⭐️ Total score | 2.61/5 (Rank #527) |
👍 Quality of life score | Okay |
👶 Family score | Bad |
🎒 Community score | Okay |
💵 Cost | 😝 Cheap: $899 / mo |
📡 Internet | 🙂 Good: 15Mbps (avg) |
😝 Fun | Bad |
⛅️ Temperature (now) | 🥵 Too hot: 31°C87°F (feels 36°C97°F) |
💦 Humidity (now) | 😊 Comfy: 63% |
👌 Safety | Great |
🤮 Food safety* | Okay |
👮♀️ Lack of crime* | Great |
🤝 Lack of racism* | Good |
🎓 Education level* | Mediocre |
⚡️ Power grid | Great |
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change | Good |
💰 Income level* | Very low: $298 / mo |
🙊 English speaking* | Bad |
😤 People density | 🧘♀️ Low density: 7k ppl/km² (1 per 12x12m) |
🚶 Walkability | Great |
🚦 Traffic safety* | Bad |
✈️ Airline scores* | Good |
🧳 Lost luggage* | Good |
🏥 Hospitals | Bad |
😄 Happiness* | Okay |
🍸 Nightlife | Bad |
📶 Free WiFi in city | Okay |
🖥 Places to work from | Great |
❄️ A/C or heating | Okay |
😁 Friendly to foreigners | Okay |
🗯 Freedom of speech* | Okay |
👩 Female friendly | Okay |
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly | Bad |
🎅 Startup Score | Bad |
🌍 Continent | Asia |
🚩 Country | Indonesia |
🗓️ Average trip length | 3 days |
📡 Internet speed (avg) | 15 Mbps |
⛅️ Weather (now) | ☀️ 31°C 87°F + 😊 Comfy (63%) = feels 36°C 97°F |
🔌 Power | 230V50Hz |
🚕 Best taxi app* | |
🚑 Travel medical insurance | ![]() |
💸 100,000 IDR in USD | USD 6.13 |
🏧 Suggested ATM take out: | IDR 1,000,000 = USD 61 |
💸 Tipping | Yes, 7.50% |
💳 Cashless | 💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners) |
💻 Best alt. coworking space | Virto |
☕️ Best coffee place | Society Complex |
🚰 Tap water | 🚫 No, not drinkable |
♻️ Return rate | 👎3% of visitors return |
👨👩👧👦 Population | 2,800,000 people |
👨👩👧👦 GDP per capita* | $3,570 / year |
😤 Population density | 🤨 busy: 12x12m (144m²) per person |
👫 Gender ratio (population) | 👨 48% 👱♀️ 52% |
👫 Gender ratio (young adults) | 👨 52% 👱♀️ 48% |
👫 Gender ratio (nomads) | 👨 88% 👱♀️ 13% |
⛪️ Religious government | Ambiguous |
💻 Online electronics shop | Tokopedia |
🏠 Apartment listings | Airbnb |
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Lion Air |
✈️ Best int'l air carrier | Air Asia |
🏥 Best hospital | Slioam Hospital |
💵 Cost of living for nomad | $899 / month |
💵 Cost of living for expat | $618 / month |
💵 Cost of living for family | $1,477 / month |
💵 Cost of living for local | $422 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $375 / month |
🏡 Airbnb (median price) | $868 / month |
🏠 1br studio rent in center | $295 / month |
🏨 Hotel (median price) | $18 / night |
🏠 Airbnb (median price) | $28 / night |
🏢 Coworking hot desk | $158 / month |
🍛 Dinner | $1 |
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $0 |
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L) | $2 |
☕️ Coffee in cafe | $1 |
👩🏫 International school | $6,072 / year |
📱 Mobile data (~10GB) | $12 / month |
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi) | $1 / trip |
✅ Very cheap to live
✅ Very safe
✅ Fast internet
✅ Warm now
✅ Warm all year round
✅ Perfect humidity now
✅ Good air quality on average
✅ Easy to make friends
✅ Easy to do business
✅ Democratic
✅ Safe for women
✅ Not a lot of alcohol abuse
Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
Feels | 8831° hot | 8630° warm | 8630° warm | 9032° hot | 8831° hot | 9032° hot | 8831° hot | 9032° hot | 8831° hot | 9133° hot | 8630° warm | 9032° hot |
Real | 8630° very warm | 8530° very warm | 8630° very warm | 8831° hot | 8831° hot | 8831° hot | 8831° hot | 8932° hot | 8831° hot | 9133° hot | 8630° very warm | 8831° hot |
Humidity | nice 43% | nice 43% | nice 41% | nice 40% | nice 39% | nice 40% | nice 36% | nice 35% | nice 35% | nice 35% | nice 41% | nice 42% |
Most common | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☀️ Clear | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain | ☔️ Rain |
Rain | rainy 321mm | rainy 315mm | rainy 307mm | rainy 179mm | rainy 57mm | rainy 54mm | dry 23mm | dry 8mm | dry 22mm | rainy 74mm | rainy 188mm | rainy 323mm |
Cloud | cloudy 62% | cloudy 57% | cloudy 53% | pockets 39% | pockets 41% | pockets 40% | pockets 29% | pockets 28% | pockets 39% | pockets 45% | cloudy 60% | cloudy 56% |
Sun | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI | avoid sun 8 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | avoid sun 6 UVI | avoid sun 7 UVI |
Remote workers | 300 people | 200 people | 200 people | 200 people | 0 people | 200 people | 267 people | 250 people | 200 people | 200 people | 200 people | 200 people |
If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomad List's Climate Finder
Based on Surabaya's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
I've been living in Semarang for about 6 months at this point. Living at the "Candiland Apartment" which is reasonably priced 2.5 million - 3.5 million rupiah per month. Great view of the city. It's hot here. Usually like 35+ degrees. The beach is all industrial. Usually a lot of traffic. In the southern part of the city there are some small hills which are cool but to go anywhere with nice air, cool temperatures and big mountains it's at least an hour south. Sometimes the locals will give you a
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 36° 97° 31° 87°🥵✈️21min$811 / mo16Mbps×Jogja is good for me, all the air quality and religious stuff is true. It is also very 'dirty' and chaotic, which most westerners probably wouldn't like.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 34° 93° 29° 84°✈️21min$862 / mo14Mbps×Canggu has changed quite a lot. Inmigration treats tourist like shit. Congestion and traffic is a nightmare. Horrible Pollution. Been living here 2 years and I am def closing this chapter. I am a high net worth individual and I will go with my money somewhere else where they respect me and the place has a good energy.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 29° 84° 26° 79°AQI 50✈️24min$1,844 / mo50Mbps×Ubud is dead. I plan to stay here for a month starting today, but my heart is already breaking. The traffic is too much. The center of Ubud is always crowded with cars and motorcycles, not a very relaxing environment. It's a pity.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 77°AQI 50✈️25min$1,955 / mo62Mbps×Semiyak was my refuge from the crazy traffic, massive western crowds, mosquito attacks, and inflated prices of Canggu. Seminyak is not 'Balifornia' (Canguu), some will like it for that reason alone. Traffic can get clogged in Seminyak but it's still far better than Canggu. Seminyak is just as commercialized as Canggu, but in a different way. If you're familiar with NY, Canggu has east village or lower east side vibes, while Seminyak is more soho. Of course neither comes close to the actual N
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 29° 84° 26° 79°AQI 50✈️25min$1,669 / mo63Mbps×Amazingly calm and chill place. I loved it here. It still has a lot of peaceful roads to drive around on your motorbike. It feels like you're driving through the jungle a lot. The food quality is great here, a lot of organic options, because the Ubud hippies apparently all moved here in 2020 COVID and it shows. Great nature around. Very calm and silent place overall. High recommendation. Could see myself living here for longer!
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 29° 84° 26° 79°🥵AQI 50✈️25min$2,399 / mo52Mbps×do not recommend. it's hectic, beach is filthy. full of Aussies getting loose because you're not allowed to do anything that promotes happiness in AusNanny prison complex!!
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 29° 84° 26° 79°🥵AQI 50✈️25min$1,165 / mo22Mbps×Canggu has changed quite a lot. Inmigration treats tourist like shit. Congestion and traffic is a nightmare. Horrible Pollution. Been living here 2 years and I am def closing this chapter. I am a high net worth individual and I will go with my money somewhere else where they respect me and the place has a good energy.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 29° 84° 26° 79°AQI 50✈️24min$1,844 / mo50Mbps×Ubud is dead. I plan to stay here for a month starting today, but my heart is already breaking. The traffic is too much. The center of Ubud is always crowded with cars and motorcycles, not a very relaxing environment. It's a pity.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 77°AQI 50✈️25min$1,955 / mo62Mbps×So… amazing food. Great public transportation. Very clean. But very conformist. Self expression limited. The irony of seeing an exhibit on graffiti, yet no actual graffiti in the streets. And the causal racism especially if you’re brown. You could be British born but still expect to be sat far away from everyone else at cocktail bars, experience comments and have weird assumptions made.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety greatTap to open🌥 Feels 33° 91° 29° 85°✈️2h$6,062 / mo74Mbps×Jogja is good for me, all the air quality and religious stuff is true. It is also very 'dirty' and chaotic, which most westerners probably wouldn't like.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 34° 93° 29° 84°✈️21min$862 / mo14Mbps×Bengaluru, January 4-9, and 13-13, 2020. Had a good time in Bengaluru ( formerly Bangalore). At first I stayed at the Parijatha Gateway Hotel, Near Soap Factory Metro, which was ideal for my purposes. Transit & shopping was nearby, and there was a mall and good food. The Metro in BLR is VERY modern and smooth- be prepared to be patted down (women and men separately) to get into the station, and you can but a metrocard at the ticket window. In Bangalore the internet is VERY fast (it is India
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 30° 86° 27° 80°✈️6h$1,153 / mo63Mbps×(It seems my paragraph formatting is being removed due to the length of my comment, so sorry you'll have to deal with the wall of text if you want to read this, haha) Have been in Bangkok for the past 6 months. I've been nomadic for the past 4 years across Europe & the US, and as someone who is used to walking everywhere and greenery, I found it quite difficult living here. I spent my first 5 months living in Airbnbs, which were fine for around $6-800/m, and for the last month decided to live in
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 31° 88° 27° 81°🥵AQI 60😷✈️4h$1,358 / mo90Mbps×New York is cool. I’ve visited multiple times to see my family throughout my life, and recently came back from my first post-COVID trip there. Yes, it’s very expensive — but there is no city on earth that’s more captivating in my opinion. I used to think that New Yorkers were smug by claiming that NYC was better than everywhere else, but now I totally get it lol. My personal favourite neighbourhood is the Upper East Side, which is where you’ll find the coveted Museum Mile. But I also
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️22h$6,831 / mo56Mbps×I'm staying in BGC as I write this, and so far PH most aggressively mediocre place I've travelled to in Asia. While I'm used to free/cheap wifi, friendly people, and great food living in place like Thailand, even staying in the most modern area in the country lacks all of those (no free Wifi even at Starbucks, and I've seen "cooked fresh" restaurant food taken out of the freezer before cooking). Social culture is very uncanny valley, people are "polite" but it's extremely fake, which you'll noti
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked very bad👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 38° 100° 31° 87°🥵✈️3h$1,489 / mo12Mbps×Jogja is good for me, all the air quality and religious stuff is true. It is also very 'dirty' and chaotic, which most westerners probably wouldn't like.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 34° 93° 29° 84°✈️21min$862 / mo🌇 Also went here16 people×Canggu has changed quite a lot. Inmigration treats tourist like shit. Congestion and traffic is a nightmare. Horrible Pollution. Been living here 2 years and I am def closing this chapter. I am a high net worth individual and I will go with my money somewhere else where they respect me and the place has a good energy.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 29° 84° 26° 79°AQI 50✈️24min$1,844 / mo🌇 Also went here20 people×Ubud is dead. I plan to stay here for a month starting today, but my heart is already breaking. The traffic is too much. The center of Ubud is always crowded with cars and motorcycles, not a very relaxing environment. It's a pity.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 77°AQI 50✈️25min$1,955 / mo🌇 Also went here20 people×I'm so surprised to see all these comments. I absolutely love Jakarta ! You can take a gojek bike taxi for 1$ and they bring you anywhere. The skyline is beautiful at night. The food is good. The people are kind and always smiling... I prefer Jakarta to Bali ! And I've been multiple times in both. For sure it's a city with many skyscrapers, so the quality of the air is not great. But you can drive out of the city and have absolutely beautiful mountains and rice fields (such as Bogor). In the cit
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 36° 97° 31° 88°🥵AQI 171😷✈️53min$1,278 / mo🌇 Also went here20 people×So… amazing food. Great public transportation. Very clean. But very conformist. Self expression limited. The irony of seeing an exhibit on graffiti, yet no actual graffiti in the streets. And the causal racism especially if you’re brown. You could be British born but still expect to be sat far away from everyone else at cocktail bars, experience comments and have weird assumptions made.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety greatTap to open🌥 Feels 33° 91° 29° 85°✈️2h$6,062 / mo🌇 Also went here25 people×I try to like this city and been many times (twice for 1 month and few times for few days) but it's been pretty rough. Overall malaysia is not that easy for slow nomads (if you want to stay for 1-3 months) and I still preferred penang much more. This might be good place for family to settle or if you having base for most of the year with many friends around. LOGISTICS You will waste a lot of time to move around: - if you hate malls you won't be able to avoid it - crossing some street sometimes
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 35° 95° 30° 86°🥵AQI 65😷✈️2h$1,267 / mo🌇 Also went here23 people×Penang is really, really hot and humid. It's pretty affordable but it's relatively small. Personally, I think traveling Penang is great because you have a mix of cultures but I couldn't stay here for a longer time because it is so unbelievable hot.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked great👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 33° 91° 29° 85°✈️3h$977 / mo🌇 Also went here16 people×You could do worse, you could do better. Filthy & stressful, you have to Grab everywhere, even a short walk results in dodging aggressive motorbikes. Locals are super unfriendly, way worse than Hanoi, so not sure why everyone raves about how friendly they are in comparison. Poor quality in everything, even the luxury experiences are a total rip-off. Surprisingly underdeveloped too, not even a bar on their observation deck in Bitexco. Internet is really good, but stay as far from D1 as you can -
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌧 Feels 37° 99° 30° 85°🥵AQI 3✈️3h$1,030 / mo🌇 Also went here16 people×(It seems my paragraph formatting is being removed due to the length of my comment, so sorry you'll have to deal with the wall of text if you want to read this, haha) Have been in Bangkok for the past 6 months. I've been nomadic for the past 4 years across Europe & the US, and as someone who is used to walking everywhere and greenery, I found it quite difficult living here. I spent my first 5 months living in Airbnbs, which were fine for around $6-800/m, and for the last month decided to live in
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 31° 88° 27° 81°🥵AQI 60😷✈️4h$1,358 / mo🌇 Also went here26 people×Two weeks in Hanoi. Really enjoyed the city. Besides, the pollution, a nice charming city. Great access to all the tourist destinations in the north Ha Long Bay, Ninh Binh, Sa Pa. WiFi is excellent. Food is excellent. People are friendly. Not a nightlife person or coworking space but it's available. Cafes are everywhere and yes egg coffee is amazing. Definitely recommend.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😙 Affordable📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked good👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 51° 124° 36° 97°🥵AQI 104😷✈️4h$1,054 / mo🌇 Also went here14 people×Chiang Mai has had a deep Buddhist influence running over the last 1,000 years and this can be felt in the helpfulness, patience and generosity of the Thai and long-term transplants you come across. The city has an active community scene (nomads, spiritual seekers, hikers, creatives), several mountains with hiking spots and waterfalls surrounding the city, over 20 water bodies inside the city -- many have cafes and walks around, several public parks, and over 13 national parks with campgrounds w
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😝 Cheap📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked good👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 32° 90° 27° 81°🥵AQI 27✈️4h$994 / mo🌇 Also went here20 people×I recently visited Amsterdam for the third time (and the first time since 2018). I personally think it's a little overrated, but a cool place to visit nonetheless. The architecture is beautiful, and there are lots of good places to eat. I don't like the main area of the canals in the city centre; it smells of weed and is often packed. However, the outer edges - such as the Jordaan district - are less busy and more interesting in my opinion. One thing that surprised me is how much trash was o
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open🌧 Feels 21° 70° 20° 67°AQI 27✈️16h$5,666 / mo🌇 Also went here15 people×I don't understand why London has so high safety rating. Your phone could be stolen and your bicycle WILL be stolen here (or a part of it). I live here 8.5 years and I experienced the above multiple times. Police seems only cares about crime against person by whatever reason. Insure everything expensive that you own. I would also add that antisocial behaviour is quite common here and teenagers are heavily involved in crimes as police don't do anything with them because of their age. Basically th
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked bad👮 Safety goodTap to open🌥 Feels 21° 70° 21° 69°AQI 25✈️16h$5,697 / mo🌇 Also went here13 people×Difficult to find places to work in the evenings if you work for a western company. Hard to find a good quality restaurant, Google reviews are very inflated here.
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 🧐 Too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety goodTap to open☀️ Feels 30° 86° 29° 85°AQI 34✈️16h$4,598 / mo🌇 Also went here13 people×New York is cool. I’ve visited multiple times to see my family throughout my life, and recently came back from my first post-COVID trip there. Yes, it’s very expensive — but there is no city on earth that’s more captivating in my opinion. I used to think that New Yorkers were smug by claiming that NYC was better than everywhere else, but now I totally get it lol. My personal favourite neighbourhood is the Upper East Side, which is where you’ll find the coveted Museum Mile. But I also
⭐️ OverallAll 💵 Cost 😳 Way too expensive📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast👍 Liked mediocre👮 Safety mediocreTap to open🌥 Feels 25° 77° 25° 78°✈️22h$6,831 / mo🌇 Also went here13 people×Can't login? See the FAQ
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