Nomad List
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| 🌍 Region | Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚩 Country | Ethiopia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⏱ Average trip duration | 16 days | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📡 Internet speed | 1 Mbps | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛅️ Weather | 🌧 20°C 69°F + 💦 Humid (78%) + 💨 4km/h = Feels like 20°C 68°F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💨 Air quality (now) | 😷 96 µg/m3 equal to 🚬 🚬 🚬 🚬 / day | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🔌 Power | 230V50Hz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📱 Best wireless carrier | RebTel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💸 100 ETB in USD | USD 3.44 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏧 Suggested ATM take out: ETB 10,000 | USD 344 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ☕️ Best coffee place | Tomoca Coffee | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚰 Safe tap water | 🚫 No, contaminated | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ♻️ Return rate | 0% of visitors return | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 👨👩👧👦 Population | 3,000,000 people | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛪️ Religious government | Religious | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Africa World Airlines | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best int'l air carrier | Ethiopian Airlines | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏥 Best hospital | Bethzatha | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| capitalplaces of worshipno-beachairportmildmild nowslow internetcheap cost of livinghigh humiditymany womenfriendly people | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💵 Nomad Cost™ | $989 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for expat | $564 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for family | $731 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for local | $209 / month |
| 🏠 1br studio rent in center | $150 / month |
| 🏢 Coworking | $70 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $871 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $41 / night |
| 🏠 Airbnb (254 listings) | $1,283 / month |
| 🏠 Airbnb | $42 / night |
| 🍝 Dinner | $2 |
| 🍹 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $0 |
| 🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $1 |
| ☕️ Coffee | $1 |
 | What's good places to work in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia? |
 | Where to work in Africa |
 | How is the internet in West/Central Africa? |
 | Any tips for nomad'ing from Tanzania to South Africa? |
Based on Addis Ababa's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
I love Kampala! I have been coming here since 10 years now as a digital nomad. I am here a few times a year. I have been in 20 countries in Africa and would say it is the most friendly one. Kampala is definitely a lot of fun and has good restaurants and the rest of Uganda is beautiful too. I host several times a year coworking and co-living experiences for digital nomads in Uganda. You are more than welcome to join us.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 27° 81° 25° 77°😷AQI 112✈️2h$982 / mo2MbpsThe figures in this review are wrong. The exchange rate to the USD is 3.67, not 272. Walkability is also terrible! Whoever wrote this must have done a lap of Downtown and not gone anywhere else.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 54° 129° 38° 100°😷AQI 64✈️4h$3,202 / mo8MbpsIt has a romantic feeling when you walk in the old center + it's really cheap in comparaison with other eastern european cities! Fully recommend you see it if you have the chance to be around!
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 42° 108° 30° 86°AQI 25✈️7h$2,236 / mo25MbpsCan't recommend it enough. Been a nomad now for 2 years and this ticks a lot of boxes. Great quality people you meet here compared to the rest of Thailand.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 41° 106° 32° 89°AQI 41✈️9h$1,115 / mo17MbpsBangkok has some of the best private hospitals in the world. Which is interesting if you're in Asia a lot and you want medical care better than you can get in your home country. Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok is ranked #7 in the world. I did an executive health checkup there and it was great. Prices range from $250 to $750 depending on how many checks you want. You can get blood count, X Ray, ultrasound, hormone check, etc. They also have most other medical disciplines. I also got vaccinations renewed. The hospital is private so it's so much better than the overloaded public healthcare systems of Europe, Canada and UK where everyone tries to avoid helping you, is overworked and angry. In Bangkok they're super nice and helpful and you can make appointments straight with a specialist. Not blocked by a GP like in your home country.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌦 Feels 40° 104° 32° 90°😷AQI 57✈️9h$1,502 / mo19Mbpsstayed in giza for 10 days. internet was inconsistent. very cheap here but the locals are constantly trying to screw your over for money
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 58° 136° 40° 103°😷AQI 53✈️4h$975 / mo3MbpsSpent six months in Istanbul in 1993 when Turkey was really exotic. Didn't return till 2007, when I made mostly Kurdish friends in Sultanahmet, whom I'd see on frequent visits thereafter. Otherwise, I'd skip the city as like throughout Turkey bar the Kurdish areas there's anti Western feeling and targeting of visitors (I noticed that after a meal with alcohol, I'd nearly always be approached by a single male in the street near the restaurant inviting me to a bar certain. I'd suggest going to the first busy café instead, at which point they'd excuse themselves. I suspect some waiters were part of a scam targeting single males).
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 38° 100° 30° 85°AQI 42✈️5h$1,625 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peopleBudapest + hungary has the pro-s of a tropical digital nomad hideaway, if you go there in the warmer months: the climate is like in Bali between June and September, however mornings can be refreshing. And there s a plethora of spas, thermal baths and swallow lakes with waterskiing and boarding amenities throughout the country which is easily and quickly accessible by the grid of well-maintained highways. The street scenery and style spans somewhere between Barcelona and Berlin so as the plentiful nightlife programs and the scope of culture and art ! Almost the entire younger generation speaks pretty good english however with the elders you might have language barriers.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 35° 95° 30° 85°AQI 34✈️7h$1,373 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peoplegreat city - perfect weather , great food, great tech scene
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 30° 86° 26° 79°AQI 30✈️7h$3,520 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peopleLove Cape Town as a DN. Been here 3 months - mountains, city, ocean, animals, hiking, super affordable, great foodie scene and safe (if you're smart). https://www.tech4trek.com/cape-town-digital-nomad
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 24° 75° 21° 69°AQI 42✈️7h$1,746 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peopleJust got back from spending a month in Stockholm (Feb-Mar), enjoyed the experience but perhaps went at the wrong time of the year as the weather was a bit wet / cold. Was staying in hostels (~$30/night) and met some really interesting people - hostels were busy during the weekends but only about 30% full during weekdays (probably due to time of year). Found the city about as expensive as London (where I'm from). City was very clean, easy to walk around and people were friendly with perfect English (and more than happy to speak in English). I worked in SUP46 co-working space (free to work in the hot-desking area) and cafe's around the city (Espresso House was a good option). I looked at a few different co-working spaces but most were pay-monthly, which maybe I would have picked if I was living there longer. My biggest issue was that there didn't seem to be much going on, I went to a few museums (recommend the Vasa museum) and explored some parks on the weekends (good for running around), however after the first couple of weeks, I ran out of things to see / do in my spare time. In the summer, I imagine people would go hiking around Stockholm, however the weather didn't allow me to. Nightlife was okay, there is a great pub crawl called "Stockholm Pub Crawl", which is on every Friday and Saturday, highly recommend going as you'll meet some really interesting people. I ended up going on it a few times. Nightlife on weekdays seemed pretty dead. Final point about weather, it was a little cold (-3 degrees C) when I got there and snowed / rained quite a few days, but was getting better by the time I left. I'd recommend going between April and September, as outside of these months it does get very dark and cold. Overall, a city worth checking out (probably the best city out of Norway, Sweden and Finland) but not for longer than 4 weeks.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 28° 82° 25° 77°AQI 26✈️8h$3,657 / mo🌇 Also went here5 peopleAlthough London isn't an ideal 'digital nomad' city due to the cost, it is very much made for working, networking and having a great time while you do it. Rent is silly expensive, but you can find a room in a shared house for around £500-600 per month. One review on here complains about bad food, unsafe and bad banking - sounds like they had a bad time to be honest. I disagree strongly with all those negatives. Food is awesome, with lots of incredible places to eat and reasonable (ish) prices. Head to Brixton, Brick Lane, Hackney/Dalston, Tooting etc for top quality food. For your banking, you'll find Revolut, Monzo, Starling etc all allow you to get set up in a few days. Oh and safety.... I've lived here for 7 years (on and off) and been drunk in 'dodgy' parts of town and can say London is one of the safest cities anywhere. Can't say the same for Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona etc.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 25° 77° 22° 71°😷AQI 56✈️8h$4,080 / mo🌇 Also went here5 peopleCan't recommend it enough. Been a nomad now for 2 years and this ticks a lot of boxes. Great quality people you meet here compared to the rest of Thailand.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 41° 106° 32° 89°AQI 41✈️9h$1,115 / mo🌇 Also went here7 peopleBangkok has some of the best private hospitals in the world. Which is interesting if you're in Asia a lot and you want medical care better than you can get in your home country. Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok is ranked #7 in the world. I did an executive health checkup there and it was great. Prices range from $250 to $750 depending on how many checks you want. You can get blood count, X Ray, ultrasound, hormone check, etc. They also have most other medical disciplines. I also got vaccinations renewed. The hospital is private so it's so much better than the overloaded public healthcare systems of Europe, Canada and UK where everyone tries to avoid helping you, is overworked and angry. In Bangkok they're super nice and helpful and you can make appointments straight with a specialist. Not blocked by a GP like in your home country.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌦 Feels 40° 104° 32° 90°😷AQI 57✈️9h$1,502 / mo🌇 Also went here8 peopleIt's possible to live in Hong Kong on the cheap. You've got to live far out in the New Territories, or on an outlying island. I spent a summer living happily on Lamma Island for ~$500USD/month in rent for one bedroom in a shared flat. Rent is really the only tricky part--everything else is relatively cheap.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 45° 113° 32° 90°AQI 39✈️11h$3,012 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peopleSurprisingly expensive compared to many other places and there is a major language barrier for most western folks. You often end up hanging out with other nomads or expats for sanity. It's expensive to drink, and it's not really to make many local friends and very few speak English or any western languages. The internet is the killer for most folks and China is slowly closing down all the VPN connections from the commercial services, so it's getting harder and harder to find a way out for things like Gmail or even Google searches and even when it does work, it's really unpredictable. Some of the hotels and workspaces have always-on VPN connections to Hong Kong for your internet handoff which eliminates the blocking and is a big help, but this is usually at a cost that is passed on to you. I like Shanghai, but I find it very "showy". People want to make it clear if they have money, so you see lots of flashy cars, expensive clothes and "be seen" places. It's also amazing that you can go to a great restaurant and the table next to you will have six people sitting in complete silence because they are all on their phones. As others have said, you need to figure out a way to get Alipay or Wechat pay money on your account so you can pay for things. Even people selling vegetables in the market have a QR code so you can pay them with your phone. Didi is the local uber-like take service, and you can use western credit cards with it on your phone, and it's pretty cheap by western standards. Public transportation is good and cheap, too. Cool place, but not inexpensive unless you are out a way and a serious language barrier and a bit of indifference to customer service or dealing with westerners in general.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 27° 81° 26° 78°😷AQI 52✈️12h$2,017 / mo🌇 Also went here5 peopleSpend a few hours and learn the Korean alphabet (not that hard) and Google some names of Korean dishes + it's spelling in Korean. It will help a lot as most restaurants only have Korean menu's and often without pictures. As mentioned previously on the reviews, it's a little hard to eat alone, but Gimbab Chonguk (김밥천국) is everywhere and 24/7 - no one will bat an eye. Also look for places that "specialises" in dumplings, They are usually "alone-eating" friendly. And so are ramen places as well as Korean "chinese" restaurants - Jajangmyeon (자장면) is very good and super addictive. Bibimbab restaurant places are fine too. Actually, it's not that hard to eat alone in Korea. The "group" meals are generally quite obvious and will be things like BBQ. You'll figure it out. Do Get used to kimchi and spicy food otherwise you'll end up eating the same thing all the time. Be adventurous. Challenge yourself and eat an octopus alive (산낙지). If you're really brave try 보신탕 before authorities close them all - I haven't but a lot of Weagukins (foreigners) secret do. Cafe's generally have really good wifi, as you would expect from one of the most connected countries in the world. Expect to pay $4-6 for a latte and maybe even more at Starbucks. Best cafe's are usually around Hipster areas and Universities. Indie owned cafe's are awesome. Nightlife is great, probably amongst the best in Asia. Can get very expensive especially at night clubs in Gangnam where it would could be like $10 for a beer - in that case you can still get drunk for $2 with soju just outside at 7Eleven. Winters are stupidly cold and summers can be brutally hot & humid. Go between April and June or September to October. They have cherry blossoms in spring which is beautiful and so are the autumn leaves. Lived here for many years. It's a cool place and vastly underrated. Seoul is continuously becoming more expensive and cost of living will soon be comparable with places like Tokyo.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 26° 79° 25° 77°AQI 45✈️13h$2,457 / mo🌇 Also went here5 peopleBest city in the world! You can certainly live the Nomad life in NYC for a lot less than 5k a month! I've been doing it since December 2018 for around $2500/mo. AirBnB is the way to go!
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 25° 77° 22° 72°AQI 27✈️15h$5,239 / mo🌇 Also went here7 people Nomad List Nomad List1 Month: $29.99/month
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