18 Amazing world locations where startup founders can (and should) go on workation

This article was first published on Thinkruptor.com. Sign up here to grab the first free issue of Thinkruptor Magazine.

Written by: Danica Radisic

With a growing global remote workforce, busy startup founders and entrepreneurs might be missing a vital piece of the big picture. While the first years of operating a successful startup can be chock full of riveting moments and business travel, it also means plenty of sleepless nights and no vacation time.

Pondering on the possible vacation time of our own remote team over the next year or two, we took a look at possible destinations for so-called workactions. As a startup we can’t afford to miss a beat. And we can’t afford burnout either.

After seeing what the world had to offer, we’re excited to visit some of these spots — and work full-time remotely when we get there. Unlike most collections listing the best places to work remotely, we paid no mind to cost or distance. In selecting these delectable destinations, we focused on comfort, business networking, internet speed and stability.

Cape Town, South Africa

Though the cities on this list are in no particular order, Cape Town comes highly recommended for the modern busy entrepreneur. Investors would make no mistake in selecting this workation spot either.

The South African Business Angel Network (SABAN) was founded in 2016 and could be a good place to start planning a couple of weeks of work-life balance in Cape Town. The downside is that this is one of the exceptions on this list in terms of a great internet connection. While high speed wi-fi may still be wonky round these parts, the personal connections and beaches may be worth the trip.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

For North American entrepreneurs who prefer something a little closer to home, there’s always Mexico. Like Cape Town, this was not among our top picks for the internet connection speeds, but connections are more than fine for staying in touch with the office back home and getting a day’s work done poolside at the hotel. Perfect for that coveted long weekend getaway or a week at the beach, without missing a day of work.

Lisbon, Portugal

For decades after World War II, Lisbon was known as the meetup spot for Europe’s top spies. Today, it seems to be growing in popularity as a meetup spot for Europe’s remote workforce and entrepreneurs. With average 21Mbps connections, some of the most gorgeous beaches in Europe, and gourmet food on every corner, we’re eyeing this particular spot for our own workations this year.

Portugal also has a startup ecosystem that has recently been growing at twice the average European rate and plenty of tech industry events to use as an excuse to visit. In fact, the city itself is co-investing in building one of the largest startup campuses on the continent. And if that doesn’t impress you, Portuguese fine wines and traditional dishes certainly will.

Vilnius, Lithuania

Lithuania is another country in which the government is directly involved in creating a healthier and welcoming environment for both ICT startups and direct foreign investments. Although not a beach-ridden, subtropical vacation spot, the small country’s capital, Vilnius, boasts some of the most exquisite examples of 15th and 16th century European architecture and wonderful local dishes and culture to explore.

While the likes of Cape Town and Lisbon may be more adequate for travel with family and friends, Vilnius is a perfect hangout for entrepreneurs and investors who might want to spend some alone time. Pro tip: almost every city in Lithuania has its own local brewery. Feel free to explore, after work hours, of course.

Timisoara, Romania

Entrepreneurs and investors who are unfamiliar with Romania’s IT workforce and startup ecosystem should immediately leave this page and proceed to book a ticket to Timisoara. In 2016, Forbes dubbed the city “the best business city in Romania” and an average connection of 25Mbps gives visitors a perfectly decent opportunity you work.

Legend has it that entrepreneurs who visit the city usually end up involved in founding or co-founding a new startup there. Mind that most business meetings and events throughout Eastern Europe tend to involve copious amounts of food. Aside from possibly leaving the workaction with a new company registered in a foreign land, you might also be carrying a few extra pounds on the flight back home.

Jeju Island, South Korea

Known as “the Hawaii of South Korea” and the largest island off the coast of Korea also happens to be implementing a “smart tourism” plan. In collaboration with the country’s Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the island is creating infrastructure and financial support to increase the growth of both local and foreign startups contributing to the island’s tourism.

A great way to start contributing is a two-week stay, while looking into potential ventures there. Jeju boast a ridiculous internet speed of 99Mbps, so be sure to purchase extra cloud storage to download all of the stuff you haven’t had time to download back home. You should have that all done in the first day and can rest easy for the rest of your workaction.

Amalfi, Italy

Italy has been and remains synonymous with good food, gorgeous weather, history and business. Amalfi is no different. We could go on about the small city’s features on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea and high speed internet averaging at 72Mbps, but we’ll just leave this here instead.

Avignon, France

From 1309 to 1377, Avignon was the seat of Catholic popes. Today, the medieval part of the city still stands — and now has average internet speeds of 60Mbps. The city, with a population of just over 90,000, is famous for its cultural and theatrical programs, but now also has accelerators and an artistic startup scene.

Set on the Rhône River in Provence, Avignon is a fantastic place to head to Marseille and Cannes to explore the entire southern coast of France. A combined wine/food tasting/startup tour is laid out for the picking.

Bordeaux, France

From wine startups to hardware, wearables and fintech, Bordeaux has it all. Did we mention the wine though?

Leave it to the city of Bordeaux to have the first wine startup association in the world. Founded in 2013 and led by the director a wine company incubator at the Institute of Wine and Wine Sciences of the University of Bordeaux, Wine StartUps aims to gather and encourage all wine-related startup businesses in the area. To reiterate — that’s a) wine; b) science; and c) startups. If there’s a heaven for tech entrepreneurs, this may be it.

New Orleans, Louisiana

If there are still any entrepreneurs and investors not paying attention to NOLA, we’re here to remind you that the city’s startup and industry event scene is booming to the rhythm and fame of its world renowned jazz festival.

If you’re somehow prevented from visiting New Orleans for the fastest growing industry event in North America, happening from April 30 to May 3, 2018, then any other time is nearly just as good for a couple of weeks of workationing there. While the city’s population is still 30% smaller than what it used to be before Katrina hit, in the five years after the disastrous event, over 44,000 college graduates moved to New Orleans, looking for opportunity and ways to rebuild the city and its culture. Between 2007 and 2009, the city’s new business rate was 64% higher than the average U.S. city. If the culture and food don’t warrant a visit, then the city’s growing business energy does.

Sliema, Malta

If only there were an English-speaking island nation with high speed internet connections off the coast of Europe, where busy founders, entrepreneurs and investors could relax on a beach and work on their laptops at the same time. While Europe may not have its own Caribbean, it has Malta to make up for it.

Malta is Europe’s sometimes overlooked island paradise and the island has a solid understanding of startup life and business. While Malta is ideal for both remote work and local play, it’s probably a better fit for a 10-hour work week than it is for full-time gigs.

Funchal, Madeira

Speaking of often overlooked island paradises, Portugal’s Madeira archipelago deserves way more attention from travel-loving entrepreneurs than it’s been getting. The city of Funchal offers a plethora of high end resorts at reasonable prices, incredible subtropical scenery, golf courses, beaches, and is home to the Madeira Technology and Science Park.

Set some 600 miles off the coast of Morocco and part of a EU country, it’s surprising that Funchal hasn’t already become a favorite work-meets-play getaway for European entrepreneurs and executives.

Ibiza, Spain

Who knew Europe had so many fair-weathered, high-tech islands? While Ibiza may be best known for its nightclubs and all-night summer party season, the Spanish isle has much more to offer.

In season, the islands tourism overcrowding and loud party scene might be a bit too much for the average working founder to bear. Out of season, however, Ibiza still has a growing lifestyle business startup community and is slowly becoming favorite location for team building sessions. Either way, not a bad place to get away for a few days, while keeping an eye on business.

Bern, Switzerland

If the choice is between burnout and Bern-out, we recommend the latter. For those who prefer something a little less subtropical in Europe, Bern is a Swiss gem often overshadowed by its more popular neighbor Geneva. Bern, however, remains the capital, both in the administrative and business sense.

The almost fairy tale and old-school European setting may be one of the best places to get away from the everyday pressures of running a booming startup, without actually running away from the work involved. And Switzerland is always a good place to talk about business development and funding.

Oranjestad, Aruba

Looking at this list, one might think we have an obsession with islands. The truth is that entrepreneurs who are often swamped with work and are trying to achieve that widely coveted work-life balance sometimes need to go to harder to reach places to figure out what’s what.

While Aruba is famed for its shopping, dining, crystal clear waters, casinos and golf courses, it’s also a great place to just wind down and get some work done. The Dutch island’s capital, Oranjestad, also boasts a decent startup environment and an annual tech and investment conference, in case anyone needs a valid excuse for a business trip or a team building session.

Wollongong, Australia

Over the past few years, a surfing town on the coast of Australia, just south of Sydney, has been branding itself as the best place on the continent for startups and remote workers.

Surfing, paragliding, hiking and visits to the local Buddhist temple are just some of the things remote startup CEOs might want to entertain themselves with on their lunch breaks in Wollongong. About a third of the city’s 30,000 university students are from other countries and the university itself has started a startup incubator and is providing funding access for startups. Seems like Wollongong has a great recipe going and one more of us would like to see up close.

Fortaleza, Brazil

For nearly half a decade, Brazil’s fifth largest city has been an up-and-coming IT hub in one of the largest and fastest developing markets in the world. A technology park, several choices of co-working spaces, and possibly the fastest average internet speed in South America make Fortaleza one of the go-to spots for busy entrepreneurs and investors to get away to work in peace for a while.

The lagoons, beaches, museums, kayaking, horseback riding, and local architecture won’t hurt either. For those worried about time zones and keeping a close eye on their startup’s day-to-day while they’re away but not really away, Fortaleza is just 2 hours behind London, 3 hours ahead of the US East Coast, and a whole 3 hours behind Europe. Plenty of time to hit the beach before or after office hours.

Cebu, Philippines

The capital of Cebu Province has slowly but surely been making a name for itself in the startup and investment world in Southeast Asia. Much of this may have been overlooked thanks to the country’s political events of late, but Cebu remains a great place for a couple of weeks of work and play in a tech friendly and remote environment.

Several multinationals have taken notice of this growing tech hub in the Philippines, but there’s still little support for local startups. Over the past decade, Cebu has become central in this region for tech and business process outsourcing, bringing in over $25 billion in revenue in 2016 from this sector alone and employing 250,000 people in the province. And the province happens to be the ninth largest island in the Philippine archipelago, so there’s no shortage of beaches and great weather.