Hi @frosay ,
Check out Primalbase in Amsterdam. They also have location in other big cities (BER, LDN, Nyc, …)
Super affordable compared to other places such as coworkings, Spaces, etc. Decent facilities, spacious, quiet, great location. Free coffee, snacks, etc. So basically the best of both worlds (coworking vs. Cafè).
Good luck!
Nicole

I’m no expert in this area, but I think it’s important for us to know if you’re a European citizen or not. If you are, than I think the easiest thing you can do is to remain employed in France and pay the taxes there. Not sure if you’re going to save money or not this way, but it will definitely be less of a hassle to just let your employer take care of the taxes for you.
Some extra rules might apply if you are not a European citizen, but someone else might want to help with that

I’m paying €45/mo for my residential cable internet in Amsterdam. Gives me up to 7 MByte/s down. Setup is quick, you can even pick up a cable modem in one of the stores and get started at home.

I remember paying around € 30 /mo. Never had an issue.

It’s fab. No problems with internet in Amsterdam, but the city is hella expensive. Just sayin.

Really, @levelsio? The second-most expensive city in Europe? I’m curious as to where that data comes from. Maybe it’s because I’m from a far more expensive city (Vancouver), but I’ll take Amsterdam prices over Oslo/Stockholm/Paris/Zurich/Geneva any day of the week

He’s sure right about housing, though, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to find something here because the housing stock is fairly limited (primarily driven by the large-but-dwindling proportion of very centrally located social and student housing properties and exponential levels of demand within the Ring [the A10 highway]). There are plenty of websites out there like HousingNet that target either reasonably-paid foreigners or their Dutch counterparts, but they tend to charge agent fees and usually aren’t for rental periods shorter than a year (it’s worth checking, though).

If you’re looking for something on the cheaper side, I’d strongly recommend searching through the multitudes of Facebook groups on the subject if you can’t find any Airbnb’s to suit your needs. While lots of them are closed groups, they usually add new people pretty quickly. Some of the bigger groups that I’ve used and had success with in the past are:

• Amsterdam Apartments 4 Rent (this one is especially good if you don’t understand Dutch)
• Kamers Gezocht/Aangeboden
• Woonruimte Aangeboden / Gezocht (Amsterdam)

If you want to get a quick sense of what property prices (which, in general, correspond with rent prices, but not always) are like in Amsterdam, the city government has a handy interactive map that shows these numbers for 2014. There’s a lot of neighbourhoods in that map that remain pretty affordable, especially in Amsterdam-Oost (more affordable neighbourhoods here include Indische Buurt, Watergraafsmeer, and the slightly-out-of-the-way Oostelijk Havengebied), Amsterdam-West (good neighbourhoods to look for here are De Baarsjes, Bos en Lommer, and Kolenkitbuurt), and Amsterdam-Noord (pretty much all of it, but you’d have to depend on the free 24-hour ferry between Amsterdam Centraal and the north).

If you want to live within a 20-minute train of Amsterdam, other options could be Haarlem, Amstelveen, Purmerend, or Diemen. Of those, though, only the first one is really any fun on its own.

Impossible

Here’s your options (I’m from Amsterdam):

• Hostel dorms at ~ $60/night (or $1,800/month)
• Hotel rooms at ~ $200/night (or $6,000/month)
• Airbnb at ~ $100/night (or $3,000/month, if you get a discount maybe $2,000/month)
• Long-term rent for expats at $1,750/month
• Short-term rent for expats at $2,500/month
• Long-term rent for locals at $1,250/month
• Short-term rent for locals at $1,500/month

Why is locals cheaper? Well, Dutch are very insulated socially, so they have Dutch-speaking Facebook groups where they rent out places to others. They also like to sub rent houses “within friend groups”, e.g. when they go on a year of world travel. It’s smart because renting to foreigners means more trouble to them (that’s why expats are charged premium).

Amsterdam isn’t cheap anymore. Actually it’s next to London, the most expensive city in Europe. One of the most expensive in the world. I’ll be sub renting a 1-bedroom place from a friend for $1,250 and that’s a pretty great deal. 6-people hostel dorms go for $60/night (!). Hotel rooms go for $200/night average.

The only people living in Amsterdam cheaply are the student kids whose wealthy parents bought a house for them or who got a mortgage themselves.

The only way to live cheap in Amsterdam is to live OUTSIDE Amsterdam, which means Amstelveen etc. And you don’t really wanna live there, trust me (although it’s GREAT compared to the rest of world, it’s boring af).

Why don’t you consider other cities? Rotterdam, Utrecht, Eindhoven are cheaper and also very interesting places.

Thinking about stopping in Sedona on way back to SF bay - any tips? How long did you stay there?

Hi @frosay ,
Check out Primalbase in Amsterdam. They also have location in other big cities (BER, LDN, Nyc, …)
Super affordable compared to other places such as coworkings, Spaces, etc. Decent facilities, spacious, quiet, great location. Free coffee, snacks, etc. So basically the best of both worlds (coworking vs. Cafè).
Good luck!
Nicole

I’m no expert in this area, but I think it’s important for us to know if you’re a European citizen or not. If you are, than I think the easiest thing you can do is to remain employed in France and pay the taxes there. Not sure if you’re going to save money or not this way, but it will definitely be less of a hassle to just let your employer take care of the taxes for you.
Some extra rules might apply if you are not a European citizen, but someone else might want to help with that