VacationSelector
The Massachusetts State House, Boston
BostonThe Massachusetts State House
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city

Photos: Boston by Ajay Suresh, CC BY 2.0, cropped; Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License.

Boston 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 Boston for

  • live music and the arts
  • getting around
  • beaches

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

Choose Chiang Mai for

  • prices
  • wellness
  • food and drink

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. Boston 35, Chiang Mai 6: Boston leads by 29 points.
Food & drink. Boston 64, Chiang Mai 78: Chiang Mai leads by 14 points.
Culture & sights. Boston 72, Chiang Mai 65: Boston leads by 7 points.
Nightlife. Boston 47, Chiang Mai 45: Boston leads by 2 points.
Nature & outdoors. Boston 60, Chiang Mai 73: Chiang Mai leads by 13 points.
Day trips. Boston 72, Chiang Mai 48: Boston leads by 24 points.
Good for families. Boston 72, Chiang Mai 55: Boston leads by 17 points.
Getting around. Boston 70, Chiang Mai 38: Boston leads by 32 points.
Shopping & style. Boston 55, Chiang Mai 62: Chiang Mai leads by 7 points.
Affordability. Boston 18, Chiang Mai 90: Chiang Mai leads by 72 points.
Live music & performing arts. Boston 72, Chiang Mai 30: Boston leads by 42 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Boston 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: Boston and Chiang Mai.

Your match

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

Too close to call, level with your weighting

Boston
56match

Wins on live music and the arts and getting around with your weighting.

Chiang Mai
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.

Boston in July

28 °Cdaytime high
19 °Cnight-time low
82 mmrain in the month
9 hsunshine a day
18 °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
BostonChiang Mai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Boston: 1991-2020 normals, Boston Logan International (3.5 km from centre). Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBostonChiang Mai
Official language-Thai
CurrencyUS Dollar (USD)Baht (THB)
SocketsAB120 V, 60 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC-5, UTC-4 in summerUTC+7
Emergency number911Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation43 m310 m
Main airportBoston Logan International Airport (BOS)4 km from centre144 non-stop destinationsChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year12 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBostonChiang Mai
City population675,6471,198,000
People per km²2,9102,958
Museums within 10 km516
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °CNone-

Where else could you go?

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