Leiden v. Amsterdam

How did you plan to commute: by public transport or by private transport? This will make a lot of difference. In my opinion one is crazy to commute by private transport in the "Randstad", the part of the Netherlands roughly within the polygon: Amsterdam, Haarlem, the Hague, Rotterdam, Dordrecht, Gorkum, Utrecht. Of course it will depend on the time of the day you have to go to your work, but for normal working hours, starting between 8 and 9 and stopping between 4 and 6, one should use public transport.
Leiden is a student town and will have lots of opportunities to go out for a cheap meal and a drink. A big supermarker in Leiden will have the same variety of goods as one in Amsterdam. On top it is just a short distance from Leiden to the Hague, if you really can not find something in Leiden.

amsterdam is not that big - compared to lots of other places like london, paris, new york. i don't know of course, what your reference is. as the first poster already explained, commuting between amsterdam and leiden by car could be a problem, timewise, during rush hours. but if you are lucky enough to find an affordable sublet not too far away from a railway station, travelling by train might be a better choice.

on the other hand, leiden is indeed smaller, but being a university town with a long tradition, has many places to enjoy yourselves in a financially better way than amsterdam, being the main tourist attraction of the netherlands.

beware - please, i mean it - of housing advertised through websites as craigslist and the like - 90% scam. if you ever doubt about an offer that seems to good to be true - it usually is. there are enough trustable agencies available, though i cannot advise you which is the best - i live here!

maybe you better find a place for a few weeks when you arrive, so you and the wife can adapt to dutch life and look around for a more permanent dwelling - which, being high season, will be a challenge already. but it gives you perhaps a choice, or a possibility to look at pre-selected rental flats which you like and can afford. fully furnished appartments are quite pricey - unless your company picks up the ticket.

Housing in Amsterdam is extremely difficult to find unless you are willing to pay a lot of money (at least EUR 900 per month without gas, electricity, water, for a small 50-60 square meters apartment). If you do opt for Amsterdam, your best bet is probably to rent someone's house that is for sale but won't sell fast enough due to the recession.

I don't know how difficult or expensive Leiden is... it's also a student town but if you look in the higher segment you're not competing with the students.

Trains only take about 30 minutes from Amsterdam Central Station to Leiden. You could use a bike which you park at the station, or even bring a foldable bike on the train for free and use that for onward transport to/from work/home.

As said above, Amsterdam has a small town feel when compared to big cities abroad. Some Dutch cities have more of a 'big city' feel, Rotterdam mostly so. So you may want to look into Rotterdam?? It also has lots to see and do but is quite a rough, ugly city, but with funky restaurants and bars, a great art scene, interesting architecture, very international vibe.

I'm sure Leiden also has plenty to see and do and places to go eat, museums, markets, etc. But it has less cinemas, festivals and such than Amsterdam. But you can always visit those by train, there are even night trains.

Have a look at expatica.com for housing and other tips. And as said above: watch out for housing scams.

Good luck and have fun!

@ #1

I live in Amstelveen, just below Amsterdam and commute daily to Leiden by car without any problems (the traffic jams are towards Amsterdam in the morning and the other direction in the evening).

By car I travel 35-40 minutes, with public transport at least 70 minutes from door-to-door. It all depends next to which exit on the highway you life, and where you have to be in Leiden.

With this site you can see how long it will take you from door to door: http://journeyplanner.9292.nl/

With any routeplanner you can get an idea of the time by car, e.g. http://www.anwb.nl/ which also takes into account some traffic jams. The only way to really figure out how busy your route is to do drive it yourself at that particular time of day.

Cheers,
Dennis

For me the most important factors to consider would be:
- housing costs: locals are on waiting lists for years before they find decent and affordable housing to rent in the center of either city; probably your only option is to contact a private agency. Amsterdam may be more extreme in this respect than Leiden, but the latter being a student town with many people in their 20s and early 30s looking for a studio or 2-3 bedroom appartment, there's a lot of competition for that particular type of housing too. If you cannot afford to live in the city center, you're probably better off living in Leiden because that town is smaller and you can get everywhere by bicycle in no more than, say, 15 minutes (residential areas are the same everywhere, and I don't really see the added value of living in a dull appartment block in Amsterdam as compared to a similarly dull appartment block in Leiden).
- commuting time: if you can afford to live in the center of Amsterdam and your company is within walking distance or a short bus ride from Leiden Centraal train station, it wouldn't be a problem at all to get to/from work by public transport; you'd be crazy to drive a car in the center of either town, and the lack of parking space would be a major headache. If, however, you end up living outside the town center and you can park your car at work, it may be faster to travel by car - Pijlmans nailed it in #4.

A few random thoughts:
- I've been living in Leiden for about 15 years now and although I generally like cities, have never considered moving to Amsterdam. Leiden offers about everything I need - a beautiful historic center, several museums, a good selection of shops, many decent restaurants (and often better value than what you find in central Amsterdam), lively pubs, a theater, severals cinemas and excellent transport connections to every major town in the Randstad area. What Leiden does not have, however, is bus loads of tourists, foreign scum on stag dos, coffee shops on every street and tacky souvenir shops ;-)
There may be a bit more going on in Amsterdam than in Leiden in the way of cultural events and festivals (though "3 oktober" gets pretty wild), and when I want to go to a concert or a football game or just sample a few beers at one of the specialized beer cafes, I head for Amsterdam, but other than that, Leiden is perfect for me.
- As said above, Amsterdam may be bigger than Leiden, but it still has a bit of a small-town feel; if you're looking for a city that feels like a big city in the North American sense, Rotterdam would be your best option.

Housing agencies for Leiden include:
Kamernet (http://kamernet.nl/kamer-Leiden-tot1200/?minOpp=6&sortering=0&asAlert=0&UserGSM=&maxSMS=&checkSMSAlert=0)
Living Today (http://www.livingtoday.nl/english)
Direct Wonen (http://www.directwonen.nl/default.aspx?setlocaleid=1033)
Buro Hogeland (http://www.burohogeland.nl/overzicht.aspx)

Kamernet and Hogeland are in Dutch only, but the links I gave will list the options for Leiden; I'm afraid you will have to brush up your language skills a bit or use Google Translate to read the details. Warning: always have a look at the room first before handing over your money, and be prepared to pay at least one month rent on commission.

There are lots of houses to lease at this moment if you compare to a couple of years ago.
If you lease directly from the owners you won't pay commission but only a month extra as caution that you get back if you live the place without damage when moving out.
Amsterdam has also neighbourhoods that are quiet. I think most people would be fed up after one week in one of those streets with loads of loud and drunk people.
Traffic jams happen the whole week and you don't want to waste your time that way.
The lease contracts in the Netherlands are subject to strict laws. Even if you rent for one year you can go away earlier within 30 days notice. The owner can't break the contract that easy so you are safe.
You can also spend some time in both cities.

leiden,
commuting by car is HELL
it is such a hell politicians make this a major point in their programm every time there are elections. But the problem never gets solved due to environmental regulations enforced upon us by big europe... hail

No sign from the OP in 3 weeks. Seems like we wasted our time.

Thanks for all the advice! We actually JUST got all the details ironed out in terms of job appointment/visas. Based on your recommendations, we will reside in Leiden. We are not planning on having a vehicle available (we will depend on bikes and public transportation, which is actually how we prefer to get around) and from what you all say, Leiden seems to be a lovely small city - I think we will enjoy living there! I am still looking into apartments there (the websites posted are VERY helpful) but it still feels overwhelming as I do not know the city at all. I think we will have to look for temporary housing to have when we first arrive there and then look for a more permanent rental situation after we've been there for a few weeks.

I just wanted you all to know that your posts were super helpful and very much appreciated. Thanks so much!!!