VacationSelector
The Umayyad Palace on the Amman Citadel, Amman
AmmanThe Umayyad Palace on the Amman Citadel
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city

Photos: Amman by AXP Photography, Pexels License; Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License.

Amman 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 Amman for

  • day trips
  • beaches

What lies behind each score is written up on Amman’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. Amman 22, Chiang Mai 6: Amman leads by 16 points.
Food & drink. Amman 62, Chiang Mai 78: Chiang Mai leads by 16 points.
Culture & sights. Amman 54, Chiang Mai 65: Chiang Mai leads by 11 points.
Nightlife. Amman 32, Chiang Mai 45: Chiang Mai leads by 13 points.
Nature & outdoors. Amman 45, Chiang Mai 73: Chiang Mai leads by 28 points.
Day trips. Amman 80, Chiang Mai 48: Amman leads by 32 points.
Good for families. Amman 38, Chiang Mai 55: Chiang Mai leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Amman 30, Chiang Mai 38: Chiang Mai leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Amman 42, Chiang Mai 62: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Affordability. Amman 58, Chiang Mai 90: Chiang Mai leads by 32 points.
Live music & performing arts. Amman 27, Chiang Mai 30: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Amman 55, Chiang Mai 82: Chiang Mai leads by 27 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Amman and Chiang Mai.

Your match

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

Amman
45match

Wins on day trips and beaches 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.

Amman in July

33 °Cdaytime high
22 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Chiang Mai in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
AmmanChiang Mai

Where the figures come from

Amman 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.

Amman's sunshine is measured 55 km from the centre, at Mafraq.

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Amman: 1994-2020 (sunshine 1991-2020, rainfall 1991-2020) normals, Amman Airport (6 km from centre). Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAmmanChiang Mai
Official languageArabicThai
CurrencyJordanian Dinar (JOD)Baht (THB)
SocketsBCFGJ230 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+3UTC+7
Emergency number911Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation776 m310 m
Main airportQueen Alia International Airport (AMM)26 km from centre98 non-stop destinationsChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureAmmanChiang Mai
City population4,007,5261,198,000
People per km²2,3852,958
Museums within 10 km86
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km30

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Amman 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. 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.