🇵🇭Siargao for Digital Nomads
General Luna, Philippines · Surf & slow
Photo: Joel Vodell / Unsplash
Costs
—
community-reported
Wifi
—
no measurements
Mild months
0of 12
Safety
3.0
Overall
4.3
Siargao at a glance
Siargao is a surf town that grew an island around itself: General Luna's single strip of cafés and board racks, the reef off the boardwalk setting the daily schedule, and a palm-road hinterland that still outnumbers the development. It is the most committed base on this list — and the most honest about what commitment means: rain on 303 days a year1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — 2025) in a genuinely remote setting, with the nearest major airport 223 km away6 (source: OurAirports — distance to the nearest major airport) on the mainland and island hops covering the difference.
The measured-internet column is empty here — no reliable median exists5 (source: M-Lab — no measured figure for this island) — which is itself the honest data point: connectivity is house-by-house, Starlink-and-fibre patchwork, tested before trusted. The visa arithmetic matches the rest of the country: 30 days free, then the extension ladder12 (source: Government sources — checked 2026-07-29).
It suits you if surf structures your life, community beats convenience, and your work tolerates island bandwidth. It suits you less if you need infrastructure certainty — typhoon country, ferry logistics and generator evenings are part of the deal, and the island has rebuilt itself before.
What works
- A world-class reef wave with a town built around it
- A tight, sporty community where faces repeat by day three
- Island beauty that survived its own popularity
- 30 visa-free days extendable in-country12 (source: Government sources — checked 2026-07-29)
Worth knowing
- No measured internet figure exists5 (source: M-Lab — no reliable median for this island) — test your house before you commit
- Rain on 303 days a year1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — 2025) — dry spells, not dry seasons
- The nearest major airport is 223 km away6 (source: OurAirports — on the mainland) — logistics are layered
- Typhoon exposure is historical fact, not hypothesis
Living in Siargao
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
General Luna is the hub — the strip, the cafés, the boat launches — and where most stays begin. Catangnan up the road puts Cloud 9's boardwalk at your door; Malinao and the road north trade scene for space and sunsets; Pacifico in the island's north is its own quieter surf outpost, a proper commitment. Villas and bungalow compounds are the stock; walk-or-scooter distance to your break is the real address.
Finding a place
The market is small, seasonal and social: Facebook groups, the coffee-shop noticeboard and asking at the counter do most of the matching, with monthly rates negotiated directly and the good houses passed between departing tenants. The inspection is infrastructural: water source and pressure, generator or solar backup, and above all the connectivity stack — fibre where blessed, Starlink where clever, cellular where hopeful.
Getting around
Scooter, universally — the island road is mellow, palm-shaded and occasionally shared with carabao — and habal-habal rides cover the boardless. Fuel comes in Coke bottles past the town edge. The airport hop, the ferry timetable and the weather form the island's only real bureaucracy.
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-first with improving card acceptance along the strip; the ATMs are few, occasionally empty, and best treated as a town-day errand with a buffer. Prices carry island freight — imported anything costs like it travelled, local food does not.
- Coworking deskadd-on, not in the range
- €100/mo8 (source: Published prices — Coco Space General Luna, 1-month membership (7,000 PHP), prices on the operator-designated booking page — single operator, checked 2026-08-05)
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 Siargao 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 Siargao. The prices we do hold are above.
Live in Siargao? Members report what they pay — and the medians appear right here.
Join the waitlistWork
#101of 103 destinations
0spaces
coworking spaces mapped in town
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 work-friendly cafés and small cowork setups serve the strip, but the resident's office is domestic: the tested connection, the backup hotspot, the call schedule built around brownouts and the surf report in that order. The time zone helps European clients into the local evening; the mornings belong to the reef, which is the entire point of the arrangement.
Internet
- Download speed, city median
- no measurements yet — run a speedtestadd yours in the app
Coliving & coworking
- Coworking spaces mapped
- 04 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Cafés mapped
- 174 (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
#60of 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 varying proportions: the drier, glassier window tends toward March to September for the surf's sake, with the late-year months carrying the heavier rain and the typhoon watch. Swell decides the calendar more than temperature ever will — the island's year is measured in forecasts, and the community's mood tracks the charts. Power and ferry hiccups follow the weather; slack in every plan is island literacy.
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
- 62 days/year1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — 2025 full-year count)
- Cloud cover, annual mean
- 82%1 (source: Copernicus ERA5 — 2025 annual average)
Air quality — PM2.5, recent median
7.7 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
#91of 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 community polices itself gently and crime barely registers; the risks are elemental. The reef: shallow, sharp and unsentimental — booties, respect for the tide chart, and honest self-assessment keep the sessions fun. The road: night rides among unlit scooters and sudden dogs cause more harm than anything else here. The sky: typhoon season is tracked communally and seriously — when the island prepares, prepare with it, and know your guesthouse's plan.
- Homicide rate, national
- 4.3 per 100k7 (source: UNODC — intentional homicide rate for Philippines, 2024)
- Hospitals & clinics
- ≈ 3.0 / 100k4 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Pharmacies
- ≈ 1.5 / 100k4 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
Safety for women
6.1 / 10
Georgetown WPS index — inclusion, justice and security, country level
6 mapped within 15 km
3 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
#93of 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 — Laguindingan International Airport — is 223 km6 (source: OurAirports — nearest major airport is Laguindingan International Airport) out, with 1 airport6 (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
#81of 103 destinations
17.3/ 100
bars, pubs and clubs per 100 restaurants & cafés
Evenings, eating and what there is to do once the laptop closes.
Time off
The island's own satellites make the classic day: the Naked-Daku-Guyam island triple by banca, Sugba Lagoon's paddleboards, Sohoton's caves further out. The mainland run opens the rest of Mindanao's north coast, Cebu and Bohol are hop-flights for city errands and chocolate hills, and Manila remains the long way home for the paperwork runs.
CafésBars & pubsClick the map to open it — 7 places mapped in Siargao altogether.
- Bars, pubs and clubs
- 184 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Restaurants
- 874 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Vegan-friendly places
- 04 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Vegetarian-friendly places
- 24 (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
1.9 per 100 restaurants & cafés
Being active
#98of 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
Surf is the syllabus — beginner walls at Jacking Horse, the reef's graduate school at Cloud 9, and boat-trip breaks when the wind swings — with the island filling rest days: lagoon paddles, the Magpupungko rock pools at low tide, palm-jungle runs down the Maasin river road, and a small strong gym scene serving the strip. Stretch classes exist precisely because the paddling economy demands them.
In town
Surf spotsClick the map to open it — 7 places mapped in Siargao altogether.
- Gyms
- 14 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
- Yoga studios
- 04 (source: OpenStreetMap — within 15km)
mapped within 15 km — ≈ 0.5 / 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
Show up twice and you are known: the lineup, the café counter and the volleyball net at sunset are the whole social machinery. The community braids surfers, founders-on-sabbatical and local families whose island this remains — respect for that last fact is the entry fee, cheerfully collected. Skill levels mix in the water; humility travels further than talent.
here now
arriving soon
have been
Nobody from the community has checked into Siargao yet. If you are here, you would be the first.
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Places like Siargao
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 Siargao 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
1.0#101 of 103 · 1 of 2 measured
Connection, desks and whether the working day here meets yours.
0 coworking spaces are mapped in town. Across the catalogue that ranks 101st of 103.
Public data 1.0
Not measured here yet: internet.
Read the sectionClimate
6.2#60 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 (7.7 µg/m³ PM2.5, modelled — no station reports here). Across the catalogue that ranks 60th of 103.
Public data 6.2
Safety
3.7#91 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, 6 clinics and hospitals are mapped within reach and tap water is not drinkable. Across the catalogue that ranks 91st of 103.
Public data 3.0
Public data 0.3
Public data 6.1
Public data 4.0
Public data 4.0
Public data 6.8
Getting there
3.3#93 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 223 km from town. Across the catalogue that ranks 93rd of 103.
Public data 5.3
Public data 0.0
Public data 3.9
Going out
3.3#81 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 17 bars, pubs or clubs and 0 vegan-friendly places per 100 restaurants and cafés. Across the catalogue that ranks 81st of 103.
Public data 5.6
Public data 2.8
Public data 0.3
Public data 2.5
Being active
2.4#98 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, 1 nature reserves and 0 hiking routes lie within 30 km, it sits on the coast and the wind is kiteable on 5 days a year. Across the catalogue that ranks 98th of 103.
Public data 0.7
Public data 4.2
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
What visa do I need for Siargao?
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 Siargao?
Winters average 25.9 °C and summers 27.2 °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 Siargao?
A 09:00–17:00 working day in Siargao overlaps 1 hours with Central European time and 0 hours with US Eastern time, at standard time.
How do you get to Siargao?
The nearest major airport is about 223 km away. 1 airport with scheduled service within 100 km. Source: OurAirports — nearest major airport is Laguindingan 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.