HACKER Q&A
📣 jorisboris

Where do Digital Nomads with children live?


Around ten years ago Digital Nomads started to become mainstream.

By now, some of them have grown up.

Some even have children, including myself.

Hence, I’m looking for the best place to live as a digital nomad with my spouse and 2 kiddos.

Life with children makes us less mobile, we stay for multiple years rather than multiple months.

We focus more on quality hospitals and schooling, rather than jungle rave parties.

And we have higher safety standards for the well-being of our precious little ones.

I've been looking at many regions and cities, probably around 100, and made a shortlist with 8 places I find promising, mostly based on gut feel:

Da Nang, Bali, Phuket, Crete, Ibiza, Mallorca, Cascais-Sintra (Lisbon), Playa Del Carmen

All of them are close to the beach. Most of them are islands.

I started to collect data on schooling, healthcare, costs, nanny costs and safety (link below). With chatgpt it's fairly easy.

But this data driven approach doesn't scale in my mind: I could easily make a list of 100 places, but it only creates analysis paralysis.

Hence this post, I'm looking to hear real stories, from other Digital Nomads, with children, about where they live and what they like / dislike!

Many thanks!

Link to spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/108jVtQYvYhgacgXXgn23E3mjoU8eOLcypMdt0Th-ArY/

  👤 keiferski Accepted Answer ✓
I was a digital nomad for awhile but I think the limitations become apparent after ±2-3 years of being nomadic. I can't imagine that would be beneficial for children to jump around every 6-12 months and with time frames those short, you also lose out on many of the benefits of "growing up abroad." Your experience turns into a sort of placeless global knowledge worker shuffling from one rented apartment, resort town, and coworking space to the next. It's a very shallow existence.

Instead, what I would do (and what I am doing) is setting up multiple locations that you can come back to and have stability in. The ideal being a place or combination of places that have easy airline/train access to other cities + enough of local culture that appeals to you.

👤 janosdebugs
I recently did a bit of digging, and one thing that needs paying attention is CPS jurisdiction. If you stay in a place long enough, the local CPS may, depending on local laws, gain jurisdiction over your kid. If you didn't follow the rules around schooling, etc, you'll have to deal with a whole lot of trouble up to and including temporarily or permanently losing custody, even though you and your child aren't even citizens of the country.
👤 AnimalMuppet
Are you trying to be a nomad? Or are you just trying to be an expat? That is, say you decide Ibiza is the best place. How long are you going to be there? Five or ten years? Or are you going to move on to Crete after three months?

If you're going to be there for several years, then yes, look at schools. But if you're only going to be there for three months, then I strongly suggest that you think again about what you're going to be doing to your kids. Switching schools every three months is horrible for your kids. It disrupts their education as well as their social life.

So maybe a bigger question: How much are you factoring your childrens' well-being into your planning?

👤 codegeek
I am not a digital nomad but as a parent of 3 young children, I cannot even imagine doing something like this especially for a long period. So tough for kids. I think some have done it but stopped after 2-3 years. It must be extremely difficult to do it.
👤 bnchrch
For any Canadians reading this thread who don't have the ability or want to leave Canada my partner and I did a similar search inside the country.

In general we landed in Mid to North Vancouver island. Specifically the Comox Valley, and we can't recommend it enough.

1. Mild temperatures

2. Green grass in the winter

3. International Airport

4. Family orientated

5. On the ocean

6. 15 minutes to a large lake

7. 15 minutes to world class mountain biking

8. 20 minutes to a ski hill

9. 30 minutes to some wonderful hiking/climbing.

Though, I wouldnt mind a few more restaurants open past 8pm.

👤 true_religion
A normadic lifestyle with multiple people looks different from one with just a single person (or a young couple).

You need to bring your support network with you. That is: your nanny, your teacher, etc.

You can outsource healthcare, but the others require stable persons.

👤 herbst
Switzerland :) given its where I started before I went nomading. However it's the place I will always come back to especially because of quality of life aspects. From all the places I have been to, all the places I would want to show my kids, I couldn't imagine raising a child anywhere else.

Also tax is fair here, I couldn't imagine any other place in Europe for my businesses.

👤 chalcolithic
Choosing between Phuket and Mauritius ATM, I'd love to find a likeminded community. Most nomads are (understandably) childless.
👤 artur_makly
Buenos Aires ( the Paris of Latam ) and Bariloche ( the Swiss Alps of S.America )

Why? $1 = $1000 pesos

Top Tier Private British School = $500

2000sq ft house = $1500

Dinner for 4: $50

Tango, nightlife, EST timezone*

kids become bilingual

been here 16yrs.. originally from NYC. it’s a game changer.

👤 thiago_fm
Children need time to develop connections and build social relationship with other kids.

I believe by moving around too much, even changing schools can be bad for them. I'd first look into getting some help from a professional educator or psychologist to assist your family in this subject, so if you really must keep being a digital nomad, you reduce that impact for them somehow.

Being a good parent isn't easy, even if they seem to enjoy moving around, that can have a bad impact on them later in their lives, creating developmental issues.