VacationSelector
The Flame Towers from the seafront, Baku
BakuThe Flame Towers from the seafront
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city

Photos: Baku by Zulfugar Karimov, Pexels License; Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License.

Baku 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 Baku for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

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

Choose Chiang Mai for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • prices

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. Baku 40, Chiang Mai 6: Baku leads by 34 points.
Food & drink. Baku 60, Chiang Mai 78: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Baku 62, Chiang Mai 65: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Nightlife. Baku 42, Chiang Mai 45: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Baku 30, Chiang Mai 73: Chiang Mai leads by 43 points.
Day trips. Baku 45, Chiang Mai 48: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Good for families. Baku 45, Chiang Mai 55: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Getting around. Baku 58, Chiang Mai 38: Baku leads by 20 points.
Shopping & style. Baku 48, Chiang Mai 62: Chiang Mai leads by 14 points.
Affordability. Baku 64, Chiang Mai 90: Chiang Mai leads by 26 points.
Live music & performing arts. Baku 52, Chiang Mai 30: Baku leads by 22 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Baku 30, Chiang Mai 82: Chiang Mai leads by 52 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Baku and Chiang Mai.

Your match

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

Baku
48match

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

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on wellness 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.

Baku in July

30 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
5 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
25 °Csea
15 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°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
BakuChiang Mai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Baku: 1991-2020 normals, Mashtaga (23.2 km from centre). Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBakuChiang Mai
Official languageAzerbaijani, Azerbaijani Sign LanguageThai
CurrencyAzerbaijan Manat (AZN)Baht (THB)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+4UTC+7
Emergency number102 or 112Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation-28 m310 m
Main airportHeydar Aliyev International Airport (GYD)22 km from centre79 non-stop destinationsChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureBakuChiang Mai
City population2,300,5001,198,000
People per km²1,0752,958
Museums within 10 km506
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20
Swim season, months above 21 °C4 months-

Where else could you go?

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