I’m an American and I’m thinking about moving to the Netherlands sometime in the future especially if a “certain presidential candidate” gets elected. Now, I’ve never been to the Netherlands or anywhere in Europe for that matter. Everything I “know” about the country comes from Youtube videos/channels that brag about how great it is. One of the things that gets that touted the most is the cycling infrastructure and walkability. As someone trying to move away from car dependency this seems to be a no-brainer. Amsterdam seems like the obvious choice but I’ve been told that Utrecht has a better cycling infrastructure. What do you think?
What did you end up choosing? I’m curious how you ended up liking it!
Still in progress. I’m working on getting some usable skills like coding and PC repair so I can land employment. I’ll probably choose Amsterdam since it’s the “default” option. I’m going to visit it first, of course, before I make a decision.
Makes sense. I would guess Amsterdam has better English support (because more touristy) and slightly more jobs, but it’s also… touristy :p. I don’t like that because it’s so fake and often about weed but things keep drawing me there, like open days (is that what they’re called in English?) or a study or an internship or the two best book stores in the country (Waterstones and ABC are located on the same square, how could I not go there? I don’t know of any other book store in NL with as much original-language content as either one of them!).
I’ve done PC repair before as an internship. I’m not sure if that’s big enough here to find much work in. Perhaps at a warranty department, but I’d assume many stores ship the units to a low-income country. Basic skills picking hardware and putting machines together doesn’t hurt though! I use that at my infosec job as well. And coding should definitely be a good idea
Good luck and let me know if I can help in some way :)
I’d say find out yourself, before making a life changing decision.
Depends on where your job is and how you want to commute.
Ideally you get to live near your job so you can reach it by bike in 15 minutes… Having to commute by car in Amsterdam or any of the cities in “de randstad” will mean traffic jams during the commute.
But all these cities also have Sattelite towns, which are fully self sufficient and have bike infra into the larger cities which is great too.
Larger cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, Nijmegen, Eindhoven, etc.) are pretty international so language and expats are no issue for beginners.
So it comes down to, where will you get your job.
Neither. Find a smaller satellite town on the main lines between the province capitals.
A bit cheaper housing, still good connectivity, and as they aren’t major cities the cycling infrastructure is just as good.
If you plan to buy a place keep in mind it takes a couple months for the keys to hand over after signing this place.
Useful links.
Public transport 9292.nl and NS.nl
Housing: funda.nlGroningen, Amersfoort, Nijmegen, Den Bosch, Tilburg or Zwolle. Then Utrecht. Amsterdam is dead last, I’d take Den Haag or Rotterdam over Amsterdam any day.
Just about anywhere, you will find all the basics within biking range. Almost every neighbourhood has at least one supermarket. And every town will have a barbershop, pharmacy (both an over the counter (drogist) and a separate prescription one), GP (huisarts), etc.
Biking infrastructure is good almost everywhere. Both in the big cities and in the smaller towns. I wouldn’t use that as a factor.
Also note there is a housing crisis going on right now. You might read such stories about Cananda, but the Netherlands has it just as bad. Especially in the triangle between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Utrecht, it is bad.
I recommend looking at funda.nl at different places. See what is available in your price range. That also makes it much easier to find out about the towns around the big cities.
Breda or Eindhoven
