The Ideal Destinations for Digital Nomad Families in Thailand
If you are parents passionate about traveling with kids and have dreamed of combining your passion for exploration with remote work, becoming digital nomads could be the perfect choice for your family.
And what place could be more fascinating and welcoming than Thailand?
Thailand is a magical destination that offers a unique combination of captivating culture, paradisiacal beaches, and vibrant cities. As digital nomads with family, you will have the opportunity to immerse yourself in this enchanting atmosphere while continuing to work online.
The Resurgence of Tourism in Thailand: Welcome Digital Nomads
The loss of tourists due to travel restrictions caused by Covid-19 created a significant gap in Thailand’s economy. Before the pandemic, tourism contributed about 11% to Thailand’s GDP with 40 million tourists per year.
Strict restrictions from countries where the main tourists came from, primarily China, have pushed Thailand to reinvent itself.
Today, Thailand is just the latest country to seek remote workers as a new source of visitors, as hotspots look to rebuild and renew their tourism industries post-Covid.
Thailand hopes to attract a million people from Japan, South Korea, China, the United States, and Europe. Therdsteerasukdi told Nikkei Asia that he expects visa holders to contribute about $28,000 per person to the local economy, with the entire scheme contributing a total of $27.6 billion.
The documents of the Thailand Board of Investment define the requirements to become a “professional working from Thailand”: you need to have earned $80,000 a year for at least two years (with some exceptions), have at least five years of experience, and work for a company that has generated at least $150 million in revenue in three years.
The Board is clearly interested in attracting remote workers. Its website flaunts a survey by the workspace company Instant Offices that designates Bangkok as the second-best location in the world for digital nomads (behind Lisbon, Portugal).
Digital Nomad families in Thailand
Other Southeast Asian countries are also appealing to digital nomads. Indonesia, home to the tourist island of Bali, is considering a visa for remote workers that would allow them to stay for up to five years. In June, Indonesian tourism minister Sandiaga Uno told Bloomberg that he hoped the visa could attract higher-spending visitors.
Uno described the digital nomad visa as part of a broader initiative to rebuild the country’s tourism industry. “In the past, the ‘three S’s’ were sun, sea, and sand. We are shifting it to serenity, spirituality, and sustainability,” Uno said at the time.
Research by Harvard Business School professor Raj Choudury finds that 33 countries offer a formal digital nomad visa, as detailed in the article Where to Be a Digital Nomad. Most visas offer stays from one to two years, with the longest being four years. These programs often exempt foreign work income from local taxes.
Remote Work: An Office with a View
Imagine waking up to the sound of waves caressing the shore or with the aroma of Thai spices in the air. Being digital nomads in Thailand means turning your family’s daily routine into an adventure.
You could set up your “office” on a beach in Koh Phi Phi or in a quiet café in the heart of Chiang Mai. In both places, you will be surprised by the speed of the internet.
Thailand, as we have seen, is investing a lot in welcoming digital nomads, even with families, who with their incomes could significantly boost the country’s GDP by deciding to move the legal headquarters of their companies right to Thailand.
Being digital nomads in Thailand offers the opportunity to live a unique adventure with your kids. With a proper balance between work and leisure time, you can enjoy the country’s beauties, creating unforgettable memories for you and your kids. Living on the move is no longer a utopia here, where the cost of living and travel makes it possible to visit many different places.
Thailand awaits you with its golden beaches, lively markets, and a human warmth that makes every trip unforgettable for you and your kids.
Digital Nomads in Chiang Mai: Is It Still Worth Choosing This City?
If you are even slightly aware of what a digital nomad is and have researched the most common destinations for this type of traveler/worker, I’m sure the city of Chiang Mai has popped up in your searches more than once, right?
Yes, because, rightly or wrongly, this town in northern Thailand has definitely established itself for many years as a symbol and meeting point for digital nomads from all over the world.
But why? And is it really worth it?
Online you can find everything about Chiang Mai, some advise visiting briefly, some prefer Chiang Rai, and some would move there tomorrow.
Personally, we place ourselves halfway between all these opinions: Chiang Mai is beautiful, but it is very far from the sea for our tastes, and we will never be able to overlook this aspect.
However, Chiang Mai remains an amazing location for digital nomads, perhaps more for young people than for families, because let’s be honest: where do we put the kids while we work if we can’t rely on the ocean as a babysitter?
But if proximity to the ocean is not an essential requirement for you, then let’s say Chiang Mai can become the perfect solution.
Bars, restaurants, cafes, and ice cream parlors with an international vibe dot all the streets, and sitting at the tables you see as many Thai as tourists. The shops have just the right level of exotic-chic that can win over a vacationing Milanese, and the prices are quite low.
For accommodations, I always give the same advice: book a couple of nights in a hotel and then move from there, looking for the ideal solution for you: know that here you can comfortably live in an Airbnb for 15€ a night, you can go up in price but also live with 150 euros a month in a residential complex with a pool and internal co-working space.
Food ranges from 40-80 Baht in the cheapest and typically local places (a couple of euros per dish) to ten euros in more luxurious or touristy places, but absolutely doable in any case.
Let’s not even talk about the market that opens every evening around 6 pm where you can really eat anything for a few cents, meeting the tastes of all palates.
The scooter rental, essential for getting around Chiang Mai and especially in the surrounding woods and mountains, we paid 200 Baht per day (less than 6€), but if you stay longer, you can definitely find better deals.
In short, Chiang Mai has everything you need to live well in the medium to long term with a relatively low salary by European standards.
The city itself is very pretty and it is clear that the vibe is right. Every venue has free Wi-Fi, and the connections are very respectable.
The nature around is beautiful, with mountains, rivers, jungle, and the area is teeming with activities, both touristy (from hot spring baths with elephants to paintball sessions, through motocross tours and pool parties) and work-related (there are often Meetups or meetings for digital nomads, and just going to work in a co-working space maximizes the chance of meeting someone).
But if you want to find peace and quiet, no problem: just step into one of the countless temples scattered every few meters, each more beautiful than the other. And the chaos of the digital nomad capital is immediately a memory!
The Pros and Cons of Chiang Mai for Digital Nomads
So does Chiang Mai still deserve to be the digital nomad capital, or is it now more of a trend?
Personally, I would say yes.
It is a very quiet town, but made dynamic precisely by its digital nomads who, as we know, are number one for creativity and originality.
But if you work alone and are not looking for interaction with other colleagues, well then I suggest moving closer to the sea.
Chiang Mai still has a considerable number of pros in its favor:
- Fairly low costs
- Many networking opportunities
- Just as many opportunities for parties and socializing
- The convenience of an “easy” city, where everything is within reach and westernized
- The beauty of a climate that, at least from November to February, is ideal
- Many activities to do that probably a lifetime on vacation is not enough to finish them all
In short, Chiang Mai can be an excellent capital for a certain type of digital nomad in my opinion: the younger and/or party-goers, maybe single, looking for many opportunities to network and meet people. People who want to stay put for a season, during the “right” months, to fill up on experiences and then leave at the first signs of heat or fields set on fire.
If I had to advise a digital nomad friend to go to Chiang Mai or not, I would do it with professionals looking for new opportunities, of that type of change that comes more easily from meeting people than from places.
I remain convinced that Chiang Mai is perfect for the short/medium term: if I didn’t have kids I would go to Chiang Mai to finish a project, during the writing of a book, the recording of a video course. Here concentration can really reach very high levels; but making it my home, no.
The base of my family, if I ever have one, will be near the sea.
Can I Be a Digital Nomad on the Islands of Thailand?
It is not true that Thailand’s maritime areas cost more or are excessively touristy.
Apart from Phuket, Ko Samui, and Ko Phangan, the other dozens and dozens of Thai islands are often off the beaten tourist paths (not to be confused with “untouched,” mind you).
We stayed for a few months in Ko Lanta in a bungalow literally on the beach for 10 euros a night.
Working with an excellent internet connection from the table with a sea view definitely aligns more with my way of conceiving digital nomadism, but tastes and work habits are deeply personal.
There are those who need the strong stimulus of a fast-paced city to feel active and engaged, and those who prefer the relaxing sound of the waves in the background.
My personal advice remains to try different solutions and then choose based on your sensations and personal taste: there is no universal rule.
What is certain is that for the activities of digital nomads who need to combine work with family, my advice is to avoid Phuket as much as possible because although it has many beauties and advantages, the sea is definitely not the best and the social life can often be more of a disturbance than a delight.
I hope you can find your dimension here in Thailand.
What do you think?
Have I made you want to go?
If I haven’t convinced you yet, I’ll leave you the link to the article about digital nomads with kids in Bangkok, another respectable Thai destination for those who work online.
