Place and climate

Country cut

• United States

  Continental to coastal — four seasons in the Northeast, mild on the West Coast, humid South.

• United Kingdom

  Temperate maritime — grey winters, long summer evenings, rain as a personality.

• Canada

  Hard winters outside coastal BC. Toronto is cold; Montreal is colder; Vancouver is wet.

• Australia

  Mild coasts, brutal UV, proper summer. Melbourne has four seasons in a day — they are not joking.

• Germany

  Cold winters, pleasant summers, excellent trains.

• Ireland

  Mild, wet, green. You will own a proper rain jacket.

• New Zealand

  Mild, maritime, spectacular landscape.

• Netherlands

  Flat, windy, cycling in the rain.

• France

  Parisian grey to Mediterranean south.

• Singapore

  Tropical, humid, thunderstorms at 4 pm.

• United Arab Emirates

  Extreme summer heat; outdoor life is November–March.

• Sweden

  Long dark winters, luminous summers, world-class public design.

• Italy

  Mediterranean to Alpine. Milan fog, Roman heat, Alpine winters in the north.

• Japan

  Four seasons, humid summers, snow in the north.

• South Korea

  Four seasons, hot humid summers, cold winters.

• Malaysia

  Tropical, humid, food-centred.

• Finland

  Serious winter. Summer is a national holiday.

• Switzerland

  Alpine. Trains that shame every other country on this list.

• Spain

  The weather is the scholarship.

• Hong Kong SAR

  Subtropical, humid, typhoon calendar.

• Belgium

  Temperate, grey, bicycle weather. Compact cities.

• Denmark

  Maritime, dark winters, long summer evenings, bicycles as infrastructure.

• Norway

  Cold, dark, spectacular. Bergen rain is a character.

• Austria

  Continental: proper winter, warm summer. Alps if you leave town.

• Poland

  Continental: cold winter, warm summer. Cities rebuilt and dense.

• Portugal

  Mild Atlantic. Lisbon light is the cliché because it is true.

• Taiwan

  Subtropical: humid, typhoons, dense, convenient.

• China

  Continental north, humid south. Mega-city scale.

• Czechia

  Continental. Prague is a tourist city with a student underneath.

• Hungary

  Continental. Budapest is a capital with baths, trams and politics.

• Saudi Arabia

  Hot desert. Campus compounds at KAUST are a different country from downtown Riyadh.

• Qatar

  Hot desert, air-conditioned city. Summer is an indoor season.

• Thailand

  Tropical, humid, flood-aware. Food and transit in Bangkok are the pitch.

• Türkiye

  Istanbul is a continent. Ankara is drier. Seismic risk is real — buildings matter.

• South Africa

  Cape Town is Mediterranean; Johannesburg is highveld thunderstorms.

Country notes