Tips and tools for traveling and working remote

Six categories of apps and services I use day to day, organized for Swiss-based remote workers and digital nomads. The "Used" tag marks the ones in my personal kit. The rest are tools I've worked with enough to recommend, or include because Swiss readers will want to know about them. Outbound links open in a new tab. Affiliate links, where they exist, are disclosed at the bottom of the page.

This list is for the operational side: banking that doesn't bleed CHF on FX, eSIMs that work the first day you land, the productivity stack when the wifi is uneven, and the tax bits Swiss residents specifically need to think about. For the "where to actually go" question, see the destinations page.

Banking & money

Carry a Wise card AND a Revolut card. One on you, one in your Airbnb as backup in case the primary gets stolen. Long-term savings on FX vs any Swiss bank card are significant — Swisscard and traditional Swiss-bank credit cards apply marked-up FX rates plus a foreign-transaction fee on top, both of which Wise/Revolut avoid (Wise uses mid-market rate, Revolut uses interbank with weekend markup).
Top up your travel cards in advance — don't run low. Wise and Revolut both offer money-market / interest-bearing balances (Wise's "Assets" feature, Revolut's "Flexible Cash Funds") that pay yield on idle CHF/EUR/USD while it sits there.
NFC tap-to-pay (Apple Pay / Google Pay) works almost everywhere now, including most of Latin America and SE Asia. You'll often pay with your phone and only touch the physical card when a terminal is offline or doesn't accept NFC.
Always withdraw a small cash buffer when you arrive — 50–100 CHF equivalent — and keep 40–50 in your pocket as emergency / mugging money. Especially in LATAM and South Africa, where having "something to hand over" is genuine safety practice.
Wise and Revolut give roughly CHF 200 per month free ATM withdrawals. Above that you pay 1.75–2%. But the ATM operator's own fee is the bigger trap — some banks abroad (notoriously in Thailand and Mexico) charge 5–10 CHF per withdrawal regardless of your card. Quick online search before committing, or compare a few ATMs on arrival.

Used
Neon
Swiss neo-bank — free CHF account, no card fees abroad.
Primary CHF account for many Swiss remote workers; free debit card with no foreign transaction fee at the market FX rate, Swiss IBAN.
Used
PostFinance
Traditional Swiss bank, low monthly fee, broad ATM network.
About CHF 5/month for the basic account. Cheaper than UBS / CS / Raiffeisen for keeping a Swiss-bank presence — useful when a counterparty insists on a 'real' Swiss bank account (some landlords, some employers). Not your everyday card.
Used
Wise
Multi-currency account at mid-market FX rates.
Get paid in CHF / EUR / USD natively, hold balances in 40+ currencies, transparent mid-market exchange. The default 'travel card' for Swiss remote workers.
Used
Revolut
Multi-currency account + travel features, Wise's main alternative.
Carry alongside Wise as backup. Stronger on travel features (lounge access on paid tiers, currency analytics) and money-market access; weaker than Wise on weekend FX (interbank + markup).
Used
VIAC
Swiss 3a pension app — tax-deductible retirement pillar.
Pillar 3a is Swiss-specific and one of the biggest tax wins available — up to ~CHF 7,258/year (employed) deductible from taxable income. VIAC is the default app-based 3a, low fees, broad ETF selection.
Used
TrueWealth
Swiss robo-advisor + 3a — passive ETF investing without picking funds.
Recommended for the 80–90% of people who don't want to manually buy and sell ETFs. Offers both regular taxable investing AND 3a. Swiss-regulated, fully automated.
Used
Selma Finance
Conversational Swiss robo-advisor — alternative to TrueWealth.
Same 'set it and forget it' passive investing pitch as TrueWealth, different UX (chatbot-style onboarding). Swiss-regulated.
DeGiro
Low-cost European broker for stocks and ETFs.
Materially cheaper than Swissquote on transaction fees. Solid UX. Dutch broker, EU-regulated. Good middle ground between Swissquote (expensive but Swiss) and Interactive Brokers (cheap but complex).
Interactive Brokers
Global broker with the lowest fees and the worst UX.
Cheapest serious broker available — but the interface is genuinely hostile to beginners. Worth the learning curve if you're investing meaningful sums; skip if you'd rather pay a bit more for TrueWealth's hands-off approach.
Swissquote
The default Swiss broker — full-featured, expensive.
Swiss-regulated, integrates cleanly with Swiss tax reporting. Pricier than DeGiro or IBKR on transaction fees. Worth it if you specifically want Swiss-broker treatment for inheritance, taxation, or 3a custody convenience.
Used
EtherFi Cash
Crypto-native debit card from the EtherFi ecosystem.
Useful if you already hold ETH or stablecoins and want to spend them directly without converting to fiat first. Niche for Swiss remote workers, but a real option if you're crypto-fluent.

Connectivity

Load an eSIM before you fly. Don't gamble on airport WiFi or hunt for a SIM kiosk after a 12-hour flight — having data the moment you land removes one of the biggest friction points of arriving in a new country.
Keep your Swiss SIM (physical or eSIM) on the phone even when abroad. Switch the Nomad / Airalo eSIM to active for data, but you'll occasionally need to flip back to the Swiss number for SMS-based 2FA (some Swiss banks still rely on it). Never leave your Swiss SIM at home — there's no remote recovery for those codes.
For longer stays (1 month+), a local SIM or local eSIM is typically cheaper than an international travel eSIM — sometimes dramatically so. The travel eSIM still wins for the first few days while you find your feet. Quick online check before arriving: how easy is it to buy a local SIM, what's the going rate? In some countries (Thailand, Vietnam) you can buy one at the airport for under 10 CHF.
Ask the Airbnb host for the actual WiFi speed in writing before committing to a long stay — most have a recent Speedtest screenshot if you ask. Run your own test on arrival, standing where you'd actually work, not next to the router. Advertised Mbps rarely survives contact with reality.

Used
Nomad
eSIM marketplace — single-country, regional, and global data plans.
Cheaper than Airalo on most routes by 10–20%, with the same QR-scan-and-go setup. Currently my default for international travel data.
Used
Airalo
The largest eSIM marketplace — broad coverage, fair pricing.
Most popular eSIM service globally; broader country coverage than smaller players. Slightly pricier than Nomad on routes where both compete, but still cheap relative to traditional roaming.
Holafly
Unlimited-data eSIM — heavier-use alternative to Airalo/Nomad.
Useful if you stream or video-call constantly and don't want to count GB. Materially more expensive than Airalo or Nomad — only worth the premium if your usage genuinely justifies it.
Used
ProtonVPN
Swiss-based VPN — free tier available, monthly billing for travel-period use.
Based in Switzerland, strong privacy track record, free tier covers basic use. Subscribe only for the months you're actually abroad or specifically need a VPN — no long-term lock-in required.
Used
Speedtest by Ookla
The universal WiFi speed-check tool.
Free, fast, what every coworking space and Airbnb host quotes anyway. Run it the moment you arrive — and where you'd actually sit and work, not next to the router.

Community

Meeting people abroad is a numbers game AND an effort game. Schedule at least one social event per week. The "I'll just meet people organically" plan rarely works in 4-week stays — by the time you're embedded, you're packing.
WhatsApp and Telegram groups are where the real-time nomad activity actually happens in each city. Facebook groups and Reddit threads are good starting points to find the WhatsApp / Telegram links — most active groups link them in the pinned posts.
Language exchanges (Mundolingo and similar) work even if you don't speak the local language well. They're more social events with a linguistic excuse than serious study — and they're one of the most reliable ways to meet locals rather than just other nomads.
Coliving programs (Hacker Paradise, WiFi Tribe) compress the "make friends" arc from weeks to days because everyone's pre-filtered for the same lifestyle. Expensive, but worth considering if you're new to long-stay solo travel.

Used
NomadTable
Match with other nomads in your current city for dinners and hangouts.
Reliable way to meet other remote workers in cities where the nomad scene is alive but the local social fabric is harder to break into (Rio, Lima, Bangkok). I use it as my default in new cities.
Timeleft
Dinners with five strangers — algorithm picks the people and the restaurant.
Newer alternative to NomadTable with a broader audience (not nomad-specific — you'll often meet locals + expats too). Live in 200+ cities. Worth a try when NomadTable is thin in a smaller city.
Used
Meetup
The universal local-events platform — language exchanges, hobby groups, professional meetups.
The default way to find recurring social events in any city. Filter by interest (running clubs, language exchanges, tech meetups, board games) and you'll usually find something within a week of arriving.
Bumble BFF
Friend-finding mode of the dating app — set radius, swipe, message.
Underrated for cities where NomadTable is sparse. Particularly useful for finding people on a similar life stage (other professionals in their 30s, not just other 22-year-old backpackers).
Internations
Expat-focused community with city events and forums.
Skews 30+ and corporate-expat rather than digital-nomad — useful if you want to meet long-term residents rather than other people on 90-day stays. Free tier covers most events.
Used
Nomad List
The largest nomad community + city-data platform — paid membership for access.
The OG nomad community. The Telegram chats (general + city-specific) are where most useful real-time conversations happen; the website's city data is hit-or-miss but the social side is real value for the membership fee.
Used
WhatsApp & Telegram nomad groups
City-specific nomad chat groups — the actual real-time pulse of any nomad city.
The most active nomad networking happens in WhatsApp and Telegram groups organized by city. Free, fast, hyper-local. The community-maintained Google Sheet directory linked here is the most comprehensive starting point; the original Reddit r/digitalnomad thread (reddit.com/r/digitalnomad/comments/1f9a323) provides context and discussion. Check pinned posts in Facebook city-groups for additional links.
Used
Mundolingo
Language-exchange events in 200+ cities worldwide — flag stickers, free format.
Free or cheap weekly meetups where people wear stickers of languages they speak / want to practice. One of the most reliable ways to meet locals (not just other expats) in any city. Especially active in Spanish-speaking cities and capitals.
Hacker Paradise
Coliving + cotraveling program for remote tech workers.
Multi-week trips with a vetted group of remote workers; programmes cover housing, coworking, and group activities. Pricey, but compresses social-formation time massively. Tech-skewed audience.
WiFi Tribe
Member-based coliving network — monthly trips, applied membership.
Smaller, more selective alternative to Hacker Paradise; member-network model rather than open booking. Curated demographic, slower turnover, deeper friendships reported.

Productivity

Password manager: pick one (1Password, Bitwarden, or Proton Pass) and commit. Sharing passwords via Slack, Signal, or Notion is a security hole that catches up with you — it's the single most common cause of "how did our account get breached" stories.
AI assistants will be doing 30% of your job within two years. Get fluent now, not later. The gap between people who use them well and people who don't is widening fast — and it's currently the most leveraged time investment available to a knowledge worker.

Used
Slack
Industry-default team chat for remote work.
If your Swiss employer is on Slack, this is non-negotiable. If they're on Teams, you'll use both. Either way, master the keyboard shortcuts and turn off mobile notifications on weekends — Swiss work-life-boundary norms are real.
Used
Google Meet
Default video-call tool if your team is in Google Workspace.
Lighter than Zoom, integrates with Google Calendar, works in-browser without a download. Quality is fine for 1:1 and small calls; degrades on 10+ participants.
Zoom
Video calls — universal alternative to Google Meet.
Best-in-class quality and reliability for larger meetings; webinar mode for 50+ participants. Free tier caps group calls at 40 min, which is its own subtle UX nudge to keep meetings short.
Used
WhatsApp
Personal messaging — what everyone in Switzerland (and the world) uses.
You'll have it whether you want it or not. Useful for: family, friends, Airbnb hosts, local taxi drivers, nomad city-groups.
Used
Google Docs
Universal collaborative document editor — my default for docs.
Real-time editing, comment threads, suggestion mode — still the cleanest collaborative editor. Default for anything that needs to be shared with someone outside a single workspace.
Used
Notion
Knowledge management + light project tracking — backup for collaborative docs.
Strong for structured knowledge bases, lightweight project tracking, and team wikis. Use it alongside Google Docs (Docs for free-form collaborative writing, Notion for structured pages with databases / relations / templates).
Used
Obsidian
Local-first markdown second brain — the power-user note-taking tool.
Files stay on your device (privacy-friendly), Markdown-native (future-proof), and increasingly powerful when paired with AI tools — you point Claude or ChatGPT at your vault and they answer with your own context. The serious personal-knowledge-management option.
Used
Tresorit
Swiss-based end-to-end encrypted cloud storage.
Swiss-jurisdiction encrypted storage — strong privacy posture, mature product, the cloud-drive option for anything sensitive. Pricier than Dropbox / Google Drive, but the encryption story is genuinely different.
Used
Google Drive
Default cloud storage for the Google ecosystem.
Cheap, integrated with Docs / Sheets / Gmail, the path of least resistance for most files. Use Tresorit alongside it for anything that genuinely needs encryption — not as a replacement.
Used
1Password
Cross-device password manager — the mature default.
Best-in-class UX, family plan covers shared logins, browser + mobile + desktop integration that just works. Bitwarden is the open-source alternative if cost or principle matters; Proton Pass if you're already in the Proton ecosystem.
Used
Claude
AI assistant — strongest for reasoning, writing, coding.
Anthropic's flagship; my default for serious thinking work, long-form writing, and code.
Used
ChatGPT
AI assistant — broadest feature set, strongest brand recognition.
OpenAI's flagship; strong on multimodal (voice, image, web), broader plugin / integration ecosystem. Worth having alongside Claude — they make different mistakes.
Used
Perplexity
AI-native search engine — citations as a first-class feature.
Replaces Google for research-style queries where you want sources, not just answers. Good middle ground between a search engine and a chatbot.
Used
Gemini
Google's AI assistant — deeply integrated with the Google ecosystem.
Best fit if you're already living in Gmail / Docs / Sheets — it sees your context and can act on it. Strong on long-context analysis.
Used
Cal.com
Open-source Calendly alternative — scheduling without the SaaS lock-in.
Send a link, let people book a slot, syncs with your calendar. Open source means you can self-host if privacy or cost matters. Google Calendar's built-in 'Appointment Schedules' covers the same job if you're already in Google.
Used
Linear
Issue tracking + project management — the modern alternative to Jira.
What modern engineering teams use. Fast, keyboard-driven, opinionated about workflow. If your Swiss employer is a tech company built in the last five years, you're likely already on this.
Used
Loom
Async video — record screen + camera, share a link.
The 'could-have-been-an-email' reversal: when written explanation is harder than just walking through it, record a 3-minute Loom instead. Standard practice in remote-first teams; saves real meeting time.
Used
Granola
AI-powered meeting note-taker — runs in the background, summarises after.
Joins your calls, transcribes, generates structured notes. Useful when you're context-switching across many meetings per day. Heads-up on Swiss privacy norms: inform participants when you're recording or running AI transcription — it's both legally cleaner and more polite.

Tax & admin

When comparing travel insurance, the dimensions that actually matter are: max trip duration, medical-evacuation coverage, electronics/laptop coverage, pre-existing-condition handling, and repatriation. Cheap policies typically skimp on the second and third — exactly where you'd actually need a claim.
Working remotely from abroad on a Swiss employment contract triggers social-security and tax-residency rules that aren't intuitive — the 183-day rule for tax residency, the 49.9% rule for cross-border workers, plus the destination country's own tax laws. Extended stays warrant a 30-minute conversation with a tax advisor before booking. /guide/working-from-abroad covers this in depth.
If you go freelance with Swiss clients, you have three paths: register an Einzelfirma (sole proprietorship — no capital requirement, simple to set up, but you're personally liable), set up a GmbH (limited-liability company, CHF 20'000 capital — most freelancers' choice when they want liability protection; an AG requires CHF 100'000), or use a Swiss freelancer-payroll service (Sallis, PayrollPlus). The payroll service is the fastest path to compliant invoicing without setting up your own legal entity — they handle AHV, pension, VAT, and accounting.

Used
Comparis
Swiss insurance + financial-product comparison platform.
The default tool for comparing KVG (mandatory health insurance) during the annual switch window — most Swiss people already know it, but worth listing because it's the right starting point. Also covers car insurance, life insurance, and financial products. Free.
Used
Smile
Swiss insurer with a competitive travel-insurance add-on for Swiss residents.
Most Swiss insurers offer a travel-insurance add-on, and Smile is one of the better-value options. Worth comparing against the nomad-focused alternatives (SafetyWing, Genki) on max trip duration and electronics coverage before choosing — Swiss policies tend to be stronger on medical evacuation, weaker on extended stays.
SafetyWing
Nomad-targeted travel + health insurance — rolling monthly subscription.
Designed specifically for digital nomads with rolling monthly subscriptions and no fixed end date. Often cheaper than Swiss travel insurance for long stays; check coverage carefully against your existing KVG so you don't double-pay for overlapping protection.
Genki
European nomad travel insurance — alternative to SafetyWing.
EU-based competitor to SafetyWing with a similar subscription model. Different tiers for different stay durations and use cases. Worth comparing against SafetyWing and Smile on max-stay limits and exclusions.
Skribble
Swiss-compliant electronic-signature service.
ZertES-compliant digital signatures (Switzerland's e-signature law) — legally equivalent to handwritten signatures for most documents. Important when signing tenancy contracts, employment contracts, or banking forms remotely from abroad.
Deel
Employer of Record — lets international companies hire you compliantly in Switzerland.
If a US or other foreign company wants to hire you but has no Swiss entity, they hire you through Deel. Deel becomes your legal Swiss employer (handles AHV, pension, withholding); the actual company pays Deel. Useful for taking jobs at international startups.
Remote
Employer of Record — alternative to Deel.
Same model as Deel — foreign company hires you, Remote becomes your legal Swiss employer, you get Swiss-compliant payroll. Worth comparing fees and country coverage; the two leaders trade blows on different markets.
Sallis
Swiss freelancer-payroll service — invoice clients without setting up your own company.
Sallis becomes your nominal employer for freelance work — you invoice Swiss clients, Sallis handles AHV / pension / VAT / accounting, you get Swiss-payroll-compliant payments. Faster than registering an Einzelfirma if you're just testing freelance waters.
PayrollPlus
Swiss freelancer-payroll service — alternative to Sallis.
Same model as Sallis (umbrella employer for freelance contracts). Fee structures typically run 5–8% of invoiced amounts — compare both services on fees and onboarding speed before committing.

Travel & logistics

Check which ride-hailing apps work in your destination before arrival. Uber covers most major cities across the Americas, Europe, and parts of Asia — but local alternatives often beat it on price (DiDi or 99 in LATAM, Grab in SE Asia, Bolt across much of Europe and Africa, Cabify in Spain). Having two or three apps installed before landing avoids the airport-taxi tax (which, in some countries, genuinely doubles the cost of your first ride).
Local ride-hailing alternatives sometimes undercut the international apps materially — InDrive (driver-bidding model) across LATAM, 99 in Brazil, BlaBlaCar for inter-city rides in Europe. Quick check on the local app store after you land is worth the five minutes.
Luggage storage between Airbnbs or before red-eye flights is cheaper and safer than dragging suitcases to coworking — typically CHF 5–10 per bag per day via Bounce or Radical Storage. Especially useful on departure days when checkout is hours before your flight.
For stays beyond 2–3 weeks, the long-stay platforms (Housing Anywhere, Habyt, Wynwood House) are often the better fit — they're built for nomads specifically, so monthly pricing, furnished setup, and reliable Wi-Fi tend to be more predictable than browsing Airbnb listings hoping the photos match reality. Coliving brands (Habyt and similar) sit between Airbnb and a real flat — bills included, community built-in, less DIY.

Used
Uber
The global ride-hailing default — widely available, the safe first option in most cities.
The most familiar option and broadly available across the Americas, Europe, parts of Asia, and parts of Africa — including most major LATAM cities (Buenos Aires, Rio, Medellín, Mexico City). Where it operates it's the safe default; local alternatives sometimes win on price, which is the case to compare rather than to skip Uber for.
Used
Bolt
European + African ride-hailing — Uber's main competitor where it operates.
Strong in Eastern Europe (Tbilisi, Krakow, Bucharest), most of Africa (Cape Town, Lagos, Nairobi), and parts of Western Europe. Typically 15–25% cheaper than Uber in markets where both run.
Used
Grab
SE Asia's super-app — ride-hailing, food delivery, payments in one.
The default in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines. Also handles food delivery (GrabFood) — useful when you arrive at an Airbnb at 23:00 and need dinner.
Used
DiDi
China-founded ride-hailing — strong across LATAM and parts of Asia.
Default in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica. Often noticeably cheaper than Uber in the same city. Useful payment flexibility (cash + card).
Used
Cabify
Spanish-founded ride-hailing — Spain default, also active in parts of LATAM.
The default in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, and growing in Mexico City + Bogotá. Generally a step up from Uber on driver quality and car cleanliness in its home markets.
Used
Bounce
Largest luggage-storage network — app-based, covers airports + city locations.
5,000+ locations globally, app handles booking and insurance. CHF 5–8 per bag per day typical. Cheaper and lower-friction than train-station lockers in most cities.
Radical Storage
European-strong luggage-storage alternative to Bounce.
Better coverage in some European cities; uses local partner shops + hotels as storage points. Flat per-day pricing typically CHF 5–7 per bag. Worth comparing both apps in your specific city before booking.
Used
Airbnb
The default short-stay accommodation platform — broadest inventory in most cities.
Reliable for 3-night to 2-week stays with the broadest inventory anywhere. For longer stays the nomad-focused alternatives (Housing Anywhere, Habyt, Wynwood House) are sometimes cheaper or have more predictable nomad-friendly infrastructure (reliable Wi-Fi, monthly pricing, furnished for working not just sleeping).
Hostelworld
Budget short-stay platform — hostels, dorms, and budget guesthouses.
Useful when you're on a tight budget, between Airbnbs, or specifically want the hostel social scene (which exists in some cities — Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Bangkok have strong hostel cultures even for older travellers). Not a long-stay solution.
Housing Anywhere
European marketplace for monthly+ furnished rentals.
Dutch-founded; strong inventory in major European cities (Lisbon, Berlin, Amsterdam, Barcelona). Direct booking with landlords, monthly rates, deposits — closer to a real tenancy than Airbnb. Good fit for 1–6 month European stays.
Habyt
European coliving brand — furnished rooms in shared apartments with bills included.
Operates in Berlin, Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and a growing list. All-inclusive monthly pricing (rent + bills + Wi-Fi + cleaning), private rooms in shared flats. Coliving model — built-in community at the cost of less privacy.
Wynwood House
LATAM-focused long-stay furnished apartments — Mexico City, Lima, Bogotá, Buenos Aires.
Furnished apartments designed for nomads and long-stay business travellers in Latin American capitals. Monthly rates typically below equivalent Airbnb monthly pricing in the same neighbourhood. Concierge-style support.