Nomad List| 🏆 Nomad Score™ | 164 reviews |
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| 📡 Internet | |
| 😝 Fun | |
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| 💨 Air quality (now) | |
| 👌 Safety | |
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| ✌️ Peace | |
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| 🏥 Hospitals | |
| 😄 Happiness | |
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| 📶 Free WiFi in city | |
| 🖥 Places to work from | |
| ❄️ A/C or heating | |
| 😁 Friendly to foreigners | |
| 🙊 English speaking | |
| 🗯 Freedom of speech | |
| 😘 Racial tolerance | |
| 👩 Female friendly | |
| 🌈 LGBT friendly | |
| 🎅 Startup Score |
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| 🌍 Region | Asia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚩 Country | China | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⏱ Average trip duration | 8 days | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📡 Internet speed (avg) | 2 Mbps | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛅️ Weather | 🌥 31°C 88°F + 💦 Not humid (56%) + 💨 8km/h = Feels like 34°C 93°F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💨 Air quality (now) | 😷 59 µg/m3 equal to 🚬 🚬 🚬 / day | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💨 Air quality (annual avg) | 👎 90 µg/m3 equal to 🚬 🚬 🚬 🚬 / day | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🔌 Power | 230V50Hz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚕 Best taxi app | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📱 Best wireless carrier | China Mobile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💸 10 CNY in USD | USD 1.41 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏧 Suggested ATM take out: CNY 1,000 | USD 141 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💸 Tipping | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💳 Cashless society | 💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners because WeChat is very hard to set up) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💻 Best coworking space | Regus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ☕️ Best coffee place | Starbucks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚰 Safe tap water | 🚫 No, contaminated | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ♻️ Return rate | 0% of nomads return | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 👨👩👧👦 Population | 2,700,000 people | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 👫 Gender ratio | 👨 54% 👱♀️ 46% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏠 Apartment listings | Ganji | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Hainan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best int'l air carrier | China Southern Airlines | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| outdoorsfoodcultureno-beachairportwarm nowwarmhotslow internetcheap cost of livingmany menfriendly people | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💵 Nomad Cost™ | $1,406 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for expat | $1,010 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for family | $2,566 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for local | $733 / month |
| 🏠 1br studio rent in center | $451 / month |
| 🏢 Coworking | $70 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $782 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $37 / night |
| 🍝 Dinner | $3 |
| 🍹 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $1 |
| 🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $3 |
| ☕️ Coffee | $4 |
Based on Nanning's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
Hanoi is great, it's bursting with culture, tasty food and beautiful people. I lived here for almost 3 months and loved it. Summer is really hot and air quality is bad so check what time of year you go! Make sure you hit up Sapa - get the overnight train, also Ninh Binh is perfect for a weekend trip!
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 36° 97° 32° 90°AQI 27✈️24min$1,099 / mo8MbpsMy favorite place in China. Best months of the year are April to October. Any who loves rivers, mountains, rock climbing, caves, rafting, etc. will love it here. Biggest reccommendation, buy or rent a scooter and go exploring! There's so much to see. I made a lot of Chinese and international friends while studying Chinese here (Omeida Chinese Academy: www.omeidachinese.com ) That made my experience even better.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 28° 82° 26° 78°😷AQI 87✈️25min$1,137 / mo2MbpsHo Chi Minh City is clearly the place to be right now. What I like most is the diversity : there are quiet places, busy places, cheap places, fancy places. Above all, the most important thing for a digital nomad is the Internet and it's almost perfect (there are some breakdowns a few seconds here and there) but overall it's pretty fast. You can feel a great vibe, there is just the right balance between chaos and comfort. Highly recommend.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 42° 108° 31° 87°😷AQI 129✈️2h$1,017 / mo25MbpsI have been told it's the vanilla of digital nomads : easy, cheap, risk free. I loved it so much I want to move there ! Great food, great places to see and awesomely polite and nice people.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 40° 104° 31° 88°AQI 38✈️1h$1,173 / mo19MbpsMy favorite place in China. Best months of the year are April to October. Any who loves rivers, mountains, rock climbing, caves, rafting, etc. will love it here. Biggest reccommendation, buy or rent a scooter and go exploring! There's so much to see. I made a lot of Chinese and international friends while studying Chinese here (Omeida Chinese Academy: www.omeidachinese.com ) That made my experience even better.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 28° 82° 26° 78°😷AQI 87✈️25min$1,137 / mo2MbpsIt'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 31° 88° 30° 86°😷AQI 76✈️51min$3,037 / mo🌇 Also went here4 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 service to the BTS station. I have literally gone to a restaurant to pay 8 USD for a meal, when the exact dish was available on the street for only 1 USD and tastes much better. I ate out everyday and went partying a couple of times a week, and my total monthly expenses was still under 1000 usd. TIPS -Gyms are fucking expensive in Thailand. Expect to pay at least 60 USD/month for the gym, which is crazy when you consider the average wage in Thailand is 15 usd/per day. -Vitamins and supplements cost double the price than what you would get at home. Thais do not take supplements. Maybe only foreigners and really rich Thais. People spending 1500 USD per month must be eating steak daily and hanging out at places meant for foreigners.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 35° 95° 29° 84°😷AQI 59✈️2h$1,564 / mo🌇 Also went here3 peopleHo Chi Minh City is clearly the place to be right now. What I like most is the diversity : there are quiet places, busy places, cheap places, fancy places. Above all, the most important thing for a digital nomad is the Internet and it's almost perfect (there are some breakdowns a few seconds here and there) but overall it's pretty fast. You can feel a great vibe, there is just the right balance between chaos and comfort. Highly recommend.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 42° 108° 31° 87°😷AQI 129✈️2h$1,017 / mo🌇 Also went here3 peopleAs one of the most livable cities in China, Hangzhou has developed economy and technology, many tourist attractions, an open and inclusive city!
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 28° 82° 26° 79°😷AQI 57✈️2h$1,301 / mo🌇 Also went here2 peopleBe wary of LIES, lies everywhere. Lies like when a local restaurant tells you it uses clean filtered water. Assume that you will drink polluted water once in a while. It does not only include bacteria but also heavy metal. Drinking bottled water ? The most popular company, Nongfu, was caught using wrong norms years ago. Too many people were boycotting so they changed the traditional red bottle... and removed the English name. Lies like when they told you the internet speed using local servers. Local internet is actually not that bad, but since you would never use Baidu, Bing or any other unblocked search engine, then your VPN will throttle much of your speed and freedom. Add to that the fact that 2-3 times a year, a political meeting happens and they totally CUT all VPN access. Lies when you try to know the air pollution and the weather agency chose not to update the air quality index to play with the averages. It's still unhealthy but it got A LOT better these last few years. Lies like when you just try to know how many people live in Shanghai. Between 25-35 million people (depending on if you include migrant worker and nearby Suzhou soon to be connected by the same subway) means you get access to lots of stuff. Delivery is one (electronics, food). Subway is ridiculously cheap and modern. Taxis (just replace Uber by Didi) is also awesome and quite cheap. Lies like when you read my review and count as many bad points as good, but you still get Chinese people asking you why you hate China so much...
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 25° 77° 23° 73°😷AQI 53✈️2h$1,952 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleDefinitely an underrated place for nomads - Huge city with a small town feel. Lots of different neighborhoods to appeal to different types of people: some commercial, some hipstery, some historical, some modern. Food and rent is cheap (and the food is damn good). People are very friendly as compared to other big Asian cities. You can also get easy work as a tutor and make good extra cash. I survived for five months tutoring and doing other English related work for max 12 hrs a week (leaving me lots of time to work on other projects). You could also easily get a full time teaching gig but that defeats the whole nomad idea i guess. My favorite area is Gulou, or the Drum Tower. Old, local style with ancient buildings and some great cafes.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌫 Feels 34° 93° 30° 85°😷AQI 102✈️3h$2,191 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleLoved Penang! I rented an Airbnb 1BR apartment in Straits Quay for a month @ $35/nt and rent is probably lower if you stay longer or live in a less touristy area. Great food, easy transportation, nice beaches, super affordable plus my host upgraded wifi to 30mbps. Everyone speaks English, thanks to Malaysia's colonial history and the people are so hospitable. I hope to move there permanently someday!
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 43° 109° 32° 90°✈️3h$1,064 / mo🌇 Also went here3 peopleI think KL will be the next hub for nomads. It's affordable, safe, convenient, has decent Internet and has decent weather. (Yes it's hot during the summer but it gives you a good reason to be inside and get your work done) Mostly it's quite chill, not as hectic and messy as other major SEA cities like Bangkok, Hanoi and Jakarta. There's not that much to do, but Malaysia has wonderful nature and getaway places, accessible with cheap AirAsia tickets from KL.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 46° 115° 35° 95°✈️3h$1,351 / mo🌇 Also went here3 peopleThe Diet Coke of Asia. Zero crime, English spoken everywhere. Reliable public transport. Some nice spots for off-the-beaten-path walking and hiking. But also clinical, authoritarian, money-minded and very costly. Companies and shopkeepers will always do what's good for them (or makes their own life easier); not what's good for the customer. People avoid eye contact and are generally overworked and miserable. After a while, crossing over to Malaysia's neighboring Johor will, warts and all, feel like a breath of fresh air ("Yes! Space! I can move! I can breathe!").
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 43° 109° 33° 91°😷AQI 179✈️3h$2,886 / mo🌇 Also went here2 peopleNothing does a better job of explaining LA’s beautiful diversity and different neighborhoods than the documentary about the late Jonathan Gold, our city’s greatest amabassador and the only food critic to ever win a Pulitzer Prize. It is called, “City of Gold” and if you want to know LA, just watch this film. Trailer link: https://youtu.be/DmKTRDfz1zM
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 33° 91° 32° 90°😷AQI 61✈️16h$4,654 / mo🌇 Also went here2 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 32° 90° 29° 84°AQI 45✈️17h$5,732 / mo🌇 Also went here2 people✅ Affordable to live
✅ Pretty safe
✅ Warm all year round
✅ Perfect humidity now
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ Easy to do business
✅ High quality of education
✅ Safe for women
❌ Very slow internet
❌ Pretty slow internet
❌ Not much to do
❌ Too hot in the summer
❌ Bad air quality year round
❌ Not many nomads go here
❌ Difficult to make friends
❌ Hospitals are pretty bad
❌ Roads can be dangerous
❌ Freedom of speech is weak
❌ Not very democratic
❌ People don't speak English well
❌ Hostile towards LGBT
❌ People smoking tobacco a lot
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