Back in 2018 I had to pick between a cheap apartment in Chiang Mai or a pricier co-living spot in Lisbon, and going for Lisbon's community over pure savings was the best call I ever made.

Choosing the Lisbon spot for $1200 a month meant instant friends and a solid work crew, which totally saved me from the lonely burnout I felt during my first solo month in Prague.

4 comments

4 Comments

wendym871mo ago

$1200 a month for Lisbon is cheap?

laura_wilson10d ago

Interesting take but I see it a bit differently. $1200 for a co-living room in Lisbon back in 2018 does feel high compared to what you could get in Southeast Asia for half that, even with the community perks. I get that the social aspect saved you from burnout, but I think people overestimate how much you actually need a built-in crew versus just being a little more intentional about meeting people on your own. A cheap room in Chiang Mai leaves you way more cash to join local meetups, take language classes, or even travel around the region on weekends and those experiences can build just as strong a network. Plus, the isolation in Prague sounds like it was partly the city itself being hard to crack, not just the apartment setup, so maybe that colored the whole decision.

evan_grant701mo ago

Exactly, the community access is the real product. I did a cheap solo place in Mexico City first and nearly lost my mind from the quiet. Switched to a co-living spot for a few hundred more and it was like night and day, having people to grab food with after work.

finleyrivera1mo ago

Depends on what you're comparing it to. For a private room in a managed co-living space with events and fast internet in a capital city, that's a solid deal. I paid more for a worse setup in Barcelona that year. The community access is the real product, not just the square footage.