VacationSelector
The domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi
Abu DhabiThe domes and minarets of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city

Photos: Abu Dhabi by Jeffry Surianto, Pexels License; Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License.

Abu Dhabi or Chiang Mai?

Our verdict in twelve categories, each scored against the same fixed benchmark cities, and the climate month by month, so you can choose for your trip.

Choose Abu Dhabi for

  • beaches
  • families
  • live music and the arts

What lies behind each score is written up on Abu Dhabi’s own page.

Choose Chiang Mai for

  • prices
  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness

What lies behind each score is written up on Chiang Mai’s own page.

Scoreboard

Twelve categories on one fixed scale from 0 to 100. The shaded stretch is the gap between the two.

Beaches & swimming. Abu Dhabi 78, Chiang Mai 6: Abu Dhabi leads by 72 points.
Food & drink. Abu Dhabi 55, Chiang Mai 78: Chiang Mai leads by 23 points.
Culture & sights. Abu Dhabi 64, Chiang Mai 65: Chiang Mai leads by 1 points.
Nightlife. Abu Dhabi 34, Chiang Mai 45: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Nature & outdoors. Abu Dhabi 28, Chiang Mai 73: Chiang Mai leads by 45 points.
Day trips. Abu Dhabi 45, Chiang Mai 48: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Abu Dhabi 82, Chiang Mai 55: Abu Dhabi leads by 27 points.
Getting around. Abu Dhabi 24, Chiang Mai 38: Chiang Mai leads by 14 points.
Shopping & style. Abu Dhabi 50, Chiang Mai 62: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Affordability. Abu Dhabi 38, Chiang Mai 90: Chiang Mai leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Abu Dhabi 32, Chiang Mai 30: Abu Dhabi leads by 2 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Abu Dhabi 46, Chiang Mai 82: Chiang Mai leads by 36 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Abu Dhabi and Chiang Mai.

Your match

Pick a travel style or drag the sliders, and both match scores follow your weighting.

Abu Dhabi
48match

Wins on beaches and families with your weighting.

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on prices and nature and the outdoors with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

Pick your month. The climate figures are measured averages, not a forecast.

Abu Dhabi in July

43 °Cdaytime high
30 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
11 hsunshine a day
33 °Csea
14 hdaylight a day

Chiang Mai in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
No seasea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°50°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
Abu DhabiChiang Mai

Where the figures come from

Abu Dhabi's temperatures are measured 26 km from the centre, at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Abu Dhabi has no rain gauge within 25 km of the centre, so its rainfall comes from a gridded climate dataset read at the city rather than from a gauge further away.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Abu Dhabi: 1991-2020 normals, Abu Dhabi International Airport (25.7 km from centre). Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAbu DhabiChiang Mai
Official languageArabicThai
CurrencyUAE Dirham (AED)Baht (THB)
SocketsCG220 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+7
Emergency number112Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation14 m310 m
Main airportZayed International Airport (AUH)26 km from centre147 non-stop destinationsChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureAbu DhabiChiang Mai
City population1,570,0001,198,000
People per km²1,6152,958
Museums within 10 km36
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C11 months-

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Abu Dhabi or Chiang Mai somewhere new.

Browse every destination

Sources

Structured data from Wikidata (CC0). Weather data by Meteostat. Meteorological data provided by NOAA, DWD and others. Rainfall where no rain gauge is within 25 km is from the TerraClimate 1991-2020 climatology (Abatzoglou et al. 2018, Scientific Data), read at the city. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Airport data from OurAirports (public domain). Non-stop route lists from the "Airlines and destinations" tables on English Wikipedia airport articles, by Wikipedia contributors, reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Currency from the ISO 4217 register maintained by SIX, cross-checked against country data from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Price level from World Bank open data (PPP conversion factor for private consumption and official exchange rate), CC BY 4.0. Time zones from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0); clock offsets computed from the IANA time zone database. Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. Daylight hours computed from each destination's latitude using the NOAA solar position algorithm.

Category scores are our editorial verdict under rubric v3, each placed against the same fixed benchmark cities; the climate figures are measured. How the scores are set. Snapshot generated 2026-10-31. Daily budgets are estimates from country price levels.