Tips for your stay in the Netherlands

Cash or card? Card!!!

In The Netherlands, almost everything and everywhere you can use a bank card, and in some places they even do NOT accept cash! So, make sure you have a bank card with you for your shopping!

This is also why cash machines are a bit harder to find. We don’t think you will need them, but if you do, often you find them in the supermarkets (see below).

Supermarkets

Supermarkets you will find in Haarlem are:

• Albert Hein (a bit expensive but better quality)

• Jumbo (a bit expensive but better quality)

• Vomar (a bit cheaper)

• Dekamarkt (a bit cheaper)

• Aldi (cheaper)

Sim cards

If you need to buy a SIM card to use extra data, check if any of these solutions suit you:

https://www.lebara.nl/en/prepaid/data-bundle-valuesim.html

Buying Drugstore Items

Many light medicines such as paracetamol and cetirizine can just be bought at a supermarket, usually at a quite cheap price. At the same time, you may notice that hygiene and beauty products such as cremes, deodorants etc. are quite expensive here. For those who come with a plane and without liquids, and need for instance to buy sunscreen, but don’t want to pay a fortune for it, we recommend going to Normal in the Haarlem city center, which is considerably cheaper than the alternatives Kruidvart and Ethos.

Renting Bikes and public transport

See section: Moving around

Hairdressers

If you need to visit a hairdresser while in Haarlem, we recommend Tony & Guy or CarlaH, they are good and speak English. But they are expensive, and unfortunately prices are high everywhere you go. Check their websites to have a look and/or make an appointment:

https://www.toniandguy.nl/salon/haarlem/

https://carlah.nl/nl/

WARNING: Sailing event this week

GENERAL WARNING: IT MAY BE BUSY, ON THE ROADS, ON THE TRAINS AND ON THE WATER, ALLOW MORE TIME FOR EVERYTHING! If you want to hire something (bike, car, boat, etc.) we recommend prebooking

https://www.sail.nl/en