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Planning to move to the Netherlands. Which city would be a great place to live: Amsterdam or Utrecht?

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?

5 comments

Zoldyck

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I'd say find out yourself, before making a life changing decision.

Badeendje

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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.

slazer2au

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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.nl

Vinny_93

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Groningen, Amersfoort, Nijmegen, Den Bosch, Tilburg or Zwolle. Then Utrecht. Amsterdam is dead last, I'd take Den Haag or Rotterdam over Amsterdam any day.

Rednax

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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.