The international networks in The Hague, and which are worth the fee

The three long-established international clubs in The Hague charge between 95 and 115 euro a year.

ACCESS, which runs a helpdesk, information services and events for internationals, charges nothing at all and has done for more than 35 years.

So the question is not whether a hundred euros is a lot.

It is what a hundred euros buys that the free options do not, and the honest answer is a fixed membership list, a regular venue and a programme rather than a drop-in.

What each one costs

Organisation	Annual fee	Who it is for
ACCESS NL	Free, no membership	Any international, any question
The Hague International Network	Free events	Internationals and local business
Girl Gone International	Free	Women, social
British Club of The Hague	95 euro plus a one-off 15	Anyone with an affinity for British culture, men included
IWC The Hague	100 euro plus a one-off 14	Women from abroad and internationally minded Dutch women
American Women’s Club of The Hague	115 euro, students 40	English-speaking women of all nationalities
Humanity Hub	42 euro a month plus VAT	Freelancers and professionals in peace, justice and development
WBII	500, 200 or 100 euro by tier	Businesswomen, freelancers and solopreneurs
NBCC	330, 650, 4,000 or 6,000 euro	Companies trading with the UK
AmCham Netherlands	1,045, 1,925 or 5,795 euro plus VAT	Companies with a transatlantic connection
VNO-NCW West	1,065 to 1,526 euro by headcount	Dutch employers’ association

The free ones, which most people should try first

ACCESS is a not-for-profit run by volunteers who moved here themselves.

There is no membership and no fee, the helpdesk runs Monday to Friday from 10.00 to 14.00 on 085 4000 338, and its in-person desk sits inside The Hague International Centre from 09.00 to 17.00 on weekdays.

It runs on roughly 140 volunteers from over 40 nationalities, which also makes it one of the better places to volunteer if you want an international circle quickly.

The Hague International Network, established by the City of The Hague and the Chamber of Commerce, runs informative, informal and free events.

If a guide has sent you looking for something called The Hague Bridge, this is almost certainly what was meant; no organisation of that name exists here.

Girl Gone International describes itself as a free co-created space for members to connect, meet and make friends, and it is a global network with a local chapter rather than a club with a clubhouse.

Toastmasters of The Hague meets on the first and third Thursday of the month from 19.45 at The Spanish Centre, Korte Lombardstraat 6, in English, and visitors may attend one or more times without cost or obligation.

Its own membership fee is not published, but the trial is genuinely free and it is the single most effective thing on this page for anyone who has to speak in public for a living.

The three clubs at around a hundred euros

The British Club of The Hague charges 95 euro for a full year plus a one-off 15 euro administration fee.

It is no longer women-only: in 2006 the British Women’s Club became the British Club of The Hague and began admitting men.

Membership is open to anyone with an affinity for British culture, and the route in is to contact the membership secretary and arrange a visit first.

IWC The Hague charges 100 euro for the club year plus a one-off 14 euro administration fee, halved to 50 plus 14 if you join after 1 February.

The club year runs from 1 June to 31 May.

It has around 300 members from about 60 countries and describes itself as fostering contact and friendship between women from abroad and internationally minded Dutch women.

One detail is worth knowing before you recommend it to a Dutch friend: there is an admission quota for Dutch nationals, and at present that quota is full.

Dual citizens are unaffected.

Note also that the club’s site is iwcthehague.nl, not the address several directories still give.

The American Women’s Club of The Hague charges 115 euro a year, the same for American citizens and for everyone else, with a student rate of 40 euro for 18 to 25 year olds.

Membership renews every 1 September.

Founded in 1930, it has getting on for 200 members from more than 20 countries and a clubhouse at Bisschopstraat 5, and it describes itself as an English-speaking social club for women of all nationalities.

Prospective members may attend two activities, meetings or events a year as a guest before joining, which is the most generous try-before-you-buy on this list.

The verdict. All three are worth the money for the same reason and not for any other: a clubhouse or a standing venue, a programme you did not have to organise, and the same faces month after month.

That is precisely what the free drop-in networks cannot give you, and it is the mechanism described in how to actually make friends in The Hague.

If you are single, new and under thirty, the free Meetup groups will probably serve you better.

If you have moved for a partner’s job and need a structure that is yours, a hundred euros is cheap.

The professional networks, where the fee buys something else entirely

The Hague Humanity Hub, at Fluwelen Burgwal 58, charges 42 euro a month plus VAT for individual membership, or from 1,840 euro a year plus VAT for an organisation of up to five people, and gives access to a network it puts at more than 600 professionals and organisations.

Read the pricing carefully: coworking is separate and stacks on top.

A half-day pass starts at 22 euro, Hub Flex runs from 88 euro a month for one day a week to 250 for unlimited, and a dedicated desk starts at 325 a month, all excluding both VAT and the membership itself.

It is the right network if your work sits in peace, justice, climate or international development, and an expensive one if it does not.

Other coworking spaces in The Hague are cheaper if the desk is all you want.

The Women’s Business Initiative International runs tiers at 500, 200 and 100 euro for businesswomen, freelancers and solopreneurs, which is a network with a business purpose rather than a social one.

The Netherlands-British Chamber of Commerce runs Bronze at 330 euro, Silver at 650, Gold at 4,000 and Platinum at 6,000.

The American Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands runs Contributing at 1,045 euro, Corporate at 1,925 and Patron at 5,795, all excluding VAT, and requires a clear transatlantic and corporate connection.

VNO-NCW West, the regional employers’ association, bands its fee between 1,065 and 1,526 euro on headcount, with a reduced rate of 810, and its contribution is VAT-exempt.

These are company memberships and they should be judged as a business expense, not as a way to meet people.

If you are self-employed and thinking of paying one out of your own pocket, read going zzp and freelancing first and work out what the deduction is actually worth.

Registering the business itself at the Chamber of Commerce is a one-off 85.15 euro and no annual fee, which is a different thing entirely.

The national and interest clubs

The Hague carries an unusual density of these because of the diplomatic and institutional population described in the international organisations and embassies and diplomatic employment.

Verified as active, each with its own site: the St Andrews Society, the Irish Club, the Deutscher Internationaler Klub, the Alliance Francaise, the Asociacion Hispanica, the Netherlands India Association, the Australian and New Zealand Club, the Red Hat Society, The Arts Society The Hague, The Hungry Mind, Amitie Club de La Haye and Aglow International.

Alongside them sit the English-language clubs that are really hobby groups: the Anglo-American Theatre Group, the Cecilia International Choir, the IMAGES photography club, the Hague Hash House Harriers and the Plons LGBTI+ swim team.

Those are covered in hobby groups, makers and evening classes and sports clubs and how joining one works here.

Rotary Club The Hague Metropolitan, founded in 1990, was the first English-speaking Rotary club in the Netherlands and meets on Tuesdays at 19.00 at the Leonardo Royal Hotel.

It does not publish a fee.

Democrats Abroad Netherlands runs a Hague lunch every other month on a third Sunday, and publishes no membership fee either, which is not the same thing as being free.

Crossroads is the English-language international church, meeting every Sunday at 11.00 at the Christelijk Lyceum Zandvliet on the Bezuidenhoutseweg.

Three things to cross off your list

InterNations runs an Albatross paid tier and its Hague community is genuinely large, but its site cannot be read from outside a logged-in session and the prices quoted by third parties contradict each other.

Do not pay on the strength of a figure you found on a blog; check it on the platform itself.

Connect International is based in Groningen, not The Hague.

It appears on neither of the city’s own directories of international organisations and its website currently serves an invalid security certificate.

The Petroleum Wives Club is still listed by the municipality, but the domain given for it now hosts an unrelated gambling site.

If you want to reach it, go through The Hague International Centre rather than clicking that link.

How to spend the money well

Start free.

ACCESS, the THIN events, Toastmasters and the Meetup groups cost nothing and will tell you within a month whether you want the structured version.

Then pay for exactly one thing, and pay for the one whose calendar you would actually attend in February when it is dark and blowing a gale off the North Sea.

Use the guest visits.

AWC gives two a year, the British Club expects a visit before you join, and Toastmasters lets you come repeatedly.

Any club that will not let you look first is telling you something.

And keep the business memberships separate in your head from the social ones.

A chamber of commerce at 650 euro is a sales channel; a club at 95 euro is a life.

Confusing the two is how people end up paying four figures and still eating alone, which is a solvable problem and the subject of going out alone in The Hague.

For the job-hunting version of the same instinct, recruiters worth talking to and finding work in The Hague are more useful than any membership card, and volunteering in The Hague costs nothing and works better than most of them.

Sources

• ACCESS (access-nl.org): “ACCESS has been helping internationals for more than 35 years, free of charge”; helpdesk Monday to Friday 10.00 to 14.00 on +31 (0)85 4000 338; in-person desk at The Hague International Centre weekdays 09.00 to 17.00; “We have approximately 140 volunteers from more than 40 different nationalities”
• The Hague International Network: established in 2000 by the City of The Hague and the Chamber of Commerce; “Our events are informative, informal and free of charge”. Girl Gone International: “a free co-created safe space for members to connect, engage, meet, and make friends”
• British Club of The Hague (britishclubofthehague.com): “The subscription is 95 for a full year, plus a single administration fee of 15”; “In 2006, the British Women’s Club became The British Club of The Hague (BCH) and now admitted men as Members”; open to “anyone who has an affinity with British culture”; “If you are thinking of joining the Club, please contact the Membership Secretary to arrange a visit”
• IWC The Hague (iwcthehague.nl): “a social and cultural club with the aim of fostering contact and friendship between ladies coming from abroad and internationally-minded Dutch Ladies”; around 300 members from about 60 countries; “Currently the annual membership fee for the club year is 100” plus a “one time 14 administration fee”; “The club year runs from 1 June till 31 may”; “If you join the club after 1 February, you pay half of the year membership fee 50 plus one-time administrative fee 14”; “For Dutch Nationals there is an admission quota” and “Please note that the Dutch members’ quota has been filled, at present”
• American Women’s Club of The Hague (awcthehague.org and its live signup at awcthehague.wildapricot.org/join-us): “115.00 (EUR)” for both Regular (US citizen) and Associate (non-US citizen) membership and 40.00 for students aged 18 to 25; “Subscription period: 1 year, on: September 1st”; “The American Women’s Club of The Hague (AWC) is a vibrant, English-speaking social club for women of all nationalities”; founded 1930, nearly 200 members from over 20 countries; clubhouse at Bisschopstraat 5, 2596 XH; “Prospective members are welcome to attend 2 activities, meetings, or events each year as a guest”
• The Hague Humanity Hub (humanityhub.org), Fluwelen Burgwal 58, 2511 CJ: individual membership “42 EUR/month (+ VAT) per person”, organisations “Starting at 1840 EUR (+ VAT) per year (up to 5 members, annual payment)”, network of “600+ professionals and organisations”; coworking “Prices starting from 22 for half a day”, Hub Flex 88 euro a month for one day a week, 175 for three days and 250 unlimited, dedicated desk from 325 a month, with the note “Prices exclude the individual Hub membership and VAT”. Note that humanityhub.net redirects to humanityhub.org
• WBII: tiers at 500, 200 and 100 euro; “The Women’s Business Initiative International (WBII) is a community of business women, freelancers and solopreneurs”. NBCC: “6000/year”, “4000/year”, “650/year”, “330/year”. AmCham Netherlands: Contributing 1,045, Corporate 1,925 and Patron 5,795 euro excluding VAT, with “A clear transatlantic and corporate connection is a key condition for membership”. VNO-NCW West: 1,065 to 1,526 euro banded by headcount and 810 reduced, “Onze contributie is vrijgesteld van BTW”. KVK: “To register a new company or organisation in the Dutch Business Register (Handelsregister), you pay a one-off fee of 85.15”
• Toastmasters of The Hague (toastmasters.nl): “Every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month”, 19.45 with doors at 19.30, at “The Spanish Centre, Korte Lombardstraat 6, 2512 VR Den Haag”, in English; “Visitors are always assured of a friendly welcome at every meeting and you may attend one or more times to see the Toastmasters program in action without any cost or obligation”
• Rotary Club The Hague Metropolitan: “Founded in 1990, Rotary Club The Hague Metropolitan (RCTHM) is the first English speaking Rotary Club in the Netherlands”, meeting Tuesdays at 19.00 at the Leonardo Royal Hotel; fee not published. Democrats Abroad Netherlands: a Hague lunch every other month on the third Sunday; no membership fee published. Crossroads International Church (crossroadschurch.nl): “Every Sunday morning at 11:00” at Christelijk Lyceum Zandvliet, Bezuidenhoutseweg 40
• Other English-language clubs listed with their own domains on the iamexpat Hague directory and The Hague International Centre’s own clubs directory: St Andrews Society, Irish Club, Deutscher Internationaler Klub, Alliance Francaise, Asociacion Hispanica, Netherlands India Association, Australian and New Zealand Club, Red Hat Society, The Arts Society The Hague, The Hungry Mind, Amitie Club de La Haye, Aglow International, Anglo-American Theatre Group, Cecilia International Choir, IMAGES, The Hague Hash House Harriers and Plons
• Not verifiable or misattributed: InterNations blocks automated access to its site and third-party figures for its Albatross tier conflict, so no price is stated here. Connect International is based in Groningen, appears on neither Hague directory, and its domain serves an invalid certificate. The Petroleum Wives Club is still described by the municipality as “a small, friendly international group of women who meet regularly throughout the year”, but the domain listed for it no longer belongs to the club. No organisation trading as “The Hague Bridge” was found on either municipal directory