🇵🇭Moalboal for Digital Nomads
Panagsama Beach, Philippines · Diving, small village
Photo: Claus Giering / Unsplash
Costs
—
community-reported
Wifi
18Mbps
Mild months
0of 12
Safety
3.0
Overall
4.1
Moalboal at a glance
Moalboal's headline swims metres from shore: the sardine run — a permanent, million-fish ball off Panagsama's reef wall — makes this village one of the few places on earth where world-class marine theatre is a morning swim, not a boat schedule. Around it: a dive-shop economy, Kawasan's canyoneering falls up the coast, and village-scale living at the Philippine national price level of 35.7 (US = 100)9 (source: World Bank — price level of household consumption).
The terms are wet-tropical village: rain touches 333 days a year1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — 2025) in instalments under 87% average cloud1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — 2025), the measured internet runs a workable-modest 18.1 Mbps median download5 (source: M-Lab — median download speed), and the stamp arithmetic is the country's: 30 days free, then the famous extension ladder12 (source: Government sources — checked 2026-07-29). Cebu's airport sits a winding cross-island drive away6 (source: OurAirports — 58 km to the nearest major airport).
It suits you if the reef structures your mornings and village simplicity your evenings — freedivers and divers compose the community's spine. It suits you less if you need dry skies or scene depth: 18 cafés mapped4 (source: OpenStreetMap — July 2026) is the honest scale.
What works
- The sardine ball: world-class marine life at shore-entry distance
- Median download of 18.1 Mbps5 (source: M-Lab — median download speed) — workable by village standards
- The 30-day stamp extends long, Philippine-style12 (source: Government sources — checked 2026-07-29)
- Kawasan's canyons and the south's beaches as the weekend tier
Worth knowing
- Rain on 333 days a year1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — 2025) under 87% cloud1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — 2025)
- A village-scale scene: 18 cafés mapped4 (source: OpenStreetMap — July 2026)
- Tap water is not for drinking10 (source: Nomadbase country research — tier)
- The airport is a winding cross-island drive6 (source: OurAirports — 58 km)
Living in Moalboal
Neighbourhoods, finding a place and getting around — the practical layer the data tiles below cannot carry. Working, money, people and time off live in their own sections.
Where to stay
Panagsama is the dive village proper — shops, cafés and the reef wall at the end of every lane; Basdiot and the White Beach road north trade wall proximity for sand and quiet. Inland lanes hold the value stock minutes from everything. The village logic is simple: distance to your entry point is the address, and the sunset side is everyone's evening.
Finding a place
Guesthouses and apartments negotiate monthly with village warmth; the Moalboal Facebook groups and dive-shop networks carry the matching. Verify the wifi at the desk (fibre reaches the village unevenly; data backup is standard kit), water pressure, and generator arrangements for the brownout rhythm. The good rooms circulate between returning divers — ask the shops.
Getting around
Scooters and habal-habal rides rule the coastal road; tricycles cover the village. The Kawasan and south-beach runs are easy rides with waterfall traffic. The Cebu crossing — bus or van over the mountains — is the errand epic, scheduled around, not within, workdays.
Cost of living
#25of 101 destinations
What a month actually costs, as a range — housing you can verify, everyday spending modelled from national price levels, and every line labelled with which it is.
Money
Cash leads; the village ATMs hold moods, so Cebu runs double as cash runs. Cards surface at dive shops and upper cafés. Dive packages, rice meals and rooms compose the gentle arithmetic the island is loved for.
- Coworking deskadd-on, not in the range
- not measured yetadd yours in the app
Spot prices: Big Mac €2.388 (source: Published prices — The Economist Big Mac Index, national average (169 PHP = 2.74 USD), July 2026 release — data CC BY 4.0) · eSIM, 30 days €17.508 (source: Published prices — Airalo, 10 GB / 30 days, checked 2026-08-05)
We cannot put a month together for Moalboal yet: we have no housing price for it — neither a coliving room nor a place of your own. Everyday spending we can model from national price levels, but housing is the part that actually varies by city, and a month without it would say more about our data than about Moalboal. The prices we do hold are above.
Live in Moalboal? Members report what they pay — and the medians appear right here.
Join the waitlistWork
#89of 103 destinations
18Mbps
median download, measured in the city
Connection, desks and whether a day here meets yours — the three things that decide whether you can do your job from this city.
Working from here
A handful of cafés carry sockets and morning laptop crowds; the sustainable setup is the verified room plus data redundancy, with calls scheduled to the morning calm and the US evening overlap. The rhythm writes itself: reef at dawn, desk through the rain's midday moods, sunset as the village meeting.
Internet
Coliving & coworking
- Coworking spaces mapped
- 04 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Cafés mapped
- 184 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
Time zones
Workday overlap with Europe
1 of 8 h1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — Nomadbase overlap of a 09:00-17:00 day against Open-Meteo time zone (Asia/Manila), standard time; Europe reference UTC+1)
Workday overlap with US East
0 of 8 h1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — Nomadbase overlap of a 09:00-17:00 day against Open-Meteo time zone (Asia/Manila), standard time; US East reference UTC-5)
Overlap is the hours a 09:00–17:00 day here meets a 09:00–17:00 day there, at standard time.
Climate & air
#86of 103 destinations
0of 12
mild months — felt temperature between 18 and 27 °C
Month by month, not as one annual average. 18–27 °C is the range where being outside feels good — we count how much of the year sits inside it.
Seasons
Warm and wet in rotation: the drier window (roughly January to April) brings the clearest water and the visibility the wall deserves; the wet months deliver rain in tropical instalments — rarely day-killing, always garden-feeding — with typhoon-watch awareness in the later year. The sea stays warm throughout; the sardines never leave; the calendar is really the visibility forecast.
Tap a month for details.
feels-like monthly mean · ticks = rain days1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — 2025 monthly means (felt temperature, rain-day share, cloud share))
comfortable & clearcomfortable, wetter/greyeroutside the 18–27 °C band
- Dry days a year
- 32 days/year1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — 2025 full-year count)
- Cloud cover, annual mean
- 87%1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — 2025 annual average)
Air quality — PM2.5, recent median
8.6 µg/m³ · fair3 (source: Copernicus CAMS — modelled 30-day mean)
The climate score is built from that band plus rain and cloud cover, month by month — so a hot summer costs a destination points rather than earning them.
Safety & everyday life
#70of 103 destinations
6.1/ 10
women's safety — Georgetown WPS index, country level
Country-level indicators — a practical baseline for the whole country, not the vibe of one neighbourhood. Community reports refine this picture over time.
Staying safe
The village register is easy: petty theft occasional, evenings communal, and the road's scooter traffic the main terrestrial risk — helmets and dusk caution standard. The sea sets the serious rules: the wall drops fast (buoyancy and buddy discipline), currents run the channel on tide changes, and the sardine crowds bring boat traffic overhead — surface awareness is part of the swim. Typhoon season is communal weather-watching; the village has rebuilt before and prepares without drama.
- Homicide rate, national
- 4.3 per 100k7 (source: UNODC — intentional homicide rate for Philippines, 2024)
- Hospitals & clinics
- ≈ 7.9 / 100k4 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Pharmacies
- ≈ 26 / 100k4 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
Safety for women
6.1 / 10
Georgetown WPS index — inclusion, justice and security, country level
3 mapped within 15 km
10 mapped within 15 km
Getting by in English
6.8 / 10
high English proficiency
LGBTQ+ legal position · Philippines10 (source: Nomadbase country research — checked 2026-07-29)
4.0 / 10- Same-sex relationshipsLegal
- Partnership recognitionNone
- Employment protectionsNo
- Legal gender changeNot possible
Socially visible scenes in Manila and Cebu contrast with a thin legal framework: the national SOGIE Equality Bill has been pending for over two decades (only patchwork local ordinances protect workers) and a 2007 Supreme Court ruling blocks gender marker change.
Tap water · Philippines10 (source: Nomadbase country research — checked 2026-07-29)
4.0 / 10Unsafe
Bottled advised
Mostly fine
Drink the tap
Bottled or filtered advised
Metro Manila and Cebu City supplies are usually OK but boiling is still advised; everywhere else drink bottled, and watch out for street-sold refilled bottles and block ice.
Getting there & staying
#85of 103 destinations
30 days
visa-free on an EU passport · set in Your setup
How you get in, how long you may stay, and what it takes to run a business from here.
Visa & entry requirements
Digital nomad visa
Digital Nomad Visa (DNV, EO 86)12 (source: Government sources — Dedicated remote-work visa: Digital Nomad Visa (DNV, EO 86) (checked 2026-07-29))
Thirty days visa-free for EU, US, UK, Canadian and Australian passports, and no country in Asia lets you extend a tourist stay further — up to 36 months in-country. The Digital Nomad Visa exists on paper since mid-2025, but its rollout is unfinished: no official country list, no official income figure.12 (source: Government sources — checked against the official source on July 29, 2026)
How long you can stay
- Around 157 nationalities — all EU/EEA states, US, UK, Canada, Australia included — get 30 days visa-free on arrival with an onward ticket. No fee, no pre-registration.
- The first extension adds 29 days (59 days total), then you keep extending in one- or two-month blocks at a Bureau of Immigration office or via its e-services portal. After 59 days you also pay for an ACR I-Card.
- Visa-exempt nationals can stretch this to a hard ceiling of 36 months without ever leaving. Visa-required nationals apply for a 9(a) visa at an embassy first and cap out at 24 months.
The Digital Nomad Visa — real, but half-built
⚠️ This is mid-rollout. Executive Order 86 (April 2025) created the DNV and the programme formally opened on 23 June 2025, but a year on the implementation is still patchy. Treat everything below as "confirm with your nearest Philippine embassy".
- One year, multiple entry, renewable once for a second year
- EO 86 requires "sufficient income" from foreign sources — the order names no figure and pegs it to no index. Immigration consultancies work with roughly US$24,000 a year as a benchmark; that number is not official.
- The catch: your country must offer a reciprocal digital nomad visa to Filipinos and host a Philippine Foreign Service Post. The DFA had still not published the qualifying-country list as of mid-2026, so eligibility is decided post by post.
- Applications run through evisa.gov.ph followed by an embassy appointment to verify originals; processing reports range from two to six weeks.
- You also need health insurance for the full stay, a clean criminal record, and you may not take local employment or run a Philippine business. The visa is built around income earned — and taxed — abroad.
- Practical read: with a 36-month tourist runway, most remote workers simply extend; the DNV only wins once the country list and income rules are published.
Visa rules change frequently. This information was last checked on July 29, 2026. It is not legal advice — confirm before booking with the official source.
Flights
The nearest major airport — Bohol-Panglao International Airport — is 58 km6 (source: OurAirports — nearest major airport is Bohol-Panglao International Airport) out, with 3 airports6 (source: OurAirports — major and regional airports with scheduled service) within 100 km overall.
Company & banking
Setting up a company
2.5 / 10
partly remote · foreign ownership restricted · capital from EUR 185,000 · ~21 days to register
Opening an account
5.3 / 10
personal account difficult · business account straightforward · branch visit needed · limited EMI cover
Setting up, in practice
The filing is online through SEC eSPARC, and that is not the constraint. A foreign-owned company selling to the domestic market needs US$200,000 of paid-in capital under the Foreign Investments Act (RA 11647) — US$100,000 with advanced technology or 50+ direct employees. Export-oriented companies (60%+ of output) escape the threshold entirely, which is the route most remote-service businesses actually take.Banking, in practice
Company accounts follow registration. Personal accounts for non-residents are branch-dependent and usually want a visa; cash and GCash still carry a lot of daily life.Not legal or tax advice. Company law, fees and bank policy change without notice — confirm with the registry linked on each figure and with a local adviser before you act on any of it.
Going out
#86of 103 destinations
15.1/ 100
bars, pubs and clubs per 100 restaurants & cafés
Evenings, eating and what there is to do once the laptop closes.
Time off
Kawasan's blue pools and the canyoneering run are the standing half-day; Osmena Peak and the Casino Peak ridges lift the lens above the coast. South, Oslob's whale-shark question deserves an ethics read before booking. Cebu City handles errands and flights; Bohol's chocolate hills and Siquijor's slow magic sit a ferry-hop away — the Visayas as a village-based archipelago tour.
CafésBars & pubsClick the map to open it — 4 places mapped in Moalboal altogether.
- Bars, pubs and clubs
- 134 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Restaurants
- 684 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Vegan-friendly places
- 04 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Vegetarian-friendly places
- 14 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
mapped within 15 km
mapped within 15 km — the base the shares below are measured against
0 per 100 restaurants & cafés
1.2 per 100 restaurants & cafés
Being active
#76of 103 destinations
1spots
gyms and yoga studios mapped in town
Gyms, studios and board sports in town, and the nature within reach — counted where counting is honest, shown as a badge where the map is too sparse to rank.
Staying active
The water is the syllabus: the sardine wall for daily awe, Pescador Island's boat dives, freedive progression on the drop-off, and turtle-grass mornings at White Beach. On land: Kawasan canyoneering as the adrenaline canon, the Osmena Peak traverse for highland views, beach runs and the village's single honest gym4 (source: OpenStreetMap — July 2026). Recovery is mango shakes by consensus.
In town
- Gyms
- 14 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Yoga studios
- 04 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
mapped within 15 km — ≈ 2.6 / 100k
mapped within 15 km — ≈ 0.0 / 100k
Nature within reach
Community
Who is here, who is coming, and who has been. Counts only — never names.
Meeting people
The dive shops are the social machinery — courses, boat days and logbook evenings create instant structure — and the freedive community adds its own quieter cohort. The village's scale makes fortnight familiarity automatic; Filipino warmth and English make it easy. Respect for the local fishing families whose reef this remains is the unwritten entry fee, cheerfully collected.
here now
arriving soon
have been
Nobody from the community has checked into Moalboal yet. If you are here, you would be the first.
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Places like Moalboal
The closest matches in the catalogue, measured across cost, climate, connection and safety — with the reason each one is here. Compare any of them against this page in one click.
How the scores work
Every score runs 0–10 and is comparative — where Moalboal lands across the catalogue, not a grade in isolation.
Cost
7.5#25 of 101 · 1 of 1 measured
What a month costs, from the cheapest way of living here to the dearest we can price.
No housing price is verified here yet, so the score rests on the country price level (36, US = 100). Across the catalogue that ranks 25th of 101.
Public data 7.5
Work
2.4#89 of 103 · 2 of 2 measured
Connection, desks and whether the working day here meets yours.
Typical downloads run around 18 Mbps and 0 coworking spaces are mapped in town. Across the catalogue that ranks 89th of 103.
Public data 1.6
Public data 3.2
Climate
4.6#86 of 103 · 1 of 1 measured
How the year feels outside, air quality included.
0 of the 12 months sit in the comfortable 18–27 °C range and the air is clean (8.6 µg/m³ PM2.5, modelled — no station reports here). Across the catalogue that ranks 86th of 103.
Public data 4.5
Safety
4.4#70 of 103 · 6 of 6 measured
The country-level baseline: violence, healthcare, water, and who the law protects.
Violent crime is low nationwide (4.31 homicides per 100k), women's safety scores 6.1/10 on the Georgetown index, 3 clinics and hospitals are mapped within reach and tap water is not drinkable. Across the catalogue that ranks 70th of 103.
Public data 3.0
Public data 4.0
Public data 6.1
Public data 4.0
Public data 4.0
Public data 6.8
Getting there
3.8#85 of 103 · 3 of 3 measured
Getting in, staying legally, and flying out again.
An EU passport gets 30 visa-free days, there is a dedicated nomad visa and the nearest major airport is 58 km from town. Across the catalogue that ranks 85th of 103.
Public data 5.3
Public data 1.3
Public data 3.9
Going out
3.1#86 of 103 · 4 of 4 measured
Evenings, eating and what there is to do when the laptop closes.
For every 100 restaurants and cafés there are 15 bars, pubs or clubs and 0 vegan-friendly places per 100 restaurants and cafés. Across the catalogue that ranks 86th of 103.
Public data 4.7
Public data 3.8
Public data 0.3
Public data 1.2
Being active
3.8#76 of 103 · 2 of 2 measured
Gyms and studios, board sports, and the nature within reach.
1 gyms and 0 yoga studios are mapped in town, 2 nature reserves and 2 hiking routes lie within 30 km and it sits on the coast. Across the catalogue that ranks 76th of 103.
Public data 2.2
Public data 5.5
Community
Nothing measured here yet
Members on the ground, chapters and events — our own data, not a proxy.
Not measured here yet: community.
Read the sectionSources
Every figure on this page carries the source it came from and the date it was measured. Where no source exists, the field is left empty rather than estimated.
- 1
Copernicus ERA5Generated using Copernicus Climate Change Service information
ECMWF’s ERA5 reanalysis, retrieved through Open-Meteo. Temperatures, rainfall, cloud cover and wind are daily values for the last complete calendar year.
- 2
Our own reading of ERA5 data, not a measurement: a month-by-month score for how comfortable the felt temperature is, damped for rain and cloud. The formula is published.
- 3
Copernicus CAMS© ECMWF/Copernicus
Modelled air quality, used only where no ground station exists. A 40km model cell, not a measurement on the corner — the page says which of the two you are looking at.
- 4
OpenStreetMapODbL
Community-mapped places: coworking, cafés, gyms and diet options within 15km. Counts are a floor rather than a census — coverage depends on local mappers.
- 5
M-LabCC BY-SA 4.0
Internet speed from real speed tests run by people in the city, aggregated over a seven-day window.
- 6
OurAirportsPublic domain
Airport locations and types. Distances are to the nearest major airport with scheduled service.
- 7
UNODCFree with attribution
Intentional homicide rate from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime — a national figure, because no free source measures crime per city. The year next to the number is the year the country last reported.
- 8
Prices read by hand from the operator’s or authority’s own published price list — a transit tariff, a coworking rate card, an eSIM store — on the date shown. Checked quarterly; the linked page is the source.
- 9
World BankCC BY 4.0
Price level of household consumption at market exchange rates (US = 100) — a national figure that anchors the cost score where no city-level source exists yet. It measures what arriving with foreign income feels like, which is why a weak currency lowers it.
- 10
Hand-maintained country tables for the LGBTQ+ legal position and tap-water safety, compiled from advocacy databases (ILGA World, Human Dignity Trust), national authorities and government travel advice, and scored with a published rubric. Country-level by nature — city reality can differ, which is what the practical note is for.
- 11
WikidataCC0
Structural facts taken from the place’s Wikidata entity — resident population, which mirrors a national census figure, and elevation above sea level. The year is the one Wikidata records for that figure; where the entity was the wrong scale for the place we describe, the number has been replaced by a hand-sourced one from the statistics office instead.
- 12
Government sources
Visa and entry rules come from the responsible authority for each country, linked in the visa section and re-checked by hand on the date shown.
Frequently asked questions
How fast is the internet in Moalboal?
Median download speed is about 18.1 Mbps. Source: M-Lab median of 1,709 tests within 50 km, last 7 days.
What visa do I need for Moalboal?
Thirty days visa-free for EU, US, UK, Canadian and Australian passports, and no country in Asia lets you extend a tourist stay further — up to 36 months in-country. The Digital Nomad Visa exists on paper since mid-2025, but its rollout is unfinished: no official country list, no official income figure. Last checked 2026-07-29. Always confirm with the official source before booking.
What is the weather like in Moalboal?
Winters average 28 °C and summers 28.9 °C. 0 of 12 months average a comfortable 18–27 °C (felt temperature). Source: Copernicus ERA5, 2025 annual average.
Can I work European or US hours from Moalboal?
A 09:00–17:00 working day in Moalboal overlaps 1 hours with Central European time and 0 hours with US Eastern time, at standard time.
How do you get to Moalboal?
The nearest major airport is about 58 km away. 3 airports with scheduled service within 100 km. Source: OurAirports — nearest major airport is Bohol-Panglao International Airport.
Last reviewed August 5, 2026. Every figure carries its own measurement date; hover a footnote for the source, or see the list above.