To all Wuppertal residents and other NRW people :-)

Is it not an option for you to live in Essen (or along the Ruhr area line) and one of you takes the train to Cologne? That saves a lot of driving stress and the train connections are very good and fast.

Ultimately, the surrounding area looks so densely populated everywhere that there probably isn't a spot that is central, conveniently located, and affordable at the same time.

I seriously wonder how people in the greater Munich area manage such things. Sure, there are also many better-paying jobs there, but not so many that 1,000+ EUR per square meter become affordable. But that's another matter.

Especially if it should be a bit more rural, I would rather look in the Bergisches (not mountainous!) Land. However, you have to reckon with corresponding travel times, because "right in the middle" there is no highway running (that's why it's rural). Best regards K1300S

My husband commuted by train from Cologne to Essen for a month, but it didn’t really work well. When you look up the connection, it says 53 minutes from Mühlheim station to Essen HBF, but the train never kept to that schedule. Sometimes it took two hours because he had to change trains in Duisburg, or ICE trains always had to be given priority. By car, it takes him 45-50 minutes, which is much less exhausting for him. He says the 70 km are much more relaxed for him than before in Cologne with the KVB for 35 minutes (he also worked in Cologne before).

That’s why we are looking for something in the middle. I will commute by train to Cologne later, but the travel time should be reasonable. At the moment, it takes me 40 minutes to get to work from the east of Cologne to the city center, which is okay. Under an hour would be nice :)

Hello, I would think about it very carefully, my husband and I also commuted for years. There is nothing worse for us! I used to commute from Duisburg to Dortmund and my husband from Duisburg to Cologne. We then moved to the Cologne suburbs, my husband now drives about 20 km and I got a new job after raising the children and drive at most 25 minutes. When our new house is finished, I will only have 10 km distance to work. And the highways in NRW are really no fun!! Well, what affordable lies in between, you can forget the entire Düsseldorf and Neuss surroundings or you have won the lottery... but Wuppertal would not be an alternative for me. Go through the city after shops close on a Saturday and then you will know why... Maybe Mönchengladbach or Grevenbroich could still work?? Good luck with the search

I would post your request on Facebook in one of the many Wuppertal groups. For me, Wuppertal would be a no-go.