Best Cities for Digital Nomads in 2026
Where to live and work abroad this year: cost of living, coworking, visas, and the honest vibe check for each city.
The digital nomad thing has gone from niche to mainstream to slightly overdone, but the core idea still holds: if your work lives on a laptop, why should you live in the most expensive city you can find? The math is simple. Earn in dollars or euros, spend in baht or pesos, and watch your quality of life jump three tiers overnight.
But picking the right city matters. Fast wifi and cheap rent are the baseline — you also need a timezone that works, a visa situation that doesn’t require a law degree, and a city that’s actually pleasant to live in, not just cheap to survive in.
Here are the cities that are earning it in 2026.
Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon was the original European nomad hub before every other city started copying its playbook. It’s still one of the best, even as prices have crept up. The wifi is excellent, the weather is mild year-round, and the city has a creative energy that’s hard to fake.
Cost of living: $1,800-2,400/month. A room in a shared flat in Alfama or Graca runs $700-900. Solo apartments start around $1,200.
Coworking: Second Home Lisboa is beautiful. Outsite Lisbon is popular with the nomad crowd. Or just park yourself at a cafe in Principe Real — the coffee’s cheap and nobody rushes you.
Visa: Portugal’s D7 visa works for remote workers with proof of income. Processing takes 2-4 months. EU citizens need nothing.
The vibe: Lisbon feels like a grown-up city that hasn’t lost its edge. The food is incredible, the nightlife is real, and the surf is an hour away. The downside is it’s no longer cheap by Southern European standards — gentrification hit hard in the last five years.
Chiang Mai, Thailand
The godfather of nomad cities. Chiang Mai has been the default answer to “where should I go first?” since before coworking spaces had cold brew on tap. The reasons are boring because they’re obvious: it’s cheap, the food is extraordinary, the internet works, and the nomad infrastructure is so mature it runs on autopilot.
Cost of living: $800-1,200/month. A studio apartment with AC and a pool costs $300-500. You’ll spend $3-5 per meal eating local food.
Coworking: Punspace and CAMP (in the Maya Mall basement, free) are the classics. Yellow Coworking is the newer spot with better coffee.
Visa: Thailand’s Long-Term Resident visa or the older Thailand Elite visa work for remote workers. Or do the visa run shuffle that nomads have been doing for years — 60-day tourist visa with extensions.
The vibe: Chiang Mai is comfortable bordering on too comfortable. The Sunday walking market, the temple runs at dawn, the $6 Thai massages — it’s easy to let months slip by. The air quality from November to March (burning season) is genuinely bad and worth factoring into your plans.
Medellin, Colombia
Medellin has transformed from a city people whispered about to one of the most popular nomad destinations in the Americas. The weather is the headline — 75 degrees year-round in the city they call the City of Eternal Spring. It delivers on that promise.
Cost of living: $1,200-1,800/month. El Poblado is the default nomad neighborhood but increasingly expensive. Laureles is where the locals and the savvy nomads live — better food, calmer streets, lower rent.
Coworking: Selina has multiple locations. Tinkko in Poblado is well-run. Greenhouse in Laureles is the locals’ pick.
Visa: Colombia’s digital nomad visa launched in 2022 and allows stays up to two years. You need proof of remote income of at least $3,300/month (three times Colombian minimum wage).
The vibe: The energy in Medellin is infectious. The metro works, the people are warm, the salsa clubs are packed on weeknights. Be thoughtful about the city’s history — the transformation is real but the scars are visible. Don’t be the person who makes Pablo Escobar tour jokes.
Tbilisi, Georgia
The dark horse that keeps climbing the rankings. Tbilisi is cheap, chaotic, beautiful, and surprisingly tech-forward. Georgia lets most nationalities stay visa-free for a full year, which is almost unheard of. The food and wine alone are reason to come.
Cost of living: $800-1,300/month. Old Town apartments for $400-600. A meal at a local restaurant with a bottle of Georgian wine costs $10-15.
Coworking: Impact Hub Tbilisi is the established spot. Terminal is newer and well-equipped. Many cafes have strong wifi and an understood “buy a coffee, stay all day” culture.
Visa: Most nationalities get 365 days visa-free. No application, no paperwork, just show up. Georgia also has a Remotely from Georgia program — an easy online application.
The vibe: Tbilisi is a city of contradictions. Soviet architecture next to art nouveau mansions. Orthodox churches beside techno clubs. Sulfur baths in the morning, natural wine bars at night. It’s not polished, and that’s the appeal. Winters are cold and grey. Come between April and October.
Mexico City, Mexico
CDMX is the nomad city that actual working professionals choose, not just the twenty-somethings with a Shopify store. The culture is deep, the food scene rivals any capital in the world, and the timezone lines up with North American business hours — which matters more than people admit.
Cost of living: $1,500-2,200/month. Roma and Condesa are the classic nomad neighborhoods — beautiful but increasingly pricey. Coyoacan and San Rafael offer better value with more local character.
Coworking: Homework has multiple locations and good design. Centraal is popular. Or join the cafe circuit — Almanegra, Buna, Quentin, and a dozen others with strong wifi and better espresso than your hometown.
Visa: Americans and Canadians get 180 days visa-free. No nomad visa exists yet, but the tourist visa is generous and enforcement is relaxed.
The vibe: Mexico City is a real city — massive, complex, and not designed for tourists. The museums are world-class, the street food is a religion, and there’s enough happening on any given Tuesday to fill a month of weekends. The altitude takes a few days to adjust to. The traffic is permanent. The tacos al pastor at 1am are transcendent.
Honorable Mentions
Budapest — Cheap by EU standards, great nightlife in the ruin bars, solid coworking scene. The thermal baths alone are worth a month.
Da Nang, Vietnam — Beach city, low cost, fast wifi, growing nomad scene. Less chaotic than Saigon, more interesting than a resort town.
Bansko, Bulgaria — A small ski town that became a nomad hub through sheer word of mouth. Coworking Bansko is legendary. Off-season rent is under $400/month.
Cape Town, South Africa — Stunning setting, good infrastructure, favorable exchange rate. Load shedding (rolling power outages) is the catch — it’s unpredictable and can wreck a workday.
What Actually Matters
After years of this, here’s what separates a good nomad city from a great one: reliable internet (obviously), a timezone that overlaps with your team or clients for at least four hours, walkability or cheap transport, and a food culture that makes daily life feel like a privilege rather than a grind.
The cheapest city isn’t always the best one. The Instagrammable city isn’t always the most livable one. The right city is the one where you forget you’re “working remotely” and just start living.