How Bangkok and Bali (Canggu) compare on cost, visas, working hours, weather, internet and safety. Every figure comes from our city guides and tools, checked and dated there.
The short answer
Bangkok Pick it for faster internet and a lower US travel advisory level.
Bali (Canggu) Pick it for more comfortable months.
Everyday costsEven
We can't compare them yet: Bali (Canggu) isn't costed in the budget calculator yet.
The visaEven
Different tests, so they don't line up neatly. Bangkok: Destination Thailand Visa (DTV), about $14,890 in savings (THB 500,000). Bali (Canggu): E33G remote worker visa, $5,000 a month.
A London 9 to 5Even
A late finish in both: 15:00 to 23:00 in Bangkok, 16:00 to 00:00 in Bali (Canggu).
A New York 9 to 5Even
A night shift in both: 20:00 to 04:00 in Bangkok, 21:00 to 05:00 in Bali (Canggu).
WeatherBali (Canggu)
Bali (Canggu) has more comfortable months. Comfortable months on our best-time rule: 1 in Bangkok, 8 in Bali (Canggu). No month is comfortable in both.
InternetBangkok
Bangkok is faster. Typical download speed: 237 Mbps in Bangkok, 51 Mbps in Bali (Canggu), from each guide.
SafetyBangkok
Bangkok. The US State Department puts Thailand at level 1 and Indonesia at level 2.
Side by side
Measure
Bangkok
Bali (Canggu)
Country
Thailand
Indonesia
Language
Thai
Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia)
Currency
Thai baht (THB)
Indonesian rupiah (IDR)
Plugs
—
Type C and F, 230V
Time zone
UTC+7 today
UTC+8 today
A month's basics
$533 to $1,310 (£400 to £987), with transport missing
Not costed yet
Remote work visa
Destination Thailand Visa (DTV)
E33G remote worker visa
Income needed
About $14,890 in savings (THB 500,000)
$5,000 a month
Without a visa
British and American passports: 30 days, down from 60 on 15 September 2026
British passports: 30-day visa on arrival, extendable once. American: 30-day visa on arrival or e-visa, extendable once
Tax residency
180 days in a calendar year, on foreign income you bring in
More than 183 days in 12 months. Since 9 December 2025 (PER-23/PJ/2025) a stay permit valid for more than 183 days, such as the E33G, can count as intending to stay, so you can be resident with fewer days. No official source confirms a tax exemption
Download speed
237 Mbps
51 Mbps
Comfortable months
December
April, May, June, July, August, September, October and November
US travel advice
Level 1: normal precautions
Level 2: increased caution
Meetups
4 regular groups still running
1 regular group still running
Dollars and pounds at today's exchange rate. Download speeds are the typical figure from each guide, which says where it comes from: some are for the city, some for the whole country, so treat a small gap as no gap.
The visas
Bangkok
Destination Thailand Visa (DTV)
Income needed
About $14,890 in savings (THB 500,000); in pounds, about £11,190 in savings
How long
Five years, 180 days a visit, extendable once by 180
What it leads to
Nowhere: no residence and no citizenship
Without a visa
British and American passports: 30 days, down from 60 on 15 September 2026
The catch. Since 31 August 2026 you need a criminal record certificate, and you must apply in a country where you are a citizen or permanent resident, so a border run no longer works.
The average high in °C each month, coloured by the rule on our best-time page: green is a high of 20 to 32°C with under 150mm of rain; red is a high of 38°C or more or under 12°C, 250mm of rain or more, or 33°C or more with 150mm of rain or more. Hover over a month for its rain.
Bangkok isn't in an area advised against, but the UK warns of severe flooding there. It advises against all but essential travel to the far southern provinces and within 20km of the Cambodian border.
The US level is for the whole country, as the State Department sets it, and some countries have stricter advice for particular regions.
Who each one suits
From each city guide, word for word.
Bangkok
It suits
You want a genuinely world-class city on a mid-tier budget and you are willing to do paperwork. The DTV gives you five years, unlimited entries and 180 days a visit with one 180-day extension — nothing else in the region is that generous. If your work is asynchronous, your employer is foreign, your income is stable enough to leave half a million baht sitting in a bank for three months, and you are content to leave every six months, Bangkok is close to the best deal available anywhere.
It doesn't suit
You want any of this to be permanent, simple, or as cheap as the internet told you. The DTV leads nowhere — no residence, no citizenship, no accrual, just a renewal treadmill with a discretionary extension at the end of every 180 days. From 31 August 2026 you cannot even apply from Vientiane; you go home for it, with a police certificate. Stay 180 days and you are a Thai tax resident, and the remit-it-a-year-later trick died on 1 January 2024. Your landlord must file a form within 24 hours every time you re-enter the country or your next immigration appointment fails, and nobody will tell you this until it does. Vaping is flatly illegal. A post about the monarchy is a prison sentence.
Remote employees of foreign companies earning USD 60,000 a year or more, who can get the E33G remote worker visa and want a big community of other remote workers. People who ride a scooter confidently and hold the licence for it, and who want surf, rice fields and yoga around a working week.
It doesn't suit
Anyone planning to freelance for Indonesian clients, sell anything locally, or make paid content on a tourist visa: immigration is patrolling Canggu, uses face recognition on social media, and deports. Anyone counting on a tax exemption no official source confirms. Anyone who will not ride but expects a Grab everywhere, because village councils run no-pickup zones in Canggu. And anyone who hates traffic: 622 people died on Bali's roads in 2024, most of them on motorbikes.
