Insights on Villach

[u/StrangerinNewYork]

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!

[u/knettergekko]

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

[u/Butterfly_of_chaos → u/knettergekko]

We highly appreciate you staying in Vienna. :-)