The digital nomad lifestyle is calling you. You love the idea of moving to a new country and making money online. You’re ready for a new life of adventure.
But, where on earth are you meant to go?
It’s a big world out there. What countries are best suited to a digital nomad lifestyle?
Best places for digital nomads
Thankfully, there’s a website that has been set up to answer this exact question.
That website is NomadList.
It was set up by Dutch entrepreneur Pieter Levels, who created an algorithm that ranks the best digital nomad hotspots based on real-time information.
It compiles digital nomad scores based on the transport and short-term accommodation, as well as average internet speeds, crime levels, and density of Wi-Fi-connected cafes. Other factors considered are nightlife, fun, air quality, happiness, and friendliness to foreigners. These scores are updated hourly.
Here were the top 10 cities at the time of writing.
- Daejon, South Korea
Daejon scores well for cost of living, safety and internet speeds, but no so well for ‘fun’ and ‘happiness’.
- Kiev
Magnificence of Kiev
Kiev is a city under transformation, just as much of Eastern Europe. There is still some low-key conflict between the Ukrainian and Russian population, but don’t let that distract from the cheap prices and incredible leisure.
- Belgrade
The first entry in the top 10 for a central European city. Belgrade doesn’t score as well as Kiev or Budapest for cost of living or fun, but it has great quality of life and is very safe.
- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
The heavily urbanized capital city may not be as attractive for tourists is pushing to be the top tourist destination in Asia, in spite of its lack of beaches. There’s a ton of things to do, great temperatures, and super-fast internet speeds.
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City is well known for its incredibly cheap cost of living, as well as having a huge range of leisure activities for tourists. There’s great weather all year round, and if you can ignore the poverty in certain areas, it’s an all-round great place to live.
- Barcelona, Spain
Barcelona is far from the cheapest city on this list, but it makes up for this by providing a fantastic quality of living, fast internet, and loads of incredible culture.
- Canggu, Bali
Bali is one of South East Asia’s top tourist hotspots and is a great location for digital nomads too. It’s incredibly cheap, there’s beautiful beaches and you a short car ride away from the regions party capital, Kuta.
- Budapest, Hungary
The quality of living in central Europe has improved a great deal over the last couple of decades, to the point where Budapest can climb to number 3 in the list. Expect cheap prices and loads of great culture.
- Bangkok, Thailand
Thailand beauty
Thailand is well known for its wild nightlife, warm temperatures, and fantastic cost of living. Your American dollars will go a long way here. Bangkok is the heavily-urbanized capital city, so there’s plenty of places to get to work.
- Chiang Mai, Thailand
Cementing Thailand’s reputation as a great country for digital nomads, Chiang Mai currently tops the NomadList. It’s not as urbanized as Bangkok, and much easier to navigate due to this. There’s far less traffic and the temperatures are more bearable. There’s also tons of fun day trips to nearby towns and islands you can organize.
Picking the right place to set up a digital nomad lifestyle is easy when you have access to inside information on these fantastic places to live and work.
Check out https://www.digitalnomad.com/free/ for the free training.
Graphics provided by Pixabay
