Bangkok

Bangkok is the choice for nomads who want a proper capital rather than a beach town: late-night street food, rooftop bars, serious hospitals, cheap flights to the rest of Asia and a startup crowd that holds meetups most weeks. It moves fast and sprawls, but once you learn the BTS and MRT lines the city becomes surprisingly easy to live in, and the range of food at every price point is hard to match anywhere in the region.

Most remote workers base themselves along Sukhumvit between Asok and Thonglor, where condos with gyms and pools are rented by the month and coworking is everywhere. The Hive Thonglor offers hot desks from around 4,000 baht a month, while JustCo at AIA Sathorn and ClubCo near Chong Nonsi suit people who prefer the office feel of Silom and Sathorn. Ari, north of the centre, is calmer and leafier with independent cafés, and On Nut is the budget option a few stops further out along the Skytrain.

Fixed broadband is excellent: Thailand's median fibre speed is now close to 280 Mbps, and outages are rare in the centre. A comfortable month with a one-bedroom near a BTS station, regular meals out and a coworking membership comes to roughly 1,500 to 1,800 US dollars, rising quickly if you want Thonglor or a serviced apartment. Grab and Bolt fill the gaps that the trains leave, and the river boats are a pleasant way to reach the old town. The cooler, drier months from November to February are the most comfortable; from March the heat builds, and the rains arrive around May.

The downsides are real. Traffic can turn a five-kilometre trip into an hour, air quality dips noticeably in the dry season, and the heat makes walking unpleasant for much of the year. Pavements are uneven and often blocked, so short distances can be harder than they look on a map. The new 30-day visa exemption also means anyone staying longer than two months now needs a plan, most commonly the Destination Thailand Visa.