Davao City: the vibe
Videos from people who went, played right here, with what viewers said underneath. Not part of the score.
The verdict
Liked · 68Commenters who have lived there mostly praise Davao's affordability, safety, friendliness and calm, while flagging traffic, roads, and weak mobile coverage as caveats.
- affordable living
- safety
- friendliness
- quiet and calm
- tropical nature
- walkable condo areas near SM Ecoland
- warm local family welcome
- traffic
- poor roads and signage
- weak mobile signal dead spots
- infrastructure lagging
- inflation
- government neglect
- Affordable and safe, great for expats on a budget.
- Traffic and road infrastructure are the main downsides right now.
- A $900 monthly budget is tight but workable with frugal habits.
- Condos near SM Ecoland offer easy walkable, car-free living.
- Locals say the city has changed and is growing fast.
Read from 4 videos, 27 comments and 0 posts on 2026-11-07; the summary is written by a language model and can misread sarcasm.
Philippines🇵🇭| Pros and Cons living in Davao City
Dr Laway · 51K views · 2023
What viewers said
“Personally, I love Davao City! This is affordable, friendly, very safe, quiet, tropical and exotic. I’m planning to become an expat there. I’m from Canada. Everybody is different! ❤️🇵🇭👍”
♥ 35 likes
“I'm from Davao and what you have said are spot on, tho there's a reason for that especially the traffic. They are now working on those that's why it's much more traffic than before. The national government also neglected Davao City for a lo”
♥ 37 likes
“Wow it's amazing how spoiled Americans are. My wife and I live in a small jungle town in Mindanao, what you are describing in Davao sounds and looks like paradise to me. We are 5 hours from Davao.”
♥ 8 likes
“Cebu my Home, but I lived in Davao for 5 years and it's Great 👍. Loved it”
♥ 22 likes
“I absolutely love this video format! Keep it going!”
♥ 13 likes
“i like your objective opinion. I am born and raised in Davao. now living in USA, i agree with cons regarding the roads,signs, traffic light and tower signals (dead spots) for mobile or cellphones. i agree the only pros i can learn from what”
♥ 2 likes
“Interesting discussion about Davao. I have lived in Cebu City for 9 years and have experienced many changed. Many more condos, better infra but has a long way to go, inflation, etc. Definitely want to visit Davao this year.”
♥ 5 likes
“Great video. Straight forward and informative❤”
♥ 10 likes
“Davao is my hometown, greetings from 🇯🇵🌿”
♥ 20 likes
“My wife is from Davao”
♥ 4 likes
Found with a YouTube search for the city and “digital nomad”, fetched 2026-11-07; titles, descriptions and comments belong to their authors and link to the originals.