r/AskNetherlands

Hello me and my wife are traveling to the Netherlands the beginning of December. We are American and it’s our first time internationally traveling. I am just looking for places to eat/drink, Tips on traveling in the Netherlands, activities that would be fun, laws that I might need to look out for, towns to visit. Basically anything really, we are going for 7 nights and the only activity we have planned is a concert. I love pastry’s/bakeries so what’s your favorite place? As far as where we will sleeping I am looking for suggestions on towns to look at near or atleast sorta near Amsterdam? I also hear they have Christmas markets during the time and we would love to check out that kind of stuff. Basically anything really helps and I appreciate anything anyone can provide.

Starting a new job at EY Eindhoven at the end of August, but I'm still finalizing housing (currently in Tilburg, searching ). My employer will let me use their office as a briefadres (unsure if this is the correct term) for BRP registration in the meantime, to avoid getting hit with the anoniementarief on my first paycheck.

Has anyone actually done this — register at an employer's address as a briefadres? A few things I'm trying to figure out (if this is even possible):

• How does the appointment process work at the gemeente for this (Eindhoven specifically)?
• Any issues with DigiD, health insurance, or other admin down the line from using a business address instead of a residential one?
• How long did you keep this arrangement before switching to a permanent address, and did that transition cause any problems?

Any first-hand experience would be really helpful.

For context , I am Spanish and currently living at my best friends house in Tilburg. I had an RNI (already have a a BSN) taken out to stay here for a couple of months and work remote but ended up getting the job so I've come back now to start so want the full BRP registration.

What is good gross salary to live comfortably in Amsterdam? I'm applying for a role in a company and I'm wonder what is  the approximate cost of living for a single person. Thanks 

I think almost everyone has at least one thing they genuinely enjoy but rarely get to talk about because nobody around them is really interested in it. Maybe your friends don't understand why you like it, or you're usually the only one in your family who's into it.

For me, I actually enjoy spending time organising things and making lists. I know that probably sounds boring to a lot of people, but I find it oddly satisfying.

What's yours? It could be a hobby, food, activity, TV show, music genre, or something completely random.

There is a big Nature study showing that native dutch people in their 20s are around 1m72 for women and 1m84 for men.(

https://www.nature.com/articles/pr2012189)

Now for northern dutchies its like 1 to 2 cm taller. So like 1m73 for women and 1m86 for men for example.

But online you hear people saying I'm a 1m90 man and I feel short here, or all the women in my class are 1m80 or taller etc. How is this possible? I kinda feel like people(dutch people as well) kinda exaggerate the hight of people in their country....

Hi all,

I’ve been working in EHR consulting for about 4 years, with the last 3.5 years focused on Epic. I have several Epic certifications and work full-time for a consulting firm in the Netherlands/Europe. My work consists mainly of full implementations etc.

From what I know, my company bills me out at an average rate of around €120/hour, while I earn roughly €55k/year. I completely understand that billable rate is not the same as salary. There is overhead, bench time, sick leave, sales, management, non-billable employees, etc. However, the gap still feels pretty extreme to me. I’ve brought up compensation multiple times, but I mostly get vague answers about “overhead” and the need to pay for people who are benched, sick, or otherwise not billable. There never seems to be a concrete explanation of what I would actually need to do to make significantly more.

Another thing that increasingly bothers me is the mediocrity I see around me. I periodically work with colleagues who, in my view, are significantly less capable, less productive, or need much more hand-holding, yet some of them earn considerably more than I do. We really have some ''10 year maintenance analysts'' that are now consultants and are just plainly incompetent.

I know comparing yourself to colleagues isn’t always productive, but it becomes hard to ignore when compensation seems to have relatively little relationship with actual performance, Epic knowledge, responsibility, or the amount of value someone delivers.

It sometimes feels like in Europe, and perhaps especially in the Netherlands, companies are very comfortable giving small incremental raises regardless of performance, while the only way to actually reset your market value is to leave. I hear so much similar stories from friends in completely different fields of work.

So I’m curious what people here think:

• Does ~€55k sound reasonable?
• How much should I realistically care about the fact that I’m being billed at ~€120/hour?
• How do you deal with seeing mediocre colleagues earning substantially more than you?
• Is there any realistic way to force a meaningful salary correction internally, or is switching firms usually the answer?
• If switching is the answer, which Epic consulting firms in Europe/the Netherlands would you recommend?

Would especially like to hear from people who have worked in the European Epic consulting market. For now trying to stay away from freelance since i just bought a house, and apart from mediocracy, i do like to have colleagues.

Hey lovely people, I am wondering if there are websites or insta pages you use to find new spots to spent time with your child.

We live on 47m2 in Oud-West so being insdie drives me nuts. My son is 3,5, and whenever it rains I end up googling and get the exact same ten spots, copied from the same five sites. Am I the only one, or do you have a go to trick or list to find fun things to do outside.

Hi! My fiancée and I are on the hunt for an Amsterdam wedding venue for around 80 people .

We’d ideally have drinks, dinner and dancing in one place ... somewhere beautiful and relaxed, rather than overly formal or “weddingy.” Essentially, a great dinner followed by a proper party.

Helling 7 in Noord is closest to what we have in mind, and we also love Het West-Indisch Huis (although the quote is a little intense). We think we've seen a lot of the usual wedding venues, so would love recommendations for less obvious restaurants, event spaces or private buildings.

Our one firm requirement is that it’s in (wider) Amsterdam itself - we’re specifically not looking for farms, boho barns or countryside venues.

Any hidden gems or firsthand recommendations?

TL;DR: Beautiful, relaxed Amsterdam wedding venue for 80, with dinner and dancing in one place. No farms or countryside venues.

Hi everyone! I’m looking for a beautiful Dutch girl I met at the Sziget Festival at a gas station. She was with her friends—a blonde girl, a Moroccan guy, and an Israeli guy. I walked her to the restroom to look out for her, and when we got back to the gas station, the guys invited me for a beer. I kissed the girl on the lips. She has brown hair and brown eyes. Her female friend was blonde and had a completely hoarse voice from singing so much at the festival. If you know who she is, or if you—the girl—are seeing this post, please message me! This team maybe go back at Amsterdam, please repost to dutch reddits laps pls guys Thank u everybody! You can find me here: insta: the_markkerekes

Hellu everyone ! I’m currently finishing my MSc and I’m hoping to move to the Netherlands after graduating. I don’t speak Dutch yet and I’m eligible to apply for the orientation year (zoekjaar) based on my degree, but I’m currently still living in the UK and would ideally like to secure a job before moving.

I’ve mainly been applying for junior roles in business analysis, consulting, operations, project management and business development. I’ve only recently started applying, but I’m already noticing that quite a few roles either require Dutch or prefer candidates who already have the right to work in the Netherlands.

I’d really love to hear from other internationals who were in a similar position, especially non-EU graduates.

What helped you actually get interviews? Did you apply before or after getting your zoekjaar? Were there particular companies, industries or job sites that were more open to English-speaking international candidates? And did networking on LinkedIn make much of a difference?
Any advice or experiences would be really appreciated. Thank you!

The NL is well-known for their tall men and women. In countries like the U.S., 180 and above is considered tall. And also any girl above 170 is also considered tall.

But an average dutch boy is 185cm. So how tall do they have to be to be called tall? 190? 195? 200?

I’m personally from the middle east and I’m 193. That puts me at around 90-95 percentile of men. Here women are rarely over 165. 175 and higher for women is super rare and super tall here for women.

This is my lingonberry plant ? will it go green again ? what should i do about it ?

https://preview.redd.it/i6hihg6b4pjh1.jpg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30d15bec957c33a538b1df069f7b814f9ca07b11

I hear he's a riot. I read German and English, but Dutch requires a lot of concentration and occasionally misfires completely.

Ik ben een Duitser uit München. Mijn vader komt uit Brabant en daar woont ook mijn familie. Ik wilde hen eind augustus komen bezoeken, samen met een paar van mijn Duitse vrienden die nog nooit in Nederland zijn geweest.

Daarna wilden we nog een paar dagen op vakantie gaan, ergens in Nederland. We zijn met vier studenten van begin twintig en ik vraag me af naar welke stad we daar het beste kunnen gaan.

Amsterdam en Rotterdam zijn voor mij persoonlijk een beetje te druk, dus ik dacht eerder aan Den Haag, Utrecht of Delft. Kortom, een wat kleinere stad met studenten en een leuk nachtleven, maar ook met een mooie oude binnenstad.

Bedankt voor alle tips!

On our next visit I want to try some of the legal highs from the smart shops?

What are people’s experiences?

What would you recommend?

I don’t take pills or powder etc at home only smoke weed.

Used to take pills when younger

Don’t want to be heavy tripping

Don’t want weed edibles

Hi, I’m a Latina woman and I want to visit the Netherlands soon. I have Dutch friends, and I’m curious about something—I ask this respectfully and certainly don't mean to generalize, but I’ve noticed that Dutch people often seem to have this idea of ​​the "exotic Latina woman." What is the perception of this over there? What physical traits lead them to label someone as "exotic" (like tan skin or curly hair or whatever) and is this common?(sometimes hear this it feel weird but I see that the people from there that definition its common) I feel like my appearance is pretty ordinary, but I notice a sort of fixation or something similar there, and I find it odd. This is a genuine question—please be kind.

Hello everybody! We will be visiting your lovely country from Switzerland next week and want to do some gravel cycling. Looked at some routes on our apps and found some good ones. BUT most have parts with sand, which we have not encountered so far. So my question is, is it hard to drive, is the sand deep or just a splash? And also do you have favorite routes you could suggest? We are looking for shorter routes around 50k, we don't mind hills but it's not necessary.
Also we want to stay a bit more south as we only have about 10 days to visit but wouldn't mind changing locations as we are flexible.

Thank you very much for your suggestions!