Nomad List| 🏆 Nomad Score™ | 213 reviews |
| 💵 Cost | |
| 📡 Internet | |
| 😝 Fun | |
| ⛅️ Temperature (now) | |
| 💦 Humidity (now) | |
| 💨 Air quality (now) | |
| 👌 Safety | |
| 👍 Quality of life | |
| 🚶 Walkability | |
| ✌️ Peace | |
| 🚦 Traffic safety | |
| 🏥 Healthcare | |
| 😄 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 | Thailand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⏱ Average trip duration | 7 days | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📡 Internet speed (avg) | 16 Mbps | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛅️ Weather | 🌧 28°C 82°F + 💦 Humid (93%) + 💨 12km/h = Feels like 34°C 93°F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💨 Air quality (now) | 👍 16 µg/m3 equal to 🚬 / day | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🔌 Power | 230V50Hz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚕 Best taxi app | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📱 Best wireless carrier | TRUE | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💸 100 THB in USD | USD 3.28 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏧 Suggested ATM take out: THB 10,000 | USD 328 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💸 Tipping | No | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💳 Cashless society | 💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💻 Best coworking space | Tao Hub | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚰 Safe tap water | 🚫 No, contaminated | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ♻️ Return rate | 11% of nomads return | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 👨👩👧👦 Population | 1,400 people | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💻 Online electronics shop | Lazada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Air Asia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best int'l air carrier | Air Asia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏥 Best hospital | Koh Tao International Clinic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| places of worshiptemplesbeachstreet foodsurfingspadivingislandcoupleswarm nowwarmhotclean airgood air qualityfast internetcheap cost of livinghigh humiditymany womenfriendly peopleadult nightlife | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💵 Nomad Cost™ | $1,202 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for expat | $801 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for family | $1,842 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for local | $526 / month |
| 🏠 1br studio rent in center | $328 / month |
| 🏢 Coworking | $115 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $495 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $23 / night |
| 🍝 Dinner | $4 |
| 🍹 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $1 |
| 🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $2 |
| ☕️ Coffee | $2 |
Based on Ko Tao's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
Magic island, fast wifi, very good roads ;)
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 34° 93° 28° 82°AQI 16✈️0.00013333333333333$1,202 / mo16MbpsSamui is Thailand's second most popular island for tourists, after Phuket. The main areas are Chaweng and Lamai. Chaweng used to be more backpacker and trashy (like Bali's Kuta) but is now rapidly developing into a real clean town. Since 2014, it now has a giant air-conditioned Central World mall, an increasing number of coffee places, good restaurants and more upscale hotels and resorts. Lamai Beach used to be the more clean and laidback area but is now deteriorating. The beaches are still okay but the streets are now filled with sex bars and bad restaurants. Worse, prices in Lamai are often higher than in Chaweng due to less competition. The preferrable spot to stay in Ko Samui now is the more mellow South Chaweng.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 38° 100° 29° 85°AQI 16✈️0.091018749206149$1,722 / mo15Mbpsnot a good place to get work done. limited cafes and slow internet speed
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 46° 115° 33° 92°AQI 23✈️0.34043408425373$891 / mo16MbpsI was skeptical but have really enjoyed it. It's considered a growing 'hipster capital' of Thailand, after Chiang Mai, with its easy access to Bangkok for wealthy weekenders on breaks, and the opening of Seenspace, a massive hotel + food and drink emporium. Train to Bangkok is older and slower, but avoids traffic. There are plenty of mini-buses and taxis plying the route as well. Figure 4 hours door to door. It's blissfully free of digital nomads (even though there is a coworking space and plenty of coffee shops) has great grocery stores, a few clean malls if you need that stuff, and some of the best seafood in Thailand. My advice is to stay south of the main strip of hotels in the quiet, and charming, Khao Takiap area or even farther south in the village of Khao Tao. Some nice condos/Airbnbs (monthly rental only), great walking beaches, and cheap seafood restaurants filled mostly with polite, older Euros and Thai families on vacation. Also tons of random expat owned venues like a petanque bar, or a German bakery, or Southern USA BBQ spot. Unlike Phuket or Pattaya the sex trafficking is not as overt. You mostly see older, beer-fattened Australians/Brits with their middle-aged Thai wives. Overall, highly recommended if you like Thailand but want to try something different. And can eat your weight in crab. Scooter is a must have, as there is a taxi mafia that forces the Grab drivers to pick up in weird places (mostly 7/11 parking lots instead of in front of wherever you are). Really amazing national park about an hour south with waterfalls, caves, cave temples, and the largest protected wetland in Thailand (tons of birds). 1. 5 hours west is a national forest/waterfall where you can still see wild elephants on the roads (not the slave labor elephants like you see in Chiang Mai). I'd recommend coming in the 'rainy' season. By quirk of geography (mountains to the west) it gets much, much less rain than similarly located areas in the wet season.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 42° 108° 31° 87°AQI 28✈️0.36957161246355$1,098 / mo18MbpsATM take out is 20,000 baht
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 41° 106° 31° 88°AQI 23✈️0.38049835662715$1,467 / mo17MbpsI've lived in Pattaya for 10 of my 19 years in Thailand. I am an old guy not paying sex workers for sex. If you don't want to see the nasty bits, don't go to those places. If you want to chillout, eat fresh seafood and enjoy blistering internet speeds, then welcome. Every morning when I wake up Pattaya is better than it was when I went to sleep. If you want to have some real city life, BKK is just 2 hours away. Some of you youngsters sure are prudes.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 36° 97° 30° 85°😷AQI 56✈️0.44590833075265$1,449 / mo15MbpsRemote from Bangkok and Pattaya which is good for calmness. In rain season expect internet or even electricity’s outage. Very chill place.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 37° 99° 29° 83°AQI 32✈️0.46049575332388$1,245 / mo16MbpsWorst place I have ever been. Please Google it before coming here. Internet is horribly slow and unstable. You sometimes loose power during the day. There is trash and flies everywhere. Every building is either destroyed or in construction. The fact that you see so many "For sale" signs should be a clear indication that this is not a place to be. Chinese companies are building lots of new buildings around so I hope it will be nice in a couple of years.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 32° 90° 28° 83°AQI 15✈️0.50490198084191$1,059 / mo8MbpsDon'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 38° 100° 30° 86°😷AQI 65✈️0.5508128854352$1,561 / mo19MbpsI 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 48° 118° 34° 93°AQI 23✈️1.2937803953281$1,171 / mo19MbpsSamui is Thailand's second most popular island for tourists, after Phuket. The main areas are Chaweng and Lamai. Chaweng used to be more backpacker and trashy (like Bali's Kuta) but is now rapidly developing into a real clean town. Since 2014, it now has a giant air-conditioned Central World mall, an increasing number of coffee places, good restaurants and more upscale hotels and resorts. Lamai Beach used to be the more clean and laidback area but is now deteriorating. The beaches are still okay but the streets are now filled with sex bars and bad restaurants. Worse, prices in Lamai are often higher than in Chaweng due to less competition. The preferrable spot to stay in Ko Samui now is the more mellow South Chaweng.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 38° 100° 29° 85°AQI 16✈️0.091018749206149$1,722 / mo15MbpsThe 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° 32° 90°😷AQI 77✈️1.435255392183$2,883 / mo80MbpsLoved 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 41° 106° 31° 88°😷AQI 112✈️0.69489022145711$1,057 / mo10MbpsI 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 43° 109° 33° 92°😷AQI 70✈️1.0672959377045$1,342 / mo12MbpsAs a local there, I can say that I almost never carry cash with me. This has not been a problem for a very long time, except for parking and maybe some few ice cream and hot marroni stands.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 20° 68° 19° 66°AQI 9✈️12.371472528942$5,367 / mo26MbpsGood nightlife, a lot of young people too. Cozy old town center. Avoid clubs with credit card scams, avoid any invites to extravagant clubs
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 16° 61° 16° 62°✈️11.517554104312$1,734 / mo21MbpsSamui is Thailand's second most popular island for tourists, after Phuket. The main areas are Chaweng and Lamai. Chaweng used to be more backpacker and trashy (like Bali's Kuta) but is now rapidly developing into a real clean town. Since 2014, it now has a giant air-conditioned Central World mall, an increasing number of coffee places, good restaurants and more upscale hotels and resorts. Lamai Beach used to be the more clean and laidback area but is now deteriorating. The beaches are still okay but the streets are now filled with sex bars and bad restaurants. Worse, prices in Lamai are often higher than in Chaweng due to less competition. The preferrable spot to stay in Ko Samui now is the more mellow South Chaweng.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 38° 100° 29° 85°AQI 16✈️0.091018749206149$1,722 / mo🌇 Also went here25 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 38° 100° 30° 86°😷AQI 65✈️0.5508128854352$1,561 / mo🌇 Also went here70 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° 88°AQI 26✈️0.99673057506932$1,021 / mo🌇 Also went here35 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 43° 109° 33° 92°😷AQI 70✈️1.0672959377045$1,342 / mo🌇 Also went here35 peopleI 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 48° 118° 34° 93°AQI 23✈️1.2937803953281$1,171 / mo🌇 Also went here54 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° 32° 90°😷AQI 77✈️1.435255392183$2,883 / mo🌇 Also went here35 peopleHanoi 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° 29° 85°😷AQI 76✈️1.8338398007561$1,103 / mo🌇 Also went here25 peopleI like it here better than Canggu. It's more walkable, more cheap warungs, more convenient. You could find all kinds of shop catering to different type of visitor, from cheap to luxurious. Not a party place if you're looking for it, which made it even more perfect. More female than male, great for dating.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌫 Feels 35° 95° 30° 86°😷AQI 196✈️3.5769880413095$2,105 / mo🌇 Also went here28 peopleExcellent place to start your nomadic life, very very easy living here. For example, having your laundry washed and folded for you is about $3 USD, eating out very healthy about $6-7 USD, and co-working spaces about $120 USD. It has been a very soft landing for starting this lifestyle.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 35° 95° 30° 85°😷AQI 247✈️3.5811794410173$1,146 / mo🌇 Also went here27 peopleBeen living in 3 different centrally located airbnb in Berlin (2018), each between 800 and 900€ per month for 40-45 sqm (we're two, so 400-450€ each). Each time a full flat and not a shared airbnb, legal now since some months (though it was always possible to get a full flat before as well). Internet was always between 15 and 50 mbps. I spend 100€ per week on food, including restaurants (pretty cheap here), check for Turkish market on Maybachufer and Turkish stores in Neukölln (I spend less on food here than in Chiang Mai!). Berlin is such an awesome place to live, very multicultural, very tolerant, many different neighborhoods, quite relaxed feeling, many parks, lakes all around. No need to speak German at all. Come over here, probably one one of the best place on earth ;) (written in Sept 2018)
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 16° 61° 16° 61°AQI 13✈️11.834680838751$3,025 / mo🌇 Also went here32 peopleOne giant tourist trap. Giant hordes of rich Europeans vacationing with their parents credit cards.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 20° 68° 19° 66°AQI 8✈️12.600454491266$5,405 / mo🌇 Also went here35 peopleI have been living in London for over 2 years as a student. It's ridiculously expensive. However, there are options. What I like about the city is you can find many events anytime you want. It's active all year 24/7. There are so many foreigners and tourists which make the living more vibrant and less racist. London has sub-communities which I think is a good thing. Those communities bring their cultures, ethics and foods. Public transportation and restaurants are great. I used to spend 3-4 hours in Costa or Nero cafe without interruptions. Though if it's raining or summer season it could be hard to stay long. On the negative side, the UK suffers from slow and old bureaucracies making life difficult sometimes. It's not easy to open a bank account or to rent. The government systems are slow. Also, you will feel depressed in winter when the sunset is before 4pm and the temperature is 0c. All in all, everything is great about the city except the affordability and the winter.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 25° 77° 22° 72°AQI 41✈️13.075984756495$4,082 / mo🌇 Also went here35 peopleI would disagree on the safety level of this city. Living there for 8 months now I'd say from my experience that Barcelona streets aren't safe at all. Many robberies, physical and sexual agressions are frequently occurring mostly due to drug issues in some central neighborhoods. I agree on the perfect weather great food and tech scene too on the positive side.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 29° 84° 27° 81°AQI 27✈️13.193028666404$3,460 / mo🌇 Also went here29 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 25° 77° 24° 75°AQI 8✈️19.103672330894$5,732 / mo🌇 Also went here29 people✅ Affordable to live
✅ Pretty safe
✅ Fast internet
✅ Warm all year round
✅ Good air quality on average
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ Easy to make friends
✅ Very easy to do business
✅ High quality of education
✅ Very safe for women
✅ Very friendly to LGBT
✅ Not many people smoke tobacco
❌ Not much to do
❌ Too hot in the summer
❌ Very humid now
❌ Not many nomads go here
❌ Hospitals are pretty bad
❌ Roads are very dangerous
❌ Freedom of speech is weak
❌ Not very democratic
❌ People don't speak English well
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