Nomad List| 🏆 Nomad Score™ | 164 reviews |
| 💵 Cost | |
| 📡 Internet | |
| 😝 Fun | |
| ⛅️ Temperature (now) | |
| 💦 Humidity (now) | |
| 💨 Air quality (now) | |
| 👌 Safety | |
| 👍 Quality of life | |
| 🚶 Walkability | |
| ✌️ Peace | |
| 🚦 Traffic safety | |
| 🏥 Hospitals | |
| 😄 Happiness | |
| 🍸 Nightlife | |
| 📶 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 | 4 days | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📡 Internet speed (avg) | 2 Mbps | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛅️ Weather | ☀️ 21°C 70°F + 💦 Not humid (44%) + 💨 9km/h = Feels like 24°C 75°F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💨 Air quality (now) | 👍 68 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 1.42 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏧 Suggested ATM take out: CNY 1,000 | USD 142 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💸 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, not drinkable | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ♻️ Return rate | 0% of visitors 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-beachairportmildmild nowslow internetcheap cost of livingmany menfriendly people | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💵 Nomad Cost™ | $1,419 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for expat | $1,019 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for family | $2,589 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for local | $740 / month |
| 🏠 1br studio rent in center | $455 / month |
| 🏢 Coworking | $71 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $789 / 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:
I lived in Hanoi for 3 full months and I really loved it. Hanoi has a big foreigner district called 'Tay Ho'. If what you are looking for is somewhat foreigner(English) friendly, the spot is yours. However I preferred to stay in the Japanese area that was full of good sushi. The charm of the city comes from the people. Vietnamese are aggressively kind and way too friendly. I even rented a piano from a local shop, placed it at home and played it. Took private Muythai lesson from a local gym where the instructor speak no single word of English. Had beautifully tasted egg coffee from a local coffee shop and delicious bun-cha, pho and bahn mi. Went to a local market to buy fruits and veggies. Had beers and hookah in the old quarter. Made a best friend with piano teacher and my bf's barber(!). Hanoi is the city that wonderful things happen :)
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 25° 77° 23° 73°AQI 48✈️24min$1,143 / mo9MbpsMy 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 14° 57° 14° 57°AQI 50✈️25min$1,163 / mo2MbpsMain advantage of Vietnam in general is the ease of getting a visa. That's real nice but there are some big problems here. The food is terrible. Bland soups with slippery, boring rice noodles topped with weird stuff like pig's feet are not my idea of a good meal. Neither are sandwiches with fatty mystery meats. Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia all have way better food. The sushi I've had here was also terrible. The city itself is pretty ugly. Every building is the same tall, skinny shape. Overall safety is low and you'll probably end up in a traffic accident if you stay here long enough. It costs more to rent a place and if you're on a low budget you'll likely end up in a home stay or guesthouse when you could have rented an apartment for the same price in another city. Many places have curfews, even as early as 8pm, so make sure to ask your Airbnb about that because they won't bother to mention it in the listing. Stay in D1/D10/D3/D4/Phu nhuan. Avoid Tan phu, D7, D2, Tan binh, and Go vap. Avoid the rainy season.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 39° 102° 31° 88°🥵AQI 41✈️2h$1,039 / mo21MbpsChiang Mai used to be N.1 for the digital nomad life. It is still great and you can find really cheap apartments (300-400$) 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.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 27° 81° 26° 79°AQI 68😷✈️1h$1,162 / mo23MbpsMy 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 14° 57° 14° 57°AQI 50✈️25min$1,163 / mo2MbpsChiang Mai used to be N.1 for the digital nomad life. It is still great and you can find really cheap apartments (300-400$) 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.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 27° 81° 26° 79°AQI 68😷✈️1h$1,162 / mo🌇 Also went here3 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 32° 90° 30° 86°🥵AQI 96😷✈️2h$1,615 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleMain advantage of Vietnam in general is the ease of getting a visa. That's real nice but there are some big problems here. The food is terrible. Bland soups with slippery, boring rice noodles topped with weird stuff like pig's feet are not my idea of a good meal. Neither are sandwiches with fatty mystery meats. Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia all have way better food. The sushi I've had here was also terrible. The city itself is pretty ugly. Every building is the same tall, skinny shape. Overall safety is low and you'll probably end up in a traffic accident if you stay here long enough. It costs more to rent a place and if you're on a low budget you'll likely end up in a home stay or guesthouse when you could have rented an apartment for the same price in another city. Many places have curfews, even as early as 8pm, so make sure to ask your Airbnb about that because they won't bother to mention it in the listing. Stay in D1/D10/D3/D4/Phu nhuan. Avoid Tan phu, D7, D2, Tan binh, and Go vap. Avoid the rainy season.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 39° 102° 31° 88°🥵AQI 41✈️2h$1,039 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleShanghai is a giant city and your experience really depends on a few factors like: 1) where you live in the city 2) do you speak basic Mandarin 3) do you make nice money 4) do you have to use the internet If you can afford to live in Jing'an or the French Concession, you can live a fashionable metropolitan lifestyle like you would in New York City. There's amazing food (Asian, Western and fusion). You'll be surrounded by entrepreneurs, artists, fashion designers and models. Many of whom do speak English. It gets better if you speak basic Mandarin though. You don't need to care about the characters. Just learn to speak, that's important enough. The nice thing about Mandarin is China is so big everyone has an accent, so for Chinese it really doesn't matter so much that you have one too. Depending on how and what kind of money you make, your experience also changes. Like most places in Asia, English teachers are the lowest rank in the hierarchy of foreigners here. Chinese know. But if you're an entrepreneur, even (or especially) an online one, that's high regarded. The problem with working online here is obviously the firewall which can make it very difficult. I've heard good stories about Shadowsocks which seems to work better than regular VPNs. The recent China vs. America tensions are in fact making people slightly more hostile against Western foreigners. But remember this is Shanghai, it's a metropolitan city, they're usually much less xenophobic than out in the country. Mostly Shanghainese are happy to embrace foreigners, become friends with them, as long as they speak English. And as long as you invest a lot of time. Just popping in and out like a nomad isn't necessarily going to work so well with Chinese. Relationships are long-term.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 10° 50° 11° 52°AQI 32✈️2h$1,883 / mo🌇 Also went here5 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 3° 37° 3° 38°AQI 51😷✈️3h$2,135 / mo🌇 Also went here5 peopleBeware of slow internet speed! It's also difficult to get month-to-month accommodation. Airbnb is basically the only choice. I got a great studio apartment at the Kim Haus for $620/month, which includes tourist tax of RM10 per day. Excellent location. But the internet is so slow it is unusable. And there are very few cafes that have better internet. One of the better cafes in town happens to be across the street from the Kim Haus. It's called Coffee Addicts.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 46° 115° 32° 90°🥵✈️3h$1,141 / 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 48° 118° 33° 91°🥵✈️3h$1,288 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleIt truly is a garden city - the amount of green space is mindboggling. Everywhere you go it's green and amazing. One of my favourite cities anywhere.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 47° 117° 32° 89°🥵AQI 63😷✈️3h$2,873 / mo🌇 Also went here3 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 ✈️3h$2,400 / mo🌇 Also went here3 peopleOne giant tourist trap. Giant hordes of rich Europeans vacationing with their parents credit cards.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 7° 45° 10° 50°AQI 28✈️12h$5,295 / mo🌇 Also went here3 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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