The World’s 20 Best Cities for Bitcoiners to Visit

Not everyone lives somewhere Bitcoin is easy to spend - but travel opens up a world where it is.

I’ve created this list of 20 cities that represent the best places on earth to travel with only sats in your wallet - ranked from the most promising cities still building their Bitcoin infrastructure up to the world’s most complete Bitcoin destinations.

As a bonus, I’ve also listed the top sites for booking your flights and accommodation, and paying directly in Bitcoin.

NOTE: Be sure to always verify merchant acceptance directly before visiting, as policies can change.

In this article I cover:

• Top 20 Bitcoin-friendly cities

• How to book your flights and accommodation with Bitcoin

• Practical tips & essential tools for Bitcoin travel

One of my favourite South East Asian cities, Bangkok earns the final spot for ambition rather than purity. Thailand’s TouristDigiPay scheme launched in August 2025, allowing visitors to convert Bitcoin into baht for digital spending across the city.

This is crypto-to-fiat conversion before spending - not direct Bitcoin acceptance - but the practical effect is that essentially every business in the city becomes reachable with Bitcoin as the starting point.

A small but growing number of venues in the Sukhumvit and Silom areas also accept Bitcoin or Lightning directly.

🏨 Stay: Bangkok’s luxury hotel scene is accessible via TouristDigiPay and Travala. Sukhumvit area hotels cater strongly to the digital nomad crowd. My favourite location is riverside, overlooking the Chao Phraya River.

🍽️ Eat: With TouristDigiPay active, the entire Bangkok street food and restaurant scene is theoretically reachable. For direct Lightning acceptance, BTCMap lists a growing number of venues.

🛺 See/Shop: The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Thailand has removed capital gains tax on crypto profits for five years from 2024, making Bangkok an increasingly attractive base for Bitcoin holders.

Panama City accepted Bitcoin for municipal tax payments from April 2025, and a growing number of hotels, cafés, and tour operators accept it directly. The municipal system converts via a partner bank, but private merchant acceptance is more direct.

Panama’s territorial tax system with no capital gains tax on crypto has attracted a sizeable Bitcoin community whose presence drives merchant adoption. The city is dollarised and English is widely spoken, making it more accessible than most Latin American destinations.

🏨 Stay: Boutique hotels in Casco Viejo - the UNESCO-listed colonial old quarter - accept Bitcoin or can be booked via Travala.

🍽️ Eat: Casco Viejo has the highest concentration of crypto-accepting restaurants and cafés, with a creative food scene drawing on Latin American, Caribbean, and Asian influences.

🌉 See/Shop: The Panama Canal Miraflores Locks, the Biomuseo designed by Frank Gehry, and the colourful streets of Casco Viejo. Panama Blockchain Week each April is the best time to visit.

Cape Town’s Bitcoin adoption is driven by economic reality rather than ideology - South Africa’s currency instability has made Bitcoin genuinely useful. The standout fact: Pick n Pay, with over 2,000 stores nationwide, accepts Bitcoin via the Lightning Network, meaning tourists can buy groceries with BTC at a major supermarket chain.

Over 100 hospitality merchants and 200+ retail and convenience stores accept Binance Pay across South Africa. Direct merchant acceptance at tourist-facing restaurants and hotels is still patchy, so BTCMap and Bitcoin Friendly SA are essential before visiting.

🏨 Stay: Several guesthouses on the Atlantic Seaboard and in the City Bowl accept Bitcoin, listed on Bitcoin Friendly SA.

🍽️ Eat: A growing number of restaurants in the V&A Waterfront and De Waterkant areas accept Bitcoin or Binance Pay. Tour operators accept crypto through Coinpay.

🏔️ See/Shop: Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, the V&A Waterfront, Robben Island ferry, and Cape Winelands wine tours. Cape Town hosts the annual Adopting Bitcoin conference each January.

Arnhem is where it all started. In 2014, Patrick van der Meijde persuaded city centre merchants to accept Bitcoin, creating the world’s first intentional Bitcoin merchant ecosystem.

At its peak over 100 venues accepted Bitcoin directly. Today the numbers are lower - BitKassa, the local payment processor, stopped operating in late 2024 due to MiCAR legislation pressure - but committed merchants continue accepting Lightning directly, and the community remains active and welcoming.

Note that a significant arson fire in March 2025 also damaged parts of the historic centre, so checking BTCMap before visiting is essential.

🏨 Stay: Hotel The Church is a stunning Bitcoin-accepting boutique hotel in a converted Lutheran church - note at reservation that you want to pay in Bitcoin.

🍽️ Eat: Flor Fina, an elegant restaurant on the Korenmarkt, accepts Bitcoin Lightning and is the regular haunt of the local Bitcoin community. The Foodhall on Rijnkade accepts Bitcoin at its upstairs buffet.

🏛️ See/Shop: Burgers’ Zoo, the Airborne Museum at Hartenstein, and Sonsbeek Park. The annual Adopting Bitcoin Arnhem conference in May is the highlight of the Bitcoin calendar here.

Puerto Rico’s Act 60 tax regime - which offers extraordinary crypto tax treatment - has drawn a wealthy Bitcoin community to the island, and Old San Juan’s cafés are increasingly accepting Lightning payments.

Merchant density is lower than cities ranked above it, so connecting with the community via Crypto Mondays meetups is the best way to navigate the scene.

🏨 Stay: Several guesthouses and boutique hotels in Old San Juan accept Bitcoin directly or via Travala.

🍽️ Eat: Old San Juan has a growing collection of crypto-accepting cafés and restaurants. The island’s food scene - mofongo, fresh seafood, rum cocktails - is increasingly Lightning-accessible.

🏖️ See/Shop: El Morro fortress, the colourful streets of Old San Juan, and the beaches of Condado and Isla Verde. Crypto Mondays San Juan is a weekly meetup for connecting with locals and finding the latest accepting merchants.

Riga is a pilgrimage destination for serious Bitcoiners. Baltic Honeybadger - the longest-running Bitcoin-only conference in Europe - returns here annually, with past editions welcoming Adam Back, Peter Todd, and Martti Malmi.

The city is one of Europe’s most beautiful and affordable capitals, and while merchant density is modest, the Bitcoin community is unusually welcoming to visitors.

🏨 Stay: Several hotels in Old Town Riga are bookable via Travala with BTC.

🍽️ Eat: The Basement bar is the unmissable Bitcoin community landmark. A wine shop chain accepts Bitcoin across multiple locations in the city.

🏰 See/Shop: Riga’s spectacular Art Nouveau architecture, the House of the Black Heads, and the medieval Old Town. Time a visit around Baltic Honeybadger in August for the full experience.

Vancouver’s place in Bitcoin history is secure: the world’s first Bitcoin ATM operated at Waves Coffee House here on October 29, 2013.

The pioneering spirit remains - Vancouver has more Bitcoin-accepting businesses per capita than any other Canadian city, with over 100 at the last count, and the city council passed a pro-Bitcoin motion in late 2024 to explore official Bitcoin-friendly status.

🏨 Stay: Several downtown hotels are bookable via Travala with BTC.

🍽️ Eat: Rouge Bistro, Steamrollers Burritos, and Waves Coffeehouse are all confirmed Bitcoin-accepting options. Gastown and Chinatown have the highest concentration of crypto-friendly independent restaurants.

🏔️ See/Shop: Park & Finch Eyewear accepts crypto. Capilano Suspension Bridge, Granville Island, Stanley Park, and Whistler day trips round out a world-class tourist itinerary.

Bitcoin adoption in Buenos Aires isn’t driven by ideology - it’s driven by Argentina’s chronic inflation making Bitcoin a practical alternative to the peso.

Over 130 businesses accept Bitcoin directly, and the favourable exchange rate makes the city one of the most affordable on this list. The Palermo neighbourhood has the highest concentration of crypto-accepting restaurants and bars.

🏨 Stay: Boutique hotels in Palermo and San Telmo accept Bitcoin, listed on BTCMap and Travala.

🍽️ Eat: CrypStation has two crypto-accepting café and coworking branches in the city. Foster Nutrition was the first smart restaurant to accept Bitcoin directly. The Palermo Soho area around Plaza Serrano has the most concentrated Bitcoin dining scene.

💃 See/Shop: Bitcoin evangelist Jerónimo Ferrer runs a popular “Our Local Crazy Economy & Bitcoin” tour for $35 in BTC. San Telmo Market, the Recoleta Cemetery, and tango shows in Palermo are all findable through Bitcoin-accepting operators.

Zug is a small city of 30,000 that punches far above its weight. Home to the Ethereum Foundation, Cardano, Polkadot, and hundreds of other blockchain companies, it accepted Bitcoin for municipal payments years before most cities had heard of it.

It’s more a destination for the Bitcoin-curious professional than the casual tourist, but for a Bitcoin traveller it offers something unique: a city where Bitcoin acceptance is simply taken for granted.

🏨 Stay: Several boutique hotels accept Bitcoin directly or via Travala. The 20-minute train from Zurich makes Zug an easy day trip or base.

🍽️ Eat: Restaurants and cafés around the Old Town and lake accept Bitcoin - ask at any establishment, the acceptance rate is notably high.

🏔️ See/Shop: The medieval Old Town, the wooden staircases, and the lake promenade. Paying municipal parking in Bitcoin is a genuine novelty. The annual Crypto Valley Conference draws the global blockchain industry each June.

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Zurich’s Bitcoin scene skews upscale - the Dolder Grand, one of Europe’s most celebrated grand hotels, accepts Bitcoin, setting the tone for a city where crypto is handled with the same elegance as everything else.

The broader merchant scene in the hip Kreis 4 and Kreis 5 neighbourhoods extends Lightning acceptance into cafés and independent retailers, and Bitcoin ATMs are plentiful throughout the city.

🏨 Stay: The Dolder Grand for five-star luxury with Bitcoin checkout. The Kameha Grand Zurich also accepts crypto. Boutique options are increasingly bookable via Travala.

🍽️ Eat: Restaurants in Kreis 4 and Kreis 5 accept Lightning with growing frequency. The 20-minute train to Zug and 40-minute train to Lugano open up further Bitcoin dining options.

🗻 See/Shop: Bahnhofstrasse luxury shopping (select stores), the Swiss National Museum, and Lake Zurich boat tours. Zurich works well as a hub for exploring all three Swiss cities on this list.