What are your favorite cities in which to work remotely?
I’m so urban and I have so many favorites… All the following cities are places where I feel home, and where I would always love to go back to (from East to West):
Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, London, Amsterdam, Madrid, Rome, Istanbul, Mumbai, Bangkok, Tokyo…just to name a few… 😉
I really enjoyed living and working in Prague, at least partially because of the local culture and history you can see everywhere you walk. I also dig Missoula, Montana, as it’s a generally pleasant place where people are (on average) quite healthy and friendly, and nature blends really well with the low-population, high-density downtown.
Bali, Encinitas/CA, Berlin, Ericeira/Portugal, Bangkok and Chiang Mai/Thailand
Florence, Italy—great connectivity, fantastic culture, food, and wonderful people. An Airbnb rental makes it a fantastic place to be for a month or so!
Cancun, Mexico—Caribbean! Food! People!
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia—urban wondefulness in a tropical climate! Food! People!
It’s not a city as such, but the island of Koh Pha Ngan in Thailand has probably become my favorite place to work from. I used to think I’d never get anything done surrounded by tourists and hippies on a tropical island like that, and that I should spend most of my time in big, busy cities where everyone around me is also working hard, but my actual experience has been something of the opposite. The peace and quiet on that island actually helps me focus and work really well, and I think it may very well be the place where I have my best, most effective workdays. I don’t even mind the somewhat frequent internet drop outs (while I’ll often find it infuriating when the same thing happens in Kuala Lumpur…).
And Kuala Lumpur is another favorite place of mine—it’s the place I’ve spent most of my time as a digital nomad. I love that city—its mix of cultures, the new and the old, the futuristic and the traditional—and of course all the great food—has made this a special place to me. It’s a fairly inexpensive place to live in (for a big city), and it has a lot to offer once you get to know it—including cheap flights to pretty much anywhere on the continent should you want to get away for a little while.
Paris is a new favorite of sorts. It’s such an incredible city, and I find it a hugely inspiring place to hang out, work, and create from. It’s probably not the place to spend a lot of time in if you’re on a budget, though.
I love small, undiscovered towns that no one knows about. Last winter we situated ourselves in a sleepy beachside town during their tourist off season and never experienced a dull moment! We got to know our local bartenders and learn about the town’s inside scoop.
I’m currently based in Ho Chi Minh City, which has been a favorite place to work for a few years now. There is a strong community here, I love the culture, and being in a city that is rapidly developing is interesting.
My favorite cities, in general, are Cape Town, Barcelona, Stockholm, Berlin, and Lisbon.
We move between regions of the world every 2-6 weeks, and every place we land has its own unique advantages, it’s just a matter of finding them out early and maximizing each place to its full potential. That said, Seattle and Mazatlan, Mexico, were two of our favorites.
So far, I loved Boston, and I think I’ll love NYC. The best places to work remotely have lots of Wi-Fi, coffee shops, and coworking spaces with meeting rooms. Working from a campsite is pretty nice too, but I can get a little stir crazy after a full day working from a camper.
New York and anywhere in Northern Europe. Norway and Denmark are fab.
Although I have visited it in many years, I loved working from Chiang Mai, Thailand. The city is the ideal size—small enough that you can navigate it, but large enough to offer variety in the food, friends, and culture. Most recently, I worked from Bristol, England, while visiting friends—what a great city! They have a range of fantastic coffee shops, all hipstery with large wooden tables and good vibes. Like Chiang Mai, Bristol also hit that ideal size requirement that I have. I don’t love big cities, it’s all a tad overwhelming to live in cities like that, so I prefer the next step down from those.
I was just in a small town in Germany called Vilseck. They had this cute little coffee shop that I would get some work in. Stateside, I’d say Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Las Vegas, for different reasons. Each city has its own unique backdrop that at times lends more creativity, I think.