How to Make Friends in Europe: A Country-by-Country Guide

To make friends in Europe, plan for the country rather than the continent. Spain, Greece and Cyprus rank among the easier places for newcomers to settle, while Germany and the Nordic countries sit near the bottom of the same survey, so a tactic that works in Madrid can fall flat in Helsinki. What crosses every border is a weekly activity with the same people, some of the local language and the willingness to go back a second time.

The short answer

Expect a north-south split. In Expat Insider 2025, Cyprus, Spain and Greece ranked in the top 14 of 46 for settling in. Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Finland and Norway ranked between 40th and 45th.
Learn each country's club system. French associations, German Vereine and Norwegian trekking groups are where locals actually meet.
Use what crosses borders. parkrun runs in 12 European countries, and the Erasmus Student Network has 512 local sections if you're a student.
Check the calendar. In France, September is the main door into local clubs. Miss it and you wait.
Moving alone? Book one weekly activity in your first two weeks, before your evenings set around your phone.

We make Rimeso, so we're not neutral about it. We've tried to be fair about what each app is good at, including where others are the better choice.

How to make friends in Europe: read the map first

InterNations' Expat Insider 2025 ranked 46 destinations on how easy it is for foreign residents to settle in. These are the European ranks we could confirm from its reports, including its page on Spain. The full list covers other countries too.

Rank of 46	Country
10	Cyprus
13	Spain
14	Greece
20	Malta
30	Hungary
37	Czechia
39	Switzerland
40	Denmark
41	Austria
42	Sweden
43	Germany
44	Finland
45	Norway

The pattern in these ranks is hard to miss: the further north you go, the harder it feels. In Finland, 68% of expats said making local friends is difficult. In Germany it was 63%, against 42% globally. In Norway, 41% found locals generally unfriendly.

Read that with care. The survey records how foreign residents feel, and people move for different reasons. A slow start in Oslo may lead to friendships as deep as a quick one in Valencia, or deeper. What the table tells you is how much effort your first year will need, and where to bring a thicker skin.

What the EU's own loneliness survey adds

The European Commission's Joint Research Centre ran the first EU-wide loneliness survey in 2022. On average, 13% of respondents felt lonely most or all of the time over the previous four weeks, and 35% felt lonely at least some of the time. Ireland was highest, at over 20%, followed by Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Greece. The Netherlands, Czechia, Croatia and Austria were lowest, all below 10%.

Set that beside the table above and something interesting appears. Greece ranks well for expats and among the EU's higher loneliness figures for residents. Austria is the reverse. Feeling welcome and feeling connected are different things, and a friendly country can still be a lonely one. The researchers themselves caution that culture, demographics and sampling may explain part of the gap, so don't treat this as a league table of national happiness.

What works across borders

parkrun. The free weekly timed 5k ran in 12 European countries in August 2026: the UK (879 locations), Ireland (114), Poland (109), Germany (79), the Netherlands (30), Italy (15), Sweden (15), Norway (13), Denmark (13), Finland (9), Austria (6) and Lithuania (5). Walkers can take part, and the format is the same everywhere, which is a comfort in your first strange month.
Erasmus Student Network. If you're a student, ESN has 512 local sections in 44 countries and runs orientation sessions, social meetups and cultural activities for exchange students. See also how to make friends in college.
European Solidarity Corps. People aged 18 to 30 can volunteer abroad through this EU initiative, individually or with a team. Working alongside people is a faster route into a place than renting a room in it.
Language tandems. You teach your language, someone teaches you theirs. Tandem and HelloTalk make the match, and a coffee every Tuesday makes the friendship.
InterNations. A network for expats, useful in your first weeks for meeting other people who need a Friday plan. Expat friends in Europe are the easiest ones to find. Keep them, and add locals too.

Which friendship apps work in Europe?

It depends on what you want, and on where you are, since apps come and go by country. Here's how the main friendship apps in Europe compare.

App	Good for	Worth knowing
Rimeso	A small circle and one thoughtful question a day	Free, on Android only, with no iPhone version. The talk happens online, in English or Hindi. A young app, so some circles are quiet.
Meetup	Interest groups and local events	Most groups cost members nothing to join. Organisers pay.
Timeleft	Dinner with five strangers, plus drinks, coffee or walks	Started in France, and lists more than 200 cities in 52 countries. Membership is paid, and you buy your own food. 18 and over.
Bumble BFF	One-to-one matching and groups	Availability varies by country, so check your app store.
Tandem, HelloTalk	Language exchange	The better choice if your goal is the local language.

For more on these, read our guides to apps for making friends and Timeleft alternatives.

How friendship works, country by country

Generalising about a whole nation is a rough business, so take these as first notes from a friend, each with one thing to do.

Spain

Spain ranked 13th for settling in, and 70% of expats called locals friendly, against 60% globally. Social life here happens at the table and takes its time. Sobremesa is the habit of staying to talk after a meal has finished, and a tertulia is a recurring gathering, often at a bar, to discuss current events or the arts. The catch is that warmth at lunch doesn't always turn into a place in someone's life, and much of it runs in Spanish. First step: never leave a long lunch early, and go back to the same bar until they stop asking what you want.

Italy

Social life in Italy tends to be local, so your town matters more than your country. A sagra is a local festival, very often built around food, and it's an easy way to see a place relaxed and out of doors. parkrun has only 15 Italian locations, so don't count on it. First step: start an Italian class in your first month, then go to every sagra you can reach.

France

Local life in France runs through associations, and the calendar is everything. Each September, towns hold a forum des associations, where clubs for sport, music, the arts and volunteering set up stands, answer questions and sign people up. Nantes runs them across its districts, and Paris held its 2026 forums from 5 to 19 September, free and open to all. Don't count on parkrun here: it has been suspended in France since July 2022 over medical certificate rules. First step: put the September forum in your calendar now. We have fuller guides in French: comment se faire des amis and se faire des amis dans une nouvelle ville.

Germany

Friendship in Germany starts slowly and tends to hold, and it runs through registered clubs called Vereine. It ranked 43rd for settling in, but it also has more registered clubs than you could join in a lifetime. First step: ask a local Verein for a free trial session. Our full guide covers how to make friends in Germany, including the Sie and du question.

United Kingdom

The UK has Europe's biggest parkrun network, and it needs one. British reserve treats leaving strangers alone as good manners, so friendships grow out of shared tasks and jokes over months. First step: volunteer at a parkrun or join a pub quiz team. See how to make friends in the UK.

Ireland

Ireland had the highest loneliness figure in the EU survey, at over 20%, and it would be easy to misread that as a verdict on the people. It's better read as a warning that a chatty place can still leave you lonely. It also has 114 parkruns, a lot for its size. First step: pick your nearest parkrun and go five Saturdays in a row. If you're struggling, Samaritans are on 116 123.

The Netherlands

The Netherlands sat at the low end of the EU's loneliness survey, below 10%. People tend to be straightforward and open, which can sound blunt if you're used to softer language. The quality people value most socially is gezelligheid, a warm feeling of togetherness, from gezel, meaning friend or fellow. First step: be direct yourself. "Would you like to get coffee next week?" is perfectly normal here.

Sweden

Sweden ranked 42nd. The way in is fika, a scheduled break for coffee and something sweet, common at work, at home and in cafés. In an office it's when people finally talk. First step: never skip fika to catch up on work, and after a month, invite one colleague to a fika outside the office.

Norway

Norway ranked 45th, and it's the toughest start on this list. Two institutions help. A dugnad is voluntary work done together, such as a spring clean-up at a housing co-operative, often followed by a shared meal. The Norwegian Trekking Association has more than 300,000 members and 57 local chapters. First step: turn up to the next dugnad at your building with gloves on. Nobody expects small talk, and everybody remembers who came.

Finland

Finland ranked 44th, and it's also the country where, by UNESCO's count, 3.3 million saunas serve 5.5 million people. Sauna culture went onto UNESCO's heritage list in 2020. First step: if a Finn invites you to a sauna, go. Universities and sauna clubs help keep the tradition going, so ask at yours.

Denmark

Denmark ranked 40th. If you have time, look at a folk high school, an idea that came from the Danish writer N. F. S. Grundtvig. These adult schools have no final exams, and in Scandinavia students often board for two to six months. Living with the same group is about as fast as adult friendship gets. First step: look up short courses before you commit to a long one.

Poland

Polish sorts people more carefully than English does. A znajomy is an acquaintance, a kolega is a colleague or mate, and a przyjaciel is a friend you feel real affection for, so don't rush to use that last word. Name days have traditionally mattered more than birthdays in parts of Poland, with gifts and flowers at home and at work, though birthdays are catching up among younger people. Poland also has 109 parkruns, more than anywhere in Europe outside the UK and Ireland. First step: find out when your colleagues' name days fall, and bring flowers or cake.

Greece and Cyprus

Cyprus came 10th for settling in and Greece 14th, though Greece fell from 9th to 16th for finding friends. Both are good news for a newcomer in the first few months. First step: learn enough Greek to order, joke and apologise, and use it on the same three shopkeepers.

Moving to Europe alone: your first 90 days

Moving to Europe alone is mostly a scheduling problem in the first three months. Say you've just moved to Lisbon for a job and you know nobody. Here's a plan that works in most places.

Weeks 1 and 2: book one weekly thing. A class, a parkrun or a sports group. Choose it for location. A 10-minute walk beats a perfect club across town.
Weeks 3 to 6: start the language. Even if your job runs in English. Local friends don't arrive through your company's email list, and a beginners' class is full of people as lost as you are.
Weeks 7 to 10: say yes to everything. The awkward work drinks, the neighbour's barbecue, the expat quiz. Each one is an hour towards the hours a friendship takes.
Weeks 11 and 12: host something small. A Sunday walk or a pot of soup for four people. The person who organises gets remembered, in every country on this list.

Expect a dip around month three, when the excitement fades and the friendships aren't there yet. That's normal. Our guide on making friends after moving covers it, and how to deal with loneliness helps on the bad weeks. If it gets heavier than that, findahelpline.com lists support in your country.

💡 Try this: before you move, find three things that repeat weekly within 15 minutes of your new home and put them in your calendar for your first month. You can cancel a plan. It's much harder to create one on a lonely Sunday.

Language, and what Rimeso can and can't do

Language is the big difference between friendship in Europe and friendship almost anywhere else: you can cross five borders in a day and need a different one each time. English gets you a long way with other newcomers. It seldom gets you into a local friend group.

Rimeso can help with one small part of this. Our free Android app gives a small circle one thoughtful question every day. You can use the app interface in French, German, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian, but circles and questions are in English or Hindi only, so there are no Spanish or French circles. Rimeso first looks for an active circle in your own country. If there isn't one yet, it can place you with a nearby country on a similar clock, such as Ireland with the UK or Austria with Germany. Circles are not city-based and we arrange no meetups, so treat it as conversation while you build the local life above. Some circles in smaller countries are quiet.

Frequently asked questions

Which European countries are easiest for making friends?

In the Expat Insider 2025 survey, Cyprus, Spain and Greece were among the highest-ranked European countries for ease of settling in, at 10th, 13th and 14th of 46 destinations. Germany, Finland and Norway ranked near the bottom. The survey measures how foreign residents feel, so it tells you about the first year more than about the friendships you may have by year five.

How do I make friends if I am moving to Europe alone?

Book one weekly activity in your first two weeks and start a language class in your first month. Say yes to every invitation for the first 90 days, then host something small yourself. Other newcomers will say yes fastest, and locals usually come through something that repeats.

Which European countries have parkrun?

As of August 2026, parkrun ran in the UK, Ireland, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Austria and Lithuania. It has been suspended in France since July 2022.

Can I use Rimeso in Spanish, French or German?

You can set the app interface to French, German, Spanish, Portuguese or Italian. The circles and daily questions are only in English or Hindi, so you would use the app in your language and talk with your circle in one of those two.

Sources

A small circle that actually gets you.

Rimeso gives you one thoughtful question a day to answer with a small private circle matched to your interests. No feed, no followers, no ads. About four minutes a day.

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If you're struggling right now: Rimeso and this article aren't a substitute for professional care. If you feel unsafe or in crisis, please contact your local emergency number, or find a free, confidential helpline in your country at findahelpline.com. In an emergency anywhere in the EU, call 112.