Just Landed in Netherlands? Your First 7 Days

Coverage and 4G/5G speeds are excellent nationwide, including on trains and in rural areas. Prepaid SIMs are sold in supermarkets, phone shops and Primera stores; a passport is enough and no local registration is required to activate one. Home broadband from KPN, Ziggo or Odido is fast and widely fibre-based, though installation can take a couple of weeks to schedule.

Typical cost: EUR 10-20/month for a prepaid bundle with 10-20 GB of data; unlimited-data SIM-only contracts run EUR 20-35/month, and home fibre broadband is roughly EUR 40-60/month.

The Netherlands is nearly cashless and card-first, and locally issued debit cards using iDEAL are the backbone of online and in-person payment. Chip-and-PIN and contactless are king; carry a little cash only for street markets, some small cafes and tips. Many foreigners are caught out when a supermarket rejects a foreign Visa or Mastercard, so a card on the local rails is worth having quickly.

Opening an account: Opening a full account with ABN AMRO, ING or Rabobank usually needs a BSN and a registered address, and can take a week or two. Expats often start with app-only banks like Bunq (a licensed Dutch bank) or Revolut, which open in minutes without a BSN and give you a Dutch or European IBAN for salary, rent and iDEAL payments.

Cash: Very low. Many shops, and even some restaurants, are card-only or refuse cash entirely; conversely a few small vendors and market stalls are cash-only, so keep about EUR 20-30 on you. Coins are still handy for supermarket trolleys and some public toilets.

Tipping: Not obligatory as service is included in the price. Rounding up or leaving 5-10% for good restaurant service is normal and appreciated; hand it over in cash or add it on the card terminal when prompted. Tipping is not expected for quick counter service or taxis, though rounding up is polite.

You must register with your local gemeente in the BRP (Basisregistratie Personen, the personal records database) to receive a BSN, which you need for work, banking, healthcare, tax and almost every official interaction. Bring your passport, a legalised or apostilled birth certificate (and marriage certificate if relevant), your residence permit if non-EU, and proof of address such as a rental contract. In many cities you attend in person by appointment, provide your documents, and the BSN is issued on the spot or posted shortly after.

Deadline: If you intend to stay longer than 4 months, register within 5 days of arrival; in practice, book the appointment the moment you have a residential address.

Where: The gemeente (municipal) office of the town or city where you live, by appointment; larger cities also run Expat Centres for internationals.

Public transport is dense, punctual and integrated: NS trains run between cities every few minutes, with trams, metros and buses (GVB in Amsterdam, RET in Rotterdam, HTM in The Hague) covering the rest, all payable by tapping a contactless card or OV-chipkaart via OVpay. Cycling is the default way to get around town, and most residents own a bike before they own anything else. Always check in and check out, because forgetting to tap off triggers a high default charge.

From the airport: From Schiphol, NS trains reach Amsterdam Centraal in about 15-20 minutes for roughly EUR 5, and run direct to Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and beyond. Uber, Bolt and licensed taxis wait outside arrivals; a metered taxi to central Amsterdam is around EUR 45-55, while Eindhoven Airport connects to the city by frequent Bravo buses in about 25 minutes.

Renting is the single biggest challenge, especially in Amsterdam, Utrecht, Haarlem and increasingly Rotterdam, where demand vastly outstrips supply and viewings turn into competitions. Use Pararius, Funda and Kamernet for listings, respond within minutes, and arrive at viewings with your documents and proof of income already prepared. Many newcomers start in temporary or shared housing and hunt for something permanent once they are on the ground.

Typical rent: A one-bedroom flat runs roughly EUR 1,400-1,900/month in central Amsterdam and EUR 1,000-1,400 in smaller cities; rooms in shared flats start around EUR 700-950. Prices have risen sharply, and the mid-market between social housing and pricey free-sector rentals is thin.

Deposit norm: Usually one to two months' rent, refundable at the end of the tenancy. Agencies may charge fees, but by law tenants cannot be charged a rental agency's commission (bemiddelingskosten) when the agent is acting for the landlord, so push back if this appears on a bill.

Healthcare is high-quality but built around your huisarts (GP), who is the gatekeeper to almost all specialist and hospital care. Basic health insurance (basisverzekering) is legally mandatory for everyone registered as a resident, and the system assumes you have both a GP and cover in place. Standards are high and waiting times reasonable, though the GP-first model frustrates newcomers used to seeing specialists directly.

How to access it: Register with a local huisarts the moment you have an address, because popular practices close their books to new patients. You generally cannot see a specialist or get most prescriptions without a GP referral. For urgent care when your GP is closed, call the huisartsenpost, and reserve 112 for genuine emergencies.

Insurance: You must take out Dutch basic health insurance within 4 months of registering, and cover is backdated to your arrival date. It costs roughly EUR 140-160/month per adult with a standard annual excess (eigen risico) of EUR 385; providers include Zilveren Kruis, VGZ, CZ and Menzis. Lower earners can claim zorgtoeslag, a healthcare allowance, from the Belastingdienst to offset the premium.

• Be direct and punctual: the Dutch value blunt honesty and being on time, and appointments (afspraken) are expected for almost everything, including a casual coffee.
• Plan ahead rather than dropping by; the agenda rules social life, and turning up unannounced is genuinely unusual.
• Split the bill without fuss; 'going Dutch' is real, and paying separately or sending a Tikkie afterwards is completely normal even among close friends.
• Greet with a firm handshake in formal settings; three cheek kisses among friends and family is traditional, though far less universal since the pandemic.
• Keep displays of wealth and status low-key; understatement and egalitarianism (the 'doe maar gewoon' ethos of just acting normal) are quietly prized.
• Learn a few Dutch phrases even though English works everywhere; the effort is noticed and appreciated, especially outside the big cities.
• Respect the cycling code: signal your turns, use lights after dark, and never block the bike lane, which locals treat as sacred infrastructure.

• Never walk in the red cycle lanes: cyclists have priority, move fast and will not slow down for you, and stepping into one is a common newcomer mistake.
• Many shops and services close early, and plenty are shut on Sunday mornings or Monday mornings, so plan grocery runs and errands accordingly.
• Directness can feel rude at first, but it is not personal; reciprocate honestly rather than taking offence or reading hostility into plain speech.
• Renting scams are rife, so treat any listing that skips a viewing or wants money up front as a red flag.
• Bureaucratic letters arrive in Dutch and often carry deadlines; do not ignore official post from the gemeente, Belastingdienst or your insurer.