⭐️ Total score | 2.47/5 (Rank #648) |
👍 Quality of life score | Okay |
👶 Family score | Okay |
🎒 Community score | Okay |
💵 Cost | 😙 Affordable: $1,334 / mo |
📡 Internet | 😡 Slow: 12Mbps (avg) |
😝 Fun | Good |
⛅️ Temperature (now) | 🥵 Hot: 28°C83°F (feels 32°C90°F) |
💦 Humidity (now) | 🥵 Sweaty: 83% |
💨 Air quality (now) | 🌱 Great: 17 US AQI |
💨 Air quality (annual) | 🌱 Good: 64 US AQI |
👌 Safety | Good |
🤮 Food safety* | Okay |
👮♀️ Lack of crime* | Good |
🎓 Education level* | High |
⚡️ Power grid | Good |
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change | Good |
💰 Income level* | Very low: $326 / mo |
🙊 English speaking* | Okay |
🚶 Walkability | Great |
🚦 Traffic safety* | Okay |
✈️ Airline scores* | Okay |
🧳 Lost luggage* | Bad |
🏥 Hospitals | Bad |
😄 Happiness* | Bad |
🍸 Nightlife | Bad |
📶 Free WiFi in city | Okay |
🖥 Places to work from | Great |
❄️ A/C or heating | Good |
😁 Friendly to foreigners | Great |
🗯 Freedom of speech* | Okay |
👩 Female friendly | Good |
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly | Bad |
🎅 Startup Score | Okay |
🌍 Continent | Asia |
🚩 Country | Sri Lanka |
🗓️ Average trip length | 7 days |
📡 Internet speed (avg) | 12 Mbps |
⛅️ Weather (now) | 🌧 28°C 83°F + 🥵 Sweaty (83%) = feels 32°C 90°F |
💨 Air quality (now) | 👍 17 US AQI 🍃 OK |
💨 Air quality (annual avg) | 👎😷 64 US AQI |
🔌 Power | 230V50Hz |
🚕 Best taxi app* | |
🚑 Travel medical insurance | ![]() |
💸 1,000 LKR in USD | USD 3.30 |
🏧 Suggested ATM take out: | LKR 100,000 = USD 330 |
💳 Cashless | 💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners) |
☕️ Best coffee place | Coco Veranda |
🚰 Tap water | 🚫 No, not drinkable |
♻️ Return rate | 👍14% of visitors return |
📸 Visitors per year | 1,130,000 visitors |
📸 Tourists now | 21,656 tourists |
👨👩👧👦 Population | 650,000 people |
👨👩👧👦 GDP per capita* | $3,910 / year |
👫 Gender ratio (population) | 👨 57% 👱♀️ 43% |
👫 Gender ratio (young adults) | 👨 51% 👱♀️ 49% |
👫 Gender ratio (nomads) | 👨 85% 👱♀️ 15% |
⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious |
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Sri Lankan Airlines |
✈️ Best int'l air carrier | Sri Lankan Airlines |
🏥 Best hospital | Durdans |
💵 Cost of living for nomad | $1,334 / month |
💵 Cost of living for expat | $709 / month |
💵 Cost of living for family | $1,391 / month |
💵 Cost of living for local | $397 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $886 / month |
🏡 Airbnb (median price) | $1,379 / month |
🏠 1br studio rent in center | $247 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $41 / night |
🏠 Airbnb (median price) | $45 / night |
🏢 Coworking hot desk | $282 / month |
🍛 Dinner | $1 |
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $0 |
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L) | $2 |
☕️ Coffee in cafe | $2 |
👩🏫 International school | $493 / year |
📱 Mobile data (~10GB) | $1 / month |
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi) | $1 / trip |
✅ Affordable to live
✅ Very safe
✅ Fast internet
✅ Lots of fun stuff to do
✅ Warm now
✅ Warm all year round
✅ Good air quality on average
✅ Many Nomad List members have been
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ High quality of education
✅ Roads are pretty safe
✅ Democratic
✅ Very safe for women
✅ Not many people smoke tobacco
✅ Not a lot of alcohol abuse
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
Feels | 8228° warm | 8429° warm | 8429° warm | 8630° warm | 8429° warm | 8429° warm | 8228° warm | 8228° warm | 8228° warm | 8228° warm | 8228° warm | 8429° warm |
Real | 8228° very warm | 8530° very warm | 8429° very warm | 8530° very warm | 8429° very warm | 8429° very warm | 8228° very warm | 8228° very warm | 8228° very warm | 8228° very warm | 8228° very warm | 8429° very warm |
Humidity | nice 44% | nice 41% | nice 42% | nice 42% | nice 44% | nice 44% | nice 44% | nice 45% | nice 45% | nice 44% | nice 44% | nice 42% |
Most common | ☔️ Rain | ☀️ Clear | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain |
Rain | dry 29mm | rainy 58mm | rainy 89mm | rainy 178mm | rainy 292mm | rainy 296mm | rainy 199mm | rainy 184mm | rainy 237mm | rainy 372mm | rainy 315mm | rainy 148mm |
Cloud | cloudy 51% | pockets 29% | pockets 45% | pockets 41% | cloudy 56% | cloudy 53% | cloudy 57% | cloudy 60% | cloudy 55% | cloudy 56% | cloudy 58% | pockets 39% |
Air quality | bad 120 US AQI | bad 106 US AQI | okay 97 US AQI | okay 70 US AQI | okay 63 US AQI | okay 55 US AQI | okay 63 US AQI | okay 55 US AQI | okay 64 US AQI | okay 72 US AQI | okay 95 US AQI | okay 96 US AQI |
Sun | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI |
Remote workers | 717 people | 1,040 people | 740 people | 500 people | 378 people | 400 people | 343 people | 457 people | 311 people | 375 people | 380 people | 618 people |
If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomad List's Climate Finder
Based on Colombo's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
Really quite hectic and not a very nice city. I wouldn't spend more than a day or two here, not much to see, and there aren't many places to work/eat/see. You're better off heading down to the beaches for some sunshine and beach as well as much faster WIFI.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 30° 86° 27° 81°🚕3h$887 / mo18Mbps×Galle is a cute, small, Portuguese and Dutch colonial-style town with great food options - better than Colombo. Some coffee shops won't let you work, but great beaches are just a few minutes' drive away.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 33° 91° 28° 82°🥵🚕3h$1,506 / mo13Mbps×Have been in Weligama since Feb 25th and now I'm still here with the COVID-19 curfew going on. Before the curfew starts I was eager to get out of here because 1) it's too hot mid-day 2) tuktuk drivers are waiting around every corner asking "tuktuk?" and always horn at you when you're walking by the street - super annoying and 3) it's difficult to find workable wifi 4) everything just seemed super slow and it was hard to be productive. But after the curfew starts I actually like it way better be
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 35° 95° 29° 84°🥵✈️10min$1,034 / mo17Mbps×Stayed a whole month in Fort Kochi area, eventually going to Ernakulam (downtown area). It is unarguably very different than rest of India, much more cleaner and with friendlier people. Beaches aren`t nice for bathing but are a great choice to catch sunsets everyday. Cost of living is dirty cheap and public transport is good. They even have a subway crossing the city with reminds me the BTS in Bangkok. Actually, Kochi to me is like a small and boring version of Bangkok, which is good if you need
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 32° 90° 28° 82°🥵✈️41min$775 / mo15Mbps×Galle is a cute, small, Portuguese and Dutch colonial-style town with great food options - better than Colombo. Some coffee shops won't let you work, but great beaches are just a few minutes' drive away.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 33° 91° 28° 82°🥵🚕3h$1,506 / mo13Mbps×I liked Dubai a lot! It's definitely an indoor lifestyle especially in the summer when it's 45'C outside. But that's very similar to Bangkok which is also an indoor lifestyle in my opinion. Generally airconditioning everywhere is great, except in the older pre-2010 buildings/malls. It's super modern, super international. You'll be in having lunch in a cafe and next to you is a table of Africans, the next table is Asians, the next table is white (often Russians). You don't actually see Europea
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 47° 117° 35° 95°🥵AQI 122😷✈️4h$3,517 / mo39Mbps×I try to like this city and been many times (twice for 1 month and few times for few days) but it's been pretty rough. Overall malaysia is not that easy for slow nomads (if you want to stay for 1-3 months) and I still preferred penang much more. This might be good place for family to settle or if you having base for most of the year with many friends around. LOGISTICS You will waste a lot of time to move around: - if you hate malls you won't be able to avoid it - crossing some street sometimes
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 35° 95° 30° 86°🥵AQI 65😷✈️3h$1,267 / mo65Mbps×(It seems my paragraph formatting is being removed due to the length of my comment, so sorry you'll have to deal with the wall of text if you want to read this, haha) Have been in Bangkok for the past 6 months. I've been nomadic for the past 4 years across Europe & the US, and as someone who is used to walking everywhere and greenery, I found it quite difficult living here. I spent my first 5 months living in Airbnbs, which were fine for around $6-800/m, and for the last month decided to live in
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 31° 88° 27° 81°🥵AQI 60😷✈️3h$1,353 / mo91Mbps×Really quite hectic and not a very nice city. I wouldn't spend more than a day or two here, not much to see, and there aren't many places to work/eat/see. You're better off heading down to the beaches for some sunshine and beach as well as much faster WIFI.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 30° 86° 27° 81°🚕3h$887 / mo18Mbps×So… amazing food. Great public transportation. Very clean. But very conformist. Self expression limited. The irony of seeing an exhibit on graffiti, yet no actual graffiti in the streets. And the causal racism especially if you’re brown. You could be British born but still expect to be sat far away from everyone else at cocktail bars, experience comments and have weird assumptions made.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety greatTap to open🌥 Feels 33° 91° 29° 85°✈️4h$6,057 / mo74Mbps×Canggu has changed quite a lot. Inmigration treats tourist like shit. Congestion and traffic is a nightmare. Horrible Pollution. Been living here 2 years and I am def closing this chapter. I am a high net worth individual and I will go with my money somewhere else where they respect me and the place has a good energy.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 29° 84° 26° 79°AQI 50✈️6h$1,846 / mo50Mbps×Chiang Mai has had a deep Buddhist influence running over the last 1,000 years and this can be felt in the helpfulness, patience and generosity of the Thai and long-term transplants you come across. The city has an active community scene (nomads, spiritual seekers, hikers, creatives), several mountains with hiking spots and waterfalls surrounding the city, over 20 water bodies inside the city -- many have cafes and walks around, several public parks, and over 13 national parks with campgrounds w
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked good👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 32° 90° 27° 81°🥵AQI 27✈️3h$991 / mo88Mbps×Mumbai, August 28-September 2, September 7, September 11 2019. Got a friend to pick me up at the airport, so I can't evaluate how well UBER works from the airport. Prepaid taxi from the airport is my usual recommendation, and if I was traveling tomorrow that is what I would do. Inside of Mumbai, UBER was my go-to app and worked well. Autos (aka 'Tuk-tuks' in some places) get around well and are cheap, some are also on Uber. Be aware that unless you use a service like UBER, as a foreigner, th
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 33° 91° 28° 82°🥵AQI 50✈️2h$1,657 / mo15Mbps×Lived in Phuket for a year now. Amazing place, especially the Bang Tao area. The further you go up north, the more beautiful it gets. Amazing beaches, beach clubs, restaurants and people. Patong is nice for a few days, but if you're not into partying just stay away. A lot of police check on the roads around Patong (and accidents), so always bring your international license. You can make it as expensive (or cheap) as you want, if you eat local like I do a meal is around 60 - 120 baht. Stay away
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 37° 99° 30° 86°🥵✈️3h$1,614 / mo🌇 Also went here73 people×(It seems my paragraph formatting is being removed due to the length of my comment, so sorry you'll have to deal with the wall of text if you want to read this, haha) Have been in Bangkok for the past 6 months. I've been nomadic for the past 4 years across Europe & the US, and as someone who is used to walking everywhere and greenery, I found it quite difficult living here. I spent my first 5 months living in Airbnbs, which were fine for around $6-800/m, and for the last month decided to live in
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 31° 88° 27° 81°🥵AQI 60😷✈️3h$1,353 / mo🌇 Also went here138 people×Chiang Mai has had a deep Buddhist influence running over the last 1,000 years and this can be felt in the helpfulness, patience and generosity of the Thai and long-term transplants you come across. The city has an active community scene (nomads, spiritual seekers, hikers, creatives), several mountains with hiking spots and waterfalls surrounding the city, over 20 water bodies inside the city -- many have cafes and walks around, several public parks, and over 13 national parks with campgrounds w
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked good👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 32° 90° 27° 81°🥵AQI 27✈️3h$991 / mo🌇 Also went here92 people×I try to like this city and been many times (twice for 1 month and few times for few days) but it's been pretty rough. Overall malaysia is not that easy for slow nomads (if you want to stay for 1-3 months) and I still preferred penang much more. This might be good place for family to settle or if you having base for most of the year with many friends around. LOGISTICS You will waste a lot of time to move around: - if you hate malls you won't be able to avoid it - crossing some street sometimes
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 35° 95° 30° 86°🥵AQI 65😷✈️3h$1,267 / mo🌇 Also went here104 people×So… amazing food. Great public transportation. Very clean. But very conformist. Self expression limited. The irony of seeing an exhibit on graffiti, yet no actual graffiti in the streets. And the causal racism especially if you’re brown. You could be British born but still expect to be sat far away from everyone else at cocktail bars, experience comments and have weird assumptions made.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety greatTap to open🌥 Feels 33° 91° 29° 85°✈️4h$6,057 / mo🌇 Also went here110 people×I liked Dubai a lot! It's definitely an indoor lifestyle especially in the summer when it's 45'C outside. But that's very similar to Bangkok which is also an indoor lifestyle in my opinion. Generally airconditioning everywhere is great, except in the older pre-2010 buildings/malls. It's super modern, super international. You'll be in having lunch in a cafe and next to you is a table of Africans, the next table is Asians, the next table is white (often Russians). You don't actually see Europea
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 47° 117° 35° 95°🥵AQI 122😷✈️4h$3,517 / mo🌇 Also went here85 people×Canggu has changed quite a lot. Inmigration treats tourist like shit. Congestion and traffic is a nightmare. Horrible Pollution. Been living here 2 years and I am def closing this chapter. I am a high net worth individual and I will go with my money somewhere else where they respect me and the place has a good energy.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 29° 84° 26° 79°AQI 50✈️6h$1,846 / mo🌇 Also went here87 people×The city is overrated. I feel like I have to be on guard most of the time. People are always trying to scam you, from taxi drivers to waitresses. It's fine for a three-day vacation which is more than enough but staying long-term is very subjective... Airbnbs are overpriced for what you get. Turkish hospitality is a joke. They’re really good at conning tourists here. I stayed for a month, but I should've just passed through. A layover at the airport would've been plenty.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 28° 82° 26° 78°AQI 43✈️8h$1,856 / mo🌇 Also went here76 people×Berlin used to be nomad base in Europe... but it's not the same anymore. The 'pandemic' changed many things -- the cost of course, but also the culture -- the freedom and liberty have been contained. The police presence and size of the state have grown -- definitely doesn't feel so relaxed anymore. It's also important to note here -- there is limited ambition. Most are looking for an easy, fun and peaceful life -- which is great, but if you are building something or running a business it can fee
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 23° 73° 23° 74°AQI 46✈️10h$3,827 / mo🌇 Also went here81 people×I recently visited Amsterdam for the third time (and the first time since 2018). I personally think it's a little overrated, but a cool place to visit nonetheless. The architecture is beautiful, and there are lots of good places to eat. I don't like the main area of the canals in the city centre; it smells of weed and is often packed. However, the outer edges - such as the Jordaan district - are less busy and more interesting in my opinion. One thing that surprised me is how much trash was o
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 21° 70° 20° 67°AQI 27✈️11h$5,660 / mo🌇 Also went here82 people×Difficult to find places to work in the evenings if you work for a western company. Hard to find a good quality restaurant, Google reviews are very inflated here.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 30° 86° 29° 85°AQI 34✈️11h$4,593 / mo🌇 Also went here85 people×I have heard of a friend of a friend that in France it is important to bring sandpaper and to have suitable medical insurance which covers eye reconstruction surgery. “Well worth a visit, would recommend”.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 22° 72° 22° 72°AQI 55😷✈️11h$5,433 / mo🌇 Also went here79 people×I don't understand why London has so high safety rating. Your phone could be stolen and your bicycle WILL be stolen here (or a part of it). I live here 8.5 years and I experienced the above multiple times. Police seems only cares about crime against person by whatever reason. Insure everything expensive that you own. I would also add that antisocial behaviour is quite common here and teenagers are heavily involved in crimes as police don't do anything with them because of their age. Basically th
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 21° 70° 21° 69°AQI 25✈️12h$5,699 / mo🌇 Also went here85 people×Hello i am agreed with previous comment . I was very passionate about Portugal pend here two and half years even more just living living here , not travel abroad . So my opinion its very beautiful country people are also very nice . Ideally if you working abroad . British and French expats are here . Nepal people hard workers and afro colonies people who came from Mozambique . Its totally fine no racism and totally solidarity . But , if you searching housing , and move in city of course , it wi
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 28° 82° 26° 80°AQI 29✈️13h$3,868 / mo🌇 Also went here89 people×New York is cool. I’ve visited multiple times to see my family throughout my life, and recently came back from my first post-COVID trip there. Yes, it’s very expensive — but there is no city on earth that’s more captivating in my opinion. I used to think that New Yorkers were smug by claiming that NYC was better than everywhere else, but now I totally get it lol. My personal favourite neighbourhood is the Upper East Side, which is where you’ll find the coveted Museum Mile. But I also
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️19h$6,831 / mo🌇 Also went here77 people×Can't login? See the FAQ
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