Since the Covid-19 pandemic, remote work has become a firm part of many workers' routines; some are taking the idea a little further by going on a 'workaction'.
Travelling somewhere new while continuing to work for part of the stay is becoming more and more common, according to the travel insurance comparison team at the Australian firm Compare the Market.
The firm looked at 100 cities across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia to find destinations best suited to mixing work and leisure.
They based their index on seven factors: fixed and mobile internet speed, the number of attractions and coworking spaces, accommodation prices, and the price of coffee and beer. Internet speed carried the most weight in the final score.
Paris
The French capital came out on top in Europe, scoring 63.4 out of 100. The city benefited from the fastest fixed broadband connection among the European cities analysed, at 352.77 Mbps, as well as 4,550 attractions listed on TripAdvisor.
The downside is hardly surprising: Paris is not cheap. Accommodation and coffee prices were among the more expensive in the study.
Credit: Belga/Jasper Jacobs
Lisbon
Lisbon took second place with a score of 61.2. The Portuguese capital stood out as considerably easier on the wallet, with the cheapest one-month accommodation the researchers found costing $274 (€235). A cappuccino averaged $2.94 (€2.50), while the city also performed well for internet speeds.
Lisbon. Credit: Pixabay
London
The English capital completed the European top three, scoring 60.0. It had by far the largest number of coworking spaces in Europe, with 562 – more than twice as many as Barcelona, as well as 4,450 things to do. Again, however, cost was a drawback.
The Houses of Parliament, London. Credit: Unsplash
At the other end of the European ranking, Salzburg was named the least suitable city for a workcation, followed by Munich and Hamburg.
Globally, Europe was beaten to the top spot: Hanoi (Vietnam) was crowned the world's best workcation destination with a score of 73.9, helped by cheap accommodation and more than 9,000 listed attractions. Bangkok (Thailand) came second in the Asia-Pacific ranking.
The company said the ranking reflects the growing popularity of combining travel with remote working, although whether employees can work from abroad ultimately depends on their employer's policies.
