VacationSelector
The Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves, Brisbane
BrisbaneThe Story Bridge from Howard Smith Wharves
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city

Photos: Brisbane by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License.

Brisbane 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 Brisbane for

  • beaches
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Brisbane’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. Brisbane 55, Chiang Mai 6: Brisbane leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Brisbane 60, Chiang Mai 78: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Brisbane 42, Chiang Mai 65: Chiang Mai leads by 23 points.
Nightlife. Brisbane 55, Chiang Mai 45: Brisbane leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Brisbane 74, Chiang Mai 73: Brisbane leads by 1 points.
Day trips. Brisbane 50, Chiang Mai 48: Brisbane leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Brisbane 78, Chiang Mai 55: Brisbane leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Brisbane 62, Chiang Mai 38: Brisbane leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Brisbane 45, Chiang Mai 62: Chiang Mai leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Brisbane 33, Chiang Mai 90: Chiang Mai leads by 57 points.
Live music & performing arts. Brisbane 55, Chiang Mai 30: Brisbane leads by 25 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Brisbane 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: Brisbane and Chiang Mai.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 2 points apart

Brisbane
54match

Wins on beaches and live music and the arts 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.

Brisbane in July

22 °Cdaytime high
10 °Cnight-time low
27 mmrain in the month
8 hsunshine a day
20 °Csea
11 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
BrisbaneChiang Mai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Brisbane: 1991-2020 normals, Brisbane (4.5 km from centre). Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBrisbaneChiang Mai
Official languageEnglishThai
CurrencyAustralian Dollar (AUD)Baht (THB)
SocketsI230 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+10UTC+7
Emergency number000Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation0 m310 m
Main airportBrisbane International Airport (BNE)13 km from centre88 non-stop destinationsChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year11 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBrisbaneChiang Mai
City population2,706,9661,198,000
People per km²1712,958
Museums within 10 km166
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C9 months-

Where else could you go?

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