VacationSelector
The Texas State Capitol under a blue sky, Austin
AustinThe Texas State Capitol under a blue sky
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city

Photos: Austin by LoneStarMike, CC BY 3.0, cropped; Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License.

Austin 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 Austin for

  • live music and the arts
  • beaches
  • nightlife

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

Choose Chiang Mai for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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. Austin 30, Chiang Mai 6: Austin leads by 24 points.
Food & drink. Austin 66, Chiang Mai 78: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Austin 40, Chiang Mai 65: Chiang Mai leads by 25 points.
Nightlife. Austin 65, Chiang Mai 45: Austin leads by 20 points.
Nature & outdoors. Austin 57, Chiang Mai 73: Chiang Mai leads by 16 points.
Day trips. Austin 58, Chiang Mai 48: Austin leads by 10 points.
Good for families. Austin and Chiang Mai are level on 55.
Getting around. Austin 30, Chiang Mai 38: Chiang Mai leads by 8 points.
Shopping & style. Austin 45, Chiang Mai 62: Chiang Mai leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Austin 33, Chiang Mai 90: Chiang Mai leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Austin 77, Chiang Mai 30: Austin leads by 47 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Austin 40, Chiang Mai 82: Chiang Mai leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Austin and Chiang Mai.

Your match

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

Austin
50match

Wins on live music and the arts and beaches with your weighting.

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Austin in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
49 mmrain in the month
10 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
AustinChiang Mai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Austin: 1991-2020 normals, Camp Mabry/Austin City Asos (3.7 km from centre). Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureAustinChiang Mai
Official language-Thai
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Baht (THB)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-6, UTC-5 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation149 m310 m
Main airportAustin Bergstrom International Airport (AUS)13 km from centre91 non-stop destinationsChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year13 days-

By the numbers

MeasureAustinChiang Mai
City population961,8551,198,000
People per km²1,2172,958
Museums within 10 km216
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Austin 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). Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). Exchange rates via Frankfurter, based on European Central Bank reference rates. 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. 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.