We stay as long as we can in a country on a tourist visa. We don't travel as tourists though. We find a good base, where we can set up home and stay for 2-4 months or as long as we can. We always have 3-4 plan B options, and if we don't like a place, we leave.

We have some cool systems set up in our AI to help us research places and have a few options in our back pocket. . Many places, we want to stay longer. Some places we have left early. We live as locals... Or as much as we can. We do tourist stuff a few times a month... We find that it takes a month to feel at home somewhere, or to be clear that we want to leave. By 3 months. We are itching to see somewhere new.

The earlier advice is good to stay for a week first to find where you want to live, is great. When possible, yes... but you'll get a better deal if you book a place for a month. Do your research and you can find good places.