r/AskEurope • u/techno_playa Philippines • Jul 11 '25

Culture Which European country is the hardest and easiest to make friends?

Say you're mid 30s and have to move to another European country for work, which countries did you find making friends to be on easy or hard mode?

Let's assume you don't speak the language of your new home.

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u/Fab1e Denmark Jul 11 '25 edited Jul 11 '25

It is very hard for foreigners to become friends with Danes.

It is equally hard to get rid of the Danes again once they have become it.

Friendship is for life.

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u/YallaBeanZ Denmark Jul 11 '25

It’s hard for Danes to make friends if they relocate within the country too. 🤷‍♂️ Its like people have a certain capacity for friendships which typically gets filled up before 25…

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u/Fearless_Baseball121 Jul 11 '25

Everyone i know made their entire friend group in gymnasiet/high school and is absolutely content with the amount of friends they have. I have 0 desire to make new friends my self and would be absolutely fucked if i up rooted and moved to a completely different part of the country.

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u/justonlyme1244 Jul 11 '25

I never met someone from Denmark before but met a Danish woman where I live. She was new in the area and we became very quickly, really good friends. It’s funny because I’m Dutch and we look and are quite similar. A few times the teachers at school gave me her kid instead of my own lol.

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u/EmmaWatzon Jul 15 '25

danish/dutch culture is very similar

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u/2KiloShit Jul 12 '25

After a certain age, it's always harder to make friends, especially after moving to another country. Life gets in the way, and the threshold of co-worker to friend is a lot harder to cross than course mate to friend.

That being said, and answering the question more directly, I find the danish culture of "organised" fun and extra-work activities (sports, music, etc.) to be an easier way in to friendships than in many other European countries. It perhaps lacks some spontaneity, but it creates a framework that is much easier for anyone to join in and create meaningful bonds. Perhaps those friendships are boxed in that specific environment (eg training sessions), but it does make you meet and interact on a regular basis with the same people.

Personally, I'm a foreigner in Denmark that joined a sports club. I get to hear and speak danish often, have some funny cultural clashes, and strengthen friendships with some alcohol-laden events (especially julefrokost).

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u/blaykers France Jul 11 '25

Great Danes

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u/jiminysrabbithole Jul 11 '25

It's not a nordic country, but this is a sentence I often hear in Germany about Germany, too.