I lived in Krabi, more precisely Ao Nang for 2 months. I was living 5 min walking distance from the beach in the most touristy area in town. I stayed in a hotel for 5000bh a month (about 135 €) in a room with a considerable balcony and no neighbors to disturb my peace and privacy. I actually liked this place very much because it was surrounded by trees, there were no tall buildings around to disturb the view and I could see squirrels around all the time. It was very quiet with a lot of greenery and the mountain just some meters away. Can not complain about the beauty of Ao Nang at all!
Plus, I was so close to the beach that I would go there daily for the sunset. Except when it was raining… or maybe not haha. I remember being in the sea when it was raining pretty heavily and it felt very good.
Where to work?
As a digital nomad, I could work anywhere and go to any of the many restaurants that follow the beach, but that would be expensive on a daily basis, so I was mostly working on my balcony. That’s why I loved to have a big balcony as I don’t like much to stay indoors. Of course, I could also go to some place facing the sea. Ao Nang is absolutely stunning and the views will never get boring.
As a digital nomad, I don’t think the place offers many nice coffee shops that would be pleasant to spend a working day. The area is very dedicated to tourism and everything looks very touristy as well as the prices. Therefore, I would say that options for a coworking space are scarce.
I also have to mention the power shortages that occurred way more often than I could imagine. I’m not sure why, but during this 2 months period, the electricity was not available in the whole town for several times. I remember days when the power would go out early in the afternoon and only return in the evening!!! That was insane!! Things would close and you couldn’t even find 7/eleven open. Walking on the street I could see the darkness inside each place, but some more expensive-looking places would still have the lights on. I’m sure those have an extra power source for these situations that apparently seem to be frequent. This was definitely a surprise for me because I haven’t experienced this even once in Phuket where I was living before. At least I had the mobile data that I could use to work, otherwise, this would have been a very frustrating experience.
To spend my free time, there are many places to explore around the Krabi area, so finding somewhere beautiful to go was not a problem. I found myself many times just simply walking around the area where the community lives and enjoying the limestone cliffs that are my companion at all times. Beautiful walks here! Plus, there are many islands around to visit like Poda Island or Hong island. I don’t think this would be a boring destination to settle in at all.
During my free time, I was collecting seashells too and worked on them on my balcony. I ended up painting some and I think they look awesome!
You can read about the many places I have explored around Ao Nang HERE too.
So, overall, I really liked my stay in Ao Nang, but I wasn’t feeling at my best, so I decided to move on after only 2 months. I could have spent more time there! The only thing that bothered me was the power shortages and being stung by a sting ray that left me “paralyzed” for 2 weeks. I felt like the world was against me, and that was also the reason why I didn’t stay longer in Ao Nang when I decided to quit my remote job because I needed some changes in my life asap.
Ao Nang is a place with many foreigners and I realize there are some calling this place home. You can find pretty cool houses for rent a bit further from the beach and surrounded by lush green. I saw some very affordable opportunities, but that was not what I was looking for. To find good opportunities you should search on Facebook groups like: “rental in Krabi”, or something like that.
I would say that Ao Nag is definitely a beautiful and charming place to stay, but to live as a digital nomad for a long time, I’m not sure it would be the ideal spot – as a solo person. It depends on what you are looking for… As for living in Krabi town as a digital nomad, I would say a big No No. There isn’t much going on there… In Ao Nang, there are some night markets and cool places to go, but in Krabi town, things are very different.
