The Best Beaches for Digital Nomads (+ Beach Index)

What is the beach index?

The beach index is a free ranking of 3,015 beaches and 1,752 islands for people who work online. The finder holds the top 1,403 beaches, every one near a work base among them, and the top 300 islands.

Most beach lists grade beauty by hand. This one measures what a month there is like: the weather, the internet, a desk nearby, what things cost, and whether you can stay.

Each beach opens with its best months, its weather month by month, and a way to book a stay or a flight.

How each beach is scored

For a beach, every factor is a number out of 100, from an open source:

• Beauty (35%) – how wild it is (few buildings within 300 m on OpenStreetMap), whether it lies in a protected area, and the photos Wikimedia Commons' reviewers rated
• Weather (20%) – afternoons near 29 °C (84 °F) with little rain in its best six months, from NASA POWER
• Work (20%) – the internet nearby (M-Lab), coworking spaces within reach, and the nearest airport with scheduled flights
• Safety (8%) – the US travel advice level
• Cost (7%) – the country's everyday prices against US prices, from the World Bank
• Taxes (5%) – how the country taxes a resident's income
• Visas (5%) – the open routes to live there, like a digital nomad visa

An island weighs beauty 30% (its rated photos and how many people read about it), work 22% and weather 20%, as it's a place to live more than a day out.

Beaches rank against beaches and islands against islands, and a tie shows as a tie.

The top 10 beaches for digital nomads

These beaches score highest across all seven factors:

1. Guincho Beach – Portugal, 80.2, near Ericeira
2. Black's Beach – United States, 76.8, near San Diego
3. Playa de Las Gaviotas – Spain, 76.7, near Santa Cruz de Tenerife
4. Almáciga Beach – Spain, 75.3, near Santa Cruz de Tenerife
5. Adiça Beach (naturist) – Portugal, 74.8, near Lisbon
6. Maspalomas Dunes – Spain, 74.4, near Las Palmas
7. Praia do Saquinho – Brazil, 74.3, near Florianópolis
8. Wreck Beach – Canada, 74.0, near Vancouver
9. Papagayo Beach – Spain, 73.9
10. Praia da Lagoinha do Leste – Brazil, 73.7, near Florianópolis

Sort by weather or internet in the finder to see a different top 10.

Here's Guincho Beach on video:

The top 10 islands for digital nomads

These islands score highest:

1. Malta – Malta, 80.3
2. Singapore – Singapore, 79.4
3. Sentosa – Singapore, 79.2
4. Penang Island – Malaysia, 78.9
5. Phuket – Thailand, 78.8
6. Mauritius – Mauritius, 78.0
7. Comino – Malta, 77.7
8. Gozo – Malta, 77.4
9. Phi Phi Islands – Thailand, 76.6
10. Gran Canaria – Spain, 76.2

An island's work score comes from the fastest work base within its reach, or its country's internet when there's none.

The best beach near each work base

If you already know where you want to work, start with the best beach near it:

• Ericeira – Guincho Beach, 80.2, 26 km away
• San Diego – Black's Beach, 76.8, 21 km away
• Santa Cruz de Tenerife – Playa de Las Gaviotas, 76.7, 9 km away
• Lisbon – Adiça Beach (naturist), 74.8, 19 km away
• Las Palmas – Maspalomas Dunes, 74.4, 45 km away
• Florianópolis – Praia do Saquinho, 74.3, 23 km away
• Vancouver – Wreck Beach, 74.0, 10 km away
• Koh Lanta – Ton Sai Beach, 73.6, 42 km away
• Barcelona – Platja de La Ricarda Ca l'Arana, 72.8, 11 km away
• Montevideo – Playa La Colorada, 72.3, 18 km away

The coworking space finder maps every desk around these places, and the coliving finder shows the houses.

Who is the beach index for?

The index is for anyone who wants a beach and a job that goes with them:

• Digital nomads choosing their next base by the sea
• Remote workers planning a month or a winter somewhere warm
• Anyone moving abroad who wants the taxes and visas next to the view

If you want the whole place first, the digital nomad locations finder ranks the towns and cities themselves.

More tools for working from anywhere

These tools use the same places, each for a different question:

• Digital nomad locations – every place, with its weather, internet and safety
• Coworking space finder – desks and day passes near each place
• Coliving finder – houses where you live and work with others
• Best value cities – livable places at the lowest prices
• Free Wi-Fi spots – cafés and libraries with Wi-Fi

Every beach links to its nearest work base's guide, with the visa, tax and money tools for its country.