Where to move to in the Netherlands??

[medice]

I am looking into relocating to the Netherlands. I would be working from home and also flying frequently so proximity to an airport is important. My husband and 2 kids (and 2 dogs) will be coming along. Kids are 1 and 4 years old. We are planning to send kids to Dutch school as we will be here for up to 10-15years. What town should we consider? I would like to stay under 2000eu for 3-4 bedroom apartment/house (I will need an office) with a little garden hopefully and incl utilities.. Leiden looks promising.. Any other suggestions? My husband will initially stay home with the little one so he won't need to commute anywhere for awhile. Thank you!

Haarlem has no direct train to Schiphol but is still only about 30-40 mins max. with the change at Sloterdijk. It's a lovely city but expensive! A 30-40 minute commute is the norm btw, a five minute bike ride is a fab idea but no, we commute same as everyone else.

I'm in Alkmaar - 30 minutes on the train from Amsterdam Centraal, old town center and close to the seaside. There are quite a few expat types here, and it is still affordable. It's not too bad for the airport, door to door for me is 50-55 mins on the train, or 30 in the car if outside rush hour. It's perfectly possible to commute to Amsterdam, I did it for years.

Kids can stay over at lunch in school btw - the school will have an arrangement with one of the daycares. You pay but it's not much.

Alphen a/d Rijn is a quicker commute than Amersfoot, 36 minutes with change in Leiden.

www.ns.nl is the way to check commuting times and routes.

Den Haag is nice but not very exciting. Amsterdam is fab. How about Utrecht, though I'm not sure how far it is from Schipol. The train network in the Netherlands is superb.

"Have you been to Leiden? We didn't like it at all. Den Hague is lovely though, possibly more expensive than other areas though." Ooh, yes do tell more, Gloria. DD has a firm offer from Leiden uni, but at the Den Haag campus; she's going at the weekend to have a scoot around. I was in Den Haag once for the day many moons ago, can't remember it properly. What makes it so much better than Leiden itself? Having just looked at the trains this evening, Leiden is 35 minutes from Amsterdam Centraal, as already mentioned much closer to Schipol. There seem to be at least 6 trains an hour direct. Den Haag is a bit further, around an hour from the town centre.

Katiepoes, as a resident, what do you know about studying in the Netherlands (should open my own thread really, but might just be relevant to OP's older child)?

Was going to recommend alkmaar!

I'm wondering why you have decided on Holland as a place to live for a long time, without apparently needing to be there for work, or experience of living there before? Not trying to be difficult, but it's a place where the reality of life can be very different from the impression you get from a visit. Do you have an escape strategy?

As for where to live, I have lived many years in Den Haag and it is very nice and clean and everything works and it is very middle aged and middle class and boring. Leiden sounds a better idea.