The life of a roaming digital nomad is becoming more common, as people around the world walk out of their office jobs for the last time, strap on a backpack, and head out to a new life of location-independent freelancing. For the majority, budget-friendly countries in South East Asia are the most appealing for living a frugal life of solo entrepreneurship, yet you don’t always have to travel far to find the perfect digital city, as the Scottish capital of Edinburgh represents.
Edinburgh Is Perfect Because…

There are a number of reasons why Edinburgh is perfect for digital nomads, and all of them may be in contrast to the most popular opinions of the city.

It’s a highly international city, thanks to the table-topping quality of the University of Edinburgh, and the quantity of multinational businesses that have their headquarters or offices situated in the capital. It’s young and vibrant, not the grey rainy city that people picture when they hear the city’s name. And for the digital nomad, it ticks many other important requirements on the checklist of being affordable, friendly, and thoroughly entertaining.

Edinburgh is Cheap

You may not be able to survive on less then $10 a day like you would in Chiang Mai in Thailand, but staying in Edinburgh is still cheaper than either Manchester, Bristol, or London in the South.

Through the use of websites like airbnb, Craigslist, and similar locally-run rental sites; it’s possible to find a room or apartment to rent for a relatively inexpensive price.

Living costs are considerably cheaper than in both the North and South of England too, with grocery costs tending to ring up at two thirds of the price of elsewhere in the UK.

On top of everything, for the adventurous digital nomad, Edinburgh is also a cheap place to enjoy yourself

Edinburgh Is Fun

The party is always on in Edinburgh. Whilst there’s often a strong comparison and high competitiveness between it and the second city of Glasgow for the title of “Party Capital of Scotland”, Auld Reekie (as the locals call it) holds its own as an entertaining place to have a night out

Every night there’s something happening in Edinburgh. Live music is common throughout the week, nightclubs can be found open every night, and until the early hours of the following morning. Pubs and new trendy bars are full of good company and people loving life every single day.

During the daytime, Edinburgh is also a great place to be for those who love to enjoy themselves hiking, bike riding, swimming, and many other outdoor adventures.

Edinburgh Is An Adventure

For the nature-loving digital nomad, Edinburgh is also a perfect city from which to start adventures around the richly-green hills of the Scottish Low and Highlands.

The county of Lothian and the surrounding lower regions of Scotland are rich with nature’s own obstacle courses, hiking paths, and rivers to kayak along.

Further afield, the shorelines, hills, and nature walks through the Scottish Highlands are legendary and will keep every digital nomad occupied until every square kilometre has been covered.

Edinburgh Is Old

Not every digital nomad loves to be out under the (occasional) sun and would much prefer to stay indoors. Thankfully, Edinburgh is full of indoor things to do.

Of them all, many are historically important, with Edinburgh Castle as the most interesting and worth visiting. There are also a number of great museums that document Scotland’s noble past, galleries featuring the best works of Scotland’s greatest artists, plus also a number of historical monuments, such as Greyfryers Kirkyard and the University of Glasgow.

Edinburgh Is Technological

As part of the Silicon Valley of Scotland – affectionately nicknamed as ‘Silicon Glen’ – Edinburgh is also home to one of the best technology regions in the United Kingdom.

Within the city and the surrounding area are a number of today’s biggest bringers of change from the World Wide Web, medical, and a number of forthcoming technologies; with Rockstar Games – developers of the hit gaming series, Grand Theft Auto – at the top of the list as one of the most notable successes.

Edinburgh is also perfect for digital nomads thanks to the healthy support new startups receive from the local community of computer-savvy workers. Because of the rich complexity of local and international talent, small new companies like Skyscanner can defy the odds and become the leading website for flight price comparison, serving more than 50 million people every month.

Digital nomads with a keen desire to become the next Skyscanner, Uber, or Facebook; or create the next Google of their own, would be hard pressed to find anywhere more fun and fruitful for new businesses than Edinburgh.

Have you ever been to Edinburgh? What’d you think about it? Let us know your thoughts down below!

Get your hands on our Scotland T-shirts right here. Also, join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest for more.