💻 Laptop mornings

Coffee roasted on site, and breakfast led by zucchini fritters and French toast

Air conditioning is not a given on the island, and here it comes with the deal — easy to settle in with a laptop for a cool morning of work. The coffee, roasted on site, holds your focus through several rounds, and when hunger arrives the menu stretches from a croissant to layered salads.

ℹ The menu is less suited to kids

Bulgur salad, lentil soup, mash and meatballs — brunch in Thong Sala

A comfortable place to set up with a laptop: order an espresso, add a cinnamon-cream bun or the lemon tart, and when lunchtime comes round switch to the bulgur salad or the lentil soup without leaving your table.

⚠ the salad and the coffee are hit and miss

Breakfast facing the sea, shakshuka, and a mushroom cream pasta that surprises

With a laptop it pays to know the rules: in season the front tables are reserved for diners, and anyone who opens a computer is directed to the back tables or outside the canopy. Live with that and you get good coffee and a morning facing the sea.

ℹ Kitchen closed on Mondays

A long Srithanu morning: excellent coffee, open sandwiches, breakfast plates

Laptops are regulars here: open from 7:30, comfortable for hours, and the coffee keeps the working day decent company. When you need a break there are sandwiches and breakfast plates, and you can stretch the day into the evening — closing is at ten.

An organic farm looking out over lake and mountains, with the island's best shakshuka

Laptop work is taken in good spirit here — plenty of seating corners outside, quiet all around and good coffee. Settle in with the 7:30 coffee, and when hunger arrives move on to the shakshuka or the avocado toast without leaving your corner.

A café on the water in Chaloklum — breakfast, Mediterranean sandwiches, deli

A good spot to settle in with a laptop: a table facing the sea, good coffee, and an eight o'clock start that lets you clear a few hours before the heat builds. No air conditioning — fans only — so the early hours are the window.

⚠ Fans only and it gets hot; opinion is divided

Some of the island's best khao soi, from a high terrace with a view

A table with a view for a morning at the laptop: you sit up high, the terrace is open and comfortable for a long stay, and you can stretch it from breakfast through to khao soi at midday.

ℹ Less suited to kids

Build-your-own breakfast, Turkish eggs and bagels — plus AC and a work corner

With a laptop it works beautifully: strong AC, comfortable chairs that hold up over a long sitting, and coffee and food that give you a reason not to move. When you need fuel, the Turkish eggs and the bagel are one order away.

A café whose khao soi runs red, barely any coconut milk, among the island's best

For a working day it has the combination you need: relative quiet, air conditioning and coffee, plus a real bonus at lunch — one of the island's most talked-about khao soi, one order away from your table. Just don't push it to late in the day, because some days it runs out.

ℹ The chicken version comes as thigh on the bone

Chaloklum's burekas — with hard-boiled eggs, sumac salad and black coffee

For a morning of laptop work it's a comfortable combination: a small café, black coffee and handmade burekas next to the screen. Open from eight, so you can start early — just check before you head over, the hours aren't always fixed.

ℹ opening hours aren't always fixed

The vegan burger that surprises people who weren't looking for vegan

For sitting down with a computer it has the combination you want: air-conditioning and hours that run to nine or ten at night, so the laptop can stay out well after dark. And when concentration drifts, a Belgian waffle brings it back.

Duck with green noodles and pomelo salad, facing the sunset

Laptop work goes well here during the day, with the bay in front of you. The bonus is built into the ending: shut the computer in time for sunset and order the pomelo salad or the duck with green noodles.

Coffee that other restaurants on the island pour, plus breakfast and a bakery

Arrive with a laptop on a full battery — the sockets are not to be relied on. Everything else a working morning needs is here: excellent coffee, easy music in the background, and breakfast and pastries within arm's reach of the screen.

A vegetarian Srithanu kitchen with Thai accents — buddha bowls, pancakes, lentil soup

With a laptop it's a comfortable point to settle into: a quiet corner, house-blend cacao for long slow sips, and lentil soup or a buddha bowl when hunger arrives. Just factor in that it's closed on Sundays.

ℹ Closed on Sundays

A family café with simple food, good coffee and a cinnamon roll

The best time to open a laptop here is the afternoon — the window in which the place really works as a café to work from, with good coffee and cheesecake beside the screen.

⚠ Opinions are divided

A quiet brunch in Ban Tai — avocado bagel and tuna tataki

Settling in with a laptop comes naturally here: quiet, pleasant, and in the mornings other people are doing the same. Coffee and an avocado bagel will carry a long sitting; there is no information on sockets or wifi, so it is better to arrive with a full battery.

A café for getting work done — comfortable table, good coffee, pumpkin cookie

For sitting down with a laptop this is exactly the place: a comfortable table and chair, good coffee and food that supports a long session. There's no air conditioning — the ventilation is whatever the open air gives you — so it's better to claim the cooler hours of the day.

ℹ No air conditioning