Why Chiang Mai is the best digital nomad workation spot in Asia?

Chiang Mai Workation

I started my international digital nomad journey in 2016 with a workation to Chiang Mai. It changed my life.

While I started working remotely for a startup in 2014, it wasn’t until a divorce and almost a year later that I discovered that I could work from anywhere. After traveling around India for a year, I decided to go international. I spent the next few months researching on destinations and zeroed down on Chiang Mai as my first spot. The city gave me confidence to travel solo as a digital nomad, and I spent the next year spending time across SE Asia. That’s why I’m organizing a 15-day workation in Chiang Mai and Pai this April! 

Here is why Chiang Mai is hands down the best first digital nomad workation spot in Asia:-

1. Coworking spaces in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is full of coworking spaces designed for digital nomads. The spaces offer people the right infrastructure to get things done. I was amazed at the coworking scene in Chiang Mai and the initial thoughts around building NomadGao stemmed from there. The coworking spaces took the whole headache of finding the internet, ergonomic seats, and likeminded people off the list. Punspace and Yellow are the coworking spaces in Chiang Mai I have worked at but there are a lot more now.

2. The community in Chiang Mai

What sets Chiang Mai apart is the vibrant community scene it offers. I have made many friends and learnt a lot from the community interactions there. People organize a lot of skillshare, networking, and fun events in Chiang Mai to bring people together. I had the pleasure of speaking at one of such events back in 2016.

3. The small city vibe

Chiang Mai is a small, largely walkable city. As a result, you save a lot of commute time that you can spend for things that matter to you. For digital nomads seeking balance, Chiang Mai is a perfect place. (Our NomadGao Dharamkot location has even smaller village vibes btw). Although it’s small, you have all the modern conveniences such as supermarkets, hospitals, movie theatres, and of course 711s available to you.

4. The café and food scene

Chiang Mai has plenty of droolworthy eateries and cute cafes for foodies and coffee lovers. In such a small city, you get not just delicious Thai food but also diverse cuisines from around the world. There is something for every budget, from food stalls in markets to fine dine restaurants. There are plenty of vegan restaurants too.

The café scene here is also evolved with award -winning baristas serving the morning caffeine kick to digital nomads. For those of you in love with furry kittens, there are cat cafes too!

5. Nature

When in Chiang Mai, nature is never too far. 15 minutes out of the city can take you to lush greenery. Doi Suthep, about 15 kilometers away, adorns Chiang Mai Skyline. For longer outings, there are tons of places in the nature within a 3-4 hour distance including Doi Inthenon (Thailand’s highest peak) and Pai (Charming hippy town).

6. The culture

Chiang Mai was a capital of Lanna kingdom in northern Thailand. The city is full of beautiful Buddhist temples with Wat Chedi Luang being the oldest, built in 14^th century. The city celebrates holy days in Buddhism with enthusiasm. Loi Krathong (Yee Peng) is a beautiful lantern festival that happens in Chiang Mai on the full moon day of 12^th month of Thai lunar calendar.

A great mix of coworking, coliving, café, culture, food, and nature makes Chiang Mai a perfect workation spot for digital nomads. This is why I’m organizing a 15-day workation retreat for remote workers in this paradise!