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| ⭐️ Total score | 205 reviews |
| 👍 Quality of life score | |
| 👶 Family score | |
| 💵 Cost | |
| 📡 Internet | |
| 😝 Fun | |
| ⛅️ Temperature (now) | |
| 💦 Humidity (now) | |
| 💨 Air quality (now) | |
| 👌 Safety | |
| 👮♀️ Lack of crime* | |
| 🤝 Lack of racism* | |
| 🎓 Education level* | |
| 💰 Income level* | |
| 🙊 English speaking* | |
| 🚶 Walkability | |
| ✌️ Peace (no pol. conflict) | |
| 🚦 Traffic safety* | |
| 🏥 Healthcare* | |
| 😄 Happiness* | |
| 🍸 Nightlife | |
| 📶 Free WiFi in city | |
| 🖥 Places to work from | |
| ❄️ A/C or heating | |
| 😁 Friendly to foreigners | |
| 🗯 Freedom of speech* | |
| 👩 Female friendly | |
| 🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly | |
| 🎅 Startup Score |
| 🌍 Continent | Asia |
| 🚩 Country | Sri Lanka |
| ⏱ Average trip time | 18 days |
| 📡 Internet speed (avg) | 8 Mbps |
| ⛅️ Weather (now) | 🌤 29°C 83°F + 🥵 Sweaty (81%) = feels 35°C 95°F |
| 💨 Air quality (now) | 😐 147 US AQI = 🚬 🚬 / day |
| 🔌 Power | 230V50Hz |
| 🚕 Best taxi app* | |
| 🚑 Travel medical insurance |  Safetywing |
| 📱 Best wireless carrier | Dialog |
| 💸 1,000 LKR in USD | USD 4.93 |
| 🏧 Suggested ATM take out: | LKR 100,000 = USD 493 |
| 💳 Cashless | 💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners) |
| ☕️ Best coffee place | Barista |
| ☕️ Best alt. coffee place | Solis Hotel |
| 🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place | Nomad Trails Thalpe Station |
| 🚰 Tap water | 🚫 No, not drinkable |
| 👨👩👧👦 Population | 810,000 people |
| 👨👩👧👦 GDP per capita* | $3,910 / year |
| ⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious |
| 🏠 Apartment listings | Airbnb |
| ✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Sri Lankan Airlines |
| ✈️ Best int'l air carrier | Sri Lankan Airlines |
| 🏥 Best hospital | Sahana Medical Center |
| 💵 Cost of living for nomad | $545 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for expat | $378 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for family | $354 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for local | $101 / month |
| 🏠 1br studio rent in center | $74 / month |
| 🏢 Coworking | $19 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel (median price) | $356 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel (median price) | $17 / night |
| 🏡 Airbnb (median from 1,001 listings) | $1,043 / month |
| 🏠 Airbnb (median price) | $34 / night |
| 🍛 Dinner | $1 |
| 🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $0 |
| 🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $0 |
| ☕️ Coffee | $0 |
✅ Very cheap to live
✅ Pretty safe
✅ Lots of fun stuff to do
✅ Warm now
✅ Warm all year round
✅ Good air quality usually
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ High quality of education
✅ Roads are very safe
✅ Democratic
✅ Not many people smoke tobacco
❌ Freedom of speech is weak
❌ Pretty slow internet
❌ Very sweaty and humid now
❌ Difficult to do business
❌ Hospitals are bad
❌ People don't speak English well
❌ Not safe for women
❌ Not family friendly
❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| Feels | 9535° hot | 10239° hot | 10038° hot | 10641° scorching | 10038° hot | 9736° hot | 9736° hot | 9334° hot | 9334° hot | 9334° hot | 9736° hot | 9736° hot |
| Real | 8630° very warm | 8831° hot | 8831° hot | 9032° hot | 8831° hot | 8630° very warm | 8630° very warm | 8429° very warm | 8429° very warm | 8429° very warm | 8630° very warm | 8630° very warm |
| Humidity | sweaty 71% | sweaty 74% | nice 70% | sweaty 71% | sweaty 73% | sweaty 75% | sweaty 75% | sweaty 79% | sweaty 80% | sweaty 77% | sweaty 77% | sweaty 76% |
| Rain | rainy 54mm | rainy 92mm | rainy 84mm | rainy 65mm | rainy 62mm | rainy 176mm | rainy 54mm | rainy 133mm | rainy 175mm | rainy 161mm | rainy 127mm | rainy 153mm |
| Cloud | cloudy 60% | cloudy 54% | pockets 41% | cloudy 62% | cloudy 71% | overcast 93% | overcast 91% | overcast 97% | cloudy 79% | overcast 95% | cloudy 80% | cloudy 72% |
| Sun | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | seek shade 5 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI |
| Remote workers | 533 people | 400 people | 200 people | 0 people | 200 people | 0 people | 0 people | 0 people | 0 people | 300 people | 200 people | 200 people |
Based on Matara's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 32° 90° 28° 82°🥵AQI 139😷🚕1h$1,405 / mo8MbpsSri Lanka is a great country to visit and explore on vacation, but it is not good for nomading. The internet is the worst I've experienced in 3 years of travelling around SE Asia. Usually I would supplement terrible wifi with mobile data but I found this also terrible. I visited several places in Sri Lanka, including supposedly up-and-coming nomad destination Welligama. There are very few cafes that are fit for working (almost none with AC/power), Western food is expensive (and so is Sri Lankan
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 32° 90° 28° 82°🥵AQI 139😷✈️10min$885 / mo7MbpsReally 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.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 29° 84° 27° 80°AQI 147😷✈️12min$936 / mo8Mbps⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 31° 88° 28° 83°AQI 147😷✈️14min$529 / mo9Mbps⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 34° 93° 29° 85°AQI 53✈️39min$906 / mo20Mbps⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 32° 90° 29° 84°AQI 46✈️41min$901 / mo22Mbps⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 35° 95° 29° 83°🥵AQI 86😷✈️41min$1,058 / mo23Mbps⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 35° 95° 29° 83°🥵AQI 88😷✈️43min$808 / mo22MbpsStayed 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
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 32° 90° 28° 83°🥵AQI 103😷✈️51min$522 / mo23Mbps⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 32° 90° 29° 83°AQI 46✈️54min$722 / mo25Mbps⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 30° 86° 28° 82°AQI 153😷✈️55min$1,067 / mo23Mbps⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 36° 97° 30° 86°🥵AQI 92😷✈️55min$1,007 / mo21MbpsHonestly, this is an awesome place to be if you're actually trying to get work done. It's a bit of an older vibe than Canggu, and there's certainly a big chunk of yogi's kicking around — but I liked it much better than Canggu and found it less pretentious. Plus, you can drive down there in 45mins whenever you want some beach or party vibes. As others mentioned, there's some great coworking spaces, cheap warungs, some really nice spots to stay cheaply if you go just outside of the mad tourist
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 38° 100° 30° 86°🥵AQI 50✈️6h$1,296 / mo12MbpsSamui sucks and is to be avoided by nomads. It's not a nomad hotspot, at all. And probably won't ever become one. Pros: - Has an airport, so you can fly in straight from Bangkok and it only takes an hour - Has nice villas you can rent with beautiful view over the ocean and Ko Phangan in the distance - Grab and FoodPanda delivery food works okay here, although options are quite limited compared to Bangkok - WiFi is good and fast around the island, no problems at all - Driving a bike/scoot
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 31° 88° 26° 79°🥵AQI 63✈️3h$1,743 / mo22MbpsThe noise pollution here is insane. The prayer calls from the mosques seem to reverberate throughout Penang. Seems like they are competing for who can be the loudest. This really ruined Penang for me and I cut my time short.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌦 Feels 37° 99° 29° 85°🥵AQI 46✈️3h$1,078 / mo13MbpsLoved it outside of the season, plenty to do if you are into outdoor stuff, great vibe, growing, active nomad community, Loads of restaurants, great coffee places. Perfect if you are done with big cities.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 16° 61° 16° 60°AQI 27✈️13h$2,088 / mo31MbpsSiem Riep has a nice suburb feeling. At first sight it seems there's not much to do besides Angkor Wat and Pub Street, but you can go swimming, do bicycle tours, floating village day trip... I don't have best social skill, but in Siem Reap it was so easy to make new friends. Locals and tourists! I've worked at Garage Society Coworking Space. Pretty nice place. I don't understand the cons of slow internet. I've bought an LTE 4G Sim card for 10 USD with 10 GB. There's also free and mostly fast
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 36° 97° 31° 88°🥵AQI 93😷✈️4h$1,282 / mo6MbpsEarly January 2022- Canggu is one of the world's great foodie paradises. Really. You won't find this kind of variety outside a major city (like Manhattan in NYC, Montreal, London, Paris, etc)... but what Canggu has over all these places is that it is SO CONCENTRATED that you can, if you wish, walk between hundreds of them (a scooter is sometimes nicer)... I actually DID it. After over 20 local Google reviews (and counting), I can say if you're wanting vegetarian, vegan, carnivore, halal, Jain,
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 43° 109° 31° 87°🥵AQI 50✈️6h$1,340 / mo27Mbps⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 17° 63° 16° 61°AQI 230😷✈️3h$953 / mo23Mbps⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 23° 73° 23° 73°AQI 102😷✈️5h$3,834 / mo8MbpsRead the review that starts "I live here and I can tell you that many of the stats listed are wrong" - its spot on accurate I will add to that - Vancouver is brain-numbingly boring and dead. There is noticeable and toxic mix of pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers. Mix in a very Vancouver trait of entitlement, and watch the the passive aggression fly. Vancouverites generally are a cold bunch making it difficult for newcomers. Worst of all they believe in their own created hype that live in
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 4° 39° 4° 40°AQI 8✈️18h$3,423 / mo16Mbps⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 32° 90° 28° 82°🥵AQI 139😷🚕1h$1,405 / mo8MbpsSri Lanka is a great country to visit and explore on vacation, but it is not good for nomading. The internet is the worst I've experienced in 3 years of travelling around SE Asia. Usually I would supplement terrible wifi with mobile data but I found this also terrible. I visited several places in Sri Lanka, including supposedly up-and-coming nomad destination Welligama. There are very few cafes that are fit for working (almost none with AC/power), Western food is expensive (and so is Sri Lankan
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 32° 90° 28° 82°🥵AQI 139😷✈️10min$885 / mo🌇 Also went here9 peopleAmazing Phuket, warm sunny and lots to do! Getting there was a bunch of red tape and covid checks but we’ll worth the short trip!
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 41° 106° 30° 86°🥵AQI 63✈️3h$1,278 / mo🌇 Also went here9 peopleThe noise pollution here is insane. The prayer calls from the mosques seem to reverberate throughout Penang. Seems like they are competing for who can be the loudest. This really ruined Penang for me and I cut my time short.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌦 Feels 37° 99° 29° 85°🥵AQI 46✈️3h$1,078 / mo🌇 Also went here7 peopleDon't believe the prices on here for an apartment. 686 usd/month refers to an apartment in a high class condo, right in the city centre and seconds away from the BTS(train station). Just remember this, people working at supermarkets make 2 usd/per hour. If you want to live like a local, then you can save a lot of money. If you don't mind a 5-10 minute walk from the BTS, then you can easily get a one bedroom apartment for 300 USD per month, in a high class condo, plus with free golf cart ser
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 37° 99° 31° 88°🥵AQI 46✈️3h$1,338 / mo🌇 Also went here9 peoplePutrajaya is the only place I would recommend due to its close proximity to the airport. The Shaftsbury Hotel is modern with two convenience stores, pharmacy, restaurants, dental, and more in the actual building. There is a rain fountain in "mall" of the building that would be Putrajaya's attempt at Singapore's airport one. The location is also literally right across from the bigger mall that has restaurants, international grocery store, movie theater, bowling, electronics, etc. It's a safe a
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 34° 93° 29° 85°🥵AQI 46✈️3h$1,246 / mo🌇 Also went here8 peopleChiang Mai used to be N.1 for the digital nomad life. It is still great and you can find really cheap apartments (300-400$) and restaurants (2-3$ for a main). Wouldn't recommend staying there during the burning season. The best area is Nimman, but it's also the most expensive. You can stay in the old city that's very nice but that gets noisy during the weekend for the night markets. Last but not least, very safe city. All in all would go back in a heartbeat.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 27° 81° 26° 79°AQI 68✈️3h$994 / mo🌇 Also went here8 peopleThey say you get what you pay for. After having traveled the previous 4 months in India, Cambodia, VietNam, Myanmar and Thailand, Singapore was so easy! The subway system is a marvel, streets signs were easy to read, everyone speaks English (that just makes it easy for me as an English speaker) it is safe, clean, and parks are gorgeous. I was there as COVID 19 was breaking out fairly fast and that put a damper on my time but I was so happy to be there anyway and plan to go back. For digital
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 39° 102° 30° 87°🥵AQI 63✈️4h$3,157 / mo🌇 Also went here9 peopleSiem Riep has a nice suburb feeling. At first sight it seems there's not much to do besides Angkor Wat and Pub Street, but you can go swimming, do bicycle tours, floating village day trip... I don't have best social skill, but in Siem Reap it was so easy to make new friends. Locals and tourists! I've worked at Garage Society Coworking Space. Pretty nice place. I don't understand the cons of slow internet. I've bought an LTE 4G Sim card for 10 USD with 10 GB. There's also free and mostly fast
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 36° 97° 31° 88°🥵AQI 93😷✈️4h$1,282 / mo🌇 Also went here7 people⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 25° 77° 25° 77°AQI 57✈️4h$1,037 / mo🌇 Also went here7 peopleOnly thing to add is that in general Saigon has terrible walkability. I love Saigon, lived there for 3 years. But motorbikes are always parked on the sidewalks so you constantly have to step onto the road which is a little hair raising. And if it's not motorbikes then there are restaurant tables scattered across the pavement. Plus the pavement is almost always cracked. I'm a pretty chill person. But going for a random walk in Saigon always leaves me kind of irritated after a while. Of course the
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 41° 106° 32° 90°🥵AQI 65✈️4h$969 / mo🌇 Also went here8 peopleCheep bear and party place. But only have 3-4 beautiful places to visit. I stayed 5 days and thanks! There are more beautiful places in Asia than Hanoi. I don´t think I come back. Good food and cheap but nothing more..
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌦 Feels 24° 75° 24° 76°AQI 65✈️4h$896 / mo🌇 Also went here8 peopleSkip this place and go to Bali right away. This city only looks beautiful in tourism videos but ugly in person. It is dusty and smelly.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 37° 99° 30° 86°🥵AQI 59✈️4h$1,171 / mo🌇 Also went here8 peopleEarly January 2022- Canggu is one of the world's great foodie paradises. Really. You won't find this kind of variety outside a major city (like Manhattan in NYC, Montreal, London, Paris, etc)... but what Canggu has over all these places is that it is SO CONCENTRATED that you can, if you wish, walk between hundreds of them (a scooter is sometimes nicer)... I actually DID it. After over 20 local Google reviews (and counting), I can say if you're wanting vegetarian, vegan, carnivore, halal, Jain,
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 43° 109° 31° 87°🥵AQI 50✈️6h$1,340 / mo🌇 Also went here10 peopleBest city in Spain. Weather is great even in December and the clubbing scene is fun. There's lots to do and it's a beautiful city overall. You have to watch out for pickpockets but as long as you aren't leaving things unattended or obviously in your pockets you'll be fine. If you're into hostels, Hostel One Paralelo is BY FAR the best hostel in the area, worth every penny. Will definitely be back, and I never say that.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 13° 55° 13° 55°AQI 72✈️11h$2,890 / mo🌇 Also went here10 peopleI don't know why some people here are so negative about Lisboa. It's far from the level the level of dirt as described. Only the area of barrio alto and pink street have some dealers, but they don't bother you and aren't aggressive. Lack of heating is something I have heard, however should be easy enough to buy a radiator. Besides Lisboa doesn't really get that cold, compared to other European cities. The climate is very pleasant for most of the year. A real con would be that the historic centr
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 13° 55° 14° 58°AQI 10✈️13h$2,048 / mo🌇 Also went here9 peopleNo members are here right now. If you are, add it as a trip and you'll show up here!
