VacationSelector
Wat Pho, Bangkok
BangkokWat Pho
Cloud Gate in Millennium Park, Chicago
ChicagoCloud Gate in Millennium Park

Photos: Bangkok by Lu Zhao, Pexels License; Chicago by Jesus Toledo, Pexels License.

Bangkok or Chicago?

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 Bangkok for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • day trips

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

Choose Chicago for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • families

What lies behind each score is written up on Chicago’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. Bangkok 12, Chicago 50: Chicago leads by 38 points.
Food & drink. Bangkok 95, Chicago 80: Bangkok leads by 15 points.
Culture & sights. Bangkok 80, Chicago 78: Bangkok leads by 2 points.
Nightlife. Bangkok 85, Chicago 77: Bangkok leads by 8 points.
Nature & outdoors. Bangkok 25, Chicago 48: Chicago leads by 23 points.
Day trips. Bangkok 72, Chicago 42: Bangkok leads by 30 points.
Good for families. Bangkok 50, Chicago 78: Chicago leads by 28 points.
Getting around. Bangkok 50, Chicago 72: Chicago leads by 22 points.
Shopping & style. Bangkok 80, Chicago 70: Bangkok leads by 10 points.
Affordability. Bangkok 85, Chicago 33: Bangkok leads by 52 points.
Live music & performing arts. Bangkok 52, Chicago 82: Chicago leads by 30 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Bangkok 75, Chicago 33: Bangkok leads by 42 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Bangkok and Chicago.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Bangkok
63match

Wins on prices and wellness with your weighting.

Chicago
62match

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

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

Bangkok in July

34 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
184 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
30 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Chicago in July

29 °Cdaytime high
20 °Cnight-time low
102 mmrain in the month
No recordsunshine a day
21 °Csea
15 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
BangkokChicago

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bangkok: 1991-2020 normals, Bangkok (5.7 km from centre). Chicago: 1991-2020 normals, Chicago Midway Airport (14.5 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBangkokChicago
Official languageThai-
CurrencyBaht (THB)US Dollar (USD)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzAB120 V, 60 Hz
Driving sideLeftRight
Time zoneUTC+7UTC-6, UTC-5 in summer
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199911
Elevation2 m179 m
Main airportSuvarnabhumi Airport (BKK)26 km from centre150 non-stop destinationsChicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)25 km from centre274 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year-13 days

By the numbers

MeasureBangkokChicago
City population5,676,6482,746,388
People per km²3,6194,529
Museums within 10 km5944
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km01
Swim season, months above 21 °C12 months1 month

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bangkok or Chicago 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). 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. Public holidays from Nager.Date (MIT). 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.