Hi folks, before I stayed mostly in Taipei and I want to know how does the southern capital Kaohsiung compare for nomad friendliness. Those of you who were there and especially did some work are welcome to share thoughts.
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| ⭐️ Overall Score | 232 reviews |
| 🎒 Nomad Score™ | |
| 👍 Quality of life score | |
| 👶 Family score | |
| 💵 Cost | |
| 📡 Internet | |
| 😝 Fun | |
| ⛅️ Temperature (now) | |
| 💦 Humidity (now) | |
| 💨 Air quality (now) | |
| 💨 Air quality (annual) | |
| 👌 Safety | |
| 🎓 Education level | |
| ❤️ Liked by members | |
| 🙊 English speaking | |
| 🚶 Walkability | |
| ✌️ Peace | |
| 🚦 Traffic safety | |
| 🏥 Hospitals | |
| 😄 Happiness | |
| 🍸 Nightlife | |
| 📶 Free WiFi in city | |
| 🖥 Places to work from | |
| ❄️ A/C or heating | |
| 😁 Friendly to foreigners | |
| 🗯 Freedom of speech | |
| 🤚🏿🤚🏻 Racial tolerance | |
| 👩 Female friendly | |
| 🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly | |
| 🎅 Startup Score |
| 🌍 Region | Asia |
| 🚩 Country | Taiwan |
| ⏱ Average trip duration | 8 days |
| 📡 Internet speed (avg) | 25 Mbps |
| ⛅️ Weather (now) | 🌧 29°C 85°F + Humid (82%) = feels 35°C 95°F |
| 💨 Air quality (now) | 👍 31 US AQI 🍃 good |
| 💨 Air quality (annual avg) | 😷 127 US AQI = 🚬 🚬 / day |
| 🔌 Power | 115V60Hz |
| 🚕 Best taxi app (in country) | |
| 🚑 Travel medical insurance |  Safetywing |
| 📱 Best wireless carrier | ChungHwa Telecom |
| 💸 100 TWD in USD | USD 3.40 |
| 🏧 Suggested ATM take out: | TWD 10,000 = USD 340 |
| 💸 Tipping | No |
| 💳 Cashless society | 💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners) |
| 🚰 Safe tap water | 🚫 No, not drinkable |
| ♻️ Return rate | 9% of visitors return |
| 👨👩👧👦 Population | 1,400,000 people |
| 🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed | Yes |
| ⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious |
| 💻 Online electronics shop | PCHome |
| 🏠 Apartment listings | Airbnb |
| ✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | EVA |
| ✈️ Best int'l air carrier | Air Asia |
| 💵 Cost of living for nomad | $1,055 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for expat | $766 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for family | $1,445 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for local | $413 / month |
| 🏠 1br studio rent in center | $272 / month |
| 🏢 Coworking | $112 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $363 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $17 / night |
| 🏠 Airbnb (538 listings) | $1,395 / month |
| 🏠 Airbnb | $46 / night |
| 🍛 Dinner | $2 |
| 🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $1 |
| 🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $2 |
| ☕️ Coffee | $2 |
Hi folks, before I stayed mostly in Taipei and I want to know how does the southern capital Kaohsiung compare for nomad friendliness. Those of you who were there and especially did some work are welcome to share thoughts.
We have never been in Taiwan (a couple of travelers) and I am just wondering is possible to find there some quite clean place to hang for a while? How it is better to start? Are there any website’s for short and long term rentals? It looks like AirBnB is not that popular there. So it seems that usual tactics - rent hotel or airbnb for short term and then look for long term just driving around might not work. It looks like everything there in Chinese - so if there are any tips how to overcome this - that is more then welcome 
Overall just interested in any suggestion - where best to go first? Also is it hard to extend your stay there - we are digital nomads - so working for some company overseas and probably will be extending as a tourist (If we like there).
Sorry for so many questions - but this is really some terra incognita for me
No worries … The whole CorVis19 is causing issues in the whole region… maybe better to stay put in the short term
I’ve been in Taiwan for nearly a year … 3 month visa runs etc. How long are you staying for … and my experience is Taipei… so cant speak for the rest of the country much
Well we decided to go to Vietnam for now - not yet having any certain plan for Taiwan
I can offer my experience at least. I stayed at Meander hostel a few years back in a private room. It ended up being a great choice, it wasn’t crazy expensive and I was able to meet up with a lot of travelers just by chilling in the common room. Everyone was so friendly, I remember just sitting there and random people would start chatting with me and within minutes we were all taking a walk to the nearby night market. In addition to all the social aspects of the hostel, I had my own private room so I was able to stay productive. I only stayed for around 2 weeks though. Hope this helps!
Hello,
My girlfriend and I will be heading to Taipei for a month in February, and we’re trying to figure out where to live. Any advice on…
We’re on a budget, looking for something that would be around $400usd per month if possible.
RE: SIM card
If you ask in 7/11 in English they can point you in the right direction if they don’t stock them. There’s a 7/11 near Taipei main station that has them. I got mine while inside the MRT area in Taipei main station from some cell phone accessory shop next to the 7/11. I think $10 or something for every 1gb refill, with first 3 days unlimited data. You need to bring your passport.
Your best bet is to look at places on AirBnb. There are a few hostels that have listings on there that are pretty cheap. I recently found a website for a place called InnApartment that looks pretty good too (innapartment.weebly.com) and I’m planning on staying there when I visit in March.
But overall, Taipei’s accommodation websites are local-focused and most sites are going to be in Chinese, which makes it hard to find places online.
Similarly, the coworking spaces are more focused on local startups and creatives, and again, most sites are in Chinese. Though I’ve heard of an up-and-coming coworking space called http://futurewardcentral.com/ and the founder seems to want to attract more digital nomads. There are also a few other options but I haven’t checked them out yet.
On the plus side, Taiwan has amazing infrastructure, fast internet, and you’ll be able to work from anywhere as it’s pretty much the coffee shop capital of Asia.
Oh and the food is other-wordly too. So more pros than cons 
Hey! Did you end up staying at Innapartment, how was It?!
Actually, we ended up looking on AirBnB, found a place with a good price and rented it for a month.
It was my girlfriend and I, so we had a few things we were looking for in particular… a private room big enough for both of us, a desk (since we were both working remote), decent internet, etc…
Lots of hosts on AirBnB give a discount for a month, so the price was pretty reasonable, about what we would have payed to rent a place on a student facebook group that we were trying to find something on. More importantly, getting our exact dates to line up with someone else’s exact dates ended up being impossible.
We stayed in Da’an, which we really loved. We were in a nice neighborhood right next to a night market and super close to the MRT (metro).
Taipei was our first stop, and afterwards we ended up using AirBnB to book month-long places in Japan (Osaka), Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand.
I would say that if you’ve staying for several months AirBnB may not be the best option price-wise, though you probably can send people messages to get further discounts. Since we were only staying a month, AirBnB was perfect.
Also, since it was mentioned…
We didn’t end up getting a co-working place, but it may have been nice to have. Compared to other places we went in Asia, it was REALLY hard to get a SIM card in Taiwan since neither me nor my girlfriend speak Chinese.
That said, people are really friendly. If you’re staying for a bit, it may be worth finding some other (Chinese-speaking) foreign people / Taiwanese people to help show you around and help you get a SIM card 
Taiwan was great, though, I can’t wait to go back. PM me if you have any other questions!
+1 to get a notification when a good response is given.
This Hostel Seems like a viable option for you guys:
Currently in Taipei for 3 months. Key is to be walking distance to an MRT (Metro) stop, as it is very fast and convenient. Honestly in that range I think it would be tough. I believe you can definitely find places in Taiwan in that range, but will be further away from the city center of Taipei. There might also be more options in other more Southern cities like Tainan.
My partner and I are looking at staying in Taiwan for the month of May, and were wondering if Taipei or Kaohsiung is better for living and working in? Our primary purpose will be working, so cheap food/accommodation (that’s relatively easy for a foreigner to find and obtain) and fast internet are our biggest priorities, but some sightseeing and nightlife would be nice. (I know Taipei has the latter, not as sure about Kaohsiung.) Thanks!
They’re pretty similar, but Kaohsiung has better weather, will be cheaper and have a better scene since it’s a little smaller and easier to meet people. People are more friendly also - Taipei’s a big city, a little self-absorbed, everything is too spread out so you never feel like going anywhere. If you go to KH, spend a few days checking out Tainan for the history.
Great question my BF and I are also looking into these 2 cities in May, as well, and leaning more towards Kaohsiung as it appears Taipei has more rain in May (but Kaohsiung is hotter, which we don’t mind). We have similar priorities/plans as it sounds like you do. Nomadlist does not list Kaohsuing as having very fast internet, but I wonder how accurate that information is.
From the few accounts I’ve heard, they were able to get fast internet. Maybe it just depends on being able to find the right place? I think we’re leaning toward splitting out time between the two cities, not quite sure yet.
I just stayed in Taipei for a month and visited Kaoshiung for four days. It seemed to me that many restaurants close very early in Kaohsiung and it was harder to get around because there are only two metro lines. They have a bikesharing system like Taipei, but it doesn’t work with the payment card for Taipei, so I didn’t use it. So overall it didn’t feel as “easy” as Taipei.
Regarding the internet speed; I guess it depends on what you define as “fast”. The wifi in the hotel I was staying in was worse than 4G on my phone. But I had the same in Taipei in a few places as well. And 4G was good enough for video calls, which is the most demanding use I had for my internet connection. If you need high bandwidth to transfer large files, this might not work for you.
Personally, I would probably get bored staying a whole month in Kaohsiung. If you haven’t been to either, I’d say go to Taipei and do a weekend trip to Kaohsiung. It’s super fast to get there by bullet train.
Thinking of dropping by Tawant for a bit - any friendly co-working spots in Taipei?
Yes try CLBC Flagshipb or CLBC Da’an! Say Pieter sent you and ask for Betty
Thanks, dropped by both CLBC locations. A local that works for AirBNB turned me on to CIT, which is a bit far out from central Taipei, but is a very cool space. I can recommend that one as well.
I’ll arrive in Taipei in april and need a place for at least couple of months but I’m not eager to rent something from seeing the online listing alone.
Any advice on good price points, location or trustworthy real estate companies and such is greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
✅ Affordable to live
✅ Very safe
✅ Fast internet
✅ Warm now
✅ Warm all year round
✅ Good air quality today
✅ Nomad List members liked going here a lot
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ Very easy to make friends
✅ Very easy to do business
✅ High quality of education
✅ Great hospitals
✅ Roads are very safe
✅ Great freedom of speech
✅ Democratic
✅ Very safe for women
✅ Family friendly
✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+
✅ Not many people smoke tobacco
❌ Not much to do
❌ Very humid now
❌ Not many members go here
❌ People don't speak English well
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| Feels | 7725° warm | 8127° warm | 8429° warm | 9133° hot | 9032° hot | 9937° hot | 10038° hot | 10239° hot | 9736° hot | 9032° hot | 8429° warm | 7725° warm |
| Real | 7725° warm | 7926° warm | 8127° warm | 8530° very warm | 8429° very warm | 8831° hot | 8831° hot | 8831° hot | 8731° hot | 8429° very warm | 8127° warm | 7725° warm |
| Humidity | nice 62% | nice 62% | nice 64% | nice 65% | nice 69% | nice 67% | sweaty 72% | sweaty 74% | nice 68% | nice 64% | nice 61% | nice 63% |
| Rain | dry 12mm | dry 10mm | dry 32mm | dry 33mm | rainy 97mm | rainy 159mm | rainy 209mm | rainy 235mm | rainy 76mm | dry 13mm | dry 3mm | dry 26mm |
| Cloud | pockets 31% | pockets 14% | pockets 35% | pockets 36% | cloudy 70% | cloudy 88% | overcast 92% | cloudy 85% | cloudy 55% | pockets 37% | pockets 32% | pockets 43% |
| Air quality | okay 120 US AQI | okay 127 US AQI | okay 127 US AQI | okay 127 US AQI | okay 127 US AQI | okay 127 US AQI | okay 127 US AQI | okay 127 US AQI | okay 127 US AQI | okay 127* US AQI | okay 127* US AQI | okay 100 US AQI |
| Sun | sunburn 7 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | sunscreen 6 UVI | sunscreen 6 UVI | sunscreen 5 UVI | sunscreen 6 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | sunburn 8 UVI | sunburn 7 UVI | sunscreen 6 UVI |
| Nomad List members | 2 people | 2 people | 2 people | 1 people | 3 people | 1 people | 2 people | 2 people | 1 people | 0 people | 1 people | 1 people |
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