Best Locations to Work Remotely from?

Remote work has gone from an experiment to a permanent fixture of modern life. What began with creatives and developers has spread across whole industries, and dozens of countries now compete for remote workers with dedicated digital nomad visas. The question is no longer whether working from abroad is possible - it’s which are the best locations to work remotely from?

Regretfully, this isn’t as easy a question as it seems at first. Before you pack your bags and laptop, you need to answer three problems:

1. How will you solve legal matters - visas, residency, and taxes?
2. Will you be safe physically?
3. Would you be able to protect your digital income?

All three are of the utmost importance, because failing even one means that country isn’t a place where you can actually live and work.

Thankfully, the third question has a reliable answer wherever you go. Even if you opt to live somewhere with a heavily filtered internet, you can use a VPN for China or any other restrictive destination and work freely. With a premium provider like Le VPN, you get servers in 100+ locations to connect through, encryption on every network, and - for censored countries specifically - the Stealth WireGuard protocol, which disguises VPN traffic so it works even where VPNs are actively blocked.

Being Back Home Digitally

There’s a technical wrinkle of remote work that catches many nomads by surprise: a lot of services care deeply about where you connect from. Banks flag “unusual location” logins, client systems restrict access by country, and some platforms lock accounts that hop continents overnight.

A VPN solves this elegantly. Connect through a server in your home country every workday, and to your bank, your clients’ systems, and your subscriptions you never left. Your IP address stays consistent no matter which beach or capital city you’re actually in.

The same connection keeps your home life within reach: national sports channels, news services, and streaming platforms that tailor or restrict content by IP address all work normally through a home-country server. Free access to the internet you’re used to is one of the core reasons why use a VPN in the first place - and on the hotel and co-working Wi-Fi you’ll be living on, the encryption protecting your work accounts isn’t optional anyway.

Factors to Consider When Working Remotely

Moving to another country sounds exciting, but plan carefully if you don’t want the adventure to overwhelm you. The five factors that separate a great nomad base from a nightmare are:

1. Internet speed and availability
2. Legal standing, visas, and taxes
3. Cost of living
4. Security and crime
5. Climate and temperature

Their weight differs from person to person - a high earner may shrug at the cost of living anywhere - but comfort is the whole point of moving, so be honest about what you need. Ubi bene, ibi patria, as the Romans said.

#1 Thailand

Thailand - Phuket, Krabi, and increasingly Chiang Mai - stands out on every digital nomad list, and the country has leaned into it with long-term visa options aimed at remote workers. The cost of living is low, the internet is fast, and daily life is simply enjoyable.

The entertainment-heavy lifestyle isn’t for everyone, though: fantastic in your twenties, potentially noisy if you’ve already had your fill. And as elsewhere in Southeast Asia, local law may not protect your internet privacy as much as you’d like - one more reason to keep a personal VPN shielding your data at all times.

#2 Malaysia

Malaysia trades some of Thailand’s speed and nightlife for a distinctly more relaxed pace. Kuala Lumpur is a proper capital that still feels manageable, and you can live very comfortably on a modest budget. The country has also joined the digital-nomad-visa wave, making the legal side easier than it used to be.

For the business-minded, Johor Bahru is worth a look: sitting on the border with Singapore, it offers front-row access to serious commerce at a fraction of Singaporean costs.

#3 Mexico

For North Americans especially, Mexico is the pragmatic choice: same time zones as home, warm climate, lower rent, and a huge, well-established nomad community. Cancún remains the beach-and-bandwidth favourite, with beautiful coastline and solid infrastructure at relatively low prices, while Mexico City draws those who want big-city culture with their remote career.

#4 Montenegro

Montenegro is one of Europe’s best-kept nomad secrets. Costs are low by European standards, the country is Western-oriented and welcoming, and the scenery - mountains dropping straight into the Adriatic - is spectacular. If you don’t mind living among some of the tallest people on the planet, this might be just the right place for you.

Conclusion

Being a digital nomad is more attainable than ever, but the fundamentals haven’t changed: sort out your legal standing, choose somewhere you’ll be physically safe, and lock down your digital life with a good VPN provider like Le VPN - one account covers up to 10 devices, with a 30-day money-back guarantee on your first purchase, so it can move abroad before you do.

Once you’ve crossed your T’s and dotted your I’s, the only remaining question is which colour to choose for your swimwear!