Every field guide is written by a local — usually two of them, sometimes three — and updated four times a year. They are deliberately long. They are full of opinion. They are not, under any circumstances, lists of "top tens."
A working map of six neighborhoods, told through the people who let us into their spare rooms — and the cafés, kiosks and ferry timetables you'll want to know about while you're there.
Alfama · Príncipe Real · Marvila · Cais do Sodré · Graça · Belém
Forty-one spaces across nine neighborhoods, including the courtyards of Roma, the rooftops of Condesa, and the one perfect library in Coyoacán that you have to bring a referral to enter.
Roma Norte · Condesa · Coyoacán · San Rafael · Juárez
The neighborhoods that emptied a decade ago are full again, mostly with people writing about emptiness. We've found the rooms they're writing in. Twenty-two of them, across seven neighborhoods.
Koukaki · Exarcheia · Pangrati · Kypseli · Plaka · Petralona · Kerameikos
Every alley its own weather. The trick, if you're working here, is to follow the air-conditioning. We have. Eighteen rooms, from a soi-side bookstore in Ari to a rooftop on Sukhumvit thirty-six floors up.
Ari · Thonglor · Charoenkrung · Banglamphu · Bang Rak
A city neither side of which can agree on a quiet hour. Fourteen rooms, half European, half Asian, all with views you'll want to write letters about. Several of our hosts will mail them for you.
Karaköy · Kadıköy · Cihangir · Balat
Begins at six, ends at midnight, with a long pause for traffic. Lagos taught us that "flexible" had to mean something honest. These nine rooms honor that lesson, all of them on the island side, all with backup power.
Ikoyi · Yaba · Lekki Phase 1
Tenement flats with the original cornices intact. Sculleries converted into pantry-desks. A reading room above a butcher's shop where, for £14 a half-day, you can sit at a table older than your grandfather.
Govanhill · Dennistoun · Strathbungo · Finnieston · West End
Where the streets are narrower than seems reasonable and the hosts are friendlier than seems plausible. Seventeen rooms, including the famous single chair in Roberto's barbershop and a marble-floored music studio in Chiaia.
Sanità · Chiaia · Vomero · Centro Storico
Renata Quintanilla is on the ground through June. Twelve rooms confirmed, eight still being scouted. Publishes 14 July.
A small but exceptional list. The cold months teach you what a "good room" actually is. Publishes 1 August.
Diego Marín, who wrote the Mexico City guide, has been in Oaxaca since February. Fifteen rooms, all in walking distance of a market. Publishes September.
Our first South American guide. Difficult choices ahead about the relationship between coworking culture and resident displacement. Publishes October.
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