Generally speaking, there isn't a difference between traveling for the purpose of work and working while traveling for other reasons. If you are physically in o

Generally speaking, there isn't a difference between traveling for the purpose of work and working while traveling for other reasons. If you are physically in one country while performing work it is considered working in that country and requires appropriate permission. Many countries do have a business visitor category that allows for some form of work (attending meetings, and the like, things that wouldn't be stealing the job of a resident). I actually learned this the hard way, I was in your shoes, 100% remote job, for a US company, US clients, and went to Europe and thought I might work while traveling. I was detained at the border, interviewed, and very nearly denied entry. I was let after a couple fairly lengthy interviews (I was detained for about 16hours) and proving I had funds to support myself without working. I was given a "visitor record" and a firm exit by date, not sure what all the record entails but I get questioned every time I enter now. Anyway, point being, legally speaking what generally matters is where you are located when performing the work, and that's really the only way that makes sense to judge where the work takes place. With all that said, in reality being caught is extremely unlikely and plenty of people get away with it and I don't think there are many countries actively trying to crack down on that sort of short term work while being a tourist. If you want to be above the board though, unless your work counts as what a business visitor can do, you would need a visa to perform any work. There is generally no distinction between traveling for the purpose of working, and working while traveling for other reasons. I'm not a lawyer though but I've spent a fair bit of time actually looking at the restrictions on the tourism and business visitor visas to stay legal while traveling long-term and working remotely.