Expat Community in The Hague: How to Make Friends Fast

The expat community in The Hague is one of the easiest in Europe to walk into, because the city is built around internationals rather than merely tolerating them. The UN courts, the EU agencies and hundreds of NGOs bring a constant stream of arrivals, and the municipality runs a welcome desk for them. The catch is that Dutch friendship circles form early in life and stay closed, so your first year will be social mostly through other internationals and organised activities.

Start Online: Where the Expat Community in The Hague Talks

Get onto the channels where the expat community in The Hague organises itself before you attend anything. This is where rooms get sublet, bikes change hands and meetups are announced before they fill. The Hague International Centre, the city’s own service for internationals, points newcomers at the Expats in The Hague Facebook group, which it lists at over 46,000 members. Meetup.com carries the rest, mostly free.

Be honest about what these feeds are: event discovery, not friendship. Mute notifications and treat rental adverts with caution. Real conversation moves to WhatsApp, so you need data before a Dutch SIM arrives, and a travel eSIM from airalo.com or saily.com covers that first week.

The Official Welcome Most Newcomers Miss

The Hague is one of very few European cities whose government runs a service purely for internationals, and much of the expat community in The Hague only finds it a year late. Two organisations matter, and both are free.

ACCESS is worth a second look: it is staffed by volunteers who moved here recently, and it recruits more. Three months of residence plus the right to work qualify you for a helpdesk shift, which hands you a ready-made circle.

Clubs and Networks That Actively Want Newcomers

Most of the expat community in The Hague finds its clubs by word of mouth, which is slow. The shortcut is the list of international clubs and networks published by The Hague International Centre. A selection:

The pattern that works across the expat community in The Hague is unglamorous: pick one club and go three weeks running. Familiar faces turn acquaintances into friends, and regulars invite you to the gatherings nobody posts about.

Coworking Spaces: The Expat Community in The Hague at Work

If you work remotely, a coworking membership is the fastest route into a social circle, because you see the same faces daily instead of monthly. Two spaces stand out for community rather than desks.

Apollo 14, the municipal impact hub for entrepreneurs in sustainable and social innovation, and The Social Hub are further options; check their own sites for current addresses and rates.

Dutch Lessons and Volunteering: The Two Real Shortcuts

You can live for years inside the expat community in The Hague without a word of Dutch, and plenty do. But the activities that reliably produce friends put you with the same people every week, and classes and volunteering both qualify.

For free practice, the Taalhuis programme runs from the Central Library beside City Hall and from neighbourhood branches, with regular conversation sessions for Dutch learners. Contact taalhuis@denhaag.nl or +31 (0)6 134 714 08; its English pages are at bibliotheekdenhaag.nl/english.html. For structured lessons, italki.com and preply.com book tutors by the hour, and lingoda.com runs fixed-timetable group classes.

Volunteer The Hague connects internationals with local non-profits and is built for people who do not yet speak Dutch. It operates from Riviervismarkt 2, 2513 AM The Hague, telephone 070 302 44 44.

A Realistic First Month in the Expat Community in The Hague

Do not try to do all of it at once. This sequence works for most arrivals:

1. Week 1: Join the Expats in The Hague Facebook group and two Meetup groups, and get data working so people can add you to WhatsApp chats.
2. Week 1 to 2: Register with the municipality, and while you are in City Hall call in at The Hague International Centre.
3. Week 2: Go to exactly one Meetup or InterNations event, and say yes to any follow-up invitation.
4. Week 3: Try one club with a weekly rhythm: a run, a rehearsal, a Toastmasters meeting.
5. Week 4 onwards: Return to the same two things instead of sampling new ones.

Shared housing is an underrated shortcut, and housinganywhere.com lists Den Haag rooms you can book from abroad. Group dinners get split to the cent, so a card such as revolut.com saves arithmetic while your Dutch account is still opening.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the expat community in The Hague English-speaking?

Almost entirely. The expat community in The Hague runs on English: the clubs, the Meetup calendar, the coworking spaces and the city’s own International Centre all operate in it, and Dutch people here generally speak it well. Letters from the municipality and insurers still arrive in Dutch.

How do I meet people in The Hague if I hate networking events?

Skip them and pick something with a task attached. A rehearsal, a theatre production, a volunteering shift through Volunteer The Hague or an evening run with the Hague Road Runners all give you something to do besides small talk, and they repeat weekly.

What does it cost to join the expat community in The Hague?

Less than you would expect. The Facebook and Meetup groups, the ACCESS helpdesk, the Feel at Home evening, the IamExpat Fair and the library language sessions are all free. Coworking is where money starts: the Humanity Hub publishes day passes from €22 for half a day.

Do I need to speak Dutch to make friends in The Hague?

No, but it changes who your friends are. Without Dutch your circle stays international and somewhat transient, since many internationals leave at the end of a posting. Basic Dutch opens the door to neighbours and club committees.

How long does it take to feel socially settled?

Most people who commit to two recurring activities report a real circle within two to three months. The variable is repetition: returning to the same group five times beats five different events once each.

Expat Essentials for The Hague

A few quick wins make settling into The Hague easier while you work through this guide. An Airalo eSIM keeps you online from the moment you land, a pre-booked Welcome Pickups transfer takes the stress out of arrival day, and NordVPN protects your logins on public wifi. See our full list of trusted services below.

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FinePassport curates vetted supplier lists so expats never have to settle in alone – from banking and insurance to connectivity and transport, we research so you don’t have to. Jump to the recommended services and get set up faster.

Written by FinePassport team