Asia · 34 cities
India for digital nomads: 34 cities compared (2026)
India has 34 cities in the dataset. Mysuru scores highest under balanced weights at 56/100; Hyderabad is the cheapest with a city-level price at $768 a month. India has no digital-nomad visa.
Dataset 2026.10.7. How scoring works.
Cities in India, ranked
Balanced weights, every factor equal. Open a city for the full breakdown with sources, or rank them with your own weights.
| # | City | Score | Cost/mo | Internet | Comfortable months | Known for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mysuru Yoga capital with a palace and clean air for India | 56 | $750* | 36.1 Mbps | 11/12 | Ashtanga yoga schools · Mysore Palace |
| 2 | Bengaluru India's tech capital with a mild climate | 56 | $922 | 32.6 Mbps | 10/12 | Tech industry · Mild weather |
| 3 | Gokarna Temple town and beach coves on the Karnataka coast, quieter than Goa | 51 | $750* | 25.9 Mbps | 5/12 | Om Beach and Kudle Beach · Mahabaleshwar Temple |
| 4 | Coimbatore Tamil Nadu's industrial second city at the foot of the Western Ghats | 51 | $750* | 29.5 Mbps | 8/12 | Textile and engineering industry · Isha Yoga Center |
| 5 | Varkala Cliff-top beach town in Kerala with a long-stay yoga and café scene | 51 | $750* | 29.2 Mbps | 3/12 | North Cliff cafés · Papanasam Beach |
| 6 | Thiruvananthapuram Kerala's capital, with Kovalam beach and the Technopark IT campus | 51 | $750* | 29.2 Mbps | 3/12 | Technopark · Kovalam and Varkala beaches |
| 7 | Chennai South India's cultural capital on a long beach | 50 | $750* | 30.9 Mbps | 3/12 | Marina Beach · Carnatic music |
| 8 | Goa (Panaji) India's beach state and its original nomad scene | 50 | $750* | 26.8 Mbps | 5/12 | Beaches north and south · Portuguese heritage |
| 9 | Dharamshala Himalayan hill town and home of the Tibetan exile community | 50 | $750* | 27.2 Mbps | 6/12 | McLeod Ganj and the Dalai Lama's temple · Himalayan hiking |
| 10 | Pondicherry (Puducherry) French quarter on the Tamil coast with a yoga scene | 50 | $750* | 33.8 Mbps | 4/12 | French Quarter · Auroville nearby |
| 11 | Hyderabad India's second tech capital with biryani and a real metro | 49 | $768 | 30.2 Mbps | 5/12 | HITEC City · Biryani |
| 12 | Kolkata India's literary capital, cheap and under-visited | 49 | $750* | 28.2 Mbps | 6/12 | Very low rents · Colonial architecture |
| 13 | Leh High-desert capital of Ladakh at 3,500 m, open to visitors from May to October | 49 | $750* | 27.2 Mbps | 0/12 | Monasteries and Leh Palace · Pangong and Nubra road trips |
| 14 | Shimla Colonial hill station above 2,000 m, with a pedestrian Mall and a toy train | 49 | $750* | 17 Mbps | 4/12 | The Ridge and the Mall · Kalka–Shimla toy train |
| 15 | New Delhi India's capital: history, food and smog | 48 | $750* | 34.8 Mbps | 5/12 | Mughal monuments · Metro network |
| 16 | Surat Diamond and textile boomtown on the Tapi, almost unvisited by foreigners | 48 | $750* | 30.6 Mbps | 5/12 | Diamond-polishing industry · Textile markets |
| 17 | Manali Himalayan resort town at 2,000 m with cafés and trekking | 48 | $750* | 20.5 Mbps | 0/12 | Old Manali cafés · Solang Valley and Atal Tunnel |
| 18 | Ahmedabad Gujarat's commercial capital with a UNESCO old city and no alcohol | 47 | $750* | 28.1 Mbps | 6/12 | UNESCO walled city · Sabarmati riverfront |
| 19 | Darjeeling Tea-estate hill town with Kanchenjunga views and a steam toy train | 47 | $750* | 15.2 Mbps | 5/12 | Tea gardens · Darjeeling Himalayan Railway |
| 20 | Pune Mumbai's cooler, calmer sibling on the plateau | 47 | $750* | 29.8 Mbps | 6/12 | IT and auto industry · Pleasant climate |
| 21 | Kochi Kerala's historic spice port and gateway to the backwaters | 47 | $750* | 22.9 Mbps | 2/12 | Fort Kochi heritage quarter · Gateway to the backwaters |
| 22 | Indore Winner of India's cleanliness survey since 2017, with a famous night food market | 47 | $750* | 25.6 Mbps | 6/12 | Sarafa Bazaar night food · Cleanest-city rankings |
| 23 | Bhubaneswar Temple city and planned capital of Odisha, with Puri and Konark nearby | 46 | $750* | 24.9 Mbps | 4/12 | Lingaraj and medieval temples · Planned 1950s capital |
| 24 | Agra Taj Mahal city, under two hours from Delhi by fast train | 46 | $750* | 20.3 Mbps | 5/12 | Taj Mahal · Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri |
| 25 | Mumbai India's commercial and film capital | 46 | $1,178 | 28.9 Mbps | 5/12 | Bollywood and finance · Street food |
| 26 | Visakhapatnam Port city with beaches and a growing IT sector on the Bay of Bengal | 45 | $750* | 27 Mbps | 4/12 | Ramakrishna Beach and Rushikonda · Araku Valley train |
| 27 | Udaipur Rajasthan's lake city, calm and photogenic | 45 | $750* | 18.4 Mbps | 7/12 | Lake Pichola · City Palace |
| 28 | Chandigarh Le Corbusier's planned city: green, orderly and the gateway to the hills | 44 | $750* | 31.7 Mbps | 4/12 | Le Corbusier's Capitol Complex · Grid of numbered sectors |
| 29 | Jaipur Rajasthan's Pink City of forts and bazaars | 44 | $750* | 26.3 Mbps | 5/12 | Amber Fort and the Pink City · Crafts and textiles |
| 30 | Lucknow Nawabi capital of Uttar Pradesh: kebabs, chikan embroidery and a new metro | 44 | $750* | 21.3 Mbps | 5/12 | Awadhi kebabs and biryani · Bara Imambara and Rumi Darwaza |
| 31 | Amritsar Home of the Golden Temple and the Wagah border ceremony | 44 | $750* | 26.5 Mbps | 4/12 | Golden Temple · Wagah border ceremony |
| 32 | Gangtok Sikkim's clean, orderly hill capital and the gateway to Kanchenjunga | 44 | $750* | 20.6 Mbps | 0/12 | MG Marg pedestrian street · Monasteries and Tsomgo Lake |
| 33 | Rishikesh Yoga capital on the Ganges at the foot of the Himalaya | 44 | $750* | 27.9 Mbps | 5/12 | Yoga and meditation schools · Ganges riverside ghats |
| 34 | Varanasi Ganges ghats and the oldest living city in India | 44 | $750* | 11.5 Mbps | 6/12 | Ghats and evening aarti · Boat rides at dawn |
* national estimate
National figures shared by every city
These come from country-level sources and apply to every city in India; city pages add the local numbers.
| Figure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Homicide rate | 2.72 per 100,000 people | Victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population (national data, latest year), 2023 |
| Political stability | 55 (percentile, World Bank WGI) | Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100), 2025 |
| Health coverage index | 69 (WHO UHC index, 0–100) | UHC service coverage index, 2023 |
| Life expectancy | 67.3 years | Life expectancy at birth (years), both sexes, 2021 |
| Human Development Index | 0.685 | Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023), 2023 |
| English proficiency | low | EF English Proficiency Index 2024 (band), 2024 |
| Starlink | coming soon | Starlink availability map, 2026-10 |
Visas and entry
What three common passports get at the border, from the passport index. Pick your own passport on the ranker for the full picture.
| Passport | Entry rule |
|---|---|
| US passport | e-visa required |
| EU passport | e-visa required |
| UK passport | e-visa required |
Rank India's cities for your passport →
No long-stay guide for India yet. Entry rules above are for short visits.
Compare cities in India
Head-to-head pages for the pairs people look at most.
Frequently asked questions
- Is India good for digital nomads?
- Mysuru scores 56/100 under balanced weights, which ranks it 744 of 1,000 cities in the dataset. India's 34 cities average 47.8/100. Strongest factors in Mysuru: climate and cost of living; weakest: getting there & around.
- What is the cheapest city in India for a remote worker?
- Hyderabad, at about $768 a month for one person including rent (WhereNext city cost estimates 2026 (city pages), 2026-09). Mumbai is the most expensive city-priced option at $1,178.
- Does India have a digital nomad visa?
- Not according to the sources the dataset uses. Short visits follow the entry rules for your passport.
- How long can a US, EU or UK citizen stay in India without a visa?
- US passport: e-visa required. EU passport (Germany as reference): e-visa required. UK passport: e-visa required. Source: Passport Index dataset (visa requirements, 199 passports × 199 destinations), 2026-02.
- Which city in India has the fastest internet?
- Mysuru, with a measured median download of 36.1 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024). Measured speeds run below advertised plans everywhere; 40 Mbps measured is already good.
- How safe is India?
- India records 2.72 homicides per 100,000 people (Victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population (national data, latest year), 2023) and sits at the 55th percentile for political stability (World Bank WGI, 2025). These are national figures; city pages note local caveats.
More countries in Asia
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Bangladesh
- Bhutan
- Brunei
- Cambodia
- China
- Hong Kong
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Japan
- Kazakhstan
- All countries
Rank all 1,000 cities your way
Open the ranker →