Why I Moved to Bangkok
This week (in case you’re reading this in the far future, it’s March 2025), my partner and I have done a fairly big move: We moved from Valencia, Spain to Bangkok, Thailand!
This decision, however, was years in the making. We’ve been feeling a bit restless in Valencia for a while, and there were several reasons for it which I will explain a bit more in this blog post.
For your information: I didn’t write this blog post to convince you move to Bangkok as well; I only want to give you my story and perhaps my perspective can help you in your journey as well:)
So here goes! 🙏
Why we decided to move out of Spain
First of all, why did we decide to move away from Spain, specifically Valencia?
Valencia is an amazing city, and arguably one of the best places to live in the whole wide world. In fact, it has been named as the number one city for expats! (also check out my Digital Nomad’s Guide for Valencia).
The city is gorgeous, the people are friendly and there are 300 days of sun in a year. So why would we want to leave this gorgeous place?!
There are basically 3 main reasons we’ve decided to move away from Valencia and Spain, at least for the time being. Here they come:
Taxes as a self-employed worker in Spain
The taxes as a registered freelancer in Spain are, in my opinion, very unfair.
I would like to stress that I’m not at all against paying taxes. But it has to be fair and Spain is, in my humble opinion, penalising mid-income workers and entrepreneurs and taxing them at a unfair rate..
Another reason is that, as someone who is self-employed, I don’t build any pension by myself, so I have to do it privately. This is why I want to optimise my tax payments. If I can work from anywhere and save more in taxes, then I want to do that.
2. Valencia feels pretty small after a while
I always thought that I liked small cities. But being in bigger cities like Bangkok, Melbourne and Singapore for a few months a year during my nomad travels made me realise that I actually quite like being in the city with so much to do, see and discover!
I love spending time with friends but I also value spending time alone, and doing things like shopping, going to a spa and discovering restaurants, cafes and other things in a city. Honestly, after six years you’ve seen everything in a city like Valencia and I was getting a bit bored sometimes during the weekend 😅.
3. Missing an entrepreneur scene
Valencia is a relaxing city and it also attracts a lot of people that enjoy a more relaxed pace of life. Which is great! However, there’s not much of a startup or business scene in Valencia. In fact, if you move to Valencia and are expecting to find a job there please think twice. It’s better then to move to a city like Barcelona in that case.
Valencia is more of a holiday destination, so a lot of services exist to cater to the hospitality industry, but that’s really it.
But for people like me, who are wanting to start a business or have a business, it can be tough finding clients or even like-minded people. It is another major reason for us to leave Valencia, in the end.
I would like to stress though, that it is changing a bit these days in Valecnia, as more and more digital nomads - many of whom have their own business too - are flocking to this Spanish city.
Why we choose Bangkok
Bigger city, more things to do and more opportunities
Bangkok is a vibrant and fun city with so many things to do and see! I really love the vibe of many spots in Bangkok. Also, as a foodie, it’s basically heaven on earth.
There’s a lot of cool malls to visit, as well as parks, rooftop bars, events and so many other things!
On top of that, there’s just so many more people to meet from all different kinds of cultures and backgrounds. Since I want to start my own business at some point, I also think Bangkok might be a better place than Valencia to find potential clients or collaborators.
Additionally, as a remote worker, it is a much easier city than Valencia, because there are so many cafes to work from, a lot of coworking spaces and cafes and virtually every restaurant and cafe has super fast wifi.
2. Lifestyle and value for money
Doing something like we did, it does mean that we engage in lifestyle arbitrage, meaning, we are moving to a place where we can get more bang for our buck. I’m very fortunate that I am able to do that with my job and life so I don’t want to take it for granted and I realise a lot of people don’t have this option.
A lot of things are much cheaper in Thailand, such as food, transportation and accommodation (although the latter heavily depends on which area). However, the city is slowly getting more and more expensive these days. Some things are actually a bit more expensive than in Spain, especially accommodation in the centre of the city.
3. Living in Asia
For me, living in Asia for a while has always been a dream. My mom is from Indonesia, but I’ve never really known her side of the family because her parents died when she was very young. I do have some sort of yearning to better understand that part of my heritage. Additionally, I’ve been so many time to Asia for my digital nomad travels that it has become a bit of a second home. And each time I would come back to Europe, I would feel such a tremendous longing to go back.
Thailand has a fascinating culture, history and way of life. It’s so exciting to go to a new place and meet new people, learn new things about a totally different culture and see new and inspiring places. To me, it’s the ultimate way to live and when I’m older, I want to look and and say "Wow, I’ve seen and experienced so many cool things in the world!”.
4. DTV Visa
Another factor that played a big role in our decision was the availability of the DTV visa. The Destination Thailand Visa was rolled out last year and it’s super attractive for nomads like us, and way more affordable than the Elite Visa that Thailand offers.
Therefore, the availability of this lucrative visa was definitely a deciding factor as well.
5. Tax savings
At the point of writing, Thailand does not tax foreign income. While this might change in the future, it’s a very lucrative financial situations for people who earn their money abroad. You only pay taxes on what you bring into Thailand, meaning that you can keep your taxable income very low and are taxed on a lower rate. You’re still paying tax, but not on all your income. This means, you can save a significant portion of your income.
6. Bangkok is super central in Asia
Bangkok has a super central location in South East Asia, and as it’s a major hub, you can easily fly anywhere within Asia, and there are also many flights back to Europe. Additionally, the flights are quite affordable compared to other major hubs, like Singapore and Hong Kong.
Was Bangkok first choice?
Bangkok wasn’t really the first choice. At first, I thought the city was cool, but way too busy and noisy for my taste (which I still think by the way, but I guess it depends a bit where you are in Bangkok as well).
I’ve always been fascinated with Singapore for instance, I really love the city. But, it is way too expensive and massively difficult to get a visa. So Singapore was out of the picture.
We also thought about Kuala Lumpur, however, it was pretty difficult to get a good visa and also, after visiting the city a few times on my own, I didn’t feel as safe as a woman in Kuala Lumpar as in Bangkok.
So, in the end, Bangkok was the best choice for us.
Things to understand when deciding to move
Are you currently thinking of moving to Bangkok or another destination? Then I hope this post has helped you a bit by sharing my experiences (so far) 🙏.
If I may share some guiding questions that might help you get to a decision in a more structured way:
List down the reason(s) why you want to move. Are they valid? For example, if you feel like you are sometimes a bit bored in the weekend but other than that you love your life currently, then maybe that is not the right reason for you to move. Maybe it’s a dumb example, but I hope you get the point 😅
What would be the disadvantages of moving? What are the things keeping you in your current location?
If you are moving to save money (e.g. via lower taxation) how much would you save exactly? Try to calculate how much you would save.
What’s the worst thing that can happen if you would move?
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