Apartments, rooms and studios for rent in Westervoort

To rent in Westervoort is to live on the east bank of the IJssel, directly across the river from Arnhem, in a municipality of roughly 15,000 people. Westervoort is the first town of the Liemers, the strip of Gelderland that runs east along the A12 towards Zevenaar and the German border. Most people who rent here work in Arnhem or further west and want a house with a garden instead of a flat in the city. The prices explain the move: houses listed in Westervoort average €1,244 a month, against €1,716 for houses in Arnhem, so 28% less.

The trade-off is volume. Westervoort is a small rental market, and the stock is mostly family housing in residential streets that grew alongside Arnhem, with far fewer apartments and hardly any rooms. Because so few homes come up, the search works best when you see every new listing on the day it appears. RentHunter brings the listings of the main Dutch rental sites into one feed, so one alert covers Westervoort and the neighbouring Liemers towns at once.

• Family houses, around €1,244 a month Terraced and semi-detached houses with a garden are the core of the market. The average house listed in Westervoort costs about €1,244 a month, against €1,716 for a house in Arnhem. That 28% gap applies to houses only, so do not expect the same discount on a flat.
  Family houses are often let unfurnished (kaal) or with only flooring and curtains (gestoffeerd), so budget for furniture and appliances before you compare a Westervoort house with a furnished flat in Arnhem.
• Apartments: a thinner supply Apartments and upstairs flats come up far less often than houses, and there are too few listings to give a reliable average price. If you need one bedroom rather than three, compare each Westervoort flat with the much larger apartment market across the river in Arnhem, one short train ride away.
• Rooms: rare outside Arnhem Rooms barely exist as a separate market in Westervoort. Students at HAN University of Applied Sciences or ArtEZ in Arnhem usually find a room in Arnhem itself, and a single room in a Westervoort family house is the exception rather than the rule.

Westervoort feels like a suburb with a village core. The village grew up along the IJssel, and newer residential districts spread east towards Duiven. Just west of the town, the IJssel branches off the Nederrijn at the IJsselkop, and the floodplains along both rivers are where locals walk the dog, cycle and fish. Families with children, long-time residents and Arnhem commuters set the tone.

Westervoort has its own railway station on the line from Arnhem Centraal east towards Zevenaar and the Achterhoek, so central Arnhem and its intercity trains are a short ride away. By bike you cross the IJssel into Arnhem, and by car the A12 runs along the edge of town. Pick a home near the station if you will take the train to work every day.

The dykes and floodplains along the IJssel start where the residential streets end, and the dyke roads are the usual routes for walking and cycling. South of the IJsselkop, across the Nederrijn, lies Lingewaard with Huissen, Bemmel and Gendt, the other option for a family house close to Arnhem. Daily shopping is done in the village centre; for more choice, residents cycle or take the train into Arnhem.

For anything beyond Arnhem, the route runs through Arnhem Centraal, the main intercity hub of the region. The public transport times below are door to door from the middle of Westervoort, so they include the local leg to the station and the change in Arnhem. Eindhoven (about 120 minutes) and Groningen (about 142 minutes) work for a day trip, not for a daily commute.

Utrecht is the most realistic daily commute beyond Arnhem: around 51 minutes door to door, with direct intercity trains from Arnhem Centraal for the main leg. It suits people who work at Utrecht Science Park or in the city centre and would rather pay Westervoort rents than Utrecht ones.

Amsterdam takes around 79 minutes door to door. Intercity trains run directly from Arnhem Centraal to Amsterdam, so the trip usually means one change, in Arnhem. At that length it works best for a hybrid job with two or three office days a week.

The cities in the west are a long trip: about 91 minutes to Den Haag and 98 minutes to Rotterdam, usually with a second change in Utrecht. For a regular commute to either city, renting in Westervoort only adds up if you work from home most of the week.