Thailand

Thailand is our top destination for digital nomads. We have been coming here for many years and we still haven't found a place that comes close.

The food is the first thing. Pad kra pao for 120 baht at a plastic table, mango sticky rice from the lady down the street, fresh fruit shakes on every corner. We eat out almost every day and it never gets old.

The people are the second thing. Thai people are kind, relaxed and patient with tourists who get things wrong (we have gotten plenty wrong). You will be smiled at a lot.

And then it just works for remote work. The wifi is solid in coworking spaces and cafes, the cost of living is low, there are islands, cities, mountains and temples within a short trip of each other, and there is a long term visa made for people like us. For us it is the best mix of life and work we have found.

We truly recommend it. Below you will find everything we wish someone had told us before our first trip.

Flying in is easy. Thailand has several international airports, so you can usually land close to where you are headed. Bangkok is the main hub: BKK (Suvarnabhumi) gets most long haul flights, and DMK (Don Mueang) is mostly budget airlines. If you are not sure, book BKK. Phuket (HKT) and Krabi (KBV) are the gateways to the Andaman coast, Chiang Mai (CNX) is for the north, and Koh Samui (USM) is the small, pricey but very convenient airport for the Gulf islands.

We almost always fly into Bangkok and go from there. It is usually the cheapest, has the most connections, and a night in the city helps you adjust before you carry on. Domestic flights from Bangkok to the islands and Chiang Mai are short and often cheap. The cheapest months to fly are usually May to October, and the most expensive weeks are December and January.

Most nationalities can enter visa-free for 30 days (from 15 September 2026), and you can extend once at an immigration office for 1,900 THB. Use our Visa Check to see what applies to your passport and our Leave By Check to see the exact date you have to leave. If you stay past your date, the fine is 500 THB per day, up to 20,000 THB, and it can cause trouble for future entries, so it is not worth the risk.

Every foreign visitor also has to fill in the Thailand Digital Arrival Card online before arriving. It is free, takes about ten minutes, and you can submit it up to 3 days before you land. Only use the official government website (tdac.immigration.go.th), because plenty of lookalike sites charge a fee. Airlines sometimes ask for proof of a flight out of Thailand too, so have one ready or book something refundable.

Yes, very. In all our years here we have never once felt unsafe, and Linda has travelled and lived here alone as a woman. Thai people are honest in a way that still surprises us. Phones left on tables come back to you, and we leave our laptops on a cafe table while we go to the bathroom without thinking twice.

The real risk in Thailand is not crime, it is traffic. Scooter accidents are the number one way tourists get hurt, so have a look at our Transportation section below. Apart from that, it is mostly small stuff: a tuk tuk driver who tells you the palace is closed today (it is not) and offers a "special tour", a taxi without a meter, or a jet ski rental place that claims you damaged the ski. Use Grab or Bolt, say no politely and walk on. Keep your bag zipped in busy markets, watch your drink at night like anywhere else (buckets are stronger than they look), and give stray dogs and monkeys some space. The monkeys will steal your sunglasses.

The heat catches people out too, so drink plenty of water, wear sunscreen and take it slow the first few days. Skip the tap water and stick to bottled or filtered. The ice in restaurants is fine.

A few rules are worth knowing. Do not criticize or joke about the Thai royal family, it is a serious crime, also online. Dress respectfully at temples with shoulders and knees covered, and take your shoes off where asked. Drugs are treated far more seriously than you might expect. And carry a photo or copy of your passport, because the police can ask for ID.

Get travel insurance, and make sure it covers scooters and any activity you plan to do, like diving or Muay Thai. The hospitals in Bangkok, Phuket and Chiang Mai are very good, but without insurance they get expensive.

Emergency numbers: Tourist Police 1155 (English speaking), Police 191, Ambulance 1669.

For most of the country, November to February is the sweet spot: sunny, drier and a bit cooler. It is also the busiest and most expensive time. March to May is the hot season, with 35 degrees and up. It is great for the beach and rough in the city, so do your outdoor plans early in the day.

The wet season does not mean it rains all day. You usually get a heavy shower for an hour or two, often in the afternoon, and then it clears up. Prices drop, the crowds disappear and everything is green, and a lot of nomads like it for exactly that reason.

The Gulf islands get their rain later than the rest of the country. Koh Tao is our home base, and we think February to May is the best time there. If you go in November, expect rain, rough seas and some cancelled boats. In the north, farmers burn fields from about February to April, and the air around Chiang Mai can get really bad, so plan around that if you work from there.

Not sure when to go for your own plans? Try our Seasonal Check tool.

Thailand is still one of the cheapest places to live well as a remote worker. How much you spend depends mostly on where you live and what kind of place you rent.

On Koh Tao we spend around 30,000 to 57,000 THB a month, depending on whether it is just one person or two, and on the type of accommodation. That covers rent, food, scooter, coworking and a normal social life. For the line by line breakdown, read what we actually spent in a month on Koh Tao. Bangkok and Phuket are usually more expensive, while Chiang Mai tends to be cheaper.

Rent is by far the biggest cost, and monthly stays are often much cheaper than nightly ones, so always ask for a monthly price. Local food is very cheap, around 50 to 100 THB a dish, while western food and imported products cost a lot more. Many places charge extra for electricity and sometimes water. Cash is still common, especially on the islands, and foreign cards pay a 220 THB fee per ATM withdrawal, so take out bigger amounts less often.

If you stay more than 180 days in a calendar year, you may become tax resident in Thailand. Read our DTV visa guide and talk to a tax advisor.

Want to see everything in your own currency? Use our Currency Check tool.

Getting around Bangkok is easy. You have Grab, Bolt, metered taxis, and the BTS Skytrain and MRT underground, which are clean, cheap and skip the traffic. We usually take the Grab bikes through Bangkok. It is fast, cheap and honestly the best way to avoid the traffic jams. If you have never done it, do not worry. Hop on, hold on and enjoy the ride.

One rule: the driver has to offer you a helmet. If there is no helmet, you can refuse the ride, and there will be another bike in two minutes. If you are not sure about bikes at all, skip it, because Grab cars and taxis are still cheap.

Outside Bangkok, most people rent a scooter. On islands like Koh Tao you will basically live on one. They are cheap, usually a few hundred baht a day and less if you rent by the month, and they give you a lot of freedom. Most rental shops do not ask for a driving licence. As a deposit they usually want your passport or a large sum of cash, around 10,000 THB. We never give our passport. Try to pay the money as a deposit for the bike instead, and you get it back when you return the scooter.

There are also occasional police checks, where they look for a licence, a helmet and drugs. If you get stopped, you have to pay the fine right there on the spot. Be polite and do not try to negotiate, they really do not like that.

Please be careful, though. Always wear a helmet, or you might end up with what everyone here calls the "Thai tattoo", the scar from the exhaust pipe or the road. Check that your travel insurance covers scooters, because some insurers will not pay out if you do not have the right licence, even if the shop never asked. Take photos of the scooter before you ride off, so nobody can blame you for old scratches. And if you have never ridden a scooter, Thailand is not the best place to learn. Skip the bike and use taxis, songthaews or your own two feet.

For everything else, download Grab and Bolt before you land. Both work in Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and other big towns, with fixed prices. Tuk tuks are fun once, but agree the price first, because they are usually more expensive than Grab. Songthaews are the pickup trucks with benches that run fixed routes and are very cheap. The night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai is a great experience, and for the islands you will take a ferry, which is worth booking ahead in high season.

You can buy a physical SIM card as soon as you land. They sell them at the airport, in 7-Eleven (they are everywhere) and in the stores of the big providers AIS, TrueMove H and DTAC. A tourist SIM with data costs roughly 199 to 350 THB or more, so about $6 to $10. Bring your passport, because SIM cards have to be registered with your ID. Not every store stocks tourist SIMs, some charge more than others (the airport is pricier than town), and the activation menus can be in Thai, so ask the staff to set it up for you before you leave the shop. At the airports, and especially at BKK in Bangkok, they often charge way more for these tourist SIMs, so we recommend getting an eSIM instead.

You buy it online before you fly, install it at home and it turns on as soon as you land. No queues, no passport scan and no Thai menus, and you have internet the moment you arrive, which is handy for Grab. Before you buy, check that your phone supports eSIM and is not locked to your carrier.

We use Airalo. These are the 30 day plans for Thailand: