VacationSelector
The pyramids of Giza, Cairo
CairoThe pyramids of Giza
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city

Photos: Cairo by Ricardo Liberato, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped; Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License.

Cairo 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 Cairo for

  • culture and sights
  • live music and the arts
  • day trips

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

Choose Chiang Mai for

  • wellness
  • nature and the outdoors
  • families

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. Cairo 10, Chiang Mai 6: Cairo leads by 4 points.
Food & drink. Cairo 60, Chiang Mai 78: Chiang Mai leads by 18 points.
Culture & sights. Cairo 96, Chiang Mai 65: Cairo leads by 31 points.
Nightlife. Cairo 48, Chiang Mai 45: Cairo leads by 3 points.
Nature & outdoors. Cairo 30, Chiang Mai 73: Chiang Mai leads by 43 points.
Day trips. Cairo 66, Chiang Mai 48: Cairo leads by 18 points.
Good for families. Cairo 32, Chiang Mai 55: Chiang Mai leads by 23 points.
Getting around. Cairo 35, Chiang Mai 38: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Cairo 58, Chiang Mai 62: Chiang Mai leads by 4 points.
Affordability. Cairo 95, Chiang Mai 90: Cairo leads by 5 points.
Live music & performing arts. Cairo 50, Chiang Mai 30: Cairo leads by 20 points.
Wellness & relaxation. Cairo 15, Chiang Mai 82: Chiang Mai leads by 67 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Cairo and Chiang Mai.

Your match

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

Cairo
50match

Wins on culture and sights 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.

Cairo in July

36 °Cdaytime high
23 °Cnight-time low
0 mmrain in the month
12 hsunshine a day
14 hdaylight a day

Chiang Mai in July

32 °Cdaytime high
24 °Cnight-time low
153 mmrain in the month
4 hsunshine a day
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

050100150200250JFMAMJJASOND
CairoChiang Mai

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Cairo: 1991-2020 normals, Helwan (21.9 km from centre). Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureCairoChiang Mai
Official languageArabicThai
CurrencyEgyptian Pound (EGP)Baht (THB)
SocketsCF220 V, 50 HzABCF220 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideRightLeft
Time zoneUTC+2, UTC+3 in summerUTC+7
Emergency numberPolice 122, ambulance 123, fire 180Police 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199
Elevation23 m310 m
Main airportCairo International Airport (CAI)17 km from centre127 non-stop destinationsChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinations
Public holidays this year15 days-

By the numbers

MeasureCairoChiang Mai
City population9,801,5361,198,000
People per km²18,5642,958
Museums within 10 km486
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km20

Where else could you go?

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