Let’s face facts: In the wake of COVID-19, it will take time for countries to open up for travel to and from each other again; experts are saying that it could take until 2023 before the ease and cost of international travel returns to 2019-levels.
For remote working digital nomads, this raises the question: as soon as it’s technically possible again (i.e. borders open up and commercial flights take off again), can we keep traveling the way we did before, hopping from place to place every month or two? Will that be possible? Affordable, even?
Cost may indeed be a deciding factor for many. Others have been planning to slow or maybe even settle down, but the FOMO (fear of missing out) kept calling them to keep moving. Now may be the best time for a lot of us to take a deep breath, reassess, and find a place to live more permanently, at least for a while.
The question is: Where?
InterNations Expat Insider 2019 Survey
In March 2019, InterNations, a “community for expatriates and global minds”, carried out a survey with 20,259 participants from 182 nationalities, residing in 187 countries and territories. In this survey, they rated their top countries based on five topical indices about their lives abroad: quality of life, ease of settling in, working abroad, personal finance, and family life. Based on these criteria, the 10 top spots for expats went to the following countries:
- Taiwan
- Vietnam
- Portugal
- Mexico
- Spain
- Singapore
- Bahrain
- Ecuador
- Malaysia
- Czechia (Czech Republic)
Now, we digital nomads aren’t necessarily your “typical” expats. For one, typical expats tend to be older; according to Statista, 23% are between 41-50 years old, and 32% are 51 or older. On average, digital nomads are quite a bit younger. Most of us are in our twenties or thirties.
In addition, the vast majority of us don’t have children, so “family life” isn’t really a factor for us to consider; unless, of course, wanting family is our main reason for thinking about settling down somewhere permanently. Job security and career prospects also aren’t high on our list of things to consider, since we bring our jobs with us wherever we go.
Generally, digital nomads tend to care more about affordability, the right climate, high-speed internet, and a remote worker community. So let’s tweak InterNation’s list of top countries for expats based on those factors and see if they still hold up for digital nomads to settle down in.
Taipei, Taiwan
Cost of living: 1,800 USD/month
Climate: Subtropical; summers are long and hot, winters short and mild.
Internet Speeds: 20 Mbps average
Community: Many digital nomads year-round make this their temporary home.
Quality of life / work-life balance: Good.
Overall: Taipei is very female and LGBTQ friendly, locals are generally friendly to foreigners, and the nightlife is hopping.
Taipei is a bit of an open secret among the digital nomad community. It’s not a typical hotspot (yet), but people who spend time there tend to love and recommend it to fellow remote workers. Overall, we agree with InterNation’s assessment of this being a great place for expats, and digital nomads specifically, to settle down.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Cost of living: 1,000 USD/month
Climate: Tropical, with a rainy and a dry season.
Internet Speeds: 17 Mbps average
Community: Many digital nomads year-round make this their temporary home and it’s very easy to make friends here.
Quality of life / work-life balance: Okay.
Overall: Lots of great places to work from, fun nightlife, great walkability; not as female-friendly as Taipei, and not exactly tolerant towards the LGBTQ community.
Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam in general are favorite spots for digital nomads to spend a few months, and not just because it’s super low cost. But would you want to live there more longterm and permanently as a remote worker? It probably depends on your personal situation; Vietnam is a beautiful country, but if you’re part of the LGBTQ community, this might not be the best spot for your longterm home.
Lisbon, Portugal
Cost of living: 2,100 USD/month
Climate: Temperate maritime, meaning hot summers and wet winters.
Internet Speeds: 32 Mbps average
Community: Many digital nomads year-round make this their temporary home and it’s super easy to make friends here.
Quality of life / work-life balance: Good.
Overall: It’s a gorgeous city with lots of cafes, restaurants, fun bars and clubs, and people are generally super friendly to foreigners, including females and LGBTQ.
Lisbon already tops the list of European digital nomad hotspots, and we’d absolutely agree that it’s also a fantastic place to settle down for the long run.
Mexico City, Mexico
Cost of living: 1,300 USD/month
Climate: Subtropical highland, meaning warm summers and mild winters
Internet Speeds: 18 Mbps average
Community: Many digital nomads year-round make this their temporary home and it’s super easy to make friends here.
Quality of life / work-life balance: Good.
Overall: Great nightlife, fun neighborhoods, known for its LGBTQ scene, lots of cute places to work from – overall a great city, though not the safest, compared to others.
Quite a few of our Tribe members have actually made “CDMX”, as Mexico City is also known, their semi-permanent home over cities like Playa del Carmen or Puerto Vallarta in the past. Overall, we absolutely recommend CDMX for anyone looking to settle down. Check out neighborhoods like Roma Norte or Condessa in particular. If you’re smart about your safety, you should be fine.
Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain
Cost of living: 2,200 USD/month
Climate: Desert climate, with warm dry summers and warm enough winters to classify it as tropical.
Internet Speeds: 29 Mbps average
Community: Many digital nomads year-round make this their temporary home and it’s super easy to make friends here.
Quality of life / work-life balance: Good, especially if you love water sports.
Overall: Spain is a less obvious one, as far as digital nomads go – except for the Canary Islands. And Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, specifically, is another European digital nomad hotspot.
It’s a safe and fun, if touristy, city to live in – and we can recommend it as a place to settle down. We do suggest finding a place in the “second” city center (there are two very different ones) of the Vegueta barrio (meaning neighborhood) with its more peaceful, old-town flair, rather than the super touristy Las Canteras barrio.
Singapore
Cost of living: 2,800 USD/month
Climate: Tropical, with abundant rainfall, high and uniform temperatures, and high humidity all year round.
Internet Speeds: 87 Mbps average
Community: Many digital nomads year-round make this their temporary home, but it’s not quite so easy to make friends with locals.
Quality of life / work-life balance: Good.
Overall: Not exactly LGBTQ friendly.
While Singaporean internet speeds are unbeatable, the cost of living is definitely higher than in the other places mentioned so far. The city has some really cool sights, as well as beautiful parks and beaches, but as a city-state, there’s not far you can go outside of it without having to cross the border to Malaysia or fly out. And while females have absolutely nothing to worry about, it’s not a great place for the LGBTQ community. Overall, while a good location for expats in general, and a fun place to be a tourist or even a short-term digital nomad, we wouldn’t put Singapore high on our list of places for digital nomads to settle down.
Kingdom of Bahrain
Cost of living: 2,100 USD/month
Climate: Arid, with two seasons: an extremely hot summer and a relatively mild winter.
Internet Speeds: 40 Mbps average
Community: Not many digital nomads here, generally.
Quality of life / work-life balance: Good.
Overall: Female friendly, but hostile towards LGBTQ.
Considered one of the best hubs in the Middle East, the cost of living in Bahrain is relatively affordable, compared to neighboring cities like Dubai or Abu Dhabi. For expatriates and locals alike, the Kingdom of Bahrain provides a safe, secure, and easy life. Supposedly, expats even outnumber the locals. But would we put it at the top of our list for digital nomads to settle down?
Not really, to be honest, for various reasons. As a Muslim society, people living there pay particular attention to the way they dress, consume alcohol, and date. Public transport is also still in its infancy, and most expats rent places in purpose-built compounds. All of this is quite restrictive, and while we digital nomads are generally a very adaptable crowd, we do very much enjoy our freedom to dress, live, consume, and date on our own terms.
3 Alternative Countries for Digital Nomads to Settle Down
Let’s step away from InterNation’s list; we’ve proven that what’s popular for typical expats, aren’t necessarily the best options for digital nomad expats. We want to give you three more amazing options for settling down that didn’t make it on the best-countries-for-expats list, but that we believe are worth considering for digital nomads looking to settle down.
Berlin, Germany
Cost of living: 2,900 USD/month
Climate: Continental, with cold winters, hot summers, and mild autumn and spring seasons.
Internet Speeds: 29 Mbps average
Community: Tons of digital nomads make Berlin their home and love it year-round; though it can be tough getting to know and make friends with the locals.
Quality of life / work-life balance: Great.
Overall: Berlin is a multi-culti city, well on its way to becoming a global digital nomad hotspot, despite being more expensive on average.
Digital nomads who’ve been to Berlin are pretty unanimous in their love and enthusiasm for this fun, safe, friendly city, which is especially known for, but not limited to, an outrageous nightlife. Several of our Tribe members have made this their home for a while or even permanently.
Cape Town, South Africa
Cost of living: 1,500 USD/month
Climate: Mediterranean, with hot summers and mild, rainy winters.
Internet Speeds: 9 Mbps average
Community: As a beloved digital nomad hotspot, you’ll find many other remote workers here.
Quality of life / work-life balance: Okay.
Overall: While Cape Town is not the safest place overall, wifi can be iffy at times, and perpetual droughts mean you have to conserve water almost year-round, it makes up for it with the sheer number of activities, amazing restaurants, and a fantastic night scene.
It’s no secret that WiFi Tribe loves – seriously, loves – Cape Town and hosts several chapters there each year. But would we also recommend it to settle down? Yes, as long as you can be smart about safety (petty theft is the major crime to watch out for) and can live with short showers most of the year. Situated on the water, with two mountains within city limits, numerous intriguing neighborhoods and colorful markets, and only a few hours’ drive away from safari adventures, we’re confident that you’ll never get bored in or of Cape Town.
Canggu, Bali, Indonesia
Cost of living: 1,300 USD/month
Climate: Tropical, with a super humid rainy season and a wonderful dry season.
Internet Speeds: 19 Mbps average
Community: As a beloved digital nomad hotspot, you’ll find many other remote workers here. We even dare say you’ll find no other place where it’s so easy to become part of the digital nomad community.
Quality of life / work-life balance: Good.
Overall: Canggu isn’t the digital nomad hotspot in the world for no reason. The community is stellar, cultivated by numerous gorgeous coworking spaces, a fun night scene, and so many fantastic cafes and restaurants, you could try a new one every day and not be done in a year.
Okay, okay, Bali and Canggu, in particular, are such old digital nomad hats, it’s almost redundant to add them to this list – almost. Because we’re talking about places for digital nomads to make a permanent home in, at least for a while, and Canggu already is one of those places. Many digital nomad expats reside here permanently, and have even sat out the global lockdowns there. That many people can’t be wrong about a place, right?
Other Places to Consider Settling Down In
If low cost of living isn’t a big part of your criteria, here are a few other spots where you might love settling down. These are generally super livable cities in safe countries with stable internet and friendly, open people:
- Auckland, New Zealand
- Calgary, Canada
- Melbourne, Australia
- Panama City, Panama
- Stockholm, Sweden
Top 7 Cities for Digital Nomads to Live
Let’s summarize. While digital nomads who decide to settle down in one place technically count as expats, we’re a breed of our own. Places that are great for “typical” expats don’t necessarily gel as well with us – but we have some viable alternatives.
Here’s a breakdown of WiFi Tribe’s recommended list of the 7 best cities and countries for digital nomads to settle down in, as mentioned above, in no particular order:
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Lisbon, Portugal
- Taipei, Taiwan
- Berlin, Germany
- Cape Town, South Africa
- Canggu, Bali, Indonesia
- Las Palmas, Spain
WiFi Tribe is considering setting up longer-term chapters for digital nomads to “slowmad” their way between locations once lockdowns lift. Stay up to date on our plans and adventures by subscribing to our community below. Or apply to join the Tribe; we’re keeping the community alive and thriving in this time of self-isolation through online chapters, with members joining from all around the world.
