Known as the city of life sciences, Wageningen is the perfect quaint little place to persue your passion for nature and landscape studies. It is located in the Gelderland region, which home to roughly two million people and is widely known for its historic cities, large rivers, forests, and many rural areas. It is also the perfect place to ejoy and combine studies with student life!
Historically, Wageningen emerged in 1263 after receiving its city rights. Old houses, typical properties, and small friendly streets define its urban landscape. Most famous, perhaps however, has been the city’s role during the Second World War. In May 1945, the German capitulation was signed in hotel De Wereld.
Wageningen plays an important role in students’ personal and social development. While it provides natural heavens, two botanical gardens, terraces and plenty of landscapes, its urban hub offers many social hotspots, clubs, markets, cafés and restaurants. And with a plethora of student associations that span from the local smaller communities to the larger student associations like ESN Wageningen, there is a lot that you will have to explore and enjoy here in Wageningen.
Welcome and we wish you a great year!
Finding a home is one of the biggest challenges in the Netherlands. At the end of August, the Telegraaf, one of the biggest Dutch media outlets, declared that the housing crisis had reached over 27,000 units. Historically, the Netherlands has always experienced a housing crisis due to the lack of space, and unfortunately, students expeirence the effects the strongest.
It is ESSENTIAL that you start looking for a place as soon as possible.
The main provider of accomodation on Wageningen, Idealis owns more than half of all student rooms here. In order to have a higher chance at securing your room, make sure to FULLY register at ROOM.NL. This requires that you pay the registration fee of €35,00; otherwise you will be deregistered and your account deleted. Once completed, download and complete the priority registration form and send it to the Doctoral Service Centre at [email protected] to request your priority rights, giving you a head start on the registation lists of the website.
Idealis offers accomodation across Wageningen in several buildings and locations. These include Bornsesteeg, Dijkgraaf, Hoevestein, Asserpark, Haarweg, Costerweg, Rijnveste and Churchillweg.
You can check this webpage for an overview of all Idealis buildings.
Kamernet is one of the main platforms for finding housing in the Netherlands. Landlords register and offer their houses, apartments, rooms, studios and properties there, so we highly encourage that you keep track of Kamernet. You can register and pay a monthly fee to be able to communicate with potential landlords.
Be aware that some landlords look for specific characteristics from students – nationality, spoken language, age, sex, working or student, which may restrict whether you can apply. Other settings you can tweak include distance from your ideal city, the property type, rental range and the minimum size of the rental.
There are many different groups on Facebook where you can find offers for different student rooms. Wageningen Student Plaza is the largest and safest of these. Hundreds of offers are posted here every month and they are mostly safe and secure which means that you can be sure to find a room there. While some offers are specifically for Dutch speaking students, most rooms are open for everyone.
When applying or speaking with potential landlords or students desiring to rent, always make sure to carefully read their offers and investigate the legitimacy of the profiles. Although the security of the group has improved exponentially over the years, scammers still exist and there have been cases of financial theft. Never send any money (like a deposit) before meeting with the landlord, seeing your new place and receiving your keys. Also, make sure that you have a contract! You can apply for many benefits from the Dutch government if you do!
A unique idea introduced by the 2022-2023 ESN Wageningen Board to assist exchange students in finding accomodation, the Room Swap is a great opportunity that you should not miss!
You apply, we act as a mediator! This platform is meant to help you get into contact with other exchange students that are looking for a room and/or a sub-renter. After filling in the form, you will gain access to a shared spreadsheet where you can reach out to others and help each other out.
In case you found a room or want to be taken out of the database, you will need to let us know as soon as possible so we can remove your availability and keep the spreadsheet up to date.
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesistate to reach out to us at [email protected].
Wageningen is located in the province of Gelderland, in close proximity to the larger cities Arnhem and Utrecht. It is south of Ede and Bennekom, two larger cities through which most transport that goes to Wageningen passes through.
The best way to get to Wageningen is by public transport, which entails taking a train to Ede-Wageningen (the train station located in southern Ede) and then a bus. You can check the 9292 website for detailed, real-time updated travel information. Simply fill in your starting location and your desired location and follow the instructions on when to take the train(s) and bus(es).
Public transport in the Netherlands is primarily operated by NS. To use their services, you will require a ticket or, better even, an OV-Chipkaart. You can personalise the card and use it for all public transport until it expires after some years!
Single tickets are often more expensive but can be purchased online or from the ticket machines and service counters at the train stations or on the buses.
For more information, make sure to check the NS website.
Once you have a home and have arrived in Wageningen, it’s time to ensure you survive. Our experience is invaluable and we have compiled together the ultimate guide on how you can survive the countless bikes, the traffic and student life.
The Survival Guide is ESN Wageningen’s way of defending you at all costs. It provides detailed information on everything you need to know in the defence art against the Dutch culture. This includes insights into topics ranging from the weather, to bikes and public transport, to the do’s and don’ts. Learn how to open a bank account and what a tikkie is. Read on the housing crisis and how you can find a place, or how and for what you need to contact your new ruling municipality (and which one depending on where you live). Or prepare yourself for the upcoming academic year by learning how it’s structured and what platforms the Wageningen University and Research offers.
The Survivel Guide was designed with much care, love and passion by Soshanna Blaauw, the Integration Coordinator of the 2022-2023 board. It is near and dear to us and we would appreciate if you could take the time to go over and read it. It has proven to be very helpful for new and incoming students that may need a little bit of guidance into the Dutch and Wageningian environment.
Thank you
Although the Netherlands is known for its tolerant marihuana policy, most drugs in the Netherlands are still illegal. The police, however, allow you to have a small amount (5 grams) of marihuana for usage at home or at a coffee shop. The usage of drugs is forbidden in public places and student associations. Never mix drugs with alcohol.
It’s not a problem if you smoke on the streets, but when you enter any kind of building! It is absolutely prohibited to smoke in most student residences, common areas and beneath residential buildings’ windows. The Wageningen University has a strict no smoking policy where you can get fined if you are caught smoking! It is also prohibited to smoke cigarettes inside of restaurants, bars and clubs. You will have to go outside or into a special smoking area inside!
It is required by law to have your passport or European ID card with you all the times. If the police asks you to show your identification, you must be able to show it. The fines for not carrying either one are quite high and there are many other safety concerns and benefits for carrying identification with you anyways!
