As Ryan and I travel home for the holidays I am expecting a lot of relatives asking “What do you think of living in the Netherlands?” I decided to put together some of my favorite parts of life in the Netherlands!
1. Approachable city size/bikability
I love the size and accessibility of living in Amsterdam. You can bike from one side of the city to the other in about 30 minutes. Most people assume that Amsterdam is a large city with a large population, but it is actually rather small for being so well-known with about 800,000 people. The bike infrastructure is so good with bike lanes everywhere. Not once have Ryan and I wished we had a car here. It is easy enough to rent a car for a few hours to run to Ikea, if needed. Otherwise, our bikes work great!
2. Safety
Amsterdam is consistently rated as one of the safest cities in the world. I never worry about walking in the dark, by myself, or at night. Compared to the US, you never have to worry about have a gun turned on you.
3. Work/life balance
I love the work/life balance that is emphasized in the Netherlands. I work 40 hours a week and there isn’t the pressure to work more. For example, my manager and the team lead work 32 hours a week so they can balance life with their young kids. Can you imagine a director level position in the US that is basically part-time? That unfortunately just does not exist.
4. Ample vacation time
Building on work/life balance, is the ample amount of vacation days guaranteed in the Netherlands. By law, you are guaranteed to get 20 vacation days. Most companies give out even more days and I get 29 with the opportunity to buy up to 34 total (which I will be doing)! I can’t wait to use my time to recharge and travel!
5. Affordable healthcare
Healthcare isn’t perfect in the Netherlands by any means. Honestly, they just have different problems vs the healthcare system in the US. I do appreciate that it is very affordable and you don’t have to worry about something being too expensive. I saw a post on Facebook of a Gofundme for a friend of a friend’s medical bills and that simply doesn’t exist here. For example, I get free general practitioner visits with a max deductible of €385. Yep, you read that right so if I ended up really sick in the hospital I would pay about $436 USD for absolutely everything (surgeries, an ambulance, tests, hospital care, etc).
6. High English proficiency
Although Ryan and I are taking Dutch classes, in our day to day life Dutch isn’t necessary. The level of English here is incredible as Dutch are the best English-as-a-second-language speakers in the world!
7. Ability to meet interesting and friendly people
Being a part of the international student club in college I loved meeting other students from around the world! Now, I feel the same energy with friends from India, France, Germany, Singapore, Russia, Spain, and Australia just to name a few. The expat community is an awesome way to meet new people as you already have something in common. Plus, working at a Dutch company I have gotten the chance to meet new Dutch friends 😀
8. Beautiful landscape and architecture
If you are new here, go check out the rest of my blog for all of the stunning pictures I have captured. From the windmills in the countryside to the historic Amsterdam city center I can’t help but take a photo every time I leave the house. (Ryan can confirm this ;))
9. Easy to travel through Europe
Unsurprisingly, once you are in Europe it is so easy and cheap to travel around. So far, even during a pandemic, I have gotten to visit 6 other countries! I will hopefully be back to traveling soon after this next COVID wave passes.
10. Good public transit
This ties in to several of the above points, but I still figure it should have it’s own. I love being able to hop on a train and easily get anywhere in the Netherlands. One of Ryan and I’s favorites is that from the doors of our apartment to the sand on the beach is under an hour. Thank you Dutch public transportation!
I hope you enjoyed reading about the best aspects of living in the Netherlands! I will probably do more similar posts about day to day life in the Netherlands soon so stay tuned for more like this!
❤️ Melanie
Smiles from Miles Away 