VacationSelector
The Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires
Buenos AiresThe Teatro Colón
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city

Photos: Buenos Aires by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped; Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License.

Buenos Aires 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 Buenos Aires for

  • nightlife
  • live music and the arts
  • getting around

What lies behind each score is written up on Buenos Aires’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. Buenos Aires 7, Chiang Mai 6: Buenos Aires leads by 1 points.
Food & drink. Buenos Aires 75, Chiang Mai 78: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Culture & sights. Buenos Aires 71, Chiang Mai 65: Buenos Aires leads by 6 points.
Nightlife. Buenos Aires 95, Chiang Mai 45: Buenos Aires leads by 50 points.
Nature & outdoors. Buenos Aires 38, Chiang Mai 73: Chiang Mai leads by 35 points.
Day trips. Buenos Aires 60, Chiang Mai 48: Buenos Aires leads by 12 points.
Good for families. Buenos Aires 52, Chiang Mai 55: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Getting around. Buenos Aires 62, Chiang Mai 38: Buenos Aires leads by 24 points.
Shopping & style. Buenos Aires 60, Chiang Mai 62: Chiang Mai leads by 2 points.
Affordability. Buenos Aires 55, Chiang Mai 90: Chiang Mai leads by 35 points.
Live music & performing arts. Buenos Aires 75, Chiang Mai 30: Buenos Aires leads by 45 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Buenos Aires 28, Chiang Mai 82: Chiang Mai leads by 54 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Buenos Aires and Chiang Mai.

Your match

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

Too close to call, 1 point apart

Buenos Aires
57match

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

Chiang Mai
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.

Buenos Aires in July

15 °Cdaytime high
8 °Cnight-time low
50 mmrain in the month
5 hsunshine a day
13 °Csea
10 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
Buenos AiresChiang Mai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Buenos Aires: 1991-2020 normals, Aeroparque Bs. As. Aerodrome (4.9 km from centre). Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureBuenos AiresChiang Mai
Official languageSpanishThai
CurrencyArgentine Peso (ARS)Baht (THB)
SocketsCI220 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC-3UTC+7
Emergency number117 or 911Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation25 m310 m
Main airportEzeiza International Airport - Ministro Pistarini (EZE)28 km from centre48 non-stop destinationsChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year16 days-

By the numbers

MeasureBuenos AiresChiang Mai
City population3,121,7071,198,000
People per km²15,3552,958
Museums within 10 km766
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km10
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 Buenos Aires 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). 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.