VacationSelector
Wat Chiang Man in the old city, Chiang Mai
Chiang MaiWat Chiang Man in the old city
Beira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower, Colombo
ColomboBeira Lake with Seema Malaka and the Lotus Tower

Photos: Chiang Mai by Gije Cho, Pexels License; Colombo by Mohamed Ansaf, Pexels License.

Chiang Mai or Colombo?

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 Chiang Mai for

  • nature and the outdoors
  • wellness
  • culture and sights

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

Choose Colombo for

  • beaches
  • day trips

What lies behind each score is written up on Colombo’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. Chiang Mai 6, Colombo 55: Colombo leads by 49 points.
Food & drink. Chiang Mai 78, Colombo 66: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Culture & sights. Chiang Mai 65, Colombo 45: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Nightlife. Chiang Mai 45, Colombo 35: Chiang Mai leads by 10 points.
Nature & outdoors. Chiang Mai 73, Colombo 32: Chiang Mai leads by 41 points.
Day trips. Chiang Mai 48, Colombo 50: Colombo leads by 2 points.
Good for families. Chiang Mai 55, Colombo 35: Chiang Mai leads by 20 points.
Getting around. Chiang Mai 38, Colombo 35: Chiang Mai leads by 3 points.
Shopping & style. Chiang Mai 62, Colombo 45: Chiang Mai leads by 17 points.
Affordability. Chiang Mai 90, Colombo 78: Chiang Mai leads by 12 points.
Live music & performing arts. Chiang Mai and Colombo are level on 30.
Wellness & relaxation. Chiang Mai 82, Colombo 48: Chiang Mai leads by 34 points.
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What lies behind each score is written up on the two cities’ own pages: Chiang Mai and Colombo.

Your match

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

Chiang Mai
Best match
56match

Wins on nature and the outdoors and wellness with your weighting.

Colombo
46match

Wins on beaches and day trips with your weighting.

What matters to you?

When should you go?

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

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

Colombo in July

30 °Cdaytime high
26 °Cnight-time low
128 mmrain in the month
7 hsunshine a day
28 °Csea
13 hdaylight a day

Daytime high, °C

0°10°20°30°40°JFMAMJJASOND

Rainfall in the month, mm

0100200300400JFMAMJJASOND
Chiang MaiColombo

Temperature and rainfall are climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Chiang Mai: 1991-2020 normals, Chiang Mai (0.6 km from centre). Colombo: 1991-2020 normals, Colombo (3 km from centre).

Before you go

MeasureChiang MaiColombo
Official languageThaiTamil, Sinhala
CurrencyBaht (THB)Sri Lanka Rupee (LKR)
SocketsABCF220 V, 50 HzGM230 V, 50 Hz
Driving sideLeftLeft
Time zoneUTC+7UTC+5:30
Emergency numberPolice 191, ambulance 1669, fire 199Police 119, ambulance 110, fire 110
Elevation310 m1 m
Main airportChiang Mai International Airport (CNX)3 km from centre28 non-stop destinationsBandaranaike International Colombo Airport (CMB)28 km from centre56 non-stop destinations

By the numbers

MeasureChiang MaiColombo
City population1,198,000647,557
People per km²2,95817,361
Museums within 10 km610
UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km00
Swim season, months above 21 °C-12 months

Where else could you go?

Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Chiang Mai or Colombo 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). 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. Sea surface temperature from NOAA OISST v2.1, NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. 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.