What does Chiang Mai offer in 2023?
With the rise in trend of digitization, people around the globe prefer digital life style, which means to move frequently and experience different places and cultures of world. This growing inclination towards digital world has provoked many countries to offer most convenient facilities to the digital nomads in terms of boarding, costs of living and affordability of food.
Thailand, a Southeast Asian country bordering with Myanmar, and Vietnam is best known for its ancient ruins, tropical beaches and temples. Apart from its sirenic beauty and beaches and temples, it is one of the top choices of digital nomad’s community due to its fastest internet and co working spaces, amazing moderate weather and affordable costs of living. These are obviously the things digital nomads usually prefer, when it comes to traveling along with work.
Thailand has a lots to offer to nomads in terms of places to living but most of the nomads prefer to live in Chiang Mai and its different neighbourhoods like Old city, Nimman, Suthep, and Hang Dong. The reason of this preference is the availability of all facilities at affordable prices.
What does the city of Chiang Mai offer digital nomads and remote workers?
Chiang Mai, being the second largest city of the country is known as “Northern Rose” due to its fresh and quiet atmosphere. It is full of diversity. From its natural beauty, animal sanctuaries, old Buddist temples, food streets, Maya Mall to the peaceful environment, the city is full of its charm.
Within Chiang Mai, Suthep is a renowned place for its old city walls, and mountain temples, which not only provide quiescence to your soul but also bless you with an enchanting view of city from the mountain top.
For food and entertainment lovers, the Maya Mall is their wonderland, where they would find different foods and lots of fun activities as per their choice at inexpensive rates, like a movie ticket can cost 280 THB/ $8.78 USD which is half of the price as compared to England or London.
While the people having interest in sports like football, one can enjoy a live football match of local teams with a ticket of 120 TBH/ $3.78 USD each.
Apart from it, the city offers many casual restaurants, coffee shops where the beer can cost you only $2- $5 USD on average, with most offering free wifi and high speed internet facilities. Even if you are looking for a gym then you can avail this facility in different neighbourhoods conveniently at affordable rates.
What is the cost of living in Chiang Mai?
The cost of living obviously varies from place to place and standard of living too within Chiang Mai. But on average, the prices are affordable.
Accommodation
If you choose to live in Nimman area of Chiang Mai, then on an average a fully furnished room (with air conditioner, with a private bathroom) for a single person can cost you about 6000 THB/ $190 USD per month. But if you choose to live a more luxurious life style with a bigger space, then it can costs you about 14000 THB / $442 USD per month.
If you are looking for a place with natural beauty, the probably Suthep is your destination. This area is located at a drive of 10-15 mints from the city centre. The cost of living is not so high in Suthep too, but the prices depend on the type of life style you choose. For example, a luxurious 1 room fully furnished apartment can cost you around $575 USD/month (Including the professional weekly cleaning and monthly bills). If you are planning for a longer stay in Suthep, then you can get the same life style at even more cheaper prices.
Food
Thai food is famous world-wide due to its diversity. In Chiang Mai, one can get delicious meals at affordable prices depending upon the spending habits and type of restaurant. On average, it can cost 113 THB -282 THB per person. The prices of breakfast are usually low as compared to lunch and dinner. While the cost of beer ranges from $2.03 USD- $5 USD.
What to expect from the Chiang Mai digital nomad community?
In Thailand, generally, the nomad community was small as compared to many European countries, but with the rise in trend of love for natural beauty, there has been a rise in nomad community. Nimman is the most popular area known for its huge digital community. The digital community is friendly, and cooperative in terms of availability and guidelines for the new comers. One can easily connect to them by joining different groups on Facebook etc.
What are the co-working space options available in Chiang Mai?
Chiang Mai has a variety of co working spaces to offer to its digital nomads. The renowned co working spaces include Punspace, Yellow, Hub53, Planter’s space and Coco Kala. The best part of these co working spaces is that these are easily accessible 24/7 by its members.
Apart from these co working spaces, many coffee shops also offer the facility of free Wi-Fi, which is convenient for most nomads. Within Nimman, there are three locations of Punspace, which a luxurious meeting space, an office along with a super-fast internet speed of around 59-80 mbps.
The nomads have to get a membership of these co working spaces, and their deals vary depending upon the facilities. Like the Punspace offers its membership at 3899 THB/ month, Hub53 for 3299 THB/ month while Planter’s space for 1800 THB/ month. Apart from these options the local markets also offer these spaces on daily basis for about 200 THB/ day, with free Wi-Fi, 1 drink and pool, but the cons to local market is that they are time bound and are not convenient for most nomads.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, Chiang Mai, is an ideal location to live this type of life style, because if there were ever a space that was designed specifically for remote workers, then this would have to be obviously it. Somehow, this city has evolved into a convenient global village that one cannot be away from the world (internet) for more than few minutes. It is indeed a highly recommended city due to its diverse nature of life, which keeps you closer to nature and you can get a chance to disconnect from it too anytime.