2 month residency

The first hurdle to consider is the Schengen 90/180. Although your heading is two months, you mention "several months".

You missed where I could help by ......... that much. But thats a good thing because this place isn't much good for a 2 month stay. Its so incrediably beautiful and the life style is so pleasant and the culture is so rich, it would just tear your heart out to leave so soon.

But seriously, do a lot of reading and video watching until you fall in love with a place then check out the short term rental market.

The hard part is picking the right neighborhood and learning a few routine essentials. I visited here for years before I decided. Walking in cold is another deal. But it could be an adventure.

then check out the short term rental market.

I have traveled quite a lot, visiting 83 foreign countries and do my own research.
You can do a lot on your own if you are looking for where to stay, what transportation, etc. and what tours to take.

TripAdvisor.com is a great source of information for lodging and tours.

However, you are looking for "a residence" for your two months. You might prefer renting apartments instead of B&Bs or hotels.
We never book apartments since we are just two persons and prefer staying in B&Bs or small hotels.

If you wish to visit all five countries in two months, then I suggest that you split your time with at a minimum two one-month stays or better, four 15 day stays.

Also, do you wish to rent a car or use rail travel? That makes a huge difference. If you have a car, then a large city involves parking a car, which can be hard to find parking as well as expensive. With a car rental, you could pick a smaller city or town that would make parking easier and cheaper. Also, smaller cities and towns would be cheaper on lodging and perhaps even meals.

Of all the countries you mentioned, Switzerland is by far the most expensive country. We lived in Augsburg, Germany for four years and found that cost went up by as much as 50% once you crossed the border to Switzerland.

Not sure if you have been to Europe before, but on my early visits, I wanted to see the large cities the most, London, Paris, Rome, Munich and Vienna. If this is what you want, skip the car rental and take the trains.

My favorite foreign country is Italy and I recommend if you do Italy to do the big three for sure, Rome, Florence and Venice. Add the Naples area is you want more. If you want to visit smaller cities or towns, then consider Tuscany, which is near Florence. Places like Siena, San Gimignano, Lucca, Pisa and more.

If you tried to stay in ONE place and picked say Florence, doing day trips to Venice, Rome and Naples would get old, very early.

Still, if you wanted to visit Bavaria (Munich the capital), you could stay in Augsburg (50 miles away) and it is a short train ride to Munich. Yes, the cost of the train would reduce your savings on the lodging difference, but it would still be cheaper than staying in Munich.

Also, if you still want to visit all five countries, planning would be huge, but planning is fun and it helps you understand what there is to see and do and HOW to do it. For example, some things like going to the Lourve in Paris you can do on your own, or even do the Eiffel Tower, but other things may be best taking day tours.

Guide books can be helpful, I have several from Rick Steves that are great.

If you have more specific questions, you can post them on your thread or ask me with a private message. I will be glad to assist.

geovagriffith did hit on a point, you need a location where you can spend 2 months and not get bored out of your mind, or go broke. The two months will work if part of the plan is to spend one and two nights on road trips ever week or ten days; its one of the things I enjoy about living here. So a location being well connected might be important.

Again - it really depends on what you want from a home base... Will you be mostly at the base with only a number of 2 to 5 day trips elsewhere, or mostly away and want to have a place to return to regularly? We lived in a small city in Central Germany for several years and a four hour train ride would take us to France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Czech Republic, etc. Europe is bigger than you may think, even with a car. You can experiment a bit on your own by picking a place that you find interesting - Say Florence, or Munich - then get onto Bahn.com which is the international German railway portal that covers just about everywhere anyway and pick some destinations, ie. Paris, Venice, Vienna, Copenhagen, etc. to give your self a concept of how far away places will be by public transportation. Flights are also easy to Spain, Portugal, UK, Baltics, Greece, Sicily, etc. if you are near a major airport. So the major questions any consultant will ask will be: Do you prefer large cities or small towns? What are your interests (art, history, nature/hiking/skiing)? How comfortable are you learning to use public transport rather than having a car except for unusual destinations? Have fun planning!