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| ⭐️ Overall score | 203 reviews |
| 👍 Quality of life score | |
| 👶 Family score | |
| 💵 Cost | |
| 📡 Internet | |
| 😝 Fun | |
| ⛅️ Temperature (now) | |
| 💦 Humidity (now) | |
| 💨 Air quality (now) | |
| 👌 Safety | |
| 🎓 Education level* | |
| 💰 Income level* | |
| 🙊 English speaking* | |
| 🚶 Walkability | |
| ✌️ Peace (no pol. conflict) | |
| 🚦 Traffic safety* | |
| 🏥 Healthcare* | |
| 😄 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 |
| 🌍 Continent | Asia |
| 🚩 Country | Sri Lanka |
| ⏱ Average trip time | 21 days |
| 📡 Internet speed (avg) | 9 Mbps |
| ⛅️ Weather (now) | 🌧 30°C 86°F + 🥵 Sweaty (96%) = feels 42°C 108°F |
| 💨 Air quality (now) | 👍 19 US AQI 🍃 OK |
| 🔌 Power | 230V50Hz |
| 🚕 Best taxi app* | |
| 🚑 Travel medical insurance |  Safetywing |
| 📱 Best wireless carrier | Dialog |
| 💸 1,000 LKR in USD | USD 5.08 |
| 🏧 Suggested ATM take out: | LKR 100,000 = USD 508 |
| 💳 Cashless | 💵 No, cash only (esp. for foreigners) |
| ☕️ Best coffee place | Barista |
| ☕️ Best alt. coffee place | Solis Hotel |
| 🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place | Nomad Trails Thalpe Station |
| 🚰 Tap water | 🚫 No, not drinkable |
| 👨👩👧👦 Population | 810,000 people |
| 👨👩👧👦 GDP per capita | $3,910 / year |
| ⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious |
| 🏠 Apartment listings | Airbnb |
| ✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Sri Lankan Airlines |
| ✈️ Best int'l air carrier | Sri Lankan Airlines |
| 🏥 Best hospital | Sahana Medical Center |
| 💵 Cost of living for nomad | $558 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for expat | $391 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for family | $364 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for local | $104 / month |
| 🏠 1br studio rent in center | $76 / month |
| 🏢 Coworking | $19 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel (median price) | $353 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel (median price) | $17 / night |
| 🏠 Airbnb (1,001 listings) | $1,079 / month |
| 🏠 Airbnb | $35 / night |
| 🍛 Dinner | $1 |
| 🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $0 |
| 🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $0 |
| ☕️ Coffee | $0 |
✅ Very cheap to live
✅ Pretty safe
✅ Lots of fun stuff to do
✅ Warm now
✅ Warm all year round
✅ Good air quality on average
✅ Spacious and not crowded
✅ High quality of education
✅ Roads are pretty safe
✅ Democratic
✅ Not many people smoke tobacco
❌ Pretty slow internet
❌ Very sweaty and humid now
❌ Very difficult to make friends
❌ Difficult to do business
❌ Hospitals are not that great
❌ Freedom of speech is weak
❌ People don't speak English well
❌ Not safe for women
❌ Not family friendly
❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
| Feels | 9535° hot | 10239° hot | 10038° hot | 10641° scorching | 10038° hot | 9736° hot | 9736° hot | 9334° hot | 9334° hot | 9334° hot | 9736° hot | 9736° hot |
| Real | 8630° very warm | 8831° hot | 8831° hot | 9032° hot | 8831° hot | 8630° very warm | 8630° very warm | 8429° very warm | 8429° very warm | 8429° very warm | 8630° very warm | 8630° very warm |
| Humidity | sweaty 71% | sweaty 74% | nice 70% | sweaty 71% | sweaty 73% | sweaty 75% | sweaty 75% | sweaty 79% | sweaty 80% | sweaty 77% | sweaty 77% | sweaty 76% |
| Rain | rainy 54mm | rainy 92mm | rainy 84mm | rainy 65mm | rainy 62mm | rainy 176mm | rainy 54mm | rainy 133mm | rainy 175mm | rainy 161mm | rainy 127mm | rainy 153mm |
| Cloud | cloudy 60% | cloudy 54% | pockets 41% | cloudy 62% | cloudy 71% | overcast 93% | overcast 91% | overcast 97% | cloudy 79% | overcast 95% | cloudy 80% | cloudy 72% |
| Sun | sunburn 8 UVI | avoid sun 9 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | avoid sun 10 UVI | sunburn 7 UVI | sunscreen 6 UVI | sunscreen 6 UVI | sunscreen 5 UVI | sunburn 8 UVI | sunscreen 6 UVI | sunburn 7 UVI | sunburn 7 UVI |
| Nomad List members | 2 people | 2 people | 1 people | 0 people | 1 people | 0 people | 0 people | 0 people | 0 people | 1 people | 1 people | 1 people |
Based on Matara's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
Sri Lanka is a great country to visit and explore on vacation, but it is not good for nomading. The internet is the worst I've experienced in 3 years of travelling around SE Asia. Usually I would supplement terrible wifi with mobile data but I found this also terrible. I visited several places in Sri Lanka, including supposedly up-and-coming nomad destination Welligama. There are very few cafes that are fit for working (almost none with AC/power), Western food is expensive (and so is Sri Lankan
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 41° 106° 30° 86°🥵AQI 12✈️10min$892 / mo8MbpsReally quite hectic and not a very nice city. I wouldn't spend more than a day or two here, not much to see, and there aren't many places to work/eat/see. You're better off heading down to the beaches for some sunshine and beach as well as much faster WIFI.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 34° 93° 28° 82°🥵AQI 23✈️12min$948 / mo8MbpsStayed a whole month in Fort Kochi area, eventually going to Ernakulam (downtown area). It is unarguably very different than rest of India, much more cleaner and with friendlier people. Beaches aren`t nice for bathing but are a great choice to catch sunsets everyday. Cost of living is dirty cheap and public transport is good. They even have a subway crossing the city with reminds me the BTS in Bangkok. Actually, Kochi to me is like a small and boring version of Bangkok, which is good if you need
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 45° 113° 31° 88°🥵AQI 49✈️51min$604 / mo8MbpsI spent 21 days here. Granted it was in Feb 2021 so there were not many tourists here, that made for a very enjoyable time experiencing the beautiful beaches and viewpoints without the swarm of wailing selfie sticks. Some very nice beach bars and cafes to work from with amazing views. A little more expensive than other areas of Thailand. If you go, a day visit to Ang Thong is a must. That place is just mesmerising.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 31° 88° 26° 79°🥵AQI 71✈️3h$1,698 / mo31MbpsThe noise pollution here is insane. The prayer calls from the mosques seem to reverberate throughout Penang. Seems like they are competing for who can be the loudest. This really ruined Penang for me and I cut my time short.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 41° 106° 30° 86°🥵AQI 50✈️3h$1,095 / mo20MbpsBali is amazing, but Canggu isn't really that great -- actually there are SO MANY better places, like Uluwatu, Gili Islands or even Ubud that I can't understand the hype. As almost everyone said below, beaches are crappy, roads are terrible, sidewalks are non-existent and having a motorbike is a must. On the other side, food is great and cafes are pretty reasonable with all those incredible bowls. Anyway I wouldn't recommend it for more than a week.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 39° 102° 30° 86°🥵AQI 52✈️6h$1,361 / mo22MbpsSuper expensive in summer and a lot of drunk british tourists, in winter affordable but very humid, very cold in apartments, restaurants, etc, most of the places closed.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 22° 72° 22° 71°AQI 27✈️13h$2,464 / mo29MbpsHonestly, this is an awesome place to be if you're actually trying to get work done. It's a bit of an older vibe than Canggu, and there's certainly a big chunk of yogi's kicking around — but I liked it much better than Canggu and found it less pretentious. Plus, you can drive down there in 45mins whenever you want some beach or party vibes. As others mentioned, there's some great coworking spaces, cheap warungs, some really nice spots to stay cheaply if you go just outside of the mad tourist
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 36° 97° 29° 83°🥵AQI 61✈️6h$1,773 / mo13MbpsSri Lanka is a great country to visit and explore on vacation, but it is not good for nomading. The internet is the worst I've experienced in 3 years of travelling around SE Asia. Usually I would supplement terrible wifi with mobile data but I found this also terrible. I visited several places in Sri Lanka, including supposedly up-and-coming nomad destination Welligama. There are very few cafes that are fit for working (almost none with AC/power), Western food is expensive (and so is Sri Lankan
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 41° 106° 30° 86°🥵AQI 12✈️10min$892 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peopleI spent 21 days here. Granted it was in Feb 2021 so there were not many tourists here, that made for a very enjoyable time experiencing the beautiful beaches and viewpoints without the swarm of wailing selfie sticks. Some very nice beach bars and cafes to work from with amazing views. A little more expensive than other areas of Thailand. If you go, a day visit to Ang Thong is a must. That place is just mesmerising.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 31° 88° 26° 79°🥵AQI 71✈️3h$1,698 / mo🌇 Also went here5 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 ser
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 42° 108° 31° 88°🥵AQI 72✈️3h$1,379 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peoplePutrajaya is the only place I would recommend due to its close proximity to the airport. The Shaftsbury Hotel is modern with two convenience stores, pharmacy, restaurants, dental, and more in the actual building. There is a rain fountain in "mall" of the building that would be Putrajaya's attempt at Singapore's airport one. The location is also literally right across from the bigger mall that has restaurants, international grocery store, movie theater, bowling, electronics, etc. It's a safe a
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 38° 100° 29° 85°🥵AQI 60✈️3h$1,265 / mo🌇 Also went here5 peopleChiang Mai used to be N.1 for the digital nomad life. It is still great and you can find really cheap apartments (300-400$) 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.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 43° 109° 33° 91°🥵AQI 57✈️3h$1,038 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peopleThey say you get what you pay for. After having traveled the previous 4 months in India, Cambodia, VietNam, Myanmar and Thailand, Singapore was so easy! The subway system is a marvel, streets signs were easy to read, everyone speaks English (that just makes it easy for me as an English speaker) it is safe, clean, and parks are gorgeous. I was there as COVID 19 was breaking out fairly fast and that put a damper on my time but I was so happy to be there anyway and plan to go back. For digital
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 43° 109° 31° 87°🥵AQI 56✈️4h$2,828 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peopleOnly thing to add is that in general Saigon has terrible walkability. I love Saigon, lived there for 3 years. But motorbikes are always parked on the sidewalks so you constantly have to step onto the road which is a little hair raising. And if it's not motorbikes then there are restaurant tables scattered across the pavement. Plus the pavement is almost always cracked. I'm a pretty chill person. But going for a random walk in Saigon always leaves me kind of irritated after a while. Of course the
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 46° 115° 33° 91°🥵AQI 62✈️4h$961 / mo🌇 Also went here5 peopleCould never tolerate this city beyond a couple of weeks. Always felt like an alien here because the locals are even more antisocial than southern and central Vietnamese. That is, unless they were trying to hassle me for free English lessons.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 48° 118° 32° 89°🥵AQI 65✈️4h$923 / mo🌇 Also went here5 peopleSome things I don't like about Jakarta- 1. Not much English spoken 2. Everything is overpriced especially food and alcohol. 3. People are weird, smug, rude and kind of r-cist actually. 4. The food isnt good except for nasi goreng and satay and most of it is low quality. 5. Everywhere is crowded and locals are loud so good luck finding a place to work. 6. Visas are costly and difficult if you want to stay long term.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 42° 108° 31° 88°🥵AQI 112😷✈️4h$1,213 / mo🌇 Also went here5 peopleBali is amazing, but Canggu isn't really that great -- actually there are SO MANY better places, like Uluwatu, Gili Islands or even Ubud that I can't understand the hype. As almost everyone said below, beaches are crappy, roads are terrible, sidewalks are non-existent and having a motorbike is a must. On the other side, food is great and cafes are pretty reasonable with all those incredible bowls. Anyway I wouldn't recommend it for more than a week.
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 39° 102° 30° 86°🥵AQI 52✈️6h$1,361 / mo🌇 Also went here8 peopleI already living more than 1 year in Warsaw and i still think it's one of the best cities to live as a nomad as well. there is plenty of meetups to meet other expats, the people are nice, its cheap, its very big and not crowded, and very clean, pros: cheap easy to make international friends , as there is many meetups great public transport plenty of cafes to work from warm and honest locals the cons : Not many nomads, big city so some places far from each other . expensive cowork places (
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 8° 46° 9° 49°AQI 30✈️10h$1,868 / mo🌇 Also went here5 peopleBerlin is overall a great city to be. Food is cheap and everywhere, easy to go out and have fun/meet for business. Rent has crept up but still far better value than where I came from. Internet: 36 EUR/month get me 450/40 mbps (cable -> DOCSIS 3.0) Public transport is 2.70 EUR/ticket. No woman I know has said they felt unsafe. Some really odd, xenophobic sounding comments on here. Biggest downsides IMO: service quality at restaurants - not that people are rude, but they don't seem to particular
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 6° 43° 7° 45°AQI 16✈️11h$3,038 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peopleLived in Barcelona for a year and a half. I would agree that the weather is perfect and Barcelona does have a great tech scene as well as food and has everything landscape and lifestyle wise that you could think of. Bureaucracy isn't too bad if you nip it in the bu** early and have patience. Also, some clubs are free. (Jamboree!). The metro is also, very efficient with red and purple being the busiest lines. Very walkable city too. Plenty of opportunity to meet people as well. The beaches are ok
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 21° 70° 20° 67°AQI 55✈️11h$3,039 / mo🌇 Also went here6 peoplepoor signaling, disorientation, cleaning and disorganizing of the streets in Lisbon is similar to Naples in my opinion
⭐️ All 💵 Cost 📡 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 21° 70° 21° 70°AQI 14✈️13h$2,031 / mo🌇 Also went here8 people
