What's the job? Is there travel involved?

This question is impossible to answer because it’s totally based on your personal preferences. Do you want a rural lifestyle with a lower cost of living and easy access to outdoor recreation? Or do you want to live in a larger community with more access to services, shopping, night life/social life, and a more temperate climate?

If the former, pick Bethlehem. If the latter, pick Charlottesville.

It all depends on you. It's not exactly hermit territory, but unless you live near the gas station it kind of skews in that direction. There is not much to Bethlehem, but Littleton (which has basic shopping a couple of decent restaurants, solid craft beer) is right up the road. Even then, LIttleton is pretty small and is kind of an outpost (the Walmart there is a magnet for folks coming from many, many miles away.)

If you want a place close to awesome hiking and not far from great skiing and you want to be left alone, it's a great place for that.

I’m living in NH and originally from Richmond, VA. I don’t have anything to say on Bethlehem, but I can say that Charlottesville is an amazing city. Fairly small town feel, but still lots to do. Great access to the outdoors. Great access to jobs. Great access to healthcare. Great shopping, great dining. Good weather. I love that city!

> solid craft beer

Damn skippy!

This exactly.

Bethlehem is one of those places where you need to bring in nearly everything you need- there are some cafes, the most awesome ice cream ever, a brewery, and a gas station and that is pretty much it.

Littleton is about 15 minutes away, but it is one of those places with several cute little shops and only a Walmart and a Lowes if you need to buy, say, a microwave.

I guess one way to look at it is do you want to be someplace where you need to rely on a car or not?

If you never lived in a small town and you're not an alcoholic you'll likely hate it.

Most likely you will love it for 3 weeks, think its the greatest decision you every made, then over time the isolation and lack of social diversity will start to gnaw at you and you will start to hate it.

Watch The Shining as a reference.

If you need constant stimulation, it's not for you. If you're down for a slow-down (and stuff like not many takeout options, no public transportation, etc) it's just like any other small New England town

Ha! Bethlehem is dope as fuck. Endless things to do, I wish the days were 50 hours long.

I live in Littleton. If you enjoy outdoor activities like skiing, mountain biking, hiking, or gravel biking, you'll probably like it up here.

If you enjoy clubbing, bar hopping, ubering around big cities between fancy restaurants and cocktail places, museums, or any other stuff that's exclusive to big cities: it might not be quite your speed.

FWIW I'm not sure why so many people claim it's totally car centric up here. I've lived in plenty of places around the country with larger populations, and Littleton is among the most walkable because the town is dense with housing and there are ample sidewalks. And the trail networks by Littleton, Bethlehem, and Franconia are top-notch, rivaling trail networks on the edge of much larger cities. You can bike to a lot of stuff in Littleton; maybe a bit less in Bethlehem.

I'm not sure if you'll want to live here forever, but it's a great place to spend a couple of years and build up some outdoorsy hobbies. It could get lonely if you don't have a partner who will move with you, though.

Feel free to DM me if you have any other questions.

Bethlehem is fine. You have all the amenities you need, to include a couple of restaurants in town and then Littleton stuff next door.

Only area related gripes would be is shitty grocery options. Shaws is suboptimal and the Coop is pricey. I know a bunch of folks who hit the Plymouth Market Basket.

Only disagreement I would have with your post is the car centric piece. While Littleton is not car centric and probably has one of the most walkable downtown areas out there, if you want serious grocery shopping you need wheels. In Bethlehem they'll need wheels to get anything other than beer or coffee if they live near downtown.

Are you able to visit first before making the decision? It totally depends on the type of place you're looking to live. Super different than Charlottesville.

FWIW I think Bethlehem is amazing and one of the biggest barriers for people moving to this area is the lack of housing, which you wouldn't have to worry about in your situation.

I live in Littleton which is like 5 minutes down the road.

If you like nature, art and are friendly you'll love it.

Otherwise you may struggle.

It’s way up North in the mountains. Winters are COLD and long. No way would I ever move their. Unless you love mountains, hiking, skiiing, winter sports and you’re really active in the winter- I can’t understand why anyone would want to live there

It's not exactly the middle of nowhere but it is a small town far from any large cities.

There is enough around that you never have to leave the area or will be lacking things to do. But if you're fond of suburban or city life, you will probably not be happy with it. If it's of much importance to you, healthcare in the area is limited, with one hospital and its network of offices in the area. If you don't like that one, you're out of luck or driving far to alternatives.

Good point. You can do a lot on foot, including go to the co-op, but it's not quite close enough to downtown to justify most days. And the street crossing by the co-op kind of sucks. If they added a back way to the co-op for bikes and pedestrians, preferably off the rail trail, it would massively improve my quality of life.

And of course if you want to ever go on a hike, check out other mountain biking trails, etc., you're totally dependent on a car. Not that different from most US cities, but you couldn't use public transit even if you wanted to here.