2.6/5
103 reviews
Photo by Alejandro Luengo via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Siargao

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power

island

internet

cuts

good

work

surfing

vibe

generators

case

general

luna

cloud

day

due

night

great

Siargao is known for its laid-back, surf-focused atmosphere. It has a vibrant social and party scene, with a variety of restaurants and a friendly community. General Luna is the central hub, busy but not overly crowded, even during peak season. The island is ideal for those looking to relax, surf, and enjoy a tropical vibe rather than work remotely.

However, remote workers will face challenges. Power outages are frequent and often unpredictable, disrupting both living conditions and work schedules. While some hostels or coworking spaces have generators and Starlink internet, these backups don’t guarantee stable connectivity or comfort, especially at night when ACs might not work due to power fluctuations. Noise can also be a problem, with loud music and barking dogs common during odd hours.

Internet speed varies significantly depending on your location. Places with fiber are rare and expensive. Overall infrastructure isn’t reliable enough for consistent remote work. Accommodation and food are decent but not the most affordable in Southeast Asia.

If your priority is surfing, socializing, and enjoying a chill island lifestyle, Siargao delivers. But if stable internet and quiet workspaces are essential, you'll face ongoing challenges here.

AI-generated summary of reviews
5 months ago

Best vibe I have encountered so far as it is Philippines' holiday island. Everyone is so chill, surf vibe, people are here to enjoy.

2 coworking spaces so far, both equipped with Starlinks and generators (in case of power cuts which are kinda frequent).
Accommodation is relatively ok price wise though not the cheapest.
Food is pretty good, not the best of SEA but definitely OK.

1 year ago

I’ve come to expect a few challenges, but General Luna (including Back Road, Cloud 9, and Malinao) takes it to another level. The people are lovely, the food is ok, housing can be pricey.

TL;DR: If you want to work reliably, find a place with fiber internet and solar power, or a generator that can run all day. Which are the more expensive places.

First off, forget about maintaining a regular work schedule. Power cuts, blackouts, and brownouts are the norm here. Whether planned or due to local incidents, the power goes out often. Repairs are fairly swift, but explaining the next 10-hour blackout to clients can become a headache.

The island's power system is woefully under capacity, and everyone knows it. Don’t expect this to change anytime soon. Some hostels, like Laxias, have generators, which are worth their weight in gold.

Even when the power is on, StarLink internet can be unreliable. It might drop out due to reasons nobody knows, or just because it’s a cloudy day. Patience is the only remedy here. Or find a place that has fiber.

If you manage to have both power and the internet, a good night's sleep is the next hurdle. At night, power cuts, or fluctuations, often stop the AC from working, so your bedroom gets hot.

If it’s none of the above, it's probably the noise. People blasting loud music from 6am (locals) or until 3am (guests) are not uncommon. And if that’s not the case, the local dogs will ensure you’re up at odd hours with their barking.

On the bright side, there aren't many mosquitos! So, there’s that.

All in all, not the best spot for getting work done, but if you can roll with the punches, the charm of the place, and surfing might just win you over.

1 year ago

Siargao is a vibrant Island. Known for its beautiful surfing beaches, both for beginners and professionals Siargao also offers some great parties, almost every night and a nice mix of restaurants. You will see many people in General Luna, but the Island doesn’t feel too crowded, even in peak season. Internet is not great, but you can find places with 100-200/mps

2 years ago

Good surfing on this island. More experienced surfers head to Cloud 9.

6 years ago

✅ Friendly people

✅ Great surfing

✅ Good party scene

✅ Chill atmosphere

✅ Affordable to live

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm all year round

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very easy to make friends

✅ Roads are pretty safe

✅ Democratic

✅ People can speak basic English

✅ Safe for women

❌ Frequent power cuts

❌ Unreliable internet

❌ Noisy at night

❌ Not ideal for remote work

❌ Housing can be pricey

❌ Freedom of speech is weak

❌ Pretty slow internet

❌ Very sweaty and humid now

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Difficult to do business

❌ Quality of education is low

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ Not family friendly

❌ Hostile towards LGBTQ+

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

30°C / 86°F warm

31°C / 88°F hot

30°C / 86°F warm

32°C / 90°F hot

33°C / 91°F hot

32°C / 90°F hot

34°C / 93°F hot

32°C / 90°F hot

33°C / 91°F hot

Real (median)

27°C / 80°F
warm

27°C / 81°F
warm

27°C / 80°F
warm

28°C / 82°F
very warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

28°C / 82°F
very warm

Humidity

sweaty
86%

sweaty
84%

sweaty
82%

sweaty
86%

sweaty
81%

sweaty
80%

sweaty
81%

sweaty
85%

sweaty
87%

Most common

☔️ Rain

Rain

rainy
440mm

rainy
296mm

rainy
239mm

rainy
169mm

rainy
180mm

rainy
219mm

rainy
147mm

rainy
156mm

rainy
180mm

rainy
230mm

rainy
358mm

rainy
384mm

Cloud

cloudy
54%

pockets
45%

pockets
47%

pockets
46%

cloudy
53%

cloudy
52%

cloudy
53%

cloudy
52%

cloudy
51%

cloudy
54%

cloudy
53%

cloudy
57%

Sun

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

Remote workers

320 people

400 people

467 people

520 people

450 people

1,200 people

400 people

560 people

333 people

650 people

250 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Siargao's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

Help pick the best photos for Siargao and improve this page's look by tappingclicking on them and the site saves your feedback Vote photos

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✈️4h

$1,558 / mo

17 Mbps

Manila

Philippines

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 36° 97° 30° 86° 🥵 AQI 84 😷

✈️1h

$1,558 / mo

8 Mbps

New York City, NY

United States

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌤 Feels 10° 50° 11° 52°

✈️19h

$7,120 / mo

31 Mbps

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 30° 86° 26° 78° 🥵 AQI 145 😷

✈️3h

$1,040 / mo

🌇 Also went here33 people

Ho Chi Minh City

Vietnam

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 30° 86° 27° 81° AQI 51 😷

✈️4h

$1,267 / mo

🌇 Also went here39 people

Tokyo

Japan

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety great

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 20° 68° 19° 66° AQI 63 😷

✈️4h

$3,477 / mo

🌇 Also went here44 people

Istanbul

Turkey

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌤 Feels 18° 64° 18° 64° AQI 124 😷

✈️13h

$1,727 / mo

🌇 Also went here32 people

Berlin

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 2° 36° 4° 40° AQI 53 😷

✈️14h

$4,083 / mo

🌇 Also went here32 people

Barcelona

Spain

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Very expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good

👍 Liked very bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌦 Feels 18° 64° 17° 62° AQI 30

✈️16h

$4,467 / mo

🌇 Also went here31 people

Lisbon

Portugal

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 🧐 Pricey

📡 InternetWiFi 🙂 Good

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety good

Tap to open

🌧 Feels 16° 61° 16° 61° AQI 29

✈️17h

$3,834 / mo

🌇 Also went here40 people

Members here right now

No members are here right now. If you are, add it as a trip and you'll show up here!

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.6/5 (Rank #324) 103 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍5 liked it 👎1 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Okay
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $1,830 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 9 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Good
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Hot: 28°C82°F (feels 32°C90°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 79%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	🥵 Very low: 14%
👌 Safety	Good
👩 Safe for women	Okay
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Bad
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Bad
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Okay
💰 Income level*	Very low: $246 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Good
🚶 Walkability	Okay
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Good
🧳 Lost luggage*	Good
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Okay
📶 Free WiFi in city	Okay
🖥 Places to work from	Great
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Okay
🎅 Startup Score	Okay

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	Philippines
🗓️ Average trip length	24 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	9 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌧 28°C 82°F + 🥵 Sweaty (79%) = feels 32°C 90°F
🔌 Power	230V 60Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Grab
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 100 PHP in USD	USD 1.69
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	PHP 10,000 = USD 169
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
☕️ Best coffee place	Cocosurf
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👍10% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	110,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$2,951 / year
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 78% 👱‍♀️ 22%
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Lazada
🏠 Apartment listings	Ayosdito
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Philippine

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$1,830 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,184 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$2,653 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$758 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$1,208 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$1,460 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$589 / month
🏠 Median home price	$101,778
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$57 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$48 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$236 / month
🍛 Dinner	$4
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$4
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$1