13 Best Cities for a Workcation in Europe + a Complete Guide (2025)

If you’re planning a workation in Europe, this post has everything you need to know to plan your trip. From the destinations you should consider to choosing the right hotel, consider this your complete guide. 

I love remote work. For me, the best part of being able to do your job remotely is the ability to take your work with you on trips. I’ve worked at least partially remote since my first job, where I traveled across California for work. Since then, I have taken workations both in the US and internationally. 

Workations allow you to travel the world without taking loads of vacation days and burning through your PTO. It’s also a great way to check out a new city before deciding to move there! Most of my trips are hybrid workations, where I take a few days to work remotely and a few days to explore. 

Workations have even led to huge life changes for me. Years ago, I spent a week working remotely in Ireland when I suddenly had to travel to Europe for a funeral. From that trip, I knew I could make it work and ultimately moved to Ireland permanently in 2020. 

All about workations

A workation is a type of trip where you travel to a new destination and work remotely while you’re there. These trips are usually a few days to a few weeks, and you might stay in one location or travel around. I typically keep US hours when on workations, but some offices or types of work might be more flexible. 

The easiest remote work trips are add-ons to somewhere you were planning to go anyway. 

For example: going to a wedding? Make a long weekend out of it and work remotely for a few days. Always wanted to see a National Park? Work nearby for a few days before or after you visit the park. 

Planning to see a friend? Work remotely together for a few days to extend the trip (as a bonus, this will probably remind you of being in college!). 

Are workations the same as being a digital nomad?

No, a workation is a defined trip to a vacation destination from which you will work remotely. A digital nomad, by contrast, is someone who usually does not have a permanent home in their country of origin, but rather a semi-permanent base (or series of bases) abroad. Digital nomads typically work remotely while moving around from one spot to the next.

So, digital nomads can take workations, but not everyone on a workation is a digital nomad. 

Top destinations for your workation in Europe

One of the great things about workations is that you can base yourself most anywhere with a great wifi connection and a comfortable desk. Here are some of the top places for European workations, including many spots where I’ve personally workationed. 

Use this list as a guide – if there’s somewhere you’ve always wanted to go, workation there instead!

1. Lisbon, Portugal

Lisbon is one of the biggest digital nomad hubs in Europe, and for good reason. You’ll find great cafes, plenty of restaurants, and an active nightlife scene. As a bonus, there will be tons of other remote workers to connect with over drinks or coffee. 

Fun fact: one of the items on my travel bucket list is to travel to Lisbon for a remote work trip! I’ve only ever heard good things. 

2. Seville, Spain

Seville is a beautiful city in southern Spain, known for the orange trees that line the city streets. You can find beautiful, inexpensive, and spacious rentals near the city center. The cafes might be limited, so choose a hotel or apartment rental where you’ll be able to get some work done before you head off to enjoy a traditionally late dinner.  

3. Tallinn, Estonia 

Tallinn is a hip destination in eastern Europe for remote workers, and it’s only getting more popular. This capital city has wonderful coffee shops, sprawling green spaces, and great food – so long as you’re willing to travel around a bit. Consider staying in the hip but residential neighborhoods of Telliskivi or Kadriorg for the best options. 

4. Berlin, Germany

Berlin boasts great food and coffee at reasonable prices – much lower than what you’d find in, say, London. This German city is a digital nomad hub and center for remote work in Europe, so you’ll find most of the amenities you’re accustomed to in Berlin. As a bonus, the city has great public transit, bike shares, and walkable sidewalks, so it’s easy to get around. 

5. Stockholm, Sweden

The picturesque city of Stockholm would make a great destination for a workation. The city is safe, has great food, and there are plenty of green spaces that you can enjoy anytime you want to get out into nature. Expect high quality accommodations, but they’ll come at relatively high prices. 

6. London, England

For a big, metropolitan workation, you can’t do much better than London. This enormous metropolis is comparable in size to New York City, with all of the amenities you might expect. There are cafes to work from, coworking spaces, and plenty of types of hotels to accommodate different travelers. 

The downside? London is one of the priciest cities on this list, so it’s not the right choice for every traveler. 

7. Helsinki, Finland

Helsinki would be a great choice for a workation a bit off the beaten path. The Finnish capital is comparably priced to many destinations in western Europe, but it boasts a relaxing, safe atmosphere, wonderful food, and beautiful accommodations. The remote work scene in Helsinki is thriving and it’s more acceptable to work from coffee shops here than in some other European cities. 

Plus, a trip to Finland isn’t as expensive as you might think.

8. Naples, Italy

Naples is a bustling city set in the south of Italy. It’s the birthplace of pizza, so you’ll find incredible, cheap eats throughout the city. Accommodations tend to be reasonably priced, even in safer areas, but be sure that you grab a room with air conditioning if you visit during the warm summer months. 

A bonus: you can easily take a day trip the picturesque island of Ischia by ferry – it’s definitely worth visiting. Alternatively, you can spend a few days to a week settling into the pace of life on the island. 

9. Cork, Ireland

If you love smaller cities with great nightlife, consider planning a workation in Cork, Ireland’s lesser known second city. There are plenty of coworking spaces to choose from, or you can work from one of the city’s coffee shops (or a mix of both). On the weekends, you can see Ireland by taking day trips from Cork. 

10. Lagos, Portugal

Lagos is a fun, warm, and sunny European destination for a workation. This seaside city is located in the Algarve region of southern Portugal, home to a collection of beautiful beaches with incredible rock formations. After a day working remotely in Lagos, you can enjoy a fun nightlife scene and some cheaper restaurants than you’ll find in other towns in the Algarve. 

11. Rome, Italy

Similar to London and Naples, Rome is a bustling city with near constant activity. There are seemingly endless things to see and do in Rome, so you can explore anytime you’re not actively working. I recommend booking an accommodation outside of the center of the city and in a lively, local neighborhood for the best experience. 

12. Edinburgh, Scotland

Home to Harry Potter, bagpipes, and an almost limitless supply of charm, Edinburgh is the perfect place for a workation that doubles as a creative retreat. There are seemingly endless cafes and coffee shops to work from in Edinburgh, and the city is a foodie haven, to boot. 

Edinburgh is mid-range in terms of pricing – you can usually find affordable hostels and Airbnbs if you’re willing to share your living space. 

13. Zagreb, Croatia 

Croatia is, unfortunately, another place I have yet to visit in my travels. Alas, it’s well known as a digital nomad and remote work hub, so it’s definitely worth considering for your European workation. Zagreb is affordable, has great weather, and contains all of the infrastructure you’ll need as a remote worker. 

Tips for planning the perfect European workation

See below for my advice, tips, and tricks to planning a great trip while you work remotely. 

✅ ​​Consider combining your workation with PTO

Because you’re already flying internationally, you might consider a longer trip that combines a week or two of vacation with 1-2 weeks of remote work. This will give you a feel for the place and also a chance to explore, without compromising on either. 

My partner and I did this in Cusco, working from our Airbnb and coffee shops after spending a couple of weeks traveling around the country.

✅ ​​Keep all of your computer gear in your carry on

I bring my laptop and chargers with me in my carry on in case my luggage gets lost or damaged. It’ll be much easier to deal with any luggage issues if you have your laptop with you.

✅ ​​Don’t forget your outlet adapters

Locals don’t usually use outlet adapters, so they can be surprisingly hard to find in some places. This is especially true if you’re visiting somewhere a bit off of the beaten path. 

So, I recommend that you buy your outlet adapters before you leave for your trip and bring them with you. If you’re going to Europe, I like to use a universal adaptor because they work in both the EU and UK and they have lots of USB ports to charge multiple devices. As a bonus, they’re a little bit ugly so no one will want to steal them (hopefully). 

Bring at least one outlet adapter per person. 

✅ ​​Get a VPN

Get a VPN if your work doesn’t already have one. This will help you to access US-only sites and can help protect you from malware and spyware. I use Surfshark, which doesn’t log, monitor, or store users’ online activities. 

✅ ​​Change the timezone on your calendars

My Google Calendar that shows both Eastern US and Ireland timezones.

Be aware of the timezones and be sure you know the local time for your home office. I always keep a second visible timezone on my Google Calendar–right now I have one for Ireland (my current location) and another for the East Coast in the US. You can easily change the timezone for your Google Calendar in the settings.

✅ ​​Try to minimize meetings

Meetings are the most challenging part of any workation because you have to find a quiet, neutral place to take them. If your work allows, try to minimize the meetings you’ll have to take while on your workation. 

✅ ​​Work ahead, if possible

If you can, get ahead on your work before you go. This helps to lower the stakes of your trip overall and can help you to more thoroughly enjoy your time away from the computer in the evenings. 

If you’re up against a deadline and planning a shorter trip, you may spend the whole workation worrying about the deadline. 

✅ ​​Don’t count on the plane ride

Unless you regularly work on planes and know that it works for you, do not plan to work on your flight. Even when I’ve had the best of intentions, I have often run into issues with plane wifi, chatty passengers, turbulence in the air, etc. that have prevented me from getting any real work done in the air. 

✅ ​​Scrutinize your hotel or Airbnb listing

Some of the worst experiences I’ve had working remotely were times when the space was too small for two simultaneous phone calls, and my partner or I had to work outside in the elements. Similarly, I have stayed in places with really nice couches or cute coffee tables, only to find them very uncomfortable after a few hours.

Spending a little bit of extra time looking through photos and anticipating what it will be like in your workspace can go a long way towards ensuring that you have a pleasant experience once you get here.

How to ensure you’ll have a reliable wifi connection

If you’re able to do your job remotely, it almost certainly requires an internet connection. Having a strong, reliable wifi connection is probably the most important consideration for any workation destination. 

Trust me, you don’t want to skimp on your planning here. 

✅ ​​Pick a base that has reliable internet

Some rural or seaside destinations can, unfortunately, be plagued with slow or unreliable wifi. Make sure you’ll be able to access high speed internet in the city you’re planning to visit before you go. 

You can easily Google the internet speeds in the city or region you’re planning to visit. If they look fairly similar to the country-level speeds and it’s within the acceptable range for your work, you should be good to go. 

✅ Confirm that your workspace will have sufficient internet 

No matter where you’re planning to stay, you’ll want to check the internet speeds at your intended accommodation. You can do this by checking the reviews on Airbnb, Google Maps, Yelp, or any other site where they have been reviewed. 

Just go to the reviews section and search for a few terms like “wifi” and “connection” and typically at least one person will have mentioned their experience with the wifi. Sometimes reviewers will even mention the exact download or upload speeds from their speed tests. You can help future travelers out by mentioning the internet speed in your reviews to help others with their research.

Ask for wifi speeds ahead of time, if needed

If you can’t find enough information about the internet speeds from the reviews, or if you want more information, you can ask your hotel or Airbnb ahead of your trip for their internet speeds. The host or staff should be able to tell you the internet speeds guests can expect. 

✅ Have a backup wifi plan

Even the best laid wifi plans can go sideways, so you’ll always want to have a backup option (or two). 

Here are some of your options:

Cell phone tethering

Your cell phone company might be able to offer high speed internet and tethering globally. For instance, my US provider, T-Mobile, offered a global plan for $50/month that included 15 GB of international hotspotting, as well as unlimited calls and texts. You can also consider buying a prepaid SIM after you arrive, which should also offer hotspotting. 

I use Three.ie in Ireland, but you can always ask the locals for recommendations after you arrive. 

Coffee Shops

Although Europeans are less likely to work from coffee shops, they’re still a great option. Many cafes have wifi available, especially if you look for one near the areas of town popular with students. 

Hot-desking or Coworking Spaces

Coworking spaces are increasingly popular in Europe, and they typically have day passes available for digital nomads and workationers. These spaces can get pricey, so I usually opt to spend a little more on an accommodation that I can work from. 

Satellite Internet

I’ve never tried using a portable satellite internet, but they are available in the event that your location isn’t able to support the internet speeds you need. Here is a site that outlines some options that might work for you, including options for international travel. 

How fast does your internet have to be?

How fast of a connection is likely dependent on the type of work you do. The first thing you’ll want to do is establish a baseline–run an internet speed test from your normal workspace and see how fast the internet is where you’re used to working. 

My normal wifi at home in rural Ireland was about 33 mbps for downloads and 15 mbps for uploads. Google considers this “fast” and it was sufficient for my partner and I to work simultaneously.  

How to ensure that your workspace will be quiet

You could replace “quiet” with “conducive work environment” because the idea is the same: you need to find somewhere where you can get some actual work done. The speed of your wifi won’t save you if you can’t focus over the distractions of your workspace. 

For this reason, I like to have a few workspaces planned: one at the place where I’m staying, one at a coffee shop, and another at a backup coffee shop. More than once, all of these options have proven unusable or undesirable, and I’ve had to make my way to a library. 

What you’ll need to have a positive work experience in a new place depends on you and the environment that helps you focus. For me, ambient noise is helpful, direct conversations are distracting, and I find the sounds of cars driving by very irritating, so I fight fire with a fire extinguisher and bring decent headphones wherever I go. 

✅ Get the right headphones

I bring three pairs of headphones with me on workations, and the variety helps me adjust to the places I choose to work. If you aren’t terribly sensitive to noise–or if you find most headphones easy to wear for hours at a time–you probably won’t need all three options. 

Noise Canceling

I bring heavy duty, over ear, noise-canceling headphones to help me focus and minimize distractions while I work. I have the older version of these headphones from Bose and I love them. Most importantly, they are comfortable to wear and don’t irritate me after several hours of wear. 

Lightweight Bluetooth Headphones

When things are quieter, I prefer to use my AirPods because they’re very comfortable, lightweight, and pause automatically when I take one out of my ear. They’re very small and can easily fit in a pocket or purse if needed. 

Corded Headphones

I almost always bring a pair of corded headphones with me as a backup in case my other two sets were to die or have other issues. The most common problem I’ve run into is the microphones on bluetooth headphones being lower quality than corded headphones; if people are ever having trouble understanding me, I just switch to a corded pair. 

I keep a pair of corded headphones in my carrying case for my Bose.  

✅ Find a quiet cafe

If your coworkers can tolerate the background noise of a cafe – or if you’re lucky enough not to have calls and meetings all day – a coffee shop can be a great landing place for your workation! Similar to an Airbnb or hotel, you can check their Google or Yelp reviews for mentions of their internet speed.   

I only work from coffee shops on days when I have a light load of meetings. Avoid trying to take important meetings at coffee shops unless it’s truly your only option, as there are always strange and loud noises that seem to happen at the worst moments. No one wants to be talking to the CFO when a barista starts steaming the milk for a late afternoon latte. 

✅ Post up in a library

When I’ve been in a bind for a quiet place to work with wifi, I have occasionally found my way to libraries. These public spots tend to have outlets, comfortable places to sit, and are quiet. 

If your workday consists of quietly working on your laptop, a library might be perfect for you! On the other hand, if you need to be on calls or in meetings, the library can get challenging quickly. Some will have “phone call rooms” but you might get stuck taking your calls outside all day. 

How to be comfortable on your workation

Comfort is the last major factor you’ll want to consider when planning your trip. The best case scenario is that you’ll be staying with friends who will have comfortable spaces for you to work, perhaps with your own office! 

Assuming that’s not the case for you, you’ll want to investigate the places you plan to work and be sure that they’ll be conducive to your work style. 

Choose the right hotel

Before the pandemic, I tended to give a little less thought to my accommodations because I worked from coffee shops most of the time. Now, I primarily work from my Airbnbs, so the quality of the workspace there has taken on a new level of importance. 

When evaluating the place I’m going to stay, here are the things I look for:

✔️ Does it have a comfortable-looking chair? 
✔️ Is there a chair for everyone who will be working from this space?
✔️ Is there enough space for everyone working from the space to work effectively?
✔️ Does it have a decent-looking table? Is the surface completely flat?
✔️ Is the desk big enough for all of your work equipment? 
✔️ Is there a place where you can plug your computer in while you work? If not, you may want to bring an extension cord or buy one when you arrive. 
✔️ If the only table and chair(s) are outside, can you bring them inside if needed?
✔️ Is there enough light in the space?
✔️ Is there natural light in the space?
✔️ Am I going to bother anyone by being on the phone/working from this space?

If you try to work from a hotel bed for a full week, you’re probably going to be miserable. It’s definitely worth the extra time and effort to thoroughly scrutinize your workspace. 

Or, opt for a coworking space

I don’t usually work from coworking spaces when I take workations, but they’re definitely worth considering. You can usually find coworking spaces by simply searching on Google Maps. There seems to be some European Union funding for coworking spaces, so even remote areas can sometimes have a coworking space within a short drive. 

If you’re looking for daily pricing, European coworking spaces tend to call their day passes a “hotdesk pass” or something similar. 

FAQs: Planning a workation in Europe

Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about planning a workation in Europe. 

What’s the difference between being a digital nomad and taking a workation?

The difference between being a digital nomad and taking a workation comes down to the duration of the trip. A digital nomad usually doesn’t have a house in their home country, opting instead to work remotely from various locations around the world. A workation is usually the length of a normal vacation, but you work remotely while you’re there. 

Some people love workcations so much that they decide to become digital nomads–people who live around the world and complete their work online. If this piques your interest, here are some interesting statistics about digital nomads.

What is the definition of a workation?

The definition of a workation is a trip where you work remotely, but in a vacation destination. You can take a workation at the beach, in the mountains, or even just in a city you’ve never visited before. 

What’s the ideal length of a workation?

The ideal length of a workation will depend on how long you like to travel and how long you’d like to extend. I usually prefer workations to be 1-3 weeks long, but I’ve gone on trips as short as four days. 

If you’re not sure how long you’d like to travel, I would suggest taking a trial trip or two to a nearby destination first. Spend part of a week working remotely from a nearby city and stay in an Airbnb to make sure it’s the sort of travel that you enjoy. 

Conclusion: A Complete Guide to Planning a Workation in Europe

Taking a workation is a great way to explore the world and make the most of your remote job. Really, you could take a European workation just about anywhere, but some cities do have more infrastructure for remote workers. 

Wherever you choose to go, spend some time picturing how you’ll actually get your work done. Whether you’ll be working from a coworking space, your hotel room, or a cafe, be sure that you’ll have what you need to be productive. A good pair of headphones, an adapter for your laptop, and a strong wifi connection are all must-haves.