Places like Bali, Berlin and Lisbon top the world's lists of the best spots for digital nomads to work remotely and still live well: destinations that draw a global community of location-independent people with Wi-Fi as strong as the espresso and a lifestyle that offers real value for money.
But if one Lisbon native has his way, a tiny archipelago often called Europe's answer to Hawaii could become the next big thing in remote work.
And speaking of big, Goncalo Hall, a remote-work consultant helping to launch a new digital nomad community in a small village in Portugal's autonomous region of Madeira, actually means small.
Partner links: booking through them supports the blog at no extra cost to you.
"Since many people are leaving big cities right now, we wanted to build a village in a small place where people can create deeper connections than they would in a city," said Hall, 33, of Digital Nomads Madeira Islands.
When the pilot project opens on February 1, backed by Madeira's regional government and StartupMadeira in the red-roofed village of Ponta do Sol, it will be ready to welcome up to 100 remote workers in a coworking space and the surrounding village housing. Plans to expand into other buildings, both in the village and elsewhere on the island, are also in the works.
As with everything tied to Covid-19, the situation keeps shifting. On January 29, in response to a sharply worsening Covid-19 outbreak in the country, Portugal extended its lockdown and closed its land border with Spain. Citizens are barred from traveling abroad for 15 days.
The launch plans are still moving forward, which leaves the project's organizers waiting to see how it all plays out: if they build it, will the remote workers come?
Seeking more freedom and following your passions
So far, around 75 digital nomads have committed to being among the first to work in the scenic village of roughly 8,200 residents, set in a green valley on Madeira's southwestern coast, across from a pebble beach.
Hall, who is on Madeira and has already met some of the digital nomads, said around 40 people are expected on site on February 1, with nationalities that include Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Ireland and the Czech Republic.
The coworking hub sits inside the John Dos Passos Cultural Center, and housing across 40 different homes, as well as at a hotel in Ponta do Sol, has already been secured for the remote workers, said Carlos Soares Lopes, CEO of StartupMadeira, the business incubator involved in the project, which offers support to island-based companies.
Can you solve the mystery of these 60-year-old travel photos?
And more than 2,000 people from far-flung places such as South Africa, the United States and Nigeria have registered their interest through the website, Hall said. They are then added to a Slack community where they can get tips on housing, find potential roommates, stay up to date on local Covid-19 restrictions and pick up other advice.
Jenn Parr, an American living with her husband in Porto on mainland Portugal (and able to travel to Madeira since she is coming from an EU country), signed up for Madeira's digital nomad village and arrived on Madeira on Sunday.
The 37-year-old mindful early childhood development educator from Maryland said she is "not a big city person" and is drawn to the island's nature and hiking, the mild weather (winter highs hover in the low 60s) and the chance to be around other independent workers.
"The coworking space appeals to me," she said. "It can be inspiring to meet people who are entrepreneurs or who have found ways to build more freedom into their lives and follow their passions."
Parr and her husband interviewed potential roommates they met through the project's Facebook and Slack groups to share a three-bedroom apartment located between Funchal (Madeira's capital) and Ponta do Sol, which costs 1,800 EUR (about $2,200) a month.
Gabe Marusca and Ralu Enea, a Romanian couple who have been working remotely on Madeira since September 2020, recently heard about the nomad village and are considering joining to meet other remote workers.
After moving between places such as Bali, Cyprus, Malta and Spain, Marusca said the 34-mile-long island, long popular with sun-seeking tourists from the United Kingdom, offers "the full package."
Marusca listed access to the mountains and the ocean, affordability, friendly locals and "lightning-fast internet" among Madeira's perks, on top of its manageable size, which he thinks makes it easier to find community and settle in for a longer stay than the bigger places he has been.
"We don't want to spend one month in a place and then move on, it's super tiring," said the 36-year-old founder of Digital Finest, who shares a three-bedroom apartment with an ocean view in Funchal with Enea for 1,200 EUR a month.
What "vaccine passports" mean for your summer vacation
A small place, a big dream
Hall, the consultant helping to launch the project, said the idea of building a digital nomad village on the island best known for its namesake fortified wine came to him during a visit in September 2020.
After spending most of 2018 and 2019 traveling the world and working, chasing waterfalls in Bali and sampling street food in Thailand, he found himself on Madeira for the first time since childhood, for a work conference.
"The scenery here is like nothing I had ever seen before," Hall said of the archipelago, which is made up of four islands (only two of them inhabited) and lies just north of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, closer to Morocco than to the European mainland.
"I thought, 'I know the digital nomad community, why aren't people coming here?'"
Ponta do Sol was chosen to test the project, which is expected to expand into other parts of the island, said Lopes of StartupMadeira.
The coworking space is being set up with room for just 22 desks and chairs inside to start (with some covered outdoor seating available too). In line with social distancing and the island's Covid-19 rules, workers will use the space in shifts, with access to strong WiFi, a printer and that all-important coffee machine, Hall said.
Beautiful Madeira, the island of eternal spring
The hope for the project, even before it expands into other areas, is that digital nomads will spread out across the island to live and play, pumping money into a local economy hit hard by the pandemic, which has posed "big challenges" for locals whose livelihoods depend on tourism, Lopes said.
During its initial rollout phase from February 1 to June 30, there will be no charge to use the coworking space or take part in the community, though a minimum stay of one month is required.
Networking events, skill-sharing workshops on topics such as cryptocurrency, yoga sessions and hikes are already being considered as group activities for the community.
There are no plans to charge people to be part of the community in the future, Lopes said, adding that the project's goal is to prepare the local community to grow new businesses around the niche market.
Coworking, but first you have to get there
Residents of the European Union and Schengen countries are allowed to enter Madeira, but they must check their own countries' travel guidance and be prepared to show a negative Covid-19 PCR test to arrive on the island.
For now, most US-based Americans who want to join the digital nomad village beyond just Slack will have to wait, since nonessential travel to Portugal and the European Union is still restricted because of Covid-19.
Find out which countries are welcoming American tourists back
"While there are currently many countries with restrictions on travel to Portugal, such as the US, Canada and Brazil, we welcome sign-ups from these nationalities, because we believe that even though they can't travel to Madeira right now, they can already get to know our island and plan their future," Lopes said.
Locals welcome the prospect
Lopes said the response from local homeowners, businesses and even lawyers on the island has been "very positive" so far, with many expressing interest in being part of the initiative by adjusting housing prices to monthly rates for digital nomads and offering long-term car rental rates.
For a fee, island lawyers can also help digital nomads stay longer on the island by guiding them through applications for non-tourist visas, including Portugal's Golden Visa and the D7 residency permit.
Luis Vilhena, a Portuguese architect who has lived on Madeira since 1989 (he came for a six-month job and never left), said that once you are here, the island is easy to love.
"The scenery is inspiring, it's safe here, you can swim in the sea in the morning and hike in the mountains in the afternoon," he said. "On top of that, it's close to mainland Europe." The flight from Lisbon takes about 90 minutes.
Ponta do Sol, he said, feels like a natural home for a digital nomad village, with its easy access to mountain biking, sailing, surfing and other adventure activities.
Francisco Fontes, who is originally from Madeira and recently returned to the island with his Italian girlfriend when his finance job in the United States went remote, said Ponta do Sol, with its winding lanes, tiled roofs and pebble beach, is like "the villages along the Amalfi Coast in Italy."
"It's a very small place. When you think of a nomad village, this is really it," he said. "A place where you would step out and run into other people from the project."
Fontes said his grandmother, who was from Ponta do Sol and has since passed away, would have been thrilled to see new life breathed into her village.
"She always said she would love to see the movie theater in town come back to life, the way it was in the 1930s, when her father built it," he said.
"I think this kind of initiative really could bring back a little of what Ponta do Sol was originally built for," he said. "And I haven't heard anyone say anything bad about it, so that's always a good sign."
