10 Destinations to “Work From Home” in India

I had always been a self-proclaimed slow traveller even before the pandemic started. Ever since I started travelling, I have lived by the mantra – slow, solo, sustainable. But having a constant itch on my feet to seek the next best place never let me truly live up to this promise of slow travel I had made to myself. The “slowest” I had travelled before the pandemic was the two weeks in Bhutan and two weeks in Lahaul. Right before 2020, I also made my longest trip ever – the one month I spent exploring the Kohima and Mon districts of Nagaland. But it wasn’t until I resumed my travels post-lockdown, that the truest meaning of slow travel dawned upon me. Without me even realising it, I was also travelling to some of the most incredible work from home destinations in India, along with many others like me.

As the country shifted on to work from home, the trend of work from hills also started and inevitably so. Now more than ever, the community of Indian digital nomads has grown many-fold, as has the need to scour the best WFH locations in India. So without much further ado, here is a list of some work from home destinations in India to consider, for your next “work from home” staycation in India.

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✈️Book Flights: Skyscanner for cheapest deals
🚤Book Transfers: 12goAsia
🛌Book Hotels: Booking and Expedia for best deals
🤳Book Tours: GetYourGuide, and Viator
🩺Global Travel Insurance: SafetyWing
🧴Sunscreen: Thank You Farmer (Reef Safe), Foxtale (SPF 70)

Tirthan Valley

Tirthan Valley was the first place I went to when the lockdown eased and travel was possible again in 2020. I initially went with a plan of two weeks, but ended up staying there for two whole months! Needless to say, I think Tirthan Valley is one of the best work from home destinations in Himachal Pradesh. Located in the Kullu district, parts of this region – like Jibhi – are a tourist hotspot with cafes and bustling markets, but most of Tirthan Valley remains highly underexplored by mainstream tourism, making it the perfect place to work and play!

I find the lower villages of Tirthan Valley to be some of the best places for digital nomads in India. The higher up towards Jalori Pass you go, especially Jibhi and onwards, the more chances of power shortages and poor network are, making it not quite suitable as work from home destinations in India. However, the lower reaches of the valley like Banjar, Gushaini etc are just the ideal place to work from hills India. I spent the initial two weeks in The Blue Sheep Hostel in Banjar. The hostel has its in-house cafe but for cheaper meals, I found a couple of dhabas where I could eat a hearty plate for as low as 80 rupees! I spent the next month and a half at The Happy Host in Bini. This is a wonderful wooden homestay with WiFi and cosy rooms overlooking a stunning view of the valley. The host, Deva, is a wonderful cook and their kitchen is open for guests to use, so I had little to worry about.

My time in Tirthan Valley was mostly spent working and hiking. With the construction of the Atal Tunnel, I was also able to take weekend trips to Chandra Tal and other parts of Lahaul. Apart from the plethora of available day treks in Tirthan Valley, I also went on a road trip to Shilha, an offbeat village in Parvati Valley. So if you’re looking for the best hill stations to work in India, look no further and head straight to Tirthan Valley!

Also read: Top Day Hikes in Tirthan Valley.

Leh

As recommended by Jitaditya from The Travelling Slacker

Leh has that image of being extremely remote and exotic and so it doesn’t immediately come to mind as one of the best WFH locations in India. However, the rapid developments in recent years mean that it can easily serve as one.

Modern Leh is a 21st-century oasis in the middle of a cold desert. Back in 2018, I spent almost a month in Leh, occasionally moving out to explore other areas but returning to the city after every detour. I made Ree Hostel by Raybo my base while many other guesthouses and homestays are available too if you need privacy. Even the hostel was more spacious than those in any other city I’ve been to. If you try to book online, it may cost more but if you roam around the town, you can easily find individual rooms at reasonable rates in three digits.

Leh is one of the most ideal work from home destinations in India because connectivity here is never an issue. Most hostels and guesthouses have Wi-Fi, as do the restaurants and cafes around the main market. However, my favourite spot is slightly hidden from the market and located inside the Leh Old Town behind the market. It is called Lala’s Cafe and it is unmistakable because of the larger than life stela with a Buddhist figurine in front of it. You can sit at the terrace with a clear view of the Leh palace above and sip sea buckthorn juice as you work. They also run heritage walks around the Old town of Leh.

The Delhi-Manali-Leh Bus Service remains open only during the summer but flights continue during the winter too, making winter Ladakh trips a possibility (although it’ll be bitterly cold). As far as additional activities are concerned, I am sure any serious traveller knows what to see and do in Ladakh. You’ll find buses, cabs, and bike hire options easily in the city to explore the rest of the region.

Suggested read: A Solo Traveler’s Guide to Leh.

Gokarna

Gokarna is a little slice of paradise that is incredibly close to my heart. After visiting here for the first time in 2019, I promised myself that I’d come back here for a longer period of time and early 2021 was when I got to fulfil this dream. I spent two months in this little beach town and I have to admit, it is undoubtedly one of the best work from home destinations in India. Across Om Beach, Kudle Beach and Middle Beach, most cafes also offer decent accommodation that is most often not listed online. So the best way to find the cheapest deal for long term rentals is to just arrive there and go knocking from cafe to cafe. I stayed in a beautiful beach facing cafe called Shiva Ganga on Middle Beach where I would wake up to the sound of waves crashing and start my morning with a swim, making Gokarna one of the best beach cities to live in India. Almost all cafes in Gokarna offer free WiFi as the network connectivity is quite poor. I ended up paying INR 9,000 for 6 weeks which was quite a steal deal, in my opinion.

For food, I had borrowed cooking appliances including a stove, utensils and pots and pans from friends of friends and set up my own kitchen. however, there are several places that come with an attached kitchen as well such as Kencha’s Resort and Green Field Gokarna. Apart from these long term rental options in Gokarna, the cafe scene here is fantastic and my favourite cafe to work from in Gokarna was Bhagavan Cafe on Middle Beach. With enough hikes, temples and beaches to explore and plenty of options for day trips on weekends, Gokarna is definitely one of the best places to work remotely in India, so much so that I found a little community of Indian digital nomads living in Gokarna. “Work from beach India” took on a new meaning here and I wholeheartedly recommend this place to anyone and everyone!

Read next: A Complete Travel Guide to Gokarna.

Gangtok

As recommended by Madhurima from Orange Wayfarer

Nestled between the high hills of the Sikkim Himalaya, Gangtok is a beautiful city. In December 2020, I spent a month meandering through her old dinghy lanes, snaking between the inns and the old cafes. A few British made architectural wonders stood apart in all their old-world glory. Touristy stuff aside, Gangtok’s swank clean appearance impressed me the most. Gentle people kept their houses and backyard clean. Myriad colours of mountain blooms pave the way as you explore the tiny hill city.

Being a tourist hotspot, Gangtok has no shortage of good hotels and friendly faces – immediately making it one of the most offbeat work from home destinations in India. Hospitality in Gangtok ranges from old heritage bungalows to vacation rentals. WiFi might be a challenge, however, Jio hotspots ensure decent unhindered service. Gangtok’s heartland, the MG Marg houses the best of the cafes, bakeries, beautiful souvenir shops and many tea rooms. As a digital nomad in India, I was keen on spending my evenings at the Biker’s Cafe, sipping on a cup of hot tea and witnessing a beautiful sunset that painted the Sleeping Buddha range in bright red and yellow!

For quick meals, trust the Nepali Khaja Ghar or streetside vendors serving Maggi. They would not cost you more than INR 30 for a hearty meal. Cooking a meal is an easy choice once in a while if you get the opportunity to access a kitchen. In my case, I chose to stay at Fern Denzong, which also serves an amazing breakfast. I highly recommend staying close to the MG marg to not only have access to a thriving marketplace, but for the hospitals and other essential facilities to be at an arm’s reach as well. From Gangtok, visiting the much-acclaimed Gurudongmar Lake in North Sikkim or Zuluk on the ancient Silk Route in East Sikkim make for the perfect weekend trips as you take a small break from your work from hills in India!

Bengaluru

As recommended by Kaushal from The Exotic Gringo

Bengaluru may not immediately seem like one of the best places for digital nomads in India, but I’m a bit biased towards it, especially since it was where I started my digital nomad journey back in 2009. I have spent 6 months each in 2009, 2011 and again in 2017 in this busy city of Karnataka.

In 2009, I stayed in an amazing duplex in Murugeshpallya that I rented from a friend who had just moved to London. It was a steal deal at that time – 13K for a semi-furnished duplex. I used to love working from the Leela back then. Now, there’s another great option right opposite – the Sterling Mac Hotel. Both are great locations with ample space to work from. Indira Nagar is yet another great place for digital nomads in Bengaluru. Indira Nagar is a choc-a-bloc with amazing cafes and co-working spaces. Among some of my favourites are Smoke House Deli & The Ants Café. There’s also a Starbucks around the corner, always. Perhaps the easiest place to find monthly or no-agreement on-demand stays for both bachelors and digital nomads in Bangalore is Madivala, which can be best explored on foot for finding your ideal stay.

As a digital nomad in Bangalore, my strategy was to live in bachelor-friendly neighbourhoods, which always have a plethora of budget and homely food options available and serve great thali meals. Needless to city, this city is surely one of the best work from home destinations in South India.

Manali

As recommended by Arnav from The ETLR Blog

Over the course of 2020- 21, I was working from hills from the Manali region, and there are plenty of reasons why this popular mountain destination makes for one of the best work from home destinations in India. There are many amazing cafes in Manali and Old Manali, which offer the perfect ambience to work from the mountains while enjoying the views. Some of the best cafes I found were – Rocky’s, Renaissance, and Drifter’s Cafe, which make Manali one of the best work from home destinations in Himachal Pradesh On weekends and work holidays, there are plenty of treks in Manali that you can do, such as the Bhrigu Lake Trek, Chandrakhani Pass, Hampta Pass, Beas Kund Trek among others. Manali’s proximity to Ladakh and Spiti is a cherry on top, and the Atal Tunnel has made taking these road trips even easier. There are plenty of quaint offbeat villages to check out as well. Over the course of 7-8 months, I stayed in Hallan Village, Nasogi, Old Manali and Vashisht, and every place had something unique to offer, each with plenty of amazing homestays and hostels where you can stay and experience the digital nomad community in India.

WiFi is easier to find in places near Manali. But the further away you go, the more difficult it is to find a WiFi connection in the villages. However, the Jio signal is excellent in and around Manali and is more than enough to cater to your Work from Home requirements, making it the perfect place to work from hills in India.

Goa

As recommended by Chandreyi from The Moonchasers

A naturally favourable destination for Indian digital nomads for decades now, Goa has seen the true influx of digital nomads as more people started working from anywhere since Covid19 as businesses adjust to socially distant workspaces. We live here now and have been opting to work from home/work from our homestay, taking “work from beach” India to another level!

In February 2021, our guests who are professionals in finance booked a month-long stay at Quarto Da Lua Goa, our quaint heritage home in Saligao. There are legitimate challenges like faulty wifi lines or power cuts. But we offer a portable dongle with requisite data packs for all our guests which they used coupled with their mobile hotspots. On days they wanted to explore the area, they worked out of cafes like Barefoot Goa, Mojigao, Clay and Mufasa, and explored other smaller restaurants for dinners on weekdays.

Our homestay has a functional kitchen for anyone who wishes to make meals on an induction top. Cooking at home is always a good idea. However, for a change, you can also find home kitchens in and around the location of your stay. We love having meals from Saligao Stories by Anisha Hassan, Nuun by Kheyali Vaze and Colours Saligao for local thalis. Most areas in North Goa are served by food delivery apps so you can also order in, or order directly from local restaurants. With so many places to explore in and around Goa, it is truly one of the best work from home destinations in India.

Kasar Devi

As recommended by Shubham from Travel Shoebum

I stayed in Kasar Devi in Uttarakhand for 3 and a half months – from December to the end of March. We had rented a cottage in the woods through an acquaintance from a prior visit since these were the COVID times and socially distanced places were more important than full internet connectivity. The stay itself was a bit basic in nature but it was located in a dense jungle in Kasar Devi with excellent views that made up for other troubles. There was no road connectivity to the cottage and we would walk to carry the supplies of vegetables and groceries every week. There was no WiFi in the forest and the mobile internet connectivity was also very basic but we went to the cafés on the ridge whenever we needed high-speed internet for the calls/uploading something. My favourite cafés in Kasar Devi to work out from include Kasar Rainbow Restaurant, Baba Cake, Mohan’s Cafe, Shantiniketan and Kasar Kitchen. On weekends, we would often make short trips to Almora to check out the markets and cafes there.

Food was a mix as we would cook lunch, while breakfast and dinner were cooked by the host. We went for short journeys to Ranikhet and Munsyari over the duration of living in Kasar Devi. It was also nice to collaborate with The Kumaon & Ayurvaid Kalmatia for 2-3 day weekends in Kasar Devi to experience a bit of luxury with the basic living of the jungle.

It was a fabulous 3 and a half months and the only reason to return was that it would become more difficult to leave from there if we stayed longer. I’d highly recommend Shantiniketan in Kasar Devi for people looking for one of the greatest work from home destinations in India. Please get in touch with the owners directly and they will quote you excellent rates for month-long stays including meals.

Suggested read: Jeolikote: An Offbeat Getaway Near Nainital.

Bir

As I write this post, I complete three months of living in Bir, have paid rent for my fourth month and planning to stay here indefinitely – or till the mountains get too cold for me to handle. I first came to Bir in 2019 and spent 15 days here – with an idea that if I ever have to slow down, it’ll be in this tiny village. I guess you could say what Gokarna is for me in the South, Bir is in the North – one of the absolute best work from home destinations in India! Bir is definitely one of the best hill stations to work in India. Studio spaces with an attached kitchen are very easily available here because of the number of outsiders coming to stay and learn paragliding here. If you’re not the self-cooking kind and would rather prefer hostels with long-term packages that include stay and meals, Bir has got you covered. Apart from the popular chains of backpacker hostels in Bir, Sparrow House Cafe has budget-friendly monthly packages you can check out. There are several homestays with and without a kitchen available throughout Bir in under INR 8,000. Look for Paul Homestay, Darshnik Homestay, Mohinder and Mohindra Homestay and Puri Homestay amongst several others.

Call me biased, but Bir is truly one of the greatest work from home destinations in Himachal Pradesh. Most homestays here offer WiFi and what’s even better is the wide range of cafes in Bir where one can sit and work from. My absolute favourite in all these months has been Silver Linings where my regular order would be their homemade Iced Tea and I would spend my days meeting people, working and watching the sunset. You can also go on several hikes in the area, explore the many waterfalls and, of course, try out paragliding to fully get the experience of this work from home staycation in India.

Also read: The Complete Bir Billing Travel Guide.

Kochi

As recommended by Anshul from Daily Passengerr

I love Fort Kochi in the winter. The weather between September to early January is just perfect for a vacation. This is also the time when Kerala hosts most of its festivals including the mystic Thieyyam season in the Malabar Region. Late December in Kochi is especially great to visit because of Christmas, followed by Kochi Carnival. During this festive time, the area is usually beautifully decorated with lights and statues of Pappon Ji which was very pleasing to see.

What makes Fort Kochi a perfect place for a work from home staycation in India is the number of budget-friendly homestays scattered around the area. You’ll easily find a place for 15 days for INR 4000. Most homestays come with an attached kitchen so it solves the problem of your food. If you don’t have a kitchen available, even in that case, the street food of Fort Kochi is extremely delicious and nutritious. Princess Street in Fort Kochi is also the home to some of the best cafes. If you are a sucker for morning coffee then you should visit Loafers or Kashi Art Café for authentic brews from The Western Ghats. Most of these cafes remain empty in the afternoon and are perfect for a hangout and work at the same time, making Fort Kochi one of the best places for digital nomads in India.

One tip would be to avoid hostels as many private rooms in homestays and cost almost the same as shared dorms in hostels. Also, try booking a room with air conditioning because afternoons become very hot even in December.

Work From Home Destinations in India – FAQs

What are some of the best work from home destinations in Himachal Pradesh?

Bir, Manali and Tirthan Valley are definitely some of the best work from home destinations in Himachal Pradesh. Other best places to work remotely in India include Dharamkot, Dharamshala and Spiti Valley. Each of these places has its own different charms, but with stable electricity and internet, remote working in India has never been easier in the mountains!

What are some of the best work from home destinations in South India?

Gokarna, Bangalore and Kochi are some of the best work from home destinations in South India. Some other best places to work from home in India include Varkala, Ooty, Kodaikanal and Chikmagalur. From beach towns to the hilly terrains of the Western Ghats and Nilgiri Hills, these places are perfect for a dreamy work from home staycation in India.

How to become a digital nomad in India?

With work from home in India becoming increasingly popular because of the coronavirus pandemic, it has never been easier to become a digital nomad in India. All you need is a job that can be done remotely – whether in the corporate sector or as a freelancer – and a place with a reliable internet connection and you’re good to go! Balancing work and travel as a digital nomad in India is as close to a perfect life as it comes!

Which is the best hill station to work from in India?

Some of the best hill stations to work from in India include Manali, Gangtok, Leh, Nainital and Ooty. With different terrains in different parts of the country, you will never get bored of work from hills in India ever again!

Which are some of the best WFH locations in India?

Apart from the already listed best WFH locations in India, do check out Majauli in Assam, Landour in Uttarakhand, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and Hampi in Karnataka (though both the WiFi and mobile network can be quite choppy in Hampi).

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