Just because a cafe has free wifi, doesn’t make it a digital nomad friendly cafe. Have you ever sat down at a cafe, ordered a cup of coffee, opened your laptop and were given the “you better order more than just one cup” kind of glare. If you’re an experienced nomad, no doubt you’ve felt it, and if you haven’t yet, consider yourself lucky but chances are it’ll happen eventually.

So what makes a cafe digital nomad friendly? Here are my top 5 criteria

Reliable Wifi

At the end of the day yes, wifi matters. It’s what allows us to work. But it’s not just wifi speed that matters, it’s how reliable it is. I know most of the time for downloads and uploads a small cafe might not have what I need. But I can plan around it. It’s knowing that the wifi won’t keep cutting in and out that’s the real deal breaker here. If a cafe isn’t meant to have multiple people using wifi for their laptops, it’s not a great cafe for digital nomads

Plugs

Having many accessible plugs to charge your laptop isn’t a deal breaker but it sure is a great thing to have. If I know a cafe only has a few outlets, I make sure I head there on a full charge. But heading to a cafe where you know you’ll have a spot to recharge is a comfort in the back of your mind before you get too comfortable in that seat. 

Not Too Busy

Of course you go to a cafe to work not just for the coffee but also for the ambience. However, when you head to a cafe and there’s a lineup to get in for seats or for breakfast or brunch, don’t be that person and plop yourself down to work. Working brunch is fine, but don’t take advantage of 

Events

Loneliness often comes with the territory as a digital nomad. Sometimes nomads find their community at their favourite coffee shops. If you’re lucky, cafes often host events for nomads to meet, eat, drink and network.

Friendliness

This might often be overlooked but I find the friendliness of the staff one of the biggest reasons I come back to a cafe. A place that makes you feel welcome when you sit down. A place where the baristas recognize you and say hi when you walk through the door. It may seem small, but as a nomad, sometimes that feeling of familiarity and friendliness is what you crave most when you’re far from home and staring at a laptop for most of the day

So next time you visit a cafe looking to get some work done, or heck maybe you’re even looking to open up a digital nomad friendly cafe of your own, you’ll know to look beyond just the “Free Wifi” sign in the window. Hopefully you’ll find your own office away from your office