what they think about Roma... you would be surprised how socially accepted it is in those countries to be openly racist.
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u/knettergekko 13d ago edited 13d ago
Villach is a beautiful city in my opinion but that's the only positive thing I have to say.
Carinthia in general is extremely xenophobic and racist. I remember constantly beeing mocked by adults as a child because my father was from Vienna. He himself also had to defend himself all the time for being born and raised in Vienna before he moved to Carinthia in his early thirties. Carinthia has also been one of the biggest strongholds of far-right voters in the country for decades. Just google "Jörg Haider" to see what his ideals were. They’re still what many Carinthians strive for today and he is secretly worshipped like a fallen God.
In (rural) Carinthia, people speak with a thick accent and a dialect that heavily bends grammar and is full of local expressions. So I think you will have a hard time. In the cities it is a bit better as people there usualy speak decent English (with a thick accent) but I'd guess you won't understand anything when people talk in their everyday language. Have a look at the YT channel @elektrobuddy for examples of how average carinthians talk.
That said, Carinthia is a beautiful destination to spend your vacation on mountains and at lakes if you avoid locals as much as possible.
However I moved from Carinthia to Vianna over a decade ago for those and other reasons and I definitely know that I will never go back to live there. It's like the Mordor of Austria.
EDIT: Typo
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u/insincerely-yours 14d ago
Maybe ask directly on r/villach, not the most active subreddit but maybe you get more detailed answers there! I wish you all the best and welcome to Austria :)