Moving to Netherlands

[Deleted]

After lurking enough i decided to make an account so i can help you out. I myself live very close to Maastricht (Actually in Kerkrade which is about 30 mins away depending where in Maastricht u want to be) so i should be able to help you a bit.
What the guy above me said is pretty much it.

For groceries this area is quiet nice actually as you can go over the borders evry now and then. I can be in germany in 5 minutes which is the same time i need for a store so and various products are dirt cheap. Think dough and milk is like half at the german lidl compared to dutch store, idk about prices in belgium though. Meat and vegetables you can notice a difference between "lower and high end" stores. Myself i tend to go to the Jumbo most of the time because they got tastier/fresher products.
There are also alot of butchers/bakeries/vegetable sellers as well so you shouldnt ever have problems really.

Transport wise if you go into Maastricht itself a bike is a gift from god. It's hell on earth if you got to use a car (personal expierence)

Bad neighbourhoods i got no clue. Rent however depending on what u exactly want can change quiet drastically. Also VERY dependant on where u want to live exactly. For example a 20m2 appartement in maastricht can already cost you 300 EURO a month and 60-90m2 can go like 600-1000 EURO a month. Outside of Maastricht it can go cheaper. While doing a quick search ive found an appartement in Gronsveld which is really close to maastricht that costs 740e a month for 120m2 but would require you a short travel time.

Rude/Politeness
Seeing i'm considering moving away due to gf/work i've been asking about about habits and costums people have. We can wear our shoes indoor generally (obv when it snowed like fuck or ur shoes are muddy u can always ask if they mind), when we meet someone new we generally only shake a hand, when congratulating someone with their b-day girls give guys a kiss on the cheek and vise verca.

I cant think off anything else right now. Hope it helped you a bit.

I am Belgian and now live in the Netherlands. My experience is that the food prices in Belgium are a little higher in general. (although it depends ofc on the quality of the shops, as was mentioned before) But it is not world breaking.
You pay less taxes in Netherlands, but that comes at the expense of having to pay for virtually everything. My experience is that overall, the difference of what you have after having paid for the necessary things is quite small.
The dutch system is a bit more fair though: you pay for what you need.

Child care is quite expensive in Netherlands, although it is very excellent (you pay for what you get). In Belgium you can put your child at school a year earlier, which can be a big difference in the budget. Since Maastricht is right next to the border, I advise to put your children at school in Belgium, especially for that first year. After that you can decide what to do, the systems are quite high standard in both countries.

Public transport is a lot less expensive in Belgium, especially the trains. The train service is crap in the Netherlands, but the bus service looks better.

As for customs:
At birthdays, you seem to have to congratulate the whole family, and everyone who is around, and not just the celebrating guy/girl.

[Deleted]

Hi there, Cool to see that many from the Netherlands here. I myself moved to Maastricht not to long ago to live with my love all the way from Sweden. I have to say, moving here is probably the best thing ever, Sweden can't really compare haha ^^ Only thing that have annoyed me is that as soon as you see a car with belgian numberplates you have to watch out because they drive like they got their drivers license in the cerealbox in the morning. Unbelievable.
Having lived in Stockholm before I have to say Maastricht might be a little less crowded (unless it's thursday and you think its a good idea to go by car into the city) and people are very VERY much more open and nice. It's one hell of a beautiful city.

To answer your questions you had, so far from what I have noticed:

Where is best to shop your groceries? (price vs. quality)
Personally I find C1000 at brussel Port to be the best, they have nice bread, veggies and meat. I don't really like Albert Heijns because it seriously feels like you are being ripped off every time you walk in there. I heard their meat comes out of Africa and quite shady slaugtherhouses, might just be bogus talk but their meat is really... shit for the price they are asking.
They have lots of brand products. Aldi has the best lasagne for when you are lazy!

What things should I look out for (scams etc.)
Well, I don't mingle around that much, work-make food-sleep-repeat here so I dont know. Something that caught me of guard when I moved here was how people would talk to you without a good reason to do so, like in Sweden, you dont generally talk to someone unless its of absolute importance... here a conversation can be striken out of nothing, followed by a good beer!
Guess not really a scam, but damn nice anyway!

How is the child care?
Hm, I dont really know all this, my GF is the boss of taking care of these stuff, since im still learning dutch she is in charge of caring for our little girl on those matters, she goes to school and have to pay for eating there or come home for lunch. You get childsupport if you don't earn enough bladiblabla, dont know much about that, seems like the dutch take care of their own on that matter though.
As someone else said, teachers are very involved and keep you up to date with everything as a parent. It feels like they take their job seriously which is nice.

EDIT: IMPORTANT! remember that in the netherlands you are obliged to have a health insurance, you can't skip it if you are working, dno about studying but think it applies anyway. Check interpolis.nl think they are the biggest ones.

What is considered rude/polite?
Well dont scream tyfus to someone, that has apperently quite some tone here haha ^^
Other than normal "dont behave like a dick"- stuff, dont be suprised to have a conversation about nothing with someone you dont know... yet : ) It rly took quite some time for me to get used to it.

Also if you are in Maastricht, DO NOT say holland, holland is the north and the southerners are quite proud, they often speak their own dialect, Maastricht which sound rly cute or Limburg which is its own language. Specially if you speak to older people.

How is the transportation?
Bike or car, basically. Public transportation isn't as cheap/common here as in Sweden, you better of biking if you rly want to get somewhere fast. This country is quite tiny, everything is around the corner.

What is a normal rent price for an 60-90m2 apartment?
We're paying 800ish euro for 80m2 but that is all included. I've heard it's very overpriced though so you should find something quite cheaper than that, specially if you get a student apartment. Id say apartments are in general smaller here than Sweden (dno where you're from mate) so get used to a bit mroe cramped up places ^^

Internet is extremely expensive here compared to Sweden : ( only grief I have! Ziggo, you stealin my monehz!


Are there any neighborhoods in Maastricht that I should avoid?
Only place that SEEM shady is close to the BP in Maastricht (no idea what it's called, maybe some fellow Maastricht guy/girl can say ^^) but there is like... Police cars patrolling 24/7 all over le place so idk, it feels safe. And from my understanding and experience so far, polices aren't fucking dickfaces here but actually quite helpful : )

[Deleted]

edit: double post

[Gerti]

thanks you guys, this has been helpful

I'm from Iceland btw.

[Deleted]

Hey Gerti,

Nice to hear you are moving to my town

I cannot compair Iceland vs Maastricht for obvious reasons allthough it's concidered quite expensive to live here. It's a highly visited place located right between Germany and Belgium and various international companies. And ofcourse since there are a lot of students it all creates a high demand of affordable housing.

I think it is fair to say in general Dutch houses/appartements are quite small (we're only a small country after all). If you like to live near the center, the amount you suggested is not gonna be enough, unless you want to settle for a studio. This means you need to look at the outskirts, and there...a bike will be handy, get used to it, we all do it here, public transportation is quite expensive for those little rides, because...we are a small country

If I may suggest your google some (and I took the liberty to do it for you, this is what you get for a 3 room, 1 bathroom) *EDITED, can't link**


As where it goes for childcare, we consider it pretty costly and you do need to sort that out asap because if queues and stuff. You can contact MIK who have day care facilities.
Please give these people a call, they can help you out further with providing you the information needed.

Then you can apply for child benefits, not sure if it applies to students from abroad but always nice to check that out. The party arranging this is the SVB,

And then you have cuts for insurances and other stuff but that is arranged by the tax office and I stronly advise you to call them and see what you can apply for and what you need to set in place for you as a foreigner, student and with child. You can get tax cuts for day care costs, health insurance costs and rent. Our tax office is called Belastingdienst and the cuts we call "toeslagen" with google Im sure you can find stuff you would want to read.

So yeh you have plenty of stuff to arrange ahead of you

I linked some things here as for appartments and other information but Im afraid I cannot.
If you need to assistance feel free to let me know, im here in Maastricht and able to help you find stuff. If you are still interested in the links maybe you want to skype or mail and you could set off in the wonderfull land of bureaucracy.