Nomad List| 🏆 Nomad Score™ | 174 reviews |
| 💵 Cost | |
| 📡 Internet | |
| 😝 Fun | |
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| 💦 Humidity (now) | |
| 💨 Air quality (now) | |
| 👌 Safety | |
| 👍 Quality of life | |
| 🚶 Walkability | |
| ✌️ Peace | |
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| 🏥 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 | China | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⏱ Average trip duration | 11 days | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 📡 Internet speed (avg) | 2 Mbps | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛅️ Weather | 🌥 26°C 79°F + 💦 Humid (64%) + 💨 9km/h = Feels like 28°C 82°F | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💨 Air quality (now) | 👍 47 µg/m3 equal to 🚬 🚬 / day | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💨 Air quality (annual avg) | 👎 62 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 coffee place | Starbucks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🚰 Safe tap water | 🚫 No, not drinkable | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ♻️ Return rate | 0% of visitors return | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 👨👩👧👦 Population | 2,100,000 people | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 👫 Gender ratio | 👨 53% 👱♀️ 47% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ⛪️ Religious government | Non-religious | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 🏠 Apartment listings | Ganji | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best short-haul air carrier | Hainan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ✈️ Best int'l air carrier | China Southern Airlines | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| no-beachbeachairportwarm nowwarmhotclean airgood air qualityslow internetcheap cost of livinglow crimehigh humiditymany menfriendly people | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 💵 Nomad Cost™ | $1,409 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for expat | $1,034 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for family | $2,708 / month |
| 💵 Cost of living for local | $774 / month |
| 🏠 1br studio rent in center | $410 / month |
| 🏢 Coworking | $71 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $543 / month |
| 🏨 Hotel | $25 / night |
| 🍝 Dinner | $4 |
| 🍹 Coca-Cola (0.3L) | $1 |
| 🍺 Beer (0.5L) | $3 |
| ☕️ Coffee | $5 |
Based on Xiamen's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:
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Locals smoke everywhere, all the time, including inside hospitals and schools. This is illegal in Taiwan, but not enforced in Kinmen. Traffic safety is awful. The police will not investigate traffic incidents and people responsible are not held accountable. This county is not female-friendly. Women are expected to marry and have children/ be seen and not herd. Don't be deceived by female school principals and county official. They have no authority over the men in lower ranks. Pollution today is 157 but this site shows 56. It's currently "unhealthy", not "unhealthy for sensitive groups"
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 26° 79° 25° 76°AQI 63😷🚕59min$1,978 / mo24MbpsThe Middle Ages meet industrial-age pollution: this is a grimy tropical backwater with none of Taipei's vibrancy, efficiency or even politeness. Cycle or hike in the quote-unquote national park north of the city for marshes, dengue fever, junkyards, stray dogs, and massive concrete jetties obstructing ocean views.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌤 Feels 28° 82° 25° 77°🥵AQI 56😷✈️20min$1,949 / mo16MbpsAn amazing city for the value. Beach, MRT, Sun, and about half price of what you would pay in Taipei. Also, lots of super cheap flights all around Asia from the city airport. Been here a year so far and I like it. Not much in terms of night life, but a good digital nomad community. Also, really helps if you speak Chinese. An undiscovered Gem that I could see getting more popular with digital nomads in the next few years.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 30° 86° 28° 83°AQI 64😷✈️24min$1,049 / mo25MbpsReally friendly and social people, laid back, easy to get around, food is good, 4g is great. Heavy clouds for the 4 days I was here in December, which was depressing as hell.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 25° 77° 23° 74°🥵AQI 36✈️28min$2,120 / mo20MbpsReally friendly and social people, laid back, easy to get around, food is good, 4g is great. Heavy clouds for the 4 days I was here in December, which was depressing as hell.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 25° 77° 23° 74°🥵AQI 36✈️28min$2,120 / mo20MbpsShanghai 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 19° 66° 18° 65°AQI 53😷✈️1h$1,959 / mo2MbpsReally friendly and social people, laid back, easy to get around, food is good, 4g is great. Heavy clouds for the 4 days I was here in December, which was depressing as hell.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 25° 77° 23° 74°🥵AQI 36✈️28min$2,120 / mo🌇 Also went here5 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 19° 66° 18° 65°AQI 53😷✈️1h$1,959 / 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 🌥 Feels 9° 48° 9° 47°AQI 35✈️2h$2,549 / 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 6° 43° 6° 42°AQI 140😷✈️2h$2,106 / mo🌇 Also went here4 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 42° 108° 34° 93°🥵AQI 88😷✈️3h$1,522 / mo🌇 Also went here3 peopleI spent most of the trip in Tokyo staying in part of suginami city called Ogikubo. This was really just a vacation for me; I spent most of my time shopping in Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ueno. These places are immense, dense, vibrant and crazy-wealthy. Ogikubo would pass for downtown in almost any definition of a city, but in Tokyo it is sometimes called a suburb (although still part of the 23wards). I also traveled out if Tōkyō: 1 day in the temples in Nikko, and 1 day in Fukuoka for Nakasu and Sumo. I love Ogikubo: the barely-one lane roads with multi family surrounds is both quiet and urban at the same time. All of Tokyo, not just Ogikubo is cleaner than any western city. After seeing the other side of that equation in months in Latin American cities, it was an honest surprise to see a huge city that Is far more clean than those from my home country. Some things are cheap (coffee, humble/normal food) others expensive (cabs/jr, fashion). In attire and customs, you see shades of formality and expressiveness at once that feels both more stodgy and more informal in various ways. Just different, really. Ogikubo exemplifies quiet/ luxurious living to me, and more generally perfect urban density. I do wonder if any other parts of the world I will see will tend to have such small, walkable streets and that much density in a still serene but more affordable form. My apartment was the first story of a converted house, about 125m2 - apparently worth about $1.5m... 1m too much for me, and only somewhat bigger than ideal.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety ☀️ Feels 16° 61° 16° 61°AQI 5✈️3h$3,390 / 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° 34° 92°🥵✈️4h$1,303 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleEverything just works. The food by Singaporean Hawkers are world-class for a good price too. 👌
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 38° 100° 30° 87°🥵AQI 33✈️4h$2,904 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleSydney native here. Sydney (Australia in general) has alot of good things. Safety, job opportunities, you don't need a degree here to make a good living. Weather is pretty good, mild winters. bureaucracy isn't that bad, food quality here is some of the best in the world. Bad things: cost of living is insane, real estate prices are some of the most expensive in the world. People are generally friendly but I wouldn't say they are "open minded" or "warm" compare to other cultures. Has no real culture or much history. I think it's boring here. No much to do. Very isolated from rest of the world. Even if you have a high income I still think there are far better options. To visit though you will love it!
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌥 Feels 30° 86° 27° 81°AQI 78😷✈️10h$3,592 / mo🌇 Also went here3 peopleBeen living in Berlin for a couple of months. Not worth it anymore. Cold, gray, sad, more expensive than Cologne, terrible internet access (especially mobile), impossible to find decent mid-term apartments, everything getting 25% more expensive per quarter.
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌧 Feels 9° 48° 10° 50°AQI 42✈️12h$2,876 / 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 3° 37° 5° 42°AQI 49✈️12h$4,943 / mo🌇 Also went here4 peopleMuseum city! Definitely one or two days worth seeing it!
🎒 Nomad 💵 Cost 📡 Internet 😀 Fun 👮 Safety 🌦 Feels 17° 63° 16° 61°AQI 41✈️13h$3,667 / mo🌇 Also went here3 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 11° 52° 11° 51°AQI 57😷✈️17h$4,945 / mo🌇 Also went here3 people✅ Affordable to live
✅ Very safe
✅ Warm all year round
✅ Perfect humidity now
✅ Good air quality today
✅ 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 usually
❌ 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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