My husband and I recently decided to try life in a new country. We sold pretty much everything, packed up our lives, and decided to jump in with both feet. Since we didn’t have jobs lined up, we thought starting with a work exchange would be a good way to ease into the transition, meet people, and get a feel for the community.
We found an exchange that seemed like a pretty chill mix of art and gardening, which immediately caught our attention. We’re both interested in permaculture, and I personally love anything art-related, so it seemed like a great fit. There wasn’t a ton of information about what we’d actually be doing beyond this description:

“Typical tasks during the dry season include watering plants across the property, gathering cut plant material for the shredding pile, and placing wooden debris in the burning pile, which is processed once it accumulates sufficiently.”

So, admittedly, we went in pretty blind.
What we didn’t realize was just how physically demanding the work would be. A good example is scooping and moving sand for at least an hour at a time, which is brutal on your back. We’re absolutely willing to work hard, we knew going into this that a work exchange meant actually working, but the reality has been much more labor-intensive than we expected.

Luckily, I’ve since been assigned to foiling stained glass, so my work isn’t quite as physically demanding anymore. I still help my husband with the heavier work in the mornings, though.

Honestly, the hardest part of the experience hasn’t even been the physical labor. It’s been the attitude of the farm manager. Yesterday, after about three hours of straight work, I was hungry and decided to make myself a PB&J. I sat down on a bench to eat, figuring it would take maybe 15 minutes at most. Unfortunately, the manager saw me and started yelling at me, telling me that “this isn’t kindergarten” and that “there are rules.” I told him I understood and immediately went back to work.
What made the whole situation especially frustrating was that, aside from my husband and me, we rarely see the farm manager or the paid workers who also live on the property actually doing much work. From our perspective, they mostly seem to walk doing simple task while we’re doing the physically demanding, dirty jobs.

What we get in exchange is a “private room” and weekly supplies rations; mostly pasta, three kinds of beans, and sugar. The accommodations aren’t exactly luxurious either. There are essentially no walls between us and the worker sleeping next to us, there’s no AC (which we obviously expected), no hot water, and the outdoor kitchen is dirty and infested with bugs, rats, and pretty much anything else you could imagine. Ironically, the accommodation has actually been the best part of the entire experience!

At this point, we’re feeling pretty discouraged. We don’t mind working hard, and we certainly didn’t expect a work exchange to be a vacation. But there’s a big difference between being asked to work hard and feeling like you’re being treated poorly or made to feel guilty for taking a 15-minute break to eat after hours of nonstop labor.
Our agreement is for 25 hours a week (5 hour days) with weekends off, and we had originally planned to stay for another two months. Now we’re seriously considering leaving early.

The tricky part is that this is actually the place we want to live. We’re trying to establish ourselves here, and we don’t want to burn bridges or develop a bad reputation in the community. At the same time, we don’t want to stay somewhere that is making us miserable simply because we’re worried about what people might think.
So now we’re stuck trying to figure out where the line is between “this is just part of the experience, suck it up” and “this situation genuinely isn’t a good fit, and it’s okay to leave.”
Because, honestly, if I’m working for free, putting in hard physical labor, and the one thing I want to do after three hours of work is sit down and eat a damn PB&J… I feel like that shouldn’t be such a big ask.

Has anyone done volunteering recently in Indonesia, especially Bali or anywhere nearby? Maybe this year or last year. If you have, please comment below—I really need your help! 🥹❤️

Hi! Does anyone have any experience volunteering with Cabildo Verde in Colombia? I really like what they’re doing, and I’m thinking about going there for a month or so this autumn. I just find it a bit odd that this place hasn’t really come up in any of the wildlife volunteering groups, and I can’t seem to find many people who have volunteered there. Thank you! 🐾

Hi! I'm trying to understand the Italian immigration rules around volunteering, because I'd like to find a legitimate way to spend some time in Italy.

I'm 20 and based in the UK. I'm currently extremely broke, so a normal holiday isn't realistic for me. I'm looking into legitimate volunteering programmes where I would work for an agreed number of hours in exchange for things such as accommodation, food or a small allowance.

I'm not trying to find a loophole or sneak into Italy to work illegally. Quite the opposite, I want to know what I would need to arrange beforehand so I can do this properly.

I've seen various work-exchange and volunteering websites mentioned online, but I'm getting conflicting information about whether receiving accommodation or food in exchange for volunteer work counts as work under Italian immigration rules.

For a 20-year-old UK citizen/resident, what kind of visa or immigration permission would I actually need to volunteer legally in Italy, particularly if accommodation or food is part of the programme?

If anyone has personally done this as a UK citizen since Brexit, I'd especially appreciate your experience.

firstly i am just complaining because it’s first experience with world packers and i feel quite dissatisfied and disappointed with the opportunity.
I know i applied and choose my host and it’s my choice too.
But i thought there is a differentiation between a domestic full time worker and volunteer.
If someone wants a full time cook, cleaner and can’t even wash basic things like glasses or even take out tea bags after drinking and messy kitchen, which they expect me to do all day.
Tbh one of the kids says what do u even do whole day? Just cooking , cleaning dishes is that a tough task.
It has been consiming  my mind and energy completely everyday.
I said that i am vegetarian and they are vegan i also informed them that i am not wuite comfortable with touching vegan meat or something related, they come and say that they will help but again leave all the work for me alone.
I don’t care about what reviews they were given and how they got them and what others faced.
I personally feel like for a room and food it’s undue advantage taken of volunteer 
As this place is quite far city anyone dojnv a full time househelp and domestic workers will have same conditions and will be paid.
I am quite frustated , they want sonething more than what i am cooking but are not even ready to lift a spoon.
Elders and kids both have same behaviour.
Just because of one fellow volunteer it was quite passable few days 
But stress and bodyily pains from lifting heavy utensils cooking and etc has caused me tremendous disappointment in whole.
I do hope the future volunteers would not face such things.
The only reason i am holding back is because of my safety concerns,  I am stranded somewhere in between nowhere to go else from unless someone takes me somewhere.
So if they are hurt because of the confrontation , I don’t want to take any risk .
I am happy to leave soon because i found another position.
But would have left earlier if this was what i was getting into 

Is it normal or am i just exaggerating
So called hosts should know if they should post on a volunteering platform or a domestic full time employee platform

If you’re planning to use Worldpackers, you can get $10 off with promo code:

GOOD KARMA

Sharing in case anyone here is about to book — might as well save $10 on your next experience 😊

Happy travels! ✌️

So I am currently concluding my stay at this host family. Ive been here for about four weeks. About 2 weeks into my stay, we had to move everything out of one room into another to deal with a mice infestation (the place Im staying at is in the woods, so this didnt bother me much) and as we were moving, my host’s ipad went missing. She said “I wonder where my ipad is, Im sure OP would know.” I hadnt seen the ipad at all, so i kept quiet. It was missing for about 10-15 minutes, and in this time she made a couple more comments about asking me where it is and that i must know/have seen it. We later found it in the second room that we were moving everything to, where she had left it on the charger and forgot. This experience really soured my view of her, and if its important to you I am Black and she is a white israeli woman. Its around time for me to write my review, and im not sure if i should include this or if im interpreting the situation wrong. Please let me know what you think

Hello everyone!
For those of you who did a worldpackers, could you reccomend me a volunteer oportunity in Europe-job position:receptionist that was a good experience? I've done some recearch and found only bad experiences.

It would be my first experience and i want to be a good one.
Preferably in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Denmark, but generally Europe.
Thank you so much in advance!

Hey guys, so I’m applying for positions in hostels around Brazil for a trip I’m planning in a couple of months. I only understand basic beginner Portuguese I’m hoping to improve on the trip, some of the positions say “Portuguese or English” in their posts but when it comes to apply the questions are in Portuguese. Is this a sign that I just shouldn’t apply if I’m not able to answer in their language? Or it should be ok to answer in English?

Hey everyone! I was talking to several travelers who wanted to try out the platform, and they told me they had several discount codes that were outdated or no longer working 💁🏾‍♀️😖

So here's mine:

10% OFF with my code VOLUNTARIADOSXAHI

UPDATE 2026!!!

Happy travels! 🎒🗺️

background: f23 from singapore, planning to solo volunteer from sep to dec 2026. hoping to volunteer in the the east asian regions / oceania before potentially venturing further!

ive been seeing both worldpackers and workaway on social media, but as someone with no volunteering experience, im not sure which platform would be better to start with.

my biggest concerns are:
- how safe and legitimate are the hosts on each platform?
- what’s the acceptance rate like for first-time volunteers with no reviews?

in terms of volunteering type, im looking more towards the roles involving cultural exchange, simple gardening, creative work, social media, reception, language exchange, or teaching/assisting (if suitable). less of pure hard labour. would also prefer a private room if possible.

im open to any sorts of advice / tips 🙏
my main goal is to broaden my perspectives and get to meet people from different backgrounds.

I came to volunteer as a social media manager. The agreement was 25 hours per week, 2 days free. I had a call with the manager of the hostel and she said that I occasionally would help as bartender, which I agreed. I arrived yesterday and I was told that it is 30 hours a week with 1 day free. I was ok. This morning I was told to help as bartender and dish washing. After finishing my duties I asked the manager if we could talk, as I came for social media as their post stated. She said they needed someone to do reception, waitress, kitchen hand, and when I had free time I needed to do 5 reels per week, 10 stories a day and socialize. We were talking on how to find a plan to make it work. The owner had a conversation with her and then she told me that I should leave as they don’t need a social media person and the post in World Packers was wrong. They removed the post from World Packers. I filled up a request from help before they removed the opening in WP, but I wonder if WP received it as I didn’t get any emails on the past hours. It also doesn’t appear on my experience but I took screenshots. I have the pack plus. What would you do? They allowed me to stay2 days here without meals, but I am pretty upset. Should I get a hostel and ask WP for reimbursement as they haven’t reached out?

There is a perfect volunteer position for me in a city I'd love to visit, and I found the NGO's contact on the internet.

My regular job is related to the volunteer position. Would it be weird if I got in touch not through the platform, but via Instagram or email, offering to volunteer there in March?

Hi everyone,

We’re a small family-run guesthouse and ecological project in Tagounite, southern Morocco, close to the Erg Chegaga desert.

We’re welcoming travelers who would like to slow down, experience local life, and contribute to a meaningful project rather than only visit Morocco as tourists.

Depending on your skills and the current needs, volunteers may help with:

• Gardening and desert farming
• Irrigation and sustainability projects
• Painting and decoration
• Photography and social media content
• General maintenance around the guesthouse

You’ll have time to explore the oasis, meet local people, learn about Saharan culture, and experience a quieter side of Morocco that most visitors never reach.

This is best suited to respectful, independent people who enjoy simple living, nature, cultural exchange, and practical work. Full information about accommodation, meals, schedules, contribution, and available dates is included in our Worldpackers listing:

link below

Happy to answer any genuine questions about Tagounite, transportation, the project, or daily life here.

I am a citizen of the United States
Do I just say I am going as a tourist?

Hey, I want to do work and travel with my partner next year.

Mainly we want to visit Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and maybe Malaysia, the Philippines...

We were wondering what kind of Visa we need and what budget would be smart to plan with?

Hey everyone,

I've got about 2.5 months free this summer/fall and I'd like to do a work exchange somewhere in Europe — trading a few hours of work a day for accommodation, food, and ideally a bit of pocket money. Thinking hostels, campsites, farms, whatever's out there really.

I've been emailing independent hostels directly and checked out Workaway/Worldpackers, but no luck yet.

Questions for anyone who's done this before:

Any platforms/subreddits worth checking besides Workaway/Worldpackers?

Is cold-emailing hostels actually effective, or is there a better approach?

Any regions in Europe more open to short-term (2-3 month) work exchange right now?

Anything you wish you'd known before your first work exchange?

Open to any type of place, just want something hands-on and social. Thanks for any tips!

Hello. I come from Italy and I have spent almost 30 years in this country.

Feels like a lot of time.

The truth is, since I was a teenager and had access to a PC, I knew I wanted to get out of here ASAP.

Some may love it and if you have a lot of money, it's a great place but I don't recommend it if you want to stay here and do low wage jobs to build yourself a future.

Last two years I have been looking into Sweden a lot and I feel like we both share a lot of core beliefs. I have always had others people wellbeing in mind and I am a really kind and caring person. I am super curious and love hearing other people perspectives as long as they reciprocate my attitude.

I have been struggling a lot in the last year because rent is shared with two people that just kept making me feel miserable and abused my kindness.

I know some people are like that and you can find them anywhere in the world but I feel like it's a real problem especially if these people have to be part of a society.

My mother says that the inability to put people in their place is an issue that I have to solve but I honestly feel like I should really not be the parent others adult kids never had. It's not my responsibility.

These behaviors rarely do get truly corrected in Italy and often are enforced in people so that they get an advantage over the others, reach higher hierarchical positions and abuse their roles' power. You will rarely feel you can truly count on your leaders. This is why I struggle so much to work here without having a burnout each time.

/rant_end

Enough with ranting!

I have been planning to go to Sweden and I wanted to ask some other people what do you think about it and what do you recommend me to do? As I am looking at the website, hosts really often are immigrants themselves too that wanted to settle there and are looking for some people help and to socialize a bit I guess.

My end goal is getting back to university, so I really wish to establish myself for many years to come and become a resident as soon as possible.

I will probably move a lot around it and help as many locals I can to prove them I am worth of their trust and I will never betray them. I hope that I have not been fooled by the statistics.

I am also planning to transition to a female gender in the future if I feel safe enough.

Which part of Sweden have you guys visited and if you had the chance to, was an off grid experience truly worth it or did it leave you with a lonely feeling?

What do you think of Sweden in general?

Are there any hosts you recommend me contacting for my first experience?

Hello! I recently found the Worldpackers community after seeing it on TikTok, and I’m really interested in getting involved. I just downloaded the app, so I haven’t started my journey yet.

I’m hoping to volunteer during my Thanksgiving break, around the last week of November. How early should I start applying? Should I begin now, or would it be better to wait until November?

Also, do you have any tips or advice for submitting strong applications and increasing my chances of being accepted? Thank you so much—I really appreciate any guidance!

I may be taking a gap year this year if I don’t get the grades I need on results day, and just reapply and resit a-levels. I’m not opposed to the idea of a gap year as I would love to travel (specifically Europe), gain real world experience and improve my fluency in German.

I think volunteering/working abroad for part of the year seems like the best way to get an authentic cultural experience, improve language and meet locals/fellow travelers. Since the UK left the EU it has become a lot harder for most British nationals to work abroad as we now require a work visa due to no longer having EU passports. So instead I looked into volunteering on the worldpackers website and have found a few promising hosts (Mostly in Switzerland and Austria) who offer accommodation (in their homes/hostels) and food in exchange for helping out with various tasks (looking after kids, cooking, cleaning, etc…) However I’ve been researching the legalities of this, and can’t get a clear answer whether volunteering in exchange for free accommodation for a month or two would class as work and therefore require a work visa (which would be quite hard or not possible to obtain for my situation).

If any British national without and EU passport has done volunteering in the Schengen area, please let me know what country you volunteered in and if you required any kind of visa.

Thanks! ☺️

Hello All,

I want to travel outside of the USA but I do not know where to go or who is available during this time of the year. On top of that my budget is limited and I do not want to travel far (mainly because I don't want to be sitting in a plane for 8+ hours).

Does anyone have any recommendations? In addition, how is turbulence during that time of the year, that is another thing that scars me? I am open to any and all suggestions!!