Filed under
Travel / Working / Best Of
Tested over
6 months of working abroad
Published
August 25, 2026
Best by Lauren may earn a commission when you shop through certain links. Every product here was bought with my own money or tested for at least six weeks. No brand has paid to be included, and nothing is ranked higher because it pays more.
Six months of working from places that look wonderful in a photograph. Here is the uncomfortable finding: the better the view, the less I got done.
The places that actually worked were the boring ones — a desk facing a wall, a bookshop table, a bed. The cliff café is on this list because it is beautiful, not because I finished anything there.
What actually works
A real chair and a table at the right height. Two things, and almost nowhere scenic has both. The hotel desk facing a blank wall beat every infinity-pool lounger I tried.
Bookshop cafés are the sleeper pick — quiet by culture rather than by rule, good tables, and nobody minds how long you sit.
What does not
Anywhere with sun on the screen. A beach lounger is unusable for real work between about nine and four, and no amount of angling fixes it.
Anywhere with a view worth looking at. I lost an entire afternoon to a cliff café because the light kept changing and I kept watching it.
The bed, defended
Unfashionable, and where a surprising amount of my best work happens. On a long stay, an apartment with a comfortable bed and a bad desk beats a hotel with a good desk and nowhere to think.
